
How do I talk to users if nobody responds to my emails - newbierails
My recently launched website has quite a bit of users but very few active users. So, I emailed all my customers asking about how we could improve the app but nobody responded. How do I collect feedback from my users if nobody responds to my emails? Is there any alternative ways to talk to my users?
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muzani
I often respond to those emails, and get redirected to some customer service.
So I've stopped responding to them.

It feels like an automated process where some founder contacts you 7 days
after you stop using an app, and often these emails can get a little whiny.

What's worked for me is forums and chat. If you're advertising your product on
a forum, see what people say. Chat rooms integrated on a site are a great
place to just lurk and passively get feedback.

There was one game I played where the chat was so active it would move off the
screen in half a second. But it was filled with user sentiment and feedback.

~~~
newbierails
Hey sorry for the late reply. I haven't checked Hacker News in a while. You
are right about forums and chat. I created my own discord server after I made
this post and now a few of my new users have started to give feedback.

My only problem now is I don't know how to talk with my old users since they
don't reply to my emails and are not aware of the discord server I created

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Qxf2Services
You can try the following things : You could try using forms/surveys and also
you could try out sending periodic newsletters about the latest happenings
related to your business line. Keep a catchy subject line. Use bulleted points
instead of paragraphs in the email. Keep a personal touch in the content like
use their first or last name in the greeting, sign off with your name instead
of the website team May be you could provide a really good reason why people
should reply to you than just saying plainly the feedback - make them feel
they are reason for your growth.

~~~
newbierails
As for newsletters, I tried implementing that but I just got emails from
people asking me to remove them from our mailing list. It felt so bad to
disappoint a customer.

But maybe I could add an in-app survey or just ask people in my discord server
to answer them.

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yesenadam
Maybe if you shared the text of the email you're sending, HN users could
constructively criticize/make improvements. And how few is 'very few'? Also,
maybe it would fit the criteria for Show HN, if you didn't do that already.

~~~
newbierails
Subject: How can we better improve to suit your needs?

Hey, We notice that you have signed up to our app but are not very active on
our site. So, we would like to know what we have been doing wrong and how we
can improve the app so as to deliver you a better value proposition.

Currently, we have added a few courses for you to check out so give your
honest review of them too. Our site:
[https://enrole.herokuapp.com](https://enrole.herokuapp.com).

We appreciate any criticism. So feel free to share them so that we can improve
our app. Thank You

~~~
newbierails
This was the text of my email

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newbierails
Thank you all for your suggestions. I finally fixed my problem. I set up a
discord for me to chat with my users and linked it in my landing page. Only a
few of my users have joined it but they give valuable feedback so it seems to
work. Im thinking of maybe creating a subreddit too where our users can chat
with each other and critique my app.

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CyberFonic
Not clear about how you distinguish between "users" and "active users"? If by
"users" you mean people who have signed-up, i.e. provided an email address,
then how do you know they are real persons and not some sort of robot, or
hackers trying to exploit your site?

As @yesenadam suggests, perhaps you could promote your site on Show HN and
then you might get some relevant feedback.

~~~
newbierails
Users are people who have signed up to my app. As for active users I just use
google analytics to show me how many site visitors I have each day. Im not
sure how many of these people actually use the app instead of just visiting
the landing page though. Also,I am going to do a show HN soon after I polish
up my app a bit

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sethammons
Pop up on the site asking if they would be open to talking about their
experience might work for active users and new sign ups. Email or SMS (maybe
voice) for inactive. For email, what is your open and click rates? What
subject and content are you sending?

