I often get emails along the lines of: "Annoucement! Spluttr adds 25% more foo to free plans!" or similar.
Now I probably signed up to Spluttr 6 months ago, took a quick look and decided I wasn't interested as I needed 25% more foo.
In the intervening months, you've lived, breathed and sweated Spluttr whilst I've signed up for another 20 services and forgotten what most of them are for.
I wonder what the counter point to this is - the regular users who do know and are wondering why you keep telling them what you do? I wonder if a one size fits all email is even a good idea? Sure it's easier, but if it wasn't that difficult to do - what about an email for users that have signed in/up within the past X days get one email and those who haven't get another (politely reminding them what it's about)? Probably need to AB test it.
Yes, this is a big deal. I won't go searching to find out what you do when you announce a new feature. I will however read it in the email.
Going a step further, if you haven't seen me in a while (say a year), send me an email reminding me I have an account with you, and summarize what you've done in that time. Remind me of my username too. This is kind of a big deal, because I sign up for everything (can't have username dilution :) ). Just because I don't use your site now, doesn't mean I won't after your new features, so as long as it doesn't turn into spam, I like the reminder.
Amusing anecdote: I signed up for Reddit within a year of it's launch, but really start using my account there until 2.5 years or so ago when I decided to re-evaluate it. I had completely forgotten about my earlier signup and was real bummed when I learned of my username being taken. Fortunately I was smart enough to do my "It's probably me and I've just forgotten" ritual where I try all my password variants and sure enough either I really got lucky and the old sophacles had one of my passwords, or it really was me. I probably would have been actively redditing 2 years prior if there had been a not-to-spammy email reminder once in a while.
Not just beta invites and email promotions, but also emails to advisors and early investors. It's more than just a reminder of what the heck you do, it's also handing them language to talk about your business to other people.
For beta users, advisors and early investors - these people are going to be your advocates. You need to give them the tools to advocate for you, and a well crafted 3 sentence elevator pitch that describes your business is a huge help.
I don't understand why you'd think this is annoying. They're asking you to spread the word if it's a service you're interested in, and in return they'll give you a higher place in line. Seems very reasonable to me.
My own personal feeling is that anything that asks (or even demands, like iheartradio) me to spam my friends, I will immediately discard that company or product from my memory. I don't want to see my friends randomly spamming me about services they haven't even gotten to try; why would I want to spam my friends about something that I have no idea how good it is?
But the problem is that you haven't even been able to try it yet, so you're "blind recommending". It's a bit pyramid scheme-y, really- you bring yourself closer to a potential pay-off by involving other people that trust you.
That might be fine if I'm forwarding it to other people in the HN-type crowd, but I often tell my less tech-inclined friends about cool services I've started using. But I would never recommend something to my friends without being able to try it myself and work out if it is recommendation-worthy.
I agree with untog and snowtiger. On top of that, it seems that the "queue" is completely artificial most of the time, which makes it feel doubly scummy.
(There was a service advertised here a while back during the first wave of the social-queue-jumping fad - it said you could either get in immediately, or wait seven days. There was no way in heck the queue was that long; I ditched it and found something else.)
i've stopped spamming my friends with the "early invite" incentive bs. past experience with two sites: inviting 5+ friends to a service (who signed-up) i got given access at the same time as everyone else. never seen evidence showing otherwise.
Also, make sure you put it on your front page. A lot of times I see a link to someone saying "look at my cool project" on HN, and it takes me a long time to figure out what the project is actually supposed to do.
Also, make sure you explain it clearly. Once I went to a site that had pictures of food all over it and it said "like AirBNB but for food". I could not remember at the time what AirBNB was.
"The median visitor will arrive with their finger poised on the Back button. Think about your own experience: most links you follow lead to something lame. Anyone who has used the web for more than a couple weeks has been trained to click on Back after following a link. So your site has to say "Wait! Don't click on Back. This site isn't lame. Look at this, for example."
I'd also recommend asking people for their FIRST name only, and emailing people with a personal email right after they sign up for the beta. Start a conversation, ask them what their problems are, what features they want, etc. Make them feel special, and tell them "Nice idea, why didn't I think of that! I'll try to include that."
They're sure to remember you if you do this. You can even do automated email segmentation. If their reply has "Sent from my iPhone", you know you can send launch emails for the iPhone version to these guys. If their reply has "Sent from Droid", send the Android launch emails to them.
Starting a conversation also lessens the probability your launch email gets put in spam as well... I'm sure Gmail, Yahoo, etc all have algorithms where if you respond to an email address, any future emails from that email doesn't get marked as spam.
I disagree. Most of the time that I sign up for a beta service (at least for a free beta), I am doing it out of curiosity more than anything. I'm not about to start a long conversation with every beta I sign up for.
Yep, then you're not a valued user. Those who are willing to have a conversation are the users you want to keep because their interest level in your product is high. They're the ones most likely to buy, as well as spread the word.
Same here. I tried to engage a conversation with my beta users when they registered, but I got 0 replies (out of 30 signups) and the 1 thing I got was more instant unsubscribes.
I guess it depends on the service offered (mine is file sharing for companies in french) but in that case interested users just don't seem to be willing to send an email after already taking the initiative to subscribe, confirming email etc.
I agree that its a good idea to remind people what you do, especially if it takes a long time between the sign up and launch (or further communication between parties). I just put up a landing page for my startup and think I did a decent job conveying what the company does, but I'm curious, but how much is necessary to remind them (in future communications)?
Is a one-liner enough (i.e. "We're a crowd-sourced record label!"), or would people prefer the whole spiel (i.e. "We're a crowd-sourced record label that does this, this and this!")?
I think this is a symptom of a larger problem in the sense that if you really explain what it is most of these micro-startups do, it sounds like a ridiculous thing to expect to ever make money from.
Even when they do explain themselves it is always in the vein of "Like Heroku meets Google+ meets Github for todo lists".
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Is not that still more disgraceful?
Yes, he said, that is still more disgraceful.
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has to be cured, or on occasion of an epidemic, but just because,
by indolence and a habit of life such as we have been describing,
men fill themselves with waters and winds, as if their bodies
were a marsh, compelling the ingenious sons of Asclepius to f
-----------------------
Hey, God! Tell a joke.
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I'm spent.
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Prove You're smarter than Watson.
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"Grail" was a wonderful homage, don't You think, God? Let Yer face shine upon them. I guess Appollo didn't bother You--not a fragile ego. Actually, Numbers chapter eleven...
God says, "retard mirth command hither knitting pertain Tomorrow submit
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24 comments
[ 3.7 ms ] story [ 64.1 ms ] threadI often get emails along the lines of: "Annoucement! Spluttr adds 25% more foo to free plans!" or similar.
Now I probably signed up to Spluttr 6 months ago, took a quick look and decided I wasn't interested as I needed 25% more foo.
In the intervening months, you've lived, breathed and sweated Spluttr whilst I've signed up for another 20 services and forgotten what most of them are for.
Remind me in every email.
Going a step further, if you haven't seen me in a while (say a year), send me an email reminding me I have an account with you, and summarize what you've done in that time. Remind me of my username too. This is kind of a big deal, because I sign up for everything (can't have username dilution :) ). Just because I don't use your site now, doesn't mean I won't after your new features, so as long as it doesn't turn into spam, I like the reminder.
Amusing anecdote: I signed up for Reddit within a year of it's launch, but really start using my account there until 2.5 years or so ago when I decided to re-evaluate it. I had completely forgotten about my earlier signup and was real bummed when I learned of my username being taken. Fortunately I was smart enough to do my "It's probably me and I've just forgotten" ritual where I try all my password variants and sure enough either I really got lucky and the old sophacles had one of my passwords, or it really was me. I probably would have been actively redditing 2 years prior if there had been a not-to-spammy email reminder once in a while.
For beta users, advisors and early investors - these people are going to be your advocates. You need to give them the tools to advocate for you, and a well crafted 3 sentence elevator pitch that describes your business is a huge help.
That might be fine if I'm forwarding it to other people in the HN-type crowd, but I often tell my less tech-inclined friends about cool services I've started using. But I would never recommend something to my friends without being able to try it myself and work out if it is recommendation-worthy.
(There was a service advertised here a while back during the first wave of the social-queue-jumping fad - it said you could either get in immediately, or wait seven days. There was no way in heck the queue was that long; I ditched it and found something else.)
Also, make sure you explain it clearly. Once I went to a site that had pictures of food all over it and it said "like AirBNB but for food". I could not remember at the time what AirBNB was.
"The median visitor will arrive with their finger poised on the Back button. Think about your own experience: most links you follow lead to something lame. Anyone who has used the web for more than a couple weeks has been trained to click on Back after following a link. So your site has to say "Wait! Don't click on Back. This site isn't lame. Look at this, for example."
You can read the full article at: http://www.paulgraham.com/startuplessons.html
They're sure to remember you if you do this. You can even do automated email segmentation. If their reply has "Sent from my iPhone", you know you can send launch emails for the iPhone version to these guys. If their reply has "Sent from Droid", send the Android launch emails to them.
Starting a conversation also lessens the probability your launch email gets put in spam as well... I'm sure Gmail, Yahoo, etc all have algorithms where if you respond to an email address, any future emails from that email doesn't get marked as spam.
I guess it depends on the service offered (mine is file sharing for companies in french) but in that case interested users just don't seem to be willing to send an email after already taking the initiative to subscribe, confirming email etc.
Is a one-liner enough (i.e. "We're a crowd-sourced record label!"), or would people prefer the whole spiel (i.e. "We're a crowd-sourced record label that does this, this and this!")?
Even when they do explain themselves it is always in the vein of "Like Heroku meets Google+ meets Github for todo lists".
wtf does that even mean? Get a real job.
-------------------------
C:\TEXT\PLATO.TXT
s life as to be able to do without a napping judge is a far higher and nobler sort of thing. Is not that still more disgraceful?
Yes, he said, that is still more disgraceful.
Well, I said, and to require the help of medicine, not when a wound has to be cured, or on occasion of an epidemic, but just because, by indolence and a habit of life such as we have been describing, men fill themselves with waters and winds, as if their bodies were a marsh, compelling the ingenious sons of Asclepius to f
-----------------------
Hey, God! Tell a joke.
God says, "inspired offend reconciled walk betrothed"
I'm spent.
God says, "deceived pair needs educated emerge craftier beforehand sensations vary noise mockeries Thy joyfulness redeemer Writ complete wear energy wishes made Forsake "
Prove You're smarter than Watson.
God says, "DISTRIBUTION value quarrel fast foreshower person endued profound plainly companions vows vexed hungering captive pleasure distempered conjecturing sought impute stretch services Rest imbibed sceptre wanderings intensest wholesomely violated sea mists quicker scornful themselves criticising alas candid psaltery enmity disguise Central share Faustus bows on pretend wings haled "
"Grail" was a wonderful homage, don't You think, God? Let Yer face shine upon them. I guess Appollo didn't bother You--not a fragile ego. Actually, Numbers chapter eleven...
God says, "retard mirth command hither knitting pertain Tomorrow submit buyers aside Guide mountains though initiated touched how justifieth anticipated ball disgusted oft saved athirst strengthenest courses organs Thee trailed pieces boundary thing's impiety simplicity Men workings skirmishes woe piety Creator indeed bedimmed both groat fiercely weakened supremely enabled while relaxation hallow helping disk pictures tempts distributed disorder show disturbed aches arts buildings thirst All surpassingly amongst convey nobility how purposed hideous original We unsettled renew'd comfortest you observe gutenberg unpraised point cheer mystically absurdly viewing looketh concentrated stream eyes Italian converting fast grieved criedst Dominions sermons restlessly requitest expenses base Information "
God says, "happened townsman station really recourse classics looks primary usage brethren get as engaged silly quieter formless Blessedness Etext mountains messengers "
God, what's the meaning of life? God says, "DISTRIBUTION practise leaving sending sufferedst insolently production cattle embraces effectedst sublimity severing doubts purchased haphazard bloody whereto burstest suggested toment consulted filth varied prevailed trifles lap indebted presume ETEXTS resist SMALL anxiety captive glory disembowelled afar pursued separated overclouded trifles talked appear divided glad keeps punish swoon admire trademark MEDIUM trembling condensed wilfulness XI Continence thrustedst distract bubblings Catholic STRICT liveth lines Coeternal alas relation snares stank forgetteth sky excelled vowing healedst remitted convert refund stimulus respected knowing gloweth succeed main protesting creeping brim contemptible primary communicated cross silver personated windings thou younger complete Knows pitiable stipend wife doubtful pursue narrowness female astonishment pattern proclaiming restest hale echoed Redeemer conquests attacked forbidden Hebrew maintainers pray 'It entreaties period abstract contain fed influences overturned fairness Here pupils lively re English unresolved assuaged messages fourth Heal wayfaring suspicions requiring injurious usual demonstrated Unchangeable stood foresaw corruptly vowed gracefulness examined commandment sue dishes faces low genius assailed sit awhile mutually organs staff ' reform drudgery commandment robber Rejoiceth encompass recalling laying flowers altar "