5 ms·

How do I talk to users if nobody responds to my emails

8 points by newbierails 7y ago

My recently launched website has quite a bit of users but very few active users. So, I emailed all my customers asking about how we could improve the app but nobody responded. How do I collect feedback from my users if nobody responds to my emails? Is there any alternative ways to talk to my users?

Kirtimehrotra 7y ago
Call them?
yesenadam 7y ago
Maybe if you shared the text of the email you're sending, HN users could constructively criticize/make improvements. And how few is 'very few'? Also, maybe it would fit the criteria for Show HN, if you didn't do that already.
- mooreds 7y ago
  Yes, what are you saying to your users? How are you asking for their time? How many of these users have you tried to contact?
- newbierails 7y ago
  Subject: How can we better improve to suit your needs? Hey, We notice that you have signed up to our app but are not very active on our site. So, we would like to know what we have been doing wrong and how we can improve the app so as to deliver you a better value proposition. Currently, we have added a few courses for you to check out so give your honest review of them too. Our site: https://enrole.herokuapp.com https://enrole.herokuapp.com. We appreciate any criticism. So feel free to share them so that we can improve our app. Thank You
  - newbierails 7y ago
    This was the text of my email
- newbierails 7y ago
  Yeah, I have considered a show HN post but I want to post there once my app is a little bit more polished. As for active users, we have around 12-18 (changes every day) people visiting our site and around 125 people signed up. Im not sure how many people who visited the site go past the front page though.
CyberFonic 7y ago
Not clear about how you distinguish between "users" and "active users"? If by "users" you mean people who have signed-up, i.e. provided an email address, then how do you know they are real persons and not some sort of robot, or hackers trying to exploit your site? As @yesenadam suggests, perhaps you could promote your site on Show HN and then you might get some relevant feedback.
- newbierails 7y ago
  Users are people who have signed up to my app. As for active users I just use google analytics to show me how many site visitors I have each day. Im not sure how many of these people actually use the app instead of just visiting the landing page though. Also,I am going to do a show HN soon after I polish up my app a bit
muzani 7y ago
I often respond to those emails, and get redirected to some customer service. So I've stopped responding to them. It feels like an automated process where some founder contacts you 7 days after you stop using an app, and often these emails can get a little whiny. What's worked for me is forums and chat. If you're advertising your product on a forum, see what people say. Chat rooms integrated on a site are a great place to just lurk and passively get feedback. There was one game I played where the chat was so active it would move off the screen in half a second. But it was filled with user sentiment and feedback.
- newbierails 7y ago
  Hey sorry for the late reply. I haven't checked Hacker News in a while. You are right about forums and chat. I created my own discord server after I made this post and now a few of my new users have started to give feedback. My only problem now is I don't know how to talk with my old users since they don't reply to my emails and are not aware of the discord server I created
sethammons 7y ago
Pop up on the site asking if they would be open to talking about their experience might work for active users and new sign ups. Email or SMS (maybe voice) for inactive. For email, what is your open and click rates? What subject and content are you sending?
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
Qxf2Services 7y ago
You can try the following things : You could try using forms/surveys and also you could try out sending periodic newsletters about the latest happenings related to your business line. Keep a catchy subject line. Use bulleted points instead of paragraphs in the email. Keep a personal touch in the content like use their first or last name in the greeting, sign off with your name instead of the website team May be you could provide a really good reason why people should reply to you than just saying plainly the feedback - make them feel they are reason for your growth.
- newbierails 7y ago
  As for newsletters, I tried implementing that but I just got emails from people asking me to remove them from our mailing list. It felt so bad to disappoint a customer. But maybe I could add an in-app survey or just ask people in my discord server to answer them.
newbierails 7y ago
Thank you all for your suggestions. I finally fixed my problem. I set up a discord for me to chat with my users and linked it in my landing page. Only a few of my users have joined it but they give valuable feedback so it seems to work. Im thinking of maybe creating a subreddit too where our users can chat with each other and critique my app.

8 points by newbierails 7y ago

Kirtimehrotra 7y ago

Call them?

yesenadam 7y ago

Maybe if you shared the text of the email you're sending, HN users could constructively criticize/make improvements. And how few is 'very few'? Also, maybe it would fit the criteria for Show HN, if you didn't do that already.

mooreds 7y ago
Yes, what are you saying to your users? How are you asking for their time? How many of these users have you tried to contact?
newbierails 7y ago
Subject: How can we better improve to suit your needs? Hey, We notice that you have signed up to our app but are not very active on our site. So, we would like to know what we have been doing wrong and how we can improve the app so as to deliver you a better value proposition. Currently, we have added a few courses for you to check out so give your honest review of them too. Our site: https://enrole.herokuapp.com https://enrole.herokuapp.com. We appreciate any criticism. So feel free to share them so that we can improve our app. Thank You
- newbierails 7y ago
  This was the text of my email
newbierails 7y ago
Yeah, I have considered a show HN post but I want to post there once my app is a little bit more polished. As for active users, we have around 12-18 (changes every day) people visiting our site and around 125 people signed up. Im not sure how many people who visited the site go past the front page though.

CyberFonic 7y ago

Not clear about how you distinguish between "users" and "active users"? If by "users" you mean people who have signed-up, i.e. provided an email address, then how do you know they are real persons and not some sort of robot, or hackers trying to exploit your site? As @yesenadam suggests, perhaps you could promote your site on Show HN and then you might get some relevant feedback.

newbierails 7y ago
Users are people who have signed up to my app. As for active users I just use google analytics to show me how many site visitors I have each day. Im not sure how many of these people actually use the app instead of just visiting the landing page though. Also,I am going to do a show HN soon after I polish up my app a bit

muzani 7y ago

I often respond to those emails, and get redirected to some customer service. So I've stopped responding to them. It feels like an automated process where some founder contacts you 7 days after you stop using an app, and often these emails can get a little whiny. What's worked for me is forums and chat. If you're advertising your product on a forum, see what people say. Chat rooms integrated on a site are a great place to just lurk and passively get feedback. There was one game I played where the chat was so active it would move off the screen in half a second. But it was filled with user sentiment and feedback.

newbierails 7y ago
Hey sorry for the late reply. I haven't checked Hacker News in a while. You are right about forums and chat. I created my own discord server after I made this post and now a few of my new users have started to give feedback. My only problem now is I don't know how to talk with my old users since they don't reply to my emails and are not aware of the discord server I created

sethammons 7y ago

Pop up on the site asking if they would be open to talking about their experience might work for active users and new sign ups. Email or SMS (maybe voice) for inactive. For email, what is your open and click rates? What subject and content are you sending?

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

Qxf2Services 7y ago

You can try the following things : You could try using forms/surveys and also you could try out sending periodic newsletters about the latest happenings related to your business line. Keep a catchy subject line. Use bulleted points instead of paragraphs in the email. Keep a personal touch in the content like use their first or last name in the greeting, sign off with your name instead of the website team May be you could provide a really good reason why people should reply to you than just saying plainly the feedback - make them feel they are reason for your growth.

newbierails 7y ago
As for newsletters, I tried implementing that but I just got emails from people asking me to remove them from our mailing list. It felt so bad to disappoint a customer. But maybe I could add an in-app survey or just ask people in my discord server to answer them.

newbierails 7y ago

Thank you all for your suggestions. I finally fixed my problem. I set up a discord for me to chat with my users and linked it in my landing page. Only a few of my users have joined it but they give valuable feedback so it seems to work. Im thinking of maybe creating a subreddit too where our users can chat with each other and critique my app.