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Lessons learned from onboarding emails with no HTML styling

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Re: Lessons learned from onboarding emails with no HTML styling

#71

Post by mottosso »

diarrhea wrote: post #50
petercooper wrote: post #41

These emails are minimally styled HTML emails rather than "plain text" (in the original email text/plain sense). If there are links using normal text (rather than just autolinked URLs) or a logo, it's HTML – so deliverability or privacy arguments based around being "plain text" don't entirely hold up. Now, do I think there are accessibility and privacy benefits to be had by sending truly plain text email? Absolutely.…

In an ideal world, I would like to write plain Markdown and send an email off like that, with conversion to HTML happening in the background. A suitable Thunderbird addon for this [1] seems abandoned. Formatting HTML is a real struggle for me in Thunderbird's WYSIWYG editor. On the other hand, using plain-text lacks in readability (lists, short links instead of full URLs, headers, quotes, ...). [1]: https://addons.th…

I've been using "Markdown Here" for the past few years and live in this ideal world already. It's great, you should come visit. :)

Re: Lessons learned from onboarding emails with no HTML styling

#72

Post by wtracy »

tgb wrote: post #24
qwerty_123 wrote: post #5

I caution the use of emoji, I've seen so many stack overflow job posts with memey use of emojis and it just makes me cringe and I find it hard to take the company seriously.

Why can't I just disable emoji in email subjects in gmail? I'd definitely like to.

If settle for just being able to disable animated emoji in the subject line.

(I was shocked the first time I got spam that started playing animations before I opened it.)

Re: Lessons learned from onboarding emails with no HTML styling

#73

Post by jonshariat »

bonoboTP wrote: post #54

I really hate these cheesy lines that are "excellent" according to the article, like: - "You had enough fluff marketing content and so did we. So the absofreakinlutely BEST thing you could do right now..." - "Writing this from my couch at home, hoping to find you safe and well at yours. It's been a busy summer! I wanted to share more about out 2.9 release..." No, just no. Leave me alone, we aren't friends, you did no…

None of our opinions matter though. We are not the target market usually. If the change in tone drives more business then it works.

Now you could make the argument that ethically this mimicry (I like that term you used) is morally wrong.

Its interesting because when you go to a coffee shop and they act friendly and helpful we like it and dont think about if they genuinely are our friends.

I think if the tone is paired with overall user friendly practices by the company (for example not charging me at the end of a free trial) then the tone is appreciated.

Re: Lessons learned from onboarding emails with no HTML styling

#74

Post by dvtrn »

xapata wrote: post #66
bonoboTP wrote: post #54

I really hate these cheesy lines that are "excellent" according to the article, like: - "You had enough fluff marketing content and so did we. So the absofreakinlutely BEST thing you could do right now..." - "Writing this from my couch at home, hoping to find you safe and well at yours. It's been a busy summer! I wanted to share more about out 2.9 release..." No, just no. Leave me alone, we aren't friends, you did no…

That's American business culture. You are expected to be fake happy.

I fight this fake happiness with every fiber of my being by being polite, professional and genuinely happy when something actually makes me happy. Otherwise perfectly content being perfectly content :)

Faking it as another person said is exhausting and draining and I ain't got time for that.

These opinions are my own and do not represent those of my employer, the bottled water industry, and certainly not the cat sitting behind me.

Re: Lessons learned from onboarding emails with no HTML styling

#75

Post by homero »

sp332 wrote: post #2

Good points in here, but I disagree about using a person's name as the From address. If I'm getting an email from Notion, I want it to show up as "From: Notion" in my inbox, not "From: Ivan". I have several companies that do this and I never know who the email is from, which adds some cognitive friction I don't need when triaging my inbox. You can put your name in the subject line if you want.

I despise people names, takes me forever to figure out who it is. I feel tricked into spending time reading into the email to figure it out.

Re: Lessons learned from onboarding emails with no HTML styling

#76

Post by wtracy »

coldpie wrote: post #39
tux3 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the introduction you give new people. Welcome them "on board".

"New potential customers," I guess. I'm familiar with onboarding as a term for what you do to new hires and was quite confused by this article until I figured out it's about marketing emails.

It's primarily used in the context of reaching out to users who just signed up for a service.

After they're signed up/subscribed, you send an "onboarding" email with general information on how to get started using the service, and encouraging them to do things that affect whatever KPIs your boss cares about.

They can be genuinely helpful for tools that have a steep learning curve, either by serving as an entry point into the documentation or by providing contact information for support.

Otherwise, at best they serve as a reminder in case you get distracted before you finish setting up your account.

Re: Lessons learned from onboarding emails with no HTML styling

#77

Post by jrochkind1 »

> It’s flattering to receive a direct message from a co-founder, it also gives the impression of commitment from the very roots of the company.

Really? Most people don't realize that the email can be configured to appear to be from anyone and the co-founder was not actually personally involved in sending it to you? Or is the suggestion it has a psychological effect despite knowing it's kind of artificial? Could be. Always just strikes me as kind of fake and manipulative, but i may not be typical.

Now, if I replied, and got a personalized response from the co-founder, that might see like flattering commitment. Until/unless I found out it wasn't from the cofounder at all , just someone signing their name.

Re: Lessons learned from onboarding emails with no HTML styling

#78

Post by purerandomness »

bonoboTP wrote: post #54

I really hate these cheesy lines that are "excellent" according to the article, like: - "You had enough fluff marketing content and so did we. So the absofreakinlutely BEST thing you could do right now..." - "Writing this from my couch at home, hoping to find you safe and well at yours. It's been a busy summer! I wanted to share more about out 2.9 release..." No, just no. Leave me alone, we aren't friends, you did no…

Could you give a counter example of a well written, successful mass mail in your eyes that you loved to read?

Re: Lessons learned from onboarding emails with no HTML styling

#79

Post by wtracy »

sp332 wrote: post #2

Good points in here, but I disagree about using a person's name as the From address. If I'm getting an email from Notion, I want it to show up as "From: Notion" in my inbox, not "From: Ivan". I have several companies that do this and I never know who the email is from, which adds some cognitive friction I don't need when triaging my inbox. You can put your name in the subject line if you want.

I personally strongly agree, but I want to point out that HN is not a remotely representative sample of email users.

Study marketing a bit, and you'll find loads of things that email power users loathe that still get an overall very positive response from the general public.

Know your userbase. Cater to them, not some random people on the internet with strong opinions.

Re: Lessons learned from onboarding emails with no HTML styling

#80

Post by bonoboTP »

xapata wrote: post #66
bonoboTP wrote: post #54

I really hate these cheesy lines that are "excellent" according to the article, like: - "You had enough fluff marketing content and so did we. So the absofreakinlutely BEST thing you could do right now..." - "Writing this from my couch at home, hoping to find you safe and well at yours. It's been a busy summer! I wanted to share more about out 2.9 release..." No, just no. Leave me alone, we aren't friends, you did no…

That's American business culture. You are expected to be fake happy.

While friendliness and happiness can be positive, I think in sales it's often emotional warfare, for example with door-to-door sales. A vacuum cleaner salesman will try to manufacture a personal connection with strategic taps on the shoulder, asking about the kids/grandkids and the spouse, but ultimately this is so that rejection becomes emotionally difficult for the untrained and unprepared customer.

I see these emails the same way as I see cheesy, slimy door-to-door vacuum cleaner salespeople.

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