Don't have an account? To participate in discussions consider signing
up or signing in
| Sign-up, its free! | Close [x] |
Benefits
|
| Sign-up, its free! | Close [x] |
Benefits
|
Yesterday we did a little experiment. I sent out a private message to everyone asking a few personal questions about themselves. With thousands of members within our network, I can't even tell you what my inbox looks like and how long it will take for me to sift through all the messages. However, it did prove one point, personal messages are more efficient than newsletters, contests, blogs, or anything else we have tried.
This question comes up frequently during seminars. Everyone has their own opinion and their own stats that they relay on. Some even have a "hot product" they sell that they promise to do the trick. Unfortunately, we all know that there is no magic, and nothing works forever. At Fab40 internally we go back and forth on what works and what does not, simply because when you bombard your members with constant messages it becomes annoying and they opt out of the subscription. This leads us to another question.
After polling our members a few months ago we found out that aside from time constrains, women of our demographic tend to forget to login on the site unless they get some kind of notice. Newsletters can end up in spam, private messages on on-going terms can be annoying. So what is the answer to this puzzle?
I've decided to open this up for discussion and to ask for your personal opinion. You can post your answers below, or you can private message or email me. Your answers are always valuable, you are the community, we want to do what works for you.
Any suggestion that will be implemented will earn you 100 points and a prize.
I don’t mind PM’s but when they become chain PM’s yes it is a bother because they never seem to end someone is always sending it to you thinking their the first one to send it to you when you’ve already received it and sent it over and over again so in my opinion yes it is a little annoying after a while. Thanks Yana!
Neicy!
www.walkinginhislight.ning.com
"When I look in the mirror, I want to see the reflection of Christ in me." D. Richardson
I also found that all of the messages in my inbox to be a difficult thing to respond to all of them.
Keeping members happy will be difficult because you cannot please everyone.
My suggestion is to have a daily post or comment generated or sent by whomever is in charge of morale! Other groups have a person who daily checks in w/ members, just to let them know that they are not lost among all of the other new members or more popular ones. There are some members who love to blog & post questions repeatedly until others are discouraged from doing so. Is there such a person as a morale offficer? Just someone to check in on members, maybe not everyday but often to keep in touch with them.
Good luck. These are my opinions, Maria
The more anger towards the past you carry in your heart, the less capable you are of loving in the present. —Barbara De Angelis
I only answered the one yesterday because it came from you, Yana
I’ve always deleted the others.
Let me think on this and I will try to give some helpful input.
Not store candles, YOUR candles!
Normally I don’t do chains, either, but only participated because it came from Yana. I don’t have a problem with PMs. I think they are a good way for you to keep members informed, Yana. I think the only problem was the chain message ended up becoming too much. Chains get too confusing and get out of control too easily.
Maybe we need to have a “Special Announcement” or “Official Site Business” header in PMs that come from Yana. Something to make the PM stand out separately from just a social message.
MB
)O(
http://www.starbringergallery.com/
“We all come from the Goddess and to Her we shall return like a drop of rain flowing to the ocean.”—Z. Budapest
“‘If God is male, then the male is god.’ . . . if our only images of the sacred are male . . . inevitably women will be devalued.”—Starhawk quoting Mary Daly
I didn’t have much issue with yesterday’s, although I prefer to read everyone’s responses. Then again, as I mentioned elsewhere, some people are very private and I would not have heard from them if it wasn’t for the PM. However:
I don’t like getting PMs from someone telling me to read their blog if it is just a blog. This one is different in that you are actually looking to improve the site. That’s and exception and OK with me.
I’m not interested in being solicited for someone’s business through PM.
I think PMs are good in that I’ve seen members appear who haven’t been here for a while. I think the PM reminds people the site exists if they have been away.
Suggestion - PM special announcements about the sight, e.g., new formats, new featured columnists, etc.
Suggestion - Offer a feature to opt out of messages which are sent to more than x people (whatever number x represents).
Those are my two ideas for now.
Annie
________________________
http://annlustig.myarbonne.com/
I don’t mind the PM’s either. I’m not big on chain letters, but this one had a good purpose, getting to know things about one another. I am fairly new to the site, so I am interested to know as much about the other members as possible.
Thanks, I’m loving the site.
I came back to this site after not being here for a while because I got a note for...something. I can’t remember what it was about!
What I’ve done is put a shortcut to this site in my toolbar for Firefox as I’ve done with my other important sites. I also created my own homepage or start page. When I open my browswer, I don’t go to Yahoo or MSNBC. I go to my own personal homepage that I created in notepad. Everything I need is right there. I rarely use bookmarks anymore because if I know I want to return to a place, I either edit that homepage to include that link or put it in my tool bar
I don’t mind personal messages if they are truly personal (to me), but I don’t want to get a “personal” message every day that is the same message that is sent out to everyone - to me that is not personal. I would prefer a forum or bulletin board that has questions or new ideas pertaining to the site.
I like Berndette’s idea also and maybe you can combine it with my first suggestion.
________________________
http://annlustig.myarbonne.com/
Personally for me, like Yana said in the above post, I don’t log in very often especially when I am busy and have a lot do. I belong to several networking sites so trying to keep up with all of them can be overwhelming if you have to log into all of them everyday to respond to a PM. One of the networks sends out a newsletter type email with new tips for networking and other ideas to help out the members with their business savvy. I like to recieve it since I do go through my emails everyday and I don’t have to go sign in somewhere to get the latest tips. All of the members can post on it, and respond to the tips making it more convenient than having to respond separately to everyones PM.
Lori
[Link Removed]
I don’t really mind the personal messages even if it’s sent to everyone. But the chain letters i hate to say i usually just delete. I also agree with Annie123 that solicitations should have there own place.
Carmen
I like it when you can sign up for daily or weekly posts/updates. With the amount of business e-mail I receive, I much prefer to skim updates at one time. When they come once a day or weekly, I tend to read the comments. When they arrive several times a day, I delete.
However, I do not see how you can please everyone.
Maralyn www.noralyn.com/blogger/blog1
People will all have different preferences and allowing them to chose may be the way to go. Have a newletter and allow members to chose wheteher or not they want to receive it. Likewise with e-mail notifications on new messages. If you have several options for members to chose from you can’t go wrong.
PMs are just fine to me. I’ll definitely return PMs that are sent directly to me. If its a chain letter and I don’t have time I might delete...no harm done. But most of the time I answer them, especially if they are fun. I enjoyed the one we received yesterday.
Yana-
I had a Interstitial Cystitis site on yahoogroups when I was a support group leader in Northern NJ. Members had the choice to receive individual emails each time someone wrote, a daily log in one email, or no reminders. It worked well because everyone has different needs.
I come to your site on my blackberry and it is much harder to view and enjoy but that is what I have at home to use.
When I am at my boyfriend’s company I can use his computer like I am doing now.
I keep coming back because I like to see the topics and it is like having a variety of friends.
Dianne
I don’t mind the personal messages, I just don’t like when they become “chain personal messages because I know I’m not going to go through all of the messages. And when they‘re “personal chain messages,” they‘re really not personal.
I prefer the newsletter because I can read it whenever or if I want to, I don’t feel obligated to do anything as in the personal messages. I also agree with mommyto2 about the options, I think it’s the best solution.
Actually, it was rather annoying to me, because to respond politely meant repeating the same message over and over in this particular case. Also, I’ve noticed when I reply to a message, I get an email as if I have a new message. So, my email was flooded with duplicate messages.
I agree—several options would be the way to go.
And I hope you can figure out the glitch in getting an email notification about our own messages.
I am one who does forget to login and check on things, so getting a pm once in a while would be good. Not every day, but maybe once per week. If there’s a new discussion, etc. that someone would like our attention on. I most likely wouldn’t answer every one, but the ones I relate to I would.
I don’t like newsletter, I don’t take the time as there is usually too much to weed through. The idea of a daily digest is interesting.
________________________
http://annlustig.myarbonne.com/
I really do not care for the chain letters. Newsletter...I won’t read it.
MC
I also enjoyed the PM’s yesterday. I’m still reading them, but that’s okay. I would rather receive PM’s. I may not look at my profile, and it’s sometimes days before I see a message left for me. But I notice my inbox having a message.
Some Suggestions:
1. On the blue bar add a Profile tab that tells when you have a new message on your profile.
2. For Private Messages, I would like to have a “Previous” & “Next” tab when I have a message open. It takes alot of time to go back to the inbox just to go to the next message.
3. For Private Messages, I would also like to have a “SAVE” tab.
4. Private Messages, in the “SENT” folder, I would rather see to whom I sent the message instead of my name. It’s difficult to find a particular sent message.
As for keeping members coming back, recently I’ve been on a mission to get members (who haven’t returned in a while or just signed up and never returned) to come back and give us another try. I’ve had great success! Yana, we have already discussed this so I won’t go into further detail.
Reminders do wonders!!!
I don’t mind the PM at all....it’s always great to hear from your friends...it makes it more personable....as for the chain letters....we all have a choice if we want to forward them or delete them...
I do not mind private messages at all. My door is always open and anyone is welcome to PM me at any time.
I like Personal Messages. I can’t always and sometimes choose not to respond to them, but still enjoy receiving them—it’s always nice to read something new! The Blog takes more time to go through, time I rarely seem to have, but each PM is short enough to enjoy when I see them!
No, I don’t mind private messages, but I don’t really care to have a hundred messages asking for the same info. It is a bit annoying after the third time.
I'm an open and friendly person so I enjoy receiving PMs and new friend invites. I do plan to become a more active member on this site. Women are always so supportive of each other and I think we need that connection to one another, ya know? Sometime men really just don't understand
- LOL So its nice to have site dedicated to women. Wait -
- are there any men on here???
The PM ‘Chain Mail’ can be a bit annoying, especially if, like me, you‘re bombarded with them and really don’t have the time to answer all of them..
The newsletter thing to me is ok to print out and read at my leisure.
What’s the balance? I think maybe when those chain mails come in, instead of sending them to PM..maybe just posting as a blog?
I hope I understood the question right and answered appropriately
I don’t mind PMs... but I don’t feel it is the most efficent way of handling it... and if I had as many as you have.. I wouldn’t have the time to read them all... which is sad since i wouldn’t want to miss someone’s answers...so...
For the most part I think private messaging is NOT the way to go.... first of all... it’s simply not efficient... look at your in box... what good is it if it ends up so labor intensive.... can you really digest all the answers in a reasonable length of time?
The method I most prefer is the poll method.... even if you have to do a question at a time.... if that’s possible...
The second place method I prefer is the blog with comments... at least that way you can scroll faster reviewing the answers.
The questions you asked were very open ended.... even though there were only 7 questions... it will take a long time to look at them all.... if you are going to ask open ended questions... I would limit the number you ask to only one or two...
Try to think of ways to ask a question that you could use the poll method.... polls can have any amount of possible answers... and the person could check off the applicable answer(s)... you could have a catch all answer, such as others... to capture the oddball answer.
That’s my 2 cents... hope it helps.
I love to cook and blog and have a Cooking blog... please take a peek at my blog.. I hope you like it! Great Cooking Tips and Recipes at: http://cookingtipoftheday.blogspot.com/
I don’t find personal messages annoying. I enjoy reading my messages as long as they are not chain letter stating you must send this to some many people otherwise something bad will happen. I think it is great getting to know other people especially those who are experiencing similar situations an we can help each other get through the hard times.
I like PM. I keep in touch with a lot of my fab40 friends this way. I’m not fond of the chain messages. Similar to facebook, and getting tagged in a note, it takes a long time to go through it all. I just can’t take the time.
I think this site has so many different channels and areas to go to right now I wouldn’t make too many changes. There’s something for everyone here. I also liked your regular blog in “girl talk.” I always read that.
I find it annoying to read an Email that says “you have received a private message“, then I have to log onto the site and go to the messages. If it is really a private message, shouldn’t it be included in the Email rather than having to log on to read it? Otherwise, why not just have the Email say “check out today’s new stuff on the site“, rather than have it sound as though someone is writing a personal note to me.
Sorry if that sounds grumpy... it really isn’t meant to.
I haven’t had any problem with to many messages and I love receiving the new letters. So if there is a problem I’m not aware of it being one. I’m always in about making things better for the community and what need to be done to keep things flowing smoothly.
I don’t particularly like chain messages but, I enjoyed the latest message because it was an opening for a lively conversation among members.
Although I really like this site. I also forget to log in unless I receive something in my inbox. I think a newsletter would be great to remind people to log into the site and to give us updates on new information on the site.
Create lasting relationships
with other like minded women.
Blog Feed »