Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

How to get every email returned

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 78 posts

Re: How to get every email returned

#11

Post by Animats »

gnicholas wrote: post #8
Animats wrote: post #6

Sometimes it's a technical problem. Right now, for some reason, I can't get transactional emails from Doordash, Fastrak, or EZFacility. If I ask any of those sites for a password reset, the email never shows up. I had to drop Doordash and switch to Grubhub. My email goes to my web site, hosted by HostGator. There's no filtering there; it's just forwarded to my ISP, into an IMAP box. There's spam filtering at that poi…

Interestingly, we just discovered a sendgrid problem today. Messages sent via our web form never arrive. Wonder if this is related? If you have any details of your experience that I can share with sendgrid, hit me at this username at gmail. I'll likely be talking with them soon...

Done.

Re: How to get every email returned

#12

Post by hirsin »

gnicholas wrote: post #7
lisper wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've found this to be more effective: "I sent you this three days ago but haven't received a reply. Did you get it?" It's very rare not to get a response to that. On those rare occasions I wait a week and then just say, "Hello?" (on top of a copy of all the previous correspondence of course). I can't remember the last time that has failed to elicit some kind of response. Most of the time it's "Sorry for the long dela…

That seems overly aggressive to me. Unless I absolutely had to, I would not respond to either of those follow ups. Are these internal or external emails? I could see how it might be more appropriate with internal recipients.

For internal, as long as the sender was in the right, I'd be suitably ashamed. I try to keep inbox zero (after dozens of filters), so it means I've really messed up to get those mails (or had bad filters).

But yeah - if they're being out of line to begin with (and are ignoring my previous mails implying they should use appropriate channels) or external folks that are asking for special dispensations, yeah, that will get you less helpful responses, not more.

Re: How to get every email returned

#13

Post by js2 »

gnicholas wrote: post #2

I've found a couple things to be useful: * If there's a question for the person to answer, make sure it is the very last sentence in the email. That way when the person finishes reading the email and is deciding whether to ignore/archive or reply, they're more likely to reply. If possible, make the question yes/no instead of long answer. For example: "Is now a good time to move forward?" versus "How does this sound t…

On your last point, you might be interested in reading Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It.

The author would advise you to ask a negative question in your email such as "have you given up on this project?" People don't like to say no and it often motivates a reply.

https://blog.blackswanltd.com/the-edge/3-ways-to-make-no-wor...

Re: How to get every email returned

#14

Post by CaliforniaKarl »

Animats wrote: post #10
CaliforniaKarl wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One minor point: Emails to alumni.stanford.edu addresses are handled independently from (and outside of) other Stanford mail infrastructure. Looking at the MX records right now, it looks like they're using Google for mail processing (which would include their spam filtering). (For non-Stanford people: Assuming you graduate and don't come back in some other capacity, your @stanford.edu mailbox stops working, becomes f…

I have an address on "cs.stanford.edu", from decades ago. I'm surprised that it's still turned on. Probably dates from when I was a visiting scholar in the 1990s and CS was a much smaller department.

Could be! For some time after graduation, I used to have an account on Ohio State's undergrad (Solaris) CS system. I was in the `guest` group, for a reason I didn't really understand (my degree was a CS&E degree). Since then they've switched to using OSU's central password auth, so I doubt it works anymore.

But it could also be that someone wants to keep your account active!

Re: How to get every email returned

#15

Post by Arkanosis »

lisper wrote: post #4
JadeNB wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> * If you've been following up with someone for a while, start off an email with "I wanted to follow up with you on this one last time ". This reminds the person that you've emailed several times before (and perhaps makes them feel guilty for not replying sooner) and lets them know the ball is completely in their court. I have found this to be very useful in kick-starting leads that went stale. It depends on in how…

I've found this to be more effective: "I sent you this three days ago but haven't received a reply. Did you get it?" It's very rare not to get a response to that. On those rare occasions I wait a week and then just say, "Hello?" (on top of a copy of all the previous correspondence of course). I can't remember the last time that has failed to elicit some kind of response. Most of the time it's "Sorry for the long dela…

Unless I've very strong incentives to answer, I usually put people who dare sending me an email with only “Hello?” or “ping” in it in my “least urgency queue”, if not directly in my spam folder.

Re: How to get every email returned

#16

Post by la_barba »

Arkanosis wrote: post #15
lisper wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've found this to be more effective: "I sent you this three days ago but haven't received a reply. Did you get it?" It's very rare not to get a response to that. On those rare occasions I wait a week and then just say, "Hello?" (on top of a copy of all the previous correspondence of course). I can't remember the last time that has failed to elicit some kind of response. Most of the time it's "Sorry for the long dela…

Unless I've very strong incentives to answer, I usually put people who dare sending me an email with only “Hello?” or “ping” in it in my “least urgency queue”, if not directly in my spam folder.

If you had good reasons to ignore their previous emails you should let them know.

Re: How to get every email returned

#17

Post by scarejunba »

lisper wrote: post #4
JadeNB wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> * If you've been following up with someone for a while, start off an email with "I wanted to follow up with you on this one last time ". This reminds the person that you've emailed several times before (and perhaps makes them feel guilty for not replying sooner) and lets them know the ball is completely in their court. I have found this to be very useful in kick-starting leads that went stale. It depends on in how…

I've found this to be more effective: "I sent you this three days ago but haven't received a reply. Did you get it?" It's very rare not to get a response to that. On those rare occasions I wait a week and then just say, "Hello?" (on top of a copy of all the previous correspondence of course). I can't remember the last time that has failed to elicit some kind of response. Most of the time it's "Sorry for the long dela…

That usually means the other guy is using the relationship management software that mass mails and waits for leads.

Re: How to get every email returned

#18

Post by quickthrower2 »

js2 wrote: post #13
gnicholas wrote: post #2

I've found a couple things to be useful: * If there's a question for the person to answer, make sure it is the very last sentence in the email. That way when the person finishes reading the email and is deciding whether to ignore/archive or reply, they're more likely to reply. If possible, make the question yes/no instead of long answer. For example: "Is now a good time to move forward?" versus "How does this sound t…

On your last point, you might be interested in reading Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It . The author would advise you to ask a negative question in your email such as "have you given up on this project?" People don't like to say no and it often motivates a reply. https://blog.blackswanltd.com/the-edge/3-ways-to-make-no-wor...

Depends on the person. We're not all sheep, and I'd see through that and think "Fuck You". I might right click the email and select "create filter out of this..."

The problem with any systematic of getting someone's attention is that is is impersonal by nature (not tailored to the person).

As audiences get more sophisticated and used to technology, the sender needs to get more sophisticated.

In the early days of internet marketing there was this figure called "The Rich Jerk" who would sell a lot of stuff by insulting his prospects. "I'm smart and your dumb" "I is winner, you is loser" type of thing.

I doubt that would work so well nowadays, infact the same guy made a comeback with a more "I'll help you step by step" attitude. "I'm a changed man" ha ha!. Good marketing indeed.

But if he stuck to the Jerk approach when the world had got more sophisticated and spam-intolerant no one would probably be interested in that.

Re: How to get every email returned

#19

Post by ygrtil »

la_barba wrote: post #16
Arkanosis wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless I've very strong incentives to answer, I usually put people who dare sending me an email with only “Hello?” or “ping” in it in my “least urgency queue”, if not directly in my spam folder.

If you had good reasons to ignore their previous emails you should let them know.

The sender has forced themselves into my life, and I'm expected to spend my time to tell them that they're unwelcome?

Re: How to get every email returned

#20

Post by hombre_fatal »

Animats wrote: post #10
CaliforniaKarl wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One minor point: Emails to alumni.stanford.edu addresses are handled independently from (and outside of) other Stanford mail infrastructure. Looking at the MX records right now, it looks like they're using Google for mail processing (which would include their spam filtering). (For non-Stanford people: Assuming you graduate and don't come back in some other capacity, your @stanford.edu mailbox stops working, becomes f…

I have an address on "cs.stanford.edu", from decades ago. I'm surprised that it's still turned on. Probably dates from when I was a visiting scholar in the 1990s and CS was a much smaller department.

My university cut access to my email account the second I graduated. Which I thought was pretty ridiculous considering 4 years of correspondence I had on it.
Post reply on HN