

Ask HN: Email website announcements - expected or spam? - jon_dahl

When a user signs up for a web-based service, is it legitimate to send them occasional emails letting them know what's new, or announcing major milestones? Should they explicitly opt-in for this, or are occasional announcements just assumed? I'm not talking about email marketing, an email newsletter, or (of course) any sort of third-party product placement - just an occasional "Hi" from the founder, with a clear "unsubscribe" link.<p>I want to respect user privacy and definitely don't want to spam or annoy users. But I also want to be able to communicate with people who are using my service.
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noodle
opt-in.

i'd delete emails like that without reading them, if they got by my filters.

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lethain
Well, both Pownce and Twitter send these, and I pretty much ignore them. To
the extent that they are expected, they are expected because we are used to
being treated badly, not because they are a good thing.

I'd try communicating via a blog and also via one-off messages sent to users
the first time they log in after a change. Both of those provide information
without being too pushy about it.

