Jayati Dev
Sameer Patil
ABSTRACT
A large proportion of email messages in an average Internet user's inbox are unwanted commercial messages from mailing lists, bots, and so on. Although such messages often include instructions to unsubscribe, people still struggle with stopping unwanted email. We investigated the user experience of unsubscribing from unwanted email messages by recruiting 18 individuals for via a lab study followed by semi-structured interviews. Based on unsubscribing practices of the study participants, we synthesized eight common unsubscription mechanisms and identified the corresponding user experience challenges. We further uncovered alternative practices aimed at circumventing the need to unsubscribe. Our findings reveal frustration with the prevailing options for limiting access to the self by managing email boundaries. We apply our insight to offer design suggestions that could help commercial providers improve the user experience of unsubscribing and provide users more control over the email they receive.
Supplemental Material
Available for Download
The auxiliary material contains a single PDF file named unsubscribing-supplementarymaterials.pdf \ The PDF file contains: (i) the screening questionnaire sent during recruitment of participants asking for various demographic information, email preferences, and contact information for the study protocol, (ii) the think aloud protocol used during the in-lab session, and (iii) post-study semi-structured interview, asking about participants' unsubscribing practices, other email specific questions, internet behavior, and feedback on the study session.
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Index Terms
- Why Johnny Can't Unsubscribe: Barriers to Stopping Unwanted Email
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