COLUMBUS, Ohio — Hoping to cut down on what he described as “a lot of emails about pillows,” local man Todd Ferrante, 38, clicked the unsubscribe link at the bottom of a mattress retailer’s newsletter on Oct. 29 and is now receiving 47 different mailing lists, according to an audit of his inbox conducted Wednesday by Ferrante, who has not yet found the bottom of it.
“It said, ‘You’ve been unsubscribed. We’re sorry to see you go,’” said Ferrante, scrolling past a message titled “We’re Sorry To See You Go: Week 2.” “I thought that was the end of it. It turns out ‘Sorry To See You Go’ is a newsletter.”
The confirmation page, which Ferrante described as “very warm,” thanked him for his feedback, invited him to tell SlumberHaven Sleep Co. why he was leaving, and, in gray six-point type beneath a smiling cartoon pillow, noted that by confirming his choice he had agreed to “stay in touch with select partners who share our passion for your inbox.” There are 46 partners. They share it.
Industry insiders said the outcome was predictable. “In this business, an unsubscribe is the strongest engagement signal there is,” said Brenda Coyle, chief retention officer at SlumberHaven. “Most people ignore our emails. Todd read one all the way to the bottom. He found a link in four-point font, in light gray, on a white background, and he clicked it. Do you know how rare that is? That’s not a customer leaving. That’s a superfan.”
Coyle said the company takes its legal obligations seriously. The federal CAN-SPAM Act gives senders 10 business days to honor an opt-out request, and SlumberHaven uses every one of them. “We think of it as a farewell tour,” Coyle said. “Ten business days, 30 emails, one last chance to save 40% on a memory-foam topper. If he still wants to leave after the Thursday triple-send, we respect that.” Google and Yahoo, which since 2024 have required bulk senders to offer one-click unsubscribe and to process requests within two days, only govern the original list, Coyle added. “Todd is on 46 other ones now. Each of those is a fresh relationship.”
Try It Yourself: The Unsubscribe Link™
This is Todd’s inbox on Oct. 29, with one list in it. The unsubscribe link is at the bottom, where it belongs. Go ahead.
- SlumberHaven Weekly🛏️ Your pillow misses you (40% off toppers)
SlumberHaven Sleep Co. · 1 Restful Way · Nowhere, DE
Please allow up to 10 business days for your request to be processed. The 10 business days begin again each time you make a request. Business days are defined by SlumberHaven and do not currently include any days.
Ferrante’s first instinct was to unsubscribe from the new lists, a strategy he dropped on day three, when unsubscribing from The Unsubscriber, a weekly newsletter for people who have recently unsubscribed, signed him up for The Unsubscriber Plus, Unsubscriber Community Picks and a daily exit survey titled “Why Are You Leaving? (Day 6).” Choosing “I get too many emails” in the survey enrolled him in the Too Many Emails Digest, a daily roundup of all the emails he gets.
He then tried the preferences center, which offered him 47 checkboxes, all of them checked. Unchecking “Product updates” produced an email confirming that his preferences had been updated, which he could manage in the preferences center, where a 48th box had appeared, checked, reading “Updates about your preferences.” The center’s “Unsubscribe from all” button worked exactly as designed, Coyle said, adding Ferrante to All, the company’s flagship list.
Manage Your Preferences
Uncheck anything you don’t want. We’ll respect your choices, and keep you informed about them.
Changes may take up to 10 business days to appear in your inbox. New preferences are created to help you manage your preferences. “All” is a list.
According to Northlake Data Partners, a data broker that bought Ferrante’s address the morning after he unsubscribed, the click upgraded his profile from “Bronze: Possibly Deceased” to “Platinum: Confirmed Human, Reads To The Bottom, Emotionally Invested.” Security researchers have long warned that clicking unsubscribe on unfamiliar mail can tell a sender an address is live, a claim some email professionals call a myth. Northlake said it does not take sides in that debate, and that Ferrante’s address, which once sold for a fraction of a penny, now goes for 11 cents. “He’s our most liquid asset,” said a Northlake spokesperson, who asked to be reached by replying to any of the company’s emails.
Ferrante is not alone. People send and receive an estimated 376 billion emails a day, according to Statista projections, and Kaspersky’s annual reports have put the share of global email traffic that is spam at nearly half. The industry refers to the rest as “content.” “Spam is unsolicited,” said Gordon Ashby, executive director of the Association for Responsible Email Engagement, a trade group that speaks to its members only through a 14-part welcome series. “Todd solicited all of this by clicking. Legally and spiritually, he asked for it.”
Consumer advocates had hoped stronger rules were on the way. The Federal Trade Commission’s “click-to-cancel” rule, which would have required companies to make canceling a subscription as easy as signing up for one, was thrown out by a federal appeals court in July 2025, days before it was set to take effect. Ashby called the ruling “a win for the American inbox” and said his members remain committed to making unsubscribing exactly as easy as subscribing, “which is to say, instant and permanent.”
Friends say the experience has changed him. Ferrante now checks his email the way other people check a smoke detector: rarely, and with dread. He considered opening a new account, but within an hour of creating one he had received 47 messages welcoming him to his new address, including one from SlumberHaven that read, “We noticed you moved! 🏡” His wife has started communicating with him through a laminated card on the refrigerator, which she says has a 100% open rate.
At press time, Ferrante had received a 48th mailing list, a weekly newsletter called “Man Who Unsubscribed From Mailing List,” which promised exclusive updates on his situation and could be canceled at any time within 10 business days.
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