Drowning in Email? Consider a Paywall
The deluge of daily email at work has become such a mundane part of professional life that it's no longer fun to complain about. Try bringing it up with a colleague and they'll barely hear you, so immersed are they in trying to obliterate an endless stream of spam.
The problem will only get worse as marketers use ChatGPT to draft emails, allowing them to send even more bumf you have no intention to read. Microsoft Corp. and Salesforce Inc. are not helping matters by plugging ChatGPT into their email tools, making spray-and-pray email campaigns easier to carry out.
There is an answer for the desperate: a paywall.
Just as publishers like Bloomberg and newsletter writers have increasingly charged for online entry, so too can individuals who want to be more in control of their inbox, provided they don't mind the discomfort of bringing money into a social exchange.
Five months ago, Dan Landau, a marketing executive at a venture capital firm, started using a tool called Gated on his Gmail. Now anyone not on his contact whitelist gets this message:
“Hi! I use Gated to reduce noise in my inbox and benefit charity. I don't recognize your email, so you'll need to take one quick step to reach me:If we don't know each other, make a small donation to support my nonprofit, Doctors Without Borders. If we know each other personally, bypass the donation by verifying here.”
About 5% of email senders verify that they know Landau, and only about 1% make the necessary $2 donation to Doctors Without Borders. Why the infinitesimal figure? Most likely because so many of Landau's emails were coming from automated systems. Now all of that goes into a folder that he checks once a day. “I love it,” he says.
Jim McKelvey, the billionaire co-founder of
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