[Prompt]
Herman and Coran, we previously talked about tracking pixels and GDPR. Another area where we have a strange relationship with privacy is the expectation that any digital contact with a business entitles them to send you "drip" or "cadence" email sequences. Even if you just wanted to try a service or fill out a contact form, you often end up in a long sequence of onboarding and marketing emails. What is the discourse around this practice, and is there any pushback? Also, how does this square with GDPR and other privacy legislation, given that businesses are storing your personal data to send these sequences?

[Response]
Corn: Hey everyone, welcome back to My Weird Prompts. I am Corn, and I am sitting here in our living room in Jerusalem. It is a beautiful February afternoon in twenty-twenty-six, the sun is hitting the stone walls just right, and I am here with my brother, the man who has probably read more privacy policies than most people have read novels.

Herman: I am Herman Poppleberry. And honestly, Corn, once you start reading them, you realize they are often more like poorly written thrillers. There is always a twist at the end where you realize you do not actually own your own data, or that your smart toaster is technically allowed to sell your breakfast habits to a third-party data broker in a jurisdiction you have never heard of.

Corn: Well, that is a perfect setup for what we are exploring today. Today's prompt comes from Daniel, and it is about the strange, almost abusive relationship we have with privacy when it comes to standard business communication. Specifically, Daniel is frustrated by the expectation that any digital contact with a company—whether it is filling out a simple contact form to ask a question or signing up for a free trial—basically gives them a perpetual license to hit you with these long, automated email sequences. You know the ones. The industry calls them drip campaigns or cadence sequences.

Herman: Oh, I know them intimately. It is the digital equivalent of a salesperson following you around the store, then following you to your car, and then showing up at your house at seven in the morning to ask if you have any more questions about that toaster you looked at for five seconds. It is persistent, it is invasive, and in twenty-twenty-six, it has become incredibly sophisticated.

Corn: That is the core of it. Daniel was pointing out that even if you just wanted to try a service once, or even just check a price, you often end up in this fifteen-part or twenty-part onboarding sequence that spans weeks or even months. You get the welcome email, then the how-to guide, then the life story of the founder, then the social proof case study, then the last chance offer, and then the we miss you email. It feels incredibly intrusive, yet it is almost entirely normalized in the business world. So, Herman, I want to look closer at this for Daniel. What is the actual discourse around this right now? Is there real pushback, or have we just collectively surrendered our inboxes to the machines?

Herman: It is a fascinating tension, Corn. To understand the discourse, you have to look at the two opposing forces here. On one hand, from a marketing perspective, these sequences are considered the absolute gold standard. There is this whole industry built around conversion rate optimization. If you talk to a growth hacker or a digital marketer, they will point to the data. They will tell you about the Rule of Seven, which has now, in this noisy digital age, arguably become the Rule of Thirteen. They believe it takes thirteen touches—thirteen separate interactions—before a lead actually becomes a customer. So, in their mind, they are not being annoying; they are being persistent, helpful, and data-driven. They see an empty inbox as a missed opportunity for engagement.

Corn: But that is the problem, isn't it? They are looking at their own metrics in a vacuum. They see a two percent increase in conversions from email number twelve and think it is a success. They do not see the ninety-eight percent of people who now actively dislike their brand because of the harassment.

Herman: You hit the nail on the head. And that is where the consumer-side discourse has shifted. We have moved past simple annoyance into what researchers are calling cognitive inbox fragmentation. It is not just one company. If you are a small business owner like Daniel mentioned, and you are looking for, say, a new customer relationship management tool, you might sign up for three or four trials to compare them. Suddenly, you are at the receiving end of sixty to eighty automated emails over the next month. It is a massive cognitive load. You are constantly scanning, filtering, and deleting. It is digital litter.

Corn: And it feels like the pushback is finally starting to get some teeth, right? It is not just people complaining on social media anymore.

Herman: You are right. The pushback is happening on three distinct levels: technical, legal, and social. Let's start with the technical, because that is where the most immediate changes are happening. We have seen a huge rise in what I call privacy-by-proxy tools. Think about Apple's Hide My Email feature, which has become ubiquitous since it launched a few years ago. That was a direct response to this exact problem. People wanted to see the content or use the service without giving away their permanent digital identity. They wanted a burner phone for their email.

Corn: That is a great point. When a major player like Apple builds a feature specifically to thwart a common business practice, that is a pretty loud form of pushback. It is a signal that the user experience of the open web has become so cluttered with these cadences that users need a defensive shield just to browse.

Herman: And it is not just Apple. You have services like SimpleLogin, which was acquired by Proton, or DuckDuckGo's email protection. These are all part of a broader movement where the user is saying, I do not trust you with my primary address because I know you are going to abuse it with a twenty-part drip campaign. But even more significant are the changes made by the email providers themselves. Back in early twenty-twenty-four, Google and Yahoo implemented much stricter requirements for bulk email senders. They started enforcing things like one-click unsubscribes and, more importantly, strict spam complaint thresholds.

Corn: I remember that. If more than zero point three percent of your emails are marked as spam, your entire domain can get blacklisted. That is three out of every one thousand people.

Herman: That is the reality. And in twenty-twenty-six, those thresholds have only tightened. If your drip campaign is annoying enough that one in three hundred people hits the spam button instead of the tiny, hidden unsubscribe link, you are in serious trouble. The technical reality is forcing marketers to be more respectful, even if their instincts tell them to be aggressive. They are being forced to realize that an unengaged subscriber is actually a liability. They can damage your deliverability for the people who actually want to hear from you.

Corn: I want to pivot to the legal side of this, which Daniel specifically asked about. How does this actually square with things like the General Data Protection Regulation in Europe or the California Consumer Privacy Act? Because if a company is storing your name and email specifically to send you a predetermined sequence of messages, they are processing your personal data.

Herman: This is where it gets very legally spicy. Under the General Data Protection Regulation, you need a lawful basis for processing personal data. Most companies try to claim this falls under either consent or legitimate interest. But the definition of consent under the General Data Protection Regulation is very strict. It must be freely given, specific, informed, and unambiguous. It should also be a clear affirmative action.

Corn: So, those pre-ticked boxes that say, sign me up for the newsletter and forty-five other things, those are definitely illegal under the General Data Protection Regulation, right?

Herman: Definitely. A pre-ticked box is a big no-no. But many companies rely on a concept called the soft opt-in. This applies to existing customers or people who have entered negotiations for a sale—like signing up for a trial. They argue that by signing up, you have entered a relationship where they have a legitimate interest in sending you related marketing. However, the discourse among regulators is shifting. They are starting to look more closely at what they call dark patterns. These are user interface designs that trick or pressure users into doing things they might not otherwise do, like staying subscribed to an annoying list.

Corn: Like when the unsubscribe button is the same color as the background, or when they ask you five questions about why you are leaving before they actually let you leave.

Herman: For sure. The European Data Protection Board has been very clear that withdrawing consent should be as easy as giving it. If it took one click to join, it should take one click to leave. Any friction added to that process is increasingly being viewed as a regulatory violation. And Daniel's point about the contact form is particularly egregious. If you fill out a contact form to ask a specific question, like, do you have this item in blue? and then the company adds you to a general marketing sequence, that is a total breach of the purpose limitation principle.

Corn: Purpose limitation. Explain that.

Herman: It is a fundamental pillar of the General Data Protection Regulation. It means you can only use data for the specific purpose for which it was collected. If I give you my email to ask about a blue toaster, you have the right to email me about the blue toaster. You do not have the right to put me into a fifteen-part sequence about your company's mission statement and your founder's favorite podcasts. That is a different purpose, and it requires a separate lawful basis.

Corn: But in the United States, the rules are much looser, aren't they? We have the C A N S P A M Act, but that feels like it belongs to a different era of the internet.

Herman: It really does. The C A N S P A M Act is incredibly weak compared to international standards. It is essentially an opt-out system rather than an opt-in system. You can basically email anyone until they tell you to stop, as long as you provide a way to opt out and you do not use deceptive subject lines. But even in the States, the California Consumer Privacy Act and the newer California Privacy Rights Act are moving the needle. They give consumers the right to opt out of the sale or sharing of their personal information, and they require companies to be much more transparent about what they are doing with that data.

Corn: So, if I am a company in twenty-twenty-six, and I am running these aggressive sequences, I am essentially playing a high-stakes game of regulatory chicken.

Herman: You are. And it is not just about the emails themselves; it is about the data storage. Daniel mentioned this, and it is a huge point. Under the General Data Protection Regulation, there is a principle called data minimization. You should only keep the data you need for the purpose you collected it for. If your trial ends and you do not buy the product, how long can a company justify keeping your email on their marketing server?

Corn: I imagine most companies just keep it forever. They see it as an asset on their balance sheet.

Herman: They do, but that is a massive compliance risk. They confuse unsubscribing with deletion. If I unsubscribe from your newsletter, you can still have me in your database as an unsubscribed contact so you know not to email me again. But if I exercise my right to erasure—the right to be forgotten—you have to wipe me out entirely. Most of these automated marketing platforms, like HubSpot or Klaviyo, make that distinction, but the average business owner often fails to manage it correctly. In twenty-twenty-six, regulators are starting to move down the food chain. They are not just going after Google and Meta; they are looking at mid-sized companies that are failing to honor these deletion requests.

Corn: It feels like there is a fundamental disconnect between the way marketers think about leads and the way people think about their digital lives. To a marketer, a lead is an asset to be squeezed for value. To a person, an email address is a private channel that is being encroached upon. Do you think we are reaching a breaking point where the return on investment for these drip campaigns will actually start to go negative because of the brand damage?

Herman: I think we are already there for the most savvy segments of the market. There is a growing movement in the tech world toward what people are calling calm marketing. It is the idea that you do not need to scream at your customers to get their attention. You provide value, you stay out of the way, and you make it easy for them to find you when they are ready. If I see a company using those high-pressure, countdown-timer, fifteen-email sequences, I immediately associate them with low-quality, high-churn products. It becomes a signal of desperation rather than authority.

Corn: That is a fascinating way to look at it. The cadence itself becomes a brand signal. If you are confident in your product, you do not need to haunt my inbox. But what about the businesses that say, look, this is just how the internet works now? If we do not send these emails, our competitors will, and they will stay top-of-mind while we are forgotten.

Herman: That is the classic prisoner's dilemma of digital marketing. Everyone does it because everyone else is doing it. But the technical environment is changing the rules of the game. We are seeing the rise of AI-powered personal assistants that act as a gatekeeper for your inbox. Imagine an agent that reads every incoming email and says, this is part of a marketing sequence that Corn did not explicitly ask for, and it contains no new information, so I will just archive it and unsubscribe him automatically.

Corn: I would pay good money for that service. In fact, I think some of the new AI-integrated mail clients are already doing a version of this.

Herman: They are. Tools like Shortwave and the new versions of Outlook and Gmail are using on-device AI to categorize and summarize. If your fifteen-part sequence gets summarized into a single bullet point that says, Company X is still trying to sell you a toaster, the entire psychological impact of the drip campaign is neutralized. The marketer's weapon—the sequence—is being met by the user's shield—the AI filter.

Corn: This brings us back to a really deep philosophical point that Daniel touched on. The right to be left alone. You mentioned earlier that this concept goes way back.

Herman: It does. It is one of my favorite pieces of legal history. In eighteen ninety, two lawyers named Samuel Warren and Louis Brandeis wrote an article for the Harvard Law Review titled The Right to Privacy. They were reacting to the intrusive technology of their time—the portable camera and the rise of tabloid journalism. They argued that the law should protect the individual's right to an inviolate personality. They said that as society becomes more complex, the individual needs more protection from the prying eyes and the constant noise of the world.

Corn: Eighteen ninety. And here we are in twenty-twenty-six, fighting the same battle against a different technology. The portable camera has been replaced by the automated email server and the tracking pixel. But the core issue is the same: the feeling that our private space, our mental space, is being invaded for someone else's profit.

Herman: That is the heart of it. And the discourse now is moving toward the idea that our attention is a finite, precious resource. These companies are essentially trying to strip-mine our attention. The pushback isn't just about privacy in the sense of keeping secrets; it is about the right to peace and quiet in our digital lives.

Corn: So, if we look ahead, what does the future of this look like? Daniel wants to know if there is hope. Do you think we will see even stricter legislation? Or will the technology of the inbox evolve to the point where these sequences just never reach us?

Herman: I think it will be a combination of three things. First, the AI gatekeepers we talked about will become standard. The ROI on generic, automated sequences will plummet because nobody will actually see them. This will force marketers to move toward permission marketing, a term coined by Seth Godin decades ago. You will only get emails you have explicitly and enthusiastically asked for.

Corn: Second?

Herman: Second, the legal situation will continue to harden. We are seeing the emergence of the Data Act in Europe and similar movements in other jurisdictions that treat data not just as something to be protected, but as something that must be portable and easily erasable. The cost of non-compliance will become so high that small and medium businesses will stop using these aggressive tactics out of fear.

Corn: And the third?

Herman: The third is a social shift. We are already seeing a premium being placed on privacy and calm. Brands that respect your boundaries will become the luxury brands of the future. Privacy will be a feature, not a bug. If a company says, we will never email you unless it is about an order you placed, that becomes a powerful selling point.

Corn: I like that. It is like the digital version of a no-soliciting sign on your front door. But for the listeners who are frustrated right now, what are the practical takeaways? Daniel is sitting there with an inbox full of sequences. What should he do?

Herman: First, be more aggressive with the spam button. In twenty-twenty-six, the spam button is your most powerful tool. It doesn't just hide the email from you; it sends a signal to the providers that the sender is a nuisance. If a company makes it hard to unsubscribe, do not waste time looking for the link. Just hit spam. Second, use the right to be forgotten. If you are done with a service, send a formal request for data deletion. Most companies now have an automated way to do this in their privacy settings. It is a bit of a scorched-earth approach, but it is the only way to ensure your data isn't sitting in a vulnerable database somewhere.

Corn: And what about the contact forms? If Daniel just wants to ask a question without getting the sequence?

Herman: Use a masked email address. Whether it is through Apple, Firefox Relay, or DuckDuckGo. Give them a unique address for that one inquiry. If they start sending you a marketing sequence, you can just kill that specific address without affecting your main inbox. It is about taking back control of the gateway.

Corn: It feels like we are moving toward a more adversarial relationship with these marketing systems, where we have to use our own automation to fight theirs. It is an arms race.

Herman: It is, Corn. But the goal of the race should be to return to a place where digital communication is respectful and meaningful again. We want to get back to a world where an email from a business is actually something you might want to read, rather than something you have to defend yourself against.

Corn: That sounds like a much better version of the internet. It is funny, we started this talking about privacy, but it is really about the quality of our digital environment. Just like we have laws against physical littering, we are starting to realize we need better rules against digital littering.

Herman: That is a perfect analogy. Drip campaigns are the digital equivalent of those flyers people tuck under your windshield wipers. They are cheap to produce, mostly ignored, and they end up cluttering our digital space. We just haven't quite decided as a society that they should be illegal yet, but the cultural tide is turning.

Corn: I think Daniel's prompt really highlights a shift in the zeitgeist. People are tired. And when people get tired, they start looking for ways to change the system. Whether that is through new laws or new technology, the era of the endless, uninvited cadence is hopefully nearing its end.

Herman: I hope you are right, Corn. My inbox certainly hopes you are right. I spent twenty minutes this morning just unsubscribing from things I never signed up for. It is a tax on our time that we never agreed to pay.

Corn: Well, I think we have covered a lot of ground here. From the psychology of the marketer to the legalities of the General Data Protection Regulation, and the technical defenses we can use. It is a complex issue, but it really comes down to that one simple idea from eighteen ninety: the right to be left alone.

Herman: Right. And I think it is important for businesses to realize that privacy isn't just a legal hurdle; it is a competitive advantage. If you are the one company that doesn't spam me, you are the one company I am going to trust when I actually need to buy something. Trust is the currency of the future, and you do not build trust by haunting someone's inbox.

Corn: That is a great point to end on. If you can be the calm in the storm of everyone else's marketing, you will stand out far more than the person shouting the loudest.

Herman: Precisely.

Corn: Well, this has been a really enlightening discussion. I think we have given Daniel a lot to think about, and hopefully our listeners as well. If you have been enjoying the show, we would really appreciate it if you could leave us a review on your favorite podcast app. It really helps other people discover the show and join these conversations.

Herman: It genuinely does help. And if you want to reach out to us with your own thoughts or a prompt of your own, you can find us at my weird prompts dot com. There is a contact form there—and I promise, we won't add you to a fifteen-part drip campaign if you use it. We practice what we preach.

Corn: We definitely won't. You can also email us directly at show at my weird prompts dot com. We are available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and pretty much everywhere else you listen to your favorite shows.

Herman: Thanks for joining us today in our Jerusalem living room. This has been My Weird Prompts.

Corn: Until next time, keep your inboxes clean and your data private. Goodbye!

Herman: Goodbye!