

Ask HN: Best way to use pre-launch email signups strategy? - lifestyleigni

I've been working full time on my startup SpotHero since September.  We put up a splash page to collect email addresses as the application is being built out.<p>I've collected a couple hundred email signups with my startup http://spothero.com Currently, the "confirmation for an email submission" is on the website and they do not get a follow up email.  What is appropriate to send out before it becomes "spam"?  There are a ton of things I can do with the email signup list, but I don't want to put people off.
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joelrunyon
If you're talking about the 'legal considerations' of when it becomes spam, if
they "opted-in", you can send them whatever you feel like as long as you have
an unsubscribe at the bottom along with your physical address.

CANN-Spam regulations can be found here with more info -->
[http://business.ftc.gov/documents/bus61-can-spam-act-
complia...](http://business.ftc.gov/documents/bus61-can-spam-act-compliance-
guide-business)

That said, you don't want everyone unsubscribing so you need to focus on
making sure your emails are not "perceived" as spam. Perception > Reality.

Basic [very basic] tips. \--Make the emails useful (give people inside tips on
places to park, ways to avoid fines, hidden parking gems of the week) \--Don't
make the emails all about you. They signed up for your list because they think
you can help them with some sort of problem. Help them solve part of their
problem in a small way, prove you're an expert and then when you launch you
can let them know that you can solve a much bigger portion of their problem
\--Segment your list. Find out who's opening up & clicking through your emails
and who isn't. Send the people who are opening & clicking more email. Send
those who aren't less. There's a lot of talk about sending too often or not
sending enough, but that's a bunch of crap. Fuel the fully interested
customers with more content. Don't harass those customers who are partially
interested with daily emails. Segment, segment, segment. \--Make your news
Newsworthy. When you do have something to say, make sure it's worth saying.
Just sending something because you think it's newsworthy, doesn't mean it is.
Make sure it's something you would actually want to know about the company.
Your list's attention is precious. Don't abuse it. \--Have a personality. Get
someone to read the next word. That's the name of the game with
email/content/copy writing in general. get someone to read the next word, then
the next one, then the next one. Personality helps with that. There are people
who sign up to groupon and don't even care about the offers, but they'll read
every email because they're entertaining.

Hope that helps. Best of luck!

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wittjeff
Have you seen launchrock.com? It might help with growing your list.

On you question, I suggest monthly updates until you have something live. But
if you post your list ("ton of things") of ideas, we could comment on them
specifically.

By the way, I like your business concept. Except I'd remove the Chicago-
specificity from the tag line, as I would assume you can probably scale this
quickly. If you need to start with Chicago, put that in secondary text on the
front page.

~~~
jaymstr
Thanks for the mention. If anyone on HN wants an invite, just email us at
hello [at] launchrock [dot] com and mention that you heard about it from
Hacker News.

Advice wise, we've found that the pages work really well, and not just for us,
but it does require for you to spend some time thinking about the design, your
messaging, and more importantly, how you'll get people there in the first
place. It's kind of an amplifier of sorts.

Anyway, we'll have some great data to share, but we're just trying to get
to/through SXSW right now.

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heliosai
I don't think a monthly "update" email would be bad. Actually it would
probably keep people interested so they know a little about what is going on
behind the scenes and keep them reminded about the company.

~~~
jaymstr
Keep a blog and update often. Our Posterous blog for LaunchRock has been
amazing for keeping people engaged.

~~~
lifestyleigni
Very true. The blog has definitely been instrumental in driving traffic to our
website.

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chilldude
Great idea! Best of luck!

