What Are Stores Even Thinking With All These Emails?

Your inbox is now a shopping mall. From a column: Email is one of the few ways companies can reach their customers directly. In fact, people overwhelmingly say that the way they want to hear from brands is by email, Chad S. White, the head of research for Oracle Marketing Consulting, told me. That's why the mailbox software started suppressing messages -- to protect people from companies' temptation to send too many emails. In response, email marketers obsess over "deliverability," or how the content and frequency of their emails might help those messages actually hit your inbox in the first place. But that process has created new and weird feedback loops, in which some companies and certain messages might be able to reach your inbox more readily than before, while others get junked -- condemned to spam, deleted, or the like -- before you see them. As a result, your personal inbox gradually has become less like a mailbox and more like a wormhole into every business relationship you maintain: your bank; your utility provider; your supermarket; your favorite boutiques, restaurants, housewares providers, and all the rest. It's your own digital commercial district: Opening up email is akin to visiting a little mall in your browser or on your phone, where every shop is right next to every other. A few years ago, Gmail made that metaphor concrete by introducing the promotions folder, recasting spam as marketing. When you're in the mood to shop, just drop into promotions and see what's on offer (or search for a favorite brand to see the latest wares).

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