Taming the Newsletter Nightmare: The Secret to a Clean and Efficient Inbox
Newsletter are for our own personal consumption so it’s better not to get consumed by them
There was a time when I had more promotion emails in my inbox than actual mail from people.
Most of the time, I wouldn’t even notice them because they were the kind of unasked emails.
You might be able to relate to this part…
Ever since then, things have changed very much. Now, my inbox is full of newsletters, and that too from different creators.
This is the part of the problem because now my inbox is getting flooded again however these aren’t unasked emails (I went ahead and subscribed to them).
What is a newsletter & What’s so good about them?
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll know creators consider it their lifeline.
It’s basically like an only fans subscription, but instead of showing their n*des, they aim for your aptitude. Instead of sharing their *oops* pictures, they make you picture the reality around you.
The creators send them out weekly or daily, filling them with their research and thoughts (food for thought content).
Some examples of newsletter that I subscribe to are :
- The milkroad (crypto with a glass of m̶i̶l̶k memes)
- The koe letter (Business and growth. No BS)
- Tim Denning (Life advice)
- Part-time creator club (Eve Arnold and her findings)
I am not here to promote them or anything. However, can you see a difference?
If not… Don’t worry. I’ll bring in your shades. All of them are different from each other. Each creator has their unique way of creating content.
Bad Side of the newsletter era
This is where things get pretty ugly, even if the newsletters are actually high-quality.
Soo… What’s the problem?
It can sometimes create havoc because now they can load up your inbox. This can be a little painful if you try to be productive and see yourself reading all those newsletters.
You can even procrastinate by fooling yourself into thinking that you are being productive just by reading them (this is not a suggestion).
You might read different topics at once, but instead of learning, there’s just mental masturbation.
One method to rule(group) them all
One approach to solve this nightmare is that you can create filter & labels and Gmail will automatically group the emails based on a certain keyword.
Steps to actually do it:
Do it on your desktop or laptop for convenience.
1. Open up your inbox. *duh*
2. Find the settings cog wheel and open "see all settings."
3. Select filters and blocked addresses.
4. Create a new filter and enter 'unsubscribe' in the Has the words field.
5. The new popup will contain a list of checkboxes.
6. Select "skip the box(archive it)" and "create a label" of your choice.
7. After creating the label, then select "create filter."
*Bam*
Now you have increased your chances of savoring a newsletter at a
specific time.
Don't forget to test it.
Note: If your filters and labels are working, newsletters might still appear
in your inbox.
In your settings window, look for "inbox," scroll to the bottom, and make
sure you have selected "don't override filters".There is a caveat to this approach. Promotion emails from shopping sites also have this “unsubscribe” text, so they might get grouped too (plus it will only work for new emails).
This is where you can really hit home with this approach because you can unsubscribe from promotion emails. Now the newsletters are tucked away in a different place, and the promotions are fewer too.
However, the promotion emails are like Hydra and they regrow inside your inbox so it’s always better to be on the lookout for the head and chop it off.
The promotional email hell
This can be a bit tedious because you might have to open promotional emails and unsubscribe from them manually.
Unsubscribe from emails that contain offers because they are the most redundant ones. This can be especially beneficial for your bank account if you are guilty of impulse buying.
*Evict promotional emails without an eviction notice.*
Make them wait a little to build up some tension
Fix a time to read newsletters or at least don’t do it when you should be working.
Don’t jump into clicking as soon as you receive one. They can wait a little longer.
The knowledge inside them won’t become obsolete if they stay in your inbox.
Many newsletters contain actionable pieces of advice, so it’s better to read them only if you are planning to do the actual thing. Otherwise, skipping a few is fine. Your favourite creators won’t get mad about it.
Newsletters are for our own personal consumption, so it’s better not to get consumed by them.
Final Thoughts
Newsletters are one of the best ways to learn more from the creators you like. Specific newsletters can contain lots of insights based on a particular topic.
However, you won’t be reading about just a single topic and you won’t be having a single favourite creator anytime soon.
It’s better to group them away from your inbox so you can use them better.
I haven’t mentioned newsletter aggregators because I haven’t tried them. If you want me to go ahead and try them, just comment below to let me know.
You can check out the newsletters that I have mentioned, and one of them, contains a referral link. The referral link does not make me any money. It’s just so you can join them directly (and I couldn’t find it for other newsletters).
Last but not least, thank you for reading this article. Hope you had an clutter-free read :)
