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As a Gen-Z shopping editor, I spend most of my dollars online. I’m always looking for easy ways to save with promo codes, sign-ups, memberships and more.
I’ve also written entire guides on how to save over $500 using services like Rakuten. But most importantly, after covering many sales events like Black Friday and Prime Day, I’ve learned how to avoid the flood of spam that usually follows after signing up for coupons or free shipping.
Too: 3 Money Saving Tricks I Use Every Time I Shop Online – And You Should Too
That’s why I’m sharing one of my favorite email tips that helps keep marketing, advertising, promotional, and other sales emails in your review. This first tip is so obvious that you probably never thought twice about it before. I’ve been using this shopping tip for almost a decade, and it’s still as functional as ever. Plus, it’s completely free.
How do I reduce the marketing clutter in my inbox?
So, you want to know the easiest way to remove junk shopping mail that never ends up in your junk folder? Stop allowing retailers access to that email from the beginning, and set up a… Shopping Email!
That’s it. This is the advice. The easiest way to never let a sales email leave your inbox is to never open the door in the first place. My shopping email is a free email account I set up through Gmail. Instead of being tied to anything important, this is a useless email I use when I shop online.
I sign up for new member offers and promo codes with it, create online retailer accounts with it, and even have to use it as my primary email for almost all subscription services.
No need for a time-consuming unsubscribe campaign: A shopping email can help filter out the large amount of spam or junk mail that often fills most people’s inboxes.
Don’t shop online until you know this one simple trick.
Amazon
This shopping email is the extra one I fill out when I order anything online. Not only does this help reduce the flood of retailer emails into my personal inbox, but it also means that any online orders or receipts are already stored in their account.
I find this especially useful when I need to return a purchase or provide provenance details, as I’m scouring a much smaller pool of emails than the primary inbox.
Too: I’ve used Rakuten for a year and made almost $500 – here’s how
Likewise, it helps to know that this shopping email is linked to several of my entertainment subscriptions. Renewal information, price changes, login notifications, and one-time passcodes all appear in one place, which is, once again, much less cluttered with other emails.
I’ve found that over the years of using this email hack, I’ve found it easier to navigate my personal email accounts and can check my digital mail more efficiently. I find myself more engaged with newsletters or other news I receive through my primary email because it’s not mixed in among the barrage of marketing language. I open and read the content I want for consumers, and spend less time deleting junk mail.
But the best part of my shopping emails? Mass deleting most of those marketing memos without even a second thought.
