Akron Almost everyone signs up for the newsletter and then never opens the preference center. That is a shame, because the default email is a general interest email, and the tuned one is closer to a personal assistant who knows you hate networking events and love the Falls.
Get there from the subscribe page, or from the link at the bottom of any email we send you. Here is what each control does and which ones are worth your time.
The two that matter most
- Keyword alerts. Type a word, press enter. Anything with that word in it comes to you, and this is the one control that jumps the queue: a keyword match reaches your email even when it does not fit your categories, your price cap or your distance. That is how you catch a specific band, a book club, a run, a food truck you like. There is a match title only switch if a broad word is dragging in too much.
- Favorite venues and organizations. Read the direction on this one carefully, because people get it backwards. Leaving it empty means all of them. Adding two venues does not mean those two get priority, it means your email is now only those two. It is a narrowing tool, and a good one, but use it when you genuinely want a short list rather than as a way to say you like a place.
Then the shaping controls
- Categories. Start with All Events and fine tune from there. Same logic as the site filters: cutting two categories you never attend does more good than picking three you like.
- Which days. If you only go out on weekends, say so. The email stops spending its space on Tuesday.
- Location. Set a zip and a distance. This is the difference between an email you skim and an email where every item is drivable.
- Price and age. Cap the price if free and cheap is the point. The age setting does one job, which is keeping the email to all ages events. Use it if you are planning around kids.
Delivery
Set the frequency, how far ahead you want to look, and which day it lands. Most people are best served by one email that arrives Thursday and covers the weekend. If you plan further out than that, widen the window and take it less often.
A rule of thumb
If two emails in a row have nothing in them you would go to, the problem is the settings, not the calendar. Go back in, add a couple of keywords for things you actually care about, and cut a category. It is a five minute fix and it usually works.
Unsubscribing is one click and we are not going to make it hard. I would rather you tune it than leave, but I would rather you leave than sit there deleting us every week.