

Ask HN: What to do with pre-launch emails? - lachyg

So I've had my pre-launch site up over at http://collectivejam.com/ for 3 or 4 days now, and have collected around 300 emails. It's steadily increasing, which is great.<p>The thing is, I've only got one email planned, and that's the launch email. I'm not sure when I should email the list, with updates, with questions, with requests for developers, etc?<p>The only other thing I've been doing is emailing people who's email or site I recognise.<p>What do you think? What sort of emails should I send out?
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DirtyAndy
If I had signed up, personally I would want an email when you go live (usable
beta level). I don't want a confirmation, I don't want to know that you are
37.5% done, I don't want to know what your dog had for breakfast.

When you send me an email that you have gone live, either a link to continue
to be on your mailing list or a link to request to be off would be good.

~~~
lachyg
I'll make an unsubscribe link pretty prominent, thanks!

~~~
DirtyAndy
Two other things on unsubscribing. One as an spam detector I use a different
variation on email address for every site I ever sign up to, so "reply to
unsubscribe" sucks (I note that you said a link, which I like).

I have been stupid enough to push a unsubscribe link by mistake. I prefer that
it automatically unsubscribes me rather than having to push a button to
confirm, but it is not a bad thing to also have a Whoops I made a mistake
button.

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martinkallstrom
Invite them to an online poll inquiring about their hiring needs and
frustrations. This will be a great way to validate that you're thinking right
and to see how these quality leads themselves are describing the problems you
are thinking about

If you really want to crush it, reach out and make friends with some of the
people on your list. From the material you collected in the polls, you can get
in touch with each of them and ask for specifics, tell them how you are
adressing the problems they are describing and so on.

At this scale, don't think only of automatic emails. You are probably very
eager to get to the stage when your email list is so huge that automated
emails is the only way to go. But at this point, it isn't. Use that to your
advantage.

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richardburton
Whatever you do. Make sure you invite people to tweet about the signup page
after they submit. That way it will spread virally.

~~~
lachyg
Great idea man, just done that!

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Robin_Message
Strangely, even though your pre-launch copy is an absolute and obvious lie (it
can't be the top choice, it hasn't even launched yet) I still feel attracted
to sign-up. So, um, well played. I guess it's a sign of how bad the tech
recruitment market is that people are keen to throw themselves at vapourware.
Anyway, good luck!

~~~
follower
I have to say that copy put me off as well--and I didn't sign up. :)

~~~
lachyg
I don't think it put the above commenter off, as he signed up. Is it the top
choice that put you off, or was it that you weren't actually interested in
what it is we have to offer?

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follower
I'm a freelance developer so I assume I potentially factor into your audience
in some way. I also encounter people who need developers so am a potential
source of referrals.

To me "the top choice for entrepreneurs, designers and businesses to hire
world-class coding talent" is an grandiose, empty and (certainly this early)
probably untrue statement. I don't like to deal with people that make
statements like that so it makes a negative first impression on me.

It also makes me ask the questions:

* "top" Compared to what? In what way?

* How do I know the coders are "world-class"? Is there vetting? Guarantees?

Possible replacement:

"CollectiveJam helps entrepreneurs, designers and businesses to hire coding
talent."

I don't know enough about your product to be able to say what a reasonable and
accurate claim is. :) If I knew more I could probably extend that above to say
"...by something something somethinging the something."

Then again--I'm not a copywriter. :)

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lachyg
The thing is, your replacement doesn't instill excitement or curiosity, it's a
bit 'boring' if you know what I mean? But you're right, the coders are vetted,
and there are guarantees! So I guess it's saying something.

~~~
follower
Yeah, I agree it lacks a certain punch. But then again if that's the problem
when you take the hyperbole out of the copy there's a bigger problem. :)

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spyrosk
I quess a semi-personalised email asking for feedback on the service for each
subscriber could make them more positively inclined towards it, plus, if you
time it right, it could work as a reminder for people that have used your site
in the beginning but then forgot about it.

How did you manage to get exposure in order to collect so many emails in such
a short period of time? Ads or something else?

~~~
lachyg
1\. I tweeted about it. 2\. I got everyone I knew that would tweet about it,
to tweet about it. 3\. I got on CSSMania, which converted at about 40% 4\. I
got on and am getting on a few more CSS Galleries (and designers are my target
market!) 5\. I got a lot of attention in a HN thread.

~~~
iworkforthem
Thanks for the tips here.. 300+ sign ups is a lot for a relative new site. I
will give these a shot! I guess having a decent design help.. I'm launching my
site ( www.tradesalerts.com ) in a few days too. So far, I got just 1 signup.
:P

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rodericksilva
If you are concerned about 'pissing' people off don't do it.

If you want to reward them for signing up you can try a couple of things:

1\. Thank them by letting them on before you go live. Let them know that you
will go live later on but that you wanted to give them early access.

2\. Let them know that they can have early access if they want to help beta
test it.

3\. Let them know pre-launch that you are offering free accounts via an
affiliate/recommendation program. Dropbox does this well.

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iworkforthem
One email to guide my users how to use the application through a video, or
maybe a step by step guide, you are planning on a step by step guide, see
dropbox. I think they did a good job to help new users on board.

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eof
How have you spread the word about your site?

~~~
lachyg
1\. I tweeted about it.

2\. I got everyone I knew that would tweet about it, to tweet about it.

3\. I got on CSSMania, which converted at about 40%

4\. I got on and am getting on a few more CSS Galleries (and designers are my
target market!)

5\. I got a lot of attention in a HN thread.

P.S. Where is the formatting guide on HN?

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fleitz
You should be confirming those email addresses immediately (double opt in),
what you don't want are most of those emails not reaching the inbox, because
someone typed their gmail address wrong. Start getting your sender score up.

~~~
lachyg
I've hand checked most of them, and it's about 98% at the moment.

