5 ms·

People send the best welcome emails, not robots

22 points by sandimac 14y ago

laacz 14y ago
I don't see how this would scale. Would you consider creating a human responder position in company and multiplying it as product grows? This actually works only if you have handful of signups. Or am I wrong?
- sandimac 14y ago
  Thanks, forgot to say something about that. I meant to add that this is the best way to learn about your product at the beginning, and aren't yet focusing on scaling. I edited the post to clarify. Thanks for reading!
icebraining 14y ago
So, why not have robots send casually written emails sent at random times using Gmail's SMTP servers?
- sandimac 14y ago
  Yeah, you could - but I still don't think it's authentic :) Actually sending the emails myself also allows me to add small things on the fly - for example, I'll sign my name '-Sandi (fellow Canadian!)' if I've noticed that the person is from Canada.
  - skinnymuch 14y ago
    Complex on the fly calculations would probably not be worth it, but simple stuff like content generation based on seeing where the person is from would be easy to automate. Though you and others may still enjoy personally sending emails and that's fine.
- seiji 14y ago
  Then you end up with the Twilio's "peoplebot sending you email pretending to be from a live person in response to in-progress correspondence" spam. It usually involves too many exclamation marks (even one is too many in business communication) to appear super extra casual.
joshmlewis 14y ago
I'm not sure about the using your personal email bit. I know when I see yourname@startup.com that that's pretty intimate for the most part and is enough to convince me that it's a real person. Also I would think you'd want to remain aligned with the company name and things pertaining to as well so using your personal email account may come across as a little odd for people. Other than that I agree that personal welcome emails are a small but powerful tool.
- sandimac 14y ago
  It depends on the product. Coming directly from myname@gmail.com makes sense for Quibb, but I could see yourname@startup.com working in some other cases.
  - joshmlewis 14y ago
    Yes, good point.
karpathy 14y ago
To be honest, at least for me, the best welcome email is no email at all. It clutters my inbox and I really don't crave the feeling of being your very much appreciated customer. It usually annoys me more than it helps. If I have a problem and contact you, then your personal and prompt response is an entirely different matter. Then it is appreciated.
- wilfra 14y ago
  I think most people probably don't agree with this and certainly no welcome email is worse from a marketing standpoint. Given that you are sending a welcome email, a personalized one is clearly better than a robot generated one, if you can make the time for it.
- sandimac 14y ago
  Yes, I understand your point. For some (maybe in your case, all?) products, it can be annoying. But with early-stage products, that first touch-point is critical, and I believe that you want to make your message as authentic as possible. If you've got a working, post PM-fit product, I think you'd be using a whole different set of tactics.
- Lambdanaut 14y ago
  I like a confirmation email to let me know that my signup to their service really did go swimmingly, but I don't care whether it's by a robot or a human, because I don't read them. The email title "You successfully signed up for Facebook!" gets the point of the message through well enough.
Sidnicious 14y ago
My favorite part is that you guarantee that anyone who joins gets a real, working email address for questions and suggestions. I wish more companies sent every (even automated) email with a working mailbox to reply to. Just out of curiosity, have you tried sending automatic welcome messages with your email address to reply to and the same open-ended request for questions and comments?
- sandimac 14y ago
  No, I haven't tried any auto messages yet. Good point re: working email address. That situation has come up a few times - the person didn't reply to my initial welcome email, but remembered that they had received it, and replied to that email when they had a question later on.
duck 14y ago
I did this a lot when starting Hacker Newsletter (http://hackernewsletter.com http://hackernewsletter.com) and it seemed to always have a positive response and in a couple cases lead to more (like twitter mentions, reviews, etc.). If you want to do this, your friend is Rapportive, as it can quickly give you a starting point when tailoring your email and/or help you decide who to email.
- sandimac 14y ago
  Yes, Rapportive is very helpful! One problem I've notice with Rapportive fyi - the info is a bit off/conflicting if the person has ever changed their twitter handle (rare, but it does happen).

22 points by sandimac 14y ago

laacz 14y ago

I don't see how this would scale. Would you consider creating a human responder position in company and multiplying it as product grows? This actually works only if you have handful of signups. Or am I wrong?

sandimac 14y ago
Thanks, forgot to say something about that. I meant to add that this is the best way to learn about your product at the beginning, and aren't yet focusing on scaling. I edited the post to clarify. Thanks for reading!

icebraining 14y ago

So, why not have robots send casually written emails sent at random times using Gmail's SMTP servers?

sandimac 14y ago
Yeah, you could - but I still don't think it's authentic :) Actually sending the emails myself also allows me to add small things on the fly - for example, I'll sign my name '-Sandi (fellow Canadian!)' if I've noticed that the person is from Canada.
- skinnymuch 14y ago
  Complex on the fly calculations would probably not be worth it, but simple stuff like content generation based on seeing where the person is from would be easy to automate. Though you and others may still enjoy personally sending emails and that's fine.
seiji 14y ago
Then you end up with the Twilio's "peoplebot sending you email pretending to be from a live person in response to in-progress correspondence" spam. It usually involves too many exclamation marks (even one is too many in business communication) to appear super extra casual.

joshmlewis 14y ago

I'm not sure about the using your personal email bit. I know when I see yourname@startup.com that that's pretty intimate for the most part and is enough to convince me that it's a real person. Also I would think you'd want to remain aligned with the company name and things pertaining to as well so using your personal email account may come across as a little odd for people. Other than that I agree that personal welcome emails are a small but powerful tool.

sandimac 14y ago
It depends on the product. Coming directly from myname@gmail.com makes sense for Quibb, but I could see yourname@startup.com working in some other cases.
- joshmlewis 14y ago
  Yes, good point.

karpathy 14y ago

To be honest, at least for me, the best welcome email is no email at all. It clutters my inbox and I really don't crave the feeling of being your very much appreciated customer. It usually annoys me more than it helps. If I have a problem and contact you, then your personal and prompt response is an entirely different matter. Then it is appreciated.

wilfra 14y ago
I think most people probably don't agree with this and certainly no welcome email is worse from a marketing standpoint. Given that you are sending a welcome email, a personalized one is clearly better than a robot generated one, if you can make the time for it.
sandimac 14y ago
Yes, I understand your point. For some (maybe in your case, all?) products, it can be annoying. But with early-stage products, that first touch-point is critical, and I believe that you want to make your message as authentic as possible. If you've got a working, post PM-fit product, I think you'd be using a whole different set of tactics.
Lambdanaut 14y ago
I like a confirmation email to let me know that my signup to their service really did go swimmingly, but I don't care whether it's by a robot or a human, because I don't read them. The email title "You successfully signed up for Facebook!" gets the point of the message through well enough.

Sidnicious 14y ago

My favorite part is that you guarantee that anyone who joins gets a real, working email address for questions and suggestions. I wish more companies sent every (even automated) email with a working mailbox to reply to. Just out of curiosity, have you tried sending automatic welcome messages with your email address to reply to and the same open-ended request for questions and comments?

sandimac 14y ago
No, I haven't tried any auto messages yet. Good point re: working email address. That situation has come up a few times - the person didn't reply to my initial welcome email, but remembered that they had received it, and replied to that email when they had a question later on.

duck 14y ago

I did this a lot when starting Hacker Newsletter (http://hackernewsletter.com http://hackernewsletter.com) and it seemed to always have a positive response and in a couple cases lead to more (like twitter mentions, reviews, etc.). If you want to do this, your friend is Rapportive, as it can quickly give you a starting point when tailoring your email and/or help you decide who to email.

sandimac 14y ago
Yes, Rapportive is very helpful! One problem I've notice with Rapportive fyi - the info is a bit off/conflicting if the person has ever changed their twitter handle (rare, but it does happen).