Stop Using noreply
ryanhoover.me
Stop Using noreply
1–10 of 36 posts
Re: Stop Using noreply
#2The post talks about sending personal emails. While that may be possible for smaller companies it doesn't really scale. At some point a company will have to use more automated email.
However, I think that you should really consider whether email is an acceptable means of supporting customers/users. If it is, why not have Reply-To: support@example.com?
It has happened on several occasions that I have questions regarding an incoming email, but it's sent from noreply (with no Reply-To) so I can't respond directly. Instead I have to look for an email address or a form on their website, requiring a long detour.
Re: Stop Using noreply
#3My initial response was, "What about companies that send email to hundreds of thousands of recipients? Surely they can't always handle such a flood of direct replies." But if you don't have the resources to handle so many replies, then you probably shouldn't be sending email blasts to that many people in the first place.
Re: Stop Using noreply
#4"I replied and we shared a short conversation where I learned the meaning behind the name Quibb. Fun. :) And she does this for all new users. Bravo, Sandi! As Sandi has demonstrated, the Internet doesn’t have to be faceless. We need to stop communicating with robots."
This idea doesn't scale very well. If you're a struggling little company that's trying to hold on to a handful of users (Quibb is currently "invite-only" [1]), it might be feasible. But a company that already has enough users to be successful can't afford to hire all the people it would take to personally interact with every user. Imagine how many people Facebook would need to hire to personally thank every new user for opening a Facebook account (in the hundreds of languages that Facebook users around the world speak).
Re: Stop Using noreply
#5I love that Sandi does this. However, it doesn't scale. I signed up on the 18th when her blog post about it hit HN. I didn't get a personal email from her but I had the expectation to after reading the post. :/
I'm trying to figure out how to make this type of thing scale beyond your first 100 customers, and I've come up with a few thoughts.
1. Don't create that expectation of a personal connection. This is the most common thing you see at large companies. I don't think this is a good way to do it.
2. Hire someone as the face of the company -- the community manager probably, and send a mix of automated and personal mail from them. But make them the face of the company. This is something I'm responsible for now. And it still has limits.
3. Randomly assign a contact person within the company for every signup. And automate the insertion of their signature in every email. This however has issues with turnover, and the voice of the emails.
So far, I think what works best is automated (but specific) emails from me, the CEO. And then introductions to the rest of the team for problem resolution.
I'd love to hear what others think works best.
Re: Stop Using noreply
#6Well, yes. If your email is sent such that you welcome replies, you don't use noreply@example.com.
Re: Stop Using noreply
#7I think this message is geared toward startups. But it's not explicit. It's a good point for startups to try to increase the understanding of their customers. But obviously is not relevant for companies with much larger reach.
Re: Stop Using noreply
#8I love that Sandi does this. However, it doesn't scale. I signed up on the 18th when her blog post about it hit HN. I didn't get a personal email from her but I had the expectation to after reading the post. :/ I'm trying to figure out how to make this type of thing scale beyond your first 100 customers, and I've come up with a few thoughts. 1. Don't create that expectation of a personal connection. This is the most…
Even if the reply-to just dumps responses into a customer support queue, that's better than 90% of mass mail is doing.
Separately, I think it's great if you can have all of your employees involved in the support and outreach process, but that's a cultural thing and thus a bit harder than changing a mail header.
Re: Stop Using noreply
#9"I replied and we shared a short conversation where I learned the meaning behind the name Quibb. Fun. :) And she does this for all new users. Bravo, Sandi! As Sandi has demonstrated, the Internet doesn’t have to be faceless. We need to stop communicating with robots." This idea doesn't scale very well. If you're a struggling little company that's trying to hold on to a handful of users (Quibb is currently "invite-onl…
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Re: Stop Using noreply
#10This is useful in some situations but a large amount of transactional email doesn't and shouldn't have replies made to it. As with almost all advice that you find in blog posts, it works in one situation but is presented as an answer to every situation. Instead of arguing in the comments about whether or not this would work for your company for every email, try and suggest places where this would be useful.