5 ms·

Increasing User Engagement in Emails

76 points by estromberg 15y ago

timjahn 15y ago
Everybody I've talked to feels that faded overlays (#5 on this list) are super annoying from a user experience perspective. And I agree. Everybody I've talked to says their data shows faded overlays are VERY effective at increasing email subscriber signups. And I agree based on my data. Weird, isn't it? Heh.
- estromberg 15y ago
  Same. It seems possible explanations are that 1) It is the vocal minority that are annoyed by these or 2) While perhaps effective once for capturing an email address, if you did a longitudinal study you'd find it results in less engagement over time (I remember reading somewhere that slow webpage speeds don't effect engagement during a given session, but rather cause people to not come back over time).
  - patio11 15y ago
    #2 not substantiated by evidence. Sorry, specifics NDAed.
- smackfu 15y ago
  I bet there is a significant portion of inexperienced users who are annoyed by those and then fill in their emails just to get it out of the way.
- sneak 15y ago
  If the average user was sparked to initiative by their annoyance, we wouldn't have the DMV.
  - timjahn 15y ago
    So, so true.
- joshuahedlund 15y ago
  I'm curious to know if faded overlays increase bounce rate. I suppose if overall conversion rates are higher it can't affect things too much.
- petercooper 15y ago
  Sort of, but it's a selection bias at both ends. Almost everyone I talk to on a regular basis uses OS X or Linux and isn't a fan of Microsoft. Yet Windows 7 is still the most popular operating system out there. I suspect the people you like to talk to are mostly informed, intelligent people who find UI gimmicks a pain in the butt. Yet the majority of people are not like that, so the real world statistics play out differently. If I had to guess :-)
AznHisoka 15y ago
I may be completely off-base but has anyone tried emails with NO images vs emails with images, and see what the difference is? Whenever I get an email from a company initially, I see blank images, especially on top of the fold, and in the body. That turns me off, so I just delete the email, or glance over it and delete it... It's just plain ugly. However, if I am able to start reading the content right away, that gives me a chance to click through. Now, of course some emails need images, like Groupon. But I'm talking about unnecessary stuff like your huge logo.. I don't need to see that in every single email you send.
- aslewofmice 15y ago
  A good email template would utilize alt tags and have as much plain text as possible without relying solely on images for the content of the email.
TylerE 15y ago
Rule 0: If you want my eyeballs, don't stealth subscribe me to anything. Just because I bought one widget from you does _not_ mean I want to start getting recurring e-mails from you. Violate this, even once, and you've lost my business.
- jilebedev 15y ago
  Hmm, this is an interesting business opportunity. I feel the same, but let me prod it further. I suspect the core problem isn't that you're emailing me - it's that you're doing so out of a focus on you, not me. Hear me out: when I go through the email-signup hullabaloo on a website, it's usually because I really want something from there. It's probably a one time thing, and I'll likely forget about your site and brand momentarily after I receive the object of my attention. When you email me two weeks down the road with some "exciting features" or "website overhaul" or "biweekly coleslaw update of random things on your website" -- I still don't care about you or your website, and now you've annoyed me like a dinner party guest that blabs on about themselves after everyone's body language has made it clear they're not listening or caring. What I do still slightly care about is the problem you've helped me solve two weeks ago. I imagine a neat way to engage me would be: "Hey, you downloaded these Visio stencils from our website, but check it out - we've just updated our stencils library with these slightly older pieces of equipment. If you've got something old kicking around, it's worth to have a look, instead of drawing it yourself: link. Oh, and by the way, if you want a template and some advice on modelling a building, check out this(link) post on our forums. UsernameXYZ has worked in several large corporations and has modelled enterprise-scale networks. 801 of our users thought it was good advice - it's probably worth a read!" There is a reason people sign up for service to use it once, and that ought to be cleverly exploited to increase their engagement. The clever bit needn't be unscalable either - the majority of one-time users likely fit into several common scenarios (log in to download something, log in to post something, etc) and it wouldn't be hard to come up with a set of custom messages, each tailored for the particular scenario. That wouldn't cover every one-time use, but I imagine it'd be a fair stab at it. Do you think this would be a good way to engage you, or would it still fall into the "annoying -> immediately delete from inbox" category?
  - 15y ago
gradschool 15y ago
I don't know how practical this is, but I'd be impressed as all get-out with any company that sends marketing emails to which replies are individually read and answered knowledgeably in case I want to follow up something in them. An autogenerated reply that I should "simply" visit their web page seems to imply that they consider their time more valuable than mine. Is this another case where they've done the math and concluded that it would be too labor intensive for them to do the right thing, or are people in corporate marketing departments genuinely unaware of the impression they're making? I'd be grateful to anyone on HN in a position to satisfy my curiosity about this question.

76 points by estromberg 15y ago

Everybody I've talked to feels that faded overlays (#5 on this list) are super annoying from a user experience perspective. And I agree. Everybody I've talked to says their data shows faded overlays are VERY effective at increasing email subscriber signups. And I agree based on my data. Weird, isn't it? Heh.

estromberg 15y ago
Same. It seems possible explanations are that 1) It is the vocal minority that are annoyed by these or 2) While perhaps effective once for capturing an email address, if you did a longitudinal study you'd find it results in less engagement over time (I remember reading somewhere that slow webpage speeds don't effect engagement during a given session, but rather cause people to not come back over time).
- patio11 15y ago
  #2 not substantiated by evidence. Sorry, specifics NDAed.
smackfu 15y ago
I bet there is a significant portion of inexperienced users who are annoyed by those and then fill in their emails just to get it out of the way.
sneak 15y ago
If the average user was sparked to initiative by their annoyance, we wouldn't have the DMV.
- timjahn 15y ago
  So, so true.
joshuahedlund 15y ago
I'm curious to know if faded overlays increase bounce rate. I suppose if overall conversion rates are higher it can't affect things too much.
petercooper 15y ago
Sort of, but it's a selection bias at both ends. Almost everyone I talk to on a regular basis uses OS X or Linux and isn't a fan of Microsoft. Yet Windows 7 is still the most popular operating system out there. I suspect the people you like to talk to are mostly informed, intelligent people who find UI gimmicks a pain in the butt. Yet the majority of people are not like that, so the real world statistics play out differently. If I had to guess :-)

AznHisoka 15y ago

I may be completely off-base but has anyone tried emails with NO images vs emails with images, and see what the difference is? Whenever I get an email from a company initially, I see blank images, especially on top of the fold, and in the body. That turns me off, so I just delete the email, or glance over it and delete it... It's just plain ugly. However, if I am able to start reading the content right away, that gives me a chance to click through. Now, of course some emails need images, like Groupon. But I'm talking about unnecessary stuff like your huge logo.. I don't need to see that in every single email you send.

aslewofmice 15y ago
A good email template would utilize alt tags and have as much plain text as possible without relying solely on images for the content of the email.

TylerE 15y ago

Rule 0: If you want my eyeballs, don't stealth subscribe me to anything. Just because I bought one widget from you does _not_ mean I want to start getting recurring e-mails from you. Violate this, even once, and you've lost my business.

jilebedev 15y ago
Hmm, this is an interesting business opportunity. I feel the same, but let me prod it further. I suspect the core problem isn't that you're emailing me - it's that you're doing so out of a focus on you, not me. Hear me out: when I go through the email-signup hullabaloo on a website, it's usually because I really want something from there. It's probably a one time thing, and I'll likely forget about your site and brand momentarily after I receive the object of my attention. When you email me two weeks down the road with some "exciting features" or "website overhaul" or "biweekly coleslaw update of random things on your website" -- I still don't care about you or your website, and now you've annoyed me like a dinner party guest that blabs on about themselves after everyone's body language has made it clear they're not listening or caring. What I do still slightly care about is the problem you've helped me solve two weeks ago. I imagine a neat way to engage me would be: "Hey, you downloaded these Visio stencils from our website, but check it out - we've just updated our stencils library with these slightly older pieces of equipment. If you've got something old kicking around, it's worth to have a look, instead of drawing it yourself: link. Oh, and by the way, if you want a template and some advice on modelling a building, check out this(link) post on our forums. UsernameXYZ has worked in several large corporations and has modelled enterprise-scale networks. 801 of our users thought it was good advice - it's probably worth a read!" There is a reason people sign up for service to use it once, and that ought to be cleverly exploited to increase their engagement. The clever bit needn't be unscalable either - the majority of one-time users likely fit into several common scenarios (log in to download something, log in to post something, etc) and it wouldn't be hard to come up with a set of custom messages, each tailored for the particular scenario. That wouldn't cover every one-time use, but I imagine it'd be a fair stab at it. Do you think this would be a good way to engage you, or would it still fall into the "annoying -> immediately delete from inbox" category?
- 15y ago

gradschool 15y ago

I don't know how practical this is, but I'd be impressed as all get-out with any company that sends marketing emails to which replies are individually read and answered knowledgeably in case I want to follow up something in them. An autogenerated reply that I should "simply" visit their web page seems to imply that they consider their time more valuable than mine. Is this another case where they've done the math and concluded that it would be too labor intensive for them to do the right thing, or are people in corporate marketing departments genuinely unaware of the impression they're making? I'd be grateful to anyone on HN in a position to satisfy my curiosity about this question.