Where did I sign up to get Marketing Spam from Rachio? Like EXACTLY where did I click “Yes, please spam me with emails about stuff that have no value and aren’t really anything special”?
Why do I have to UNSUBSCRIBE instead of having to subscribe?
Is Rachio going to forget my preference in a few months and I’ll have to UNSUBSCRIBE again?
At the end of the day, Rachio needs to figure out how to keep the lights on. So far they’ve done everything possible to avoid a monthly / yearly fee, but you can only go so far on hardware sales alone.
I dislike ads as much as the next guy, but running the servers & providing the service costs money. Rachio is no different that they’re trying to market new products and services in order to drive additional sales and thus, revenue.
Compared to other services, such as youtube, twich, hulu, etc… Marketing here is done primarily via email and their own app interface (thrive anyone?). Good news is that unlike these other services, at least it’s pretty easy to opt out of additional emails.
Considering that original email is from 2+ years ago, I’m assuming that @ThomK had never had to unsubscribe again, and as @nervioral has mentioned, there are other methods to keep your inbox clean (in case that’s a priority).
Overall I, personally, support Rachio’s efforts as I like the product, service and the community and hope that the copy will be around for a good, long, while. In order for this to happen, Rachio will need to keep innovating and informing their user base of the new products, service and discounts.
@Gene I do appreciate your response and I understand what you’re getting at.
To counter that, I would say there’s a marked difference between “keeping the lights on for the customer-base and the employees” and “keeping the lights on in my third home in Aspen that I use two weekends a year.” One leads to long-term brand and the other does not.
I completely agree that running servers costs money. From what I was able to Google, Rachio doesn’t run servers: They use Amazon Web Services (AWS) to host their software on Amazon’s hardware. So, Rachio certainly pays for this and it certainly comes at a cost.
There are plenty of companies out there that wholeheartedly believe that you must keep on finding new streams of revenue at all cost. This can easily lead to a diminishing ROI where the advertising and development costs weigh-down a previously successful model.
Rachio has been pretty good about introducing new hardware that addresses shortcomings of previous products. And the cloud-based software that’s behind the product is what’s truly innovative. Offering customized liquids and sprays don’t really compare but they are a new revenue stream.
While Rachio has been great about getting into the residential market, I have not doubt the real money is in commercial irrigation if they were able to make headway into that market.
I hope that Rachio doesn’t disenfranchise it’s customers by charging for access to the hardware that they purchased from Rachio.
If I buy a “programmable” irrigation controller, especially one that many people find confusing and request help on, and if new features can and are added over the years, I for one certainly appreciate an email now and then. Personally, when I register something, I ASSUME I will get emails about it. I appreciate if they have an Unsubscribe button, and then actually unsubscribe me (most don’t). And it takes only a click to make an email as spam and never see it again. Wish I could do that with spam phone calls!
I think the OP is extraordinarily upset by something that is pretty much standard in the industry and takes only a moment to eliminate if not desired. I, at least, have much bigger fish to fry on my complaint list.