3 ms·

Did you try not requiring sign ups to respond? Invitees should be able to click yes or no and automatically create an account for them.

unfasten 15y ago
I had a similar thought as well, except no automatic sign up. What if the sent email had a reply-to address specific to the event? In the event invite email you could have a short message that tells the person can just reply to the email with a 'Yes/No/Maybe' in the subject and any thoughts or questions in the body. The service would then show the appropriate response on Julie's event. 'Maybe' responses would be marked somehow to show they need manual review and Julie would be able to see the the response text from the email and easily set the status for that person. To help make it simpler, for people that don't change the subject you could default to a 'maybe/review' response or try language processing on the response text. Combine this with your idea of including links in the email for a quick response and I think it could work.
- nickbaum 15y ago
  Being able to interact with the app without signing app is something we've wanted to do. We chose to get it out the door first so we have a larger user base to learn from, but hopefully we'll get to it soon. Great suggestion!
  - dodo53 15y ago
    From my experience of facebook - I'd say aggregating or having the choice of aggregating all the email would be really nice. So instead of a So-and-so is doing X, would you like to join them? You could have - Your friends are planning the following things this week/later this month. Reply with subject X to join in.
    - mvkel 15y ago
      We do this -- a digest email of sorts. It's very handy. Still requires the user to have a friends list, though.
      - dodo53 15y ago
        Cool. I guess I should sign up before suggesting stuff :o)
- mvkel 15y ago
  Also, "maybe" is an awful response that no RSVP app should have. 99% of "maybe" responses are people who feel guilty about saying "no"
mvkel 15y ago
Yes, we did a "token" approach where a non-user could RSVP via yes/no links in the email. Unfortunately, the problem is further up the chain -- the event host needs to know sign ups AREN'T required before they even start making an event. It's more than just a/b testing some "warning" language, too.
- bricestacey 15y ago
  I think you're right. Even places that allow you to invite/interact with non-registered users - I usually don't. I don't know their email so I'd have to look it up. Even if it interfaced with gmail to pull my contacts, I definitely wouldn't trust it. Nor would I necessarily trust the service enough to expose my friend's email in the first place.
  - mvkel 15y ago
    The problem is even more higher up than "trust," as it's the simple fact that at this point, you're well beyond the convenience of email/fb message. Why would a person go to the trouble of filling out everything on WhereBerry, connect their Gmail, connect their Facebook, go through both lists, etc.? The only thing WhereBerry has done is introduce an extra step without adding any incentive to do so. The event host is still getting the same information that they would if they posted on their FB wall, or shot an email out. I hate beating up on WhereBerry, but this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to figuring out this problem. We went well beyond these first steps and still didn't figure it out.

unfasten 15y ago

I had a similar thought as well, except no automatic sign up. What if the sent email had a reply-to address specific to the event? In the event invite email you could have a short message that tells the person can just reply to the email with a 'Yes/No/Maybe' in the subject and any thoughts or questions in the body. The service would then show the appropriate response on Julie's event. 'Maybe' responses would be marked somehow to show they need manual review and Julie would be able to see the the response text from the email and easily set the status for that person. To help make it simpler, for people that don't change the subject you could default to a 'maybe/review' response or try language processing on the response text. Combine this with your idea of including links in the email for a quick response and I think it could work.

nickbaum 15y ago
Being able to interact with the app without signing app is something we've wanted to do. We chose to get it out the door first so we have a larger user base to learn from, but hopefully we'll get to it soon. Great suggestion!
- dodo53 15y ago
  From my experience of facebook - I'd say aggregating or having the choice of aggregating all the email would be really nice. So instead of a So-and-so is doing X, would you like to join them? You could have - Your friends are planning the following things this week/later this month. Reply with subject X to join in.
  - mvkel 15y ago
    We do this -- a digest email of sorts. It's very handy. Still requires the user to have a friends list, though.
    - dodo53 15y ago
      Cool. I guess I should sign up before suggesting stuff :o)
mvkel 15y ago
Also, "maybe" is an awful response that no RSVP app should have. 99% of "maybe" responses are people who feel guilty about saying "no"

mvkel 15y ago

Yes, we did a "token" approach where a non-user could RSVP via yes/no links in the email. Unfortunately, the problem is further up the chain -- the event host needs to know sign ups AREN'T required before they even start making an event. It's more than just a/b testing some "warning" language, too.

bricestacey 15y ago
I think you're right. Even places that allow you to invite/interact with non-registered users - I usually don't. I don't know their email so I'd have to look it up. Even if it interfaced with gmail to pull my contacts, I definitely wouldn't trust it. Nor would I necessarily trust the service enough to expose my friend's email in the first place.
- mvkel 15y ago
  The problem is even more higher up than "trust," as it's the simple fact that at this point, you're well beyond the convenience of email/fb message. Why would a person go to the trouble of filling out everything on WhereBerry, connect their Gmail, connect their Facebook, go through both lists, etc.? The only thing WhereBerry has done is introduce an extra step without adding any incentive to do so. The event host is still getting the same information that they would if they posted on their FB wall, or shot an email out. I hate beating up on WhereBerry, but this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to figuring out this problem. We went well beyond these first steps and still didn't figure it out.