For anyone who subscribes to a lot of newsletters or signs up for new online services that include monthly “updates”, it’s only a matter of time before your inbox becomes crowded and unmanageable with lots of things you don’t want or read.
It means manually unsubscribing, which can be a time-consuming and frustrating process, particularly sites that force you to jump through hoops to escape their mailing lists. Then, there are sites that make the “Unsubscribe” button so small, you need a magnifying glass to find it.
An interesting alternative is Unsubscribe, a new service that promises to eliminate unwanted e-mail with one-click. Unsubscribe plays nice all the major e-mail platforms, including GMail, Outlook, Hotmail, AOL Mail and Yahoo.
Here’s how Unsubscribe works. After downloading an extension for GMail or a plug-in for Outlook, Unsubscribe inserts an icon within your e-mail messages. When you want to unsubscribe from something, just click on it. You can also send unwanted e-mail to mail@unsubscribe.com.
Unsubscribe as a freemium business model. It has a free service that lets you unsubscribe from five e-mails/month, and a $19/year unlimited service.
Bottom line: Although I just started using Unsubscribe, it seems like a pretty solid service, particularly if you’re a heavy online user who signs up for a lot of newsletters and online services.
If I had one complaint about the service, it would be the lack of information on the Web site about the company, the people behind it, and how the service actually works and pricing. It raises questions about what Unsubscribe does with the newsletter sent their way, and whether they have any kind of access to your e-mail account or data.
