Welcome email

[B33R]

I figure this should go here (feel free to move it ;))
I'm interested in hearing how you welcome members to your forum(s).

Over the past couple of days I've joined a few forums. Welcome emails/PMs range from the frankly awful out-of-the-box VB email to these:

<<examples>>
Site 1. The usual bad VB email followed by a long PM explaining about the forum. Very informative and welcoming but obviously automated.
This site is huge and quite difficult to get your head around. That PM was very handy though.

Site 2. A customised automated email inviting me to introduce myself or ask any questions. Signed by one person not "the team" like the site 1 welcome email. I liked it.

Then something like 13 hours later, a second email arrives.
Hi B33R! Congratulations on finding ************!
I just wanted to welcome you to the forums. I hope you'll enjoy being a member.
The size of the forums is quite overwhelming at first - may I suggest that you start by posting a message in the introductions forum? *********************
If you have any questions, feel free to ask me anything. My name on the forums is ******* and I'm online quite a bit - hope to see you around.Nicely written and very welcoming. Automated or not? Who can tell but I like it anyway! Shame the site is somewhat lacking on the design front.
<<end of examples>>

The PM from site 1 was great, site 2 has a very good welcome system too (especially that second email)

How do you welcome people to your forums?
Would you change your welcoming process if it reduced the amount of people who registered but didn't post?
How about if it reduced the number of new members posting in the wrong sections, helped them to integrate quicker and helped them find their way around your forums more easily?

There is, after all, nothing like a good welcome to get you posting!

/me digs around for the WHT and FU welcomes... :P

[chadking]

I think you make some good points. Personalized welcomes can help cross that hump for a brand new user, especially for very active, possibly confusing forums.

It's hard to say if it actually increases the percentage of users that are going to make a post, but it can't hurt to try.

[Scott]

We have the usual welcome email, which could probably be customized and then a PM from the board owner. Yes, the PM is automated, but I've tried as much as possible to not make it look like that is the case.

At the top of the forum, we also have a link to a New Members page. This page basically introduces the main parts of the forum and where new members can find help. After 100 posts, the link goes away. I can't really tell how many people use it, but hopefully it's been some help.

Finally, there is the introductions forum which is probably the best place to make a first post.

[TheDPQ]

Sometimes i randomly PM people i see, otherwise, all the default. I want to upgrade my forum and one of things i want to do is the welcome area hack to direct people what to do on my forum, as well as a personal welcome PM.

I have a vague notion that i want some script that would look at a user a week after they signed up and based on what groups they may have joined send them another PM suggesting what they could do. So if they are a designer suggest they post some of their stuff in the gallery.

It is so hard to join another community and know what to do. Targeted messages based on their interests is the way to go. Then you can notify them of an area, and give suggestions on what to do in that area.


Now... just to figure out how the heck to do that. ;) I don't really use groups now, but i want to utilize them more to get people with the same interest updated and talking to one another.

[Jan]

I have had a "personalised" message at a few forums I have joined, but to date, I haven't made one post. Because of that, if I browse said forum/s, I get a "I see you haven't made a post yet, please yada yada....".

IMO, a personalised message may jerk 5% into posting, but with the gazillions of forums around the world now, forum lurkers know what to do and when they are ready to do it. For genuine forum newbies, the welcome message it great and helpful :)

[writespeak]

The usual bad VB email followed by a long PM explaining about the forum. Very informative and welcoming but obviously automated.
This site is huge and quite difficult to get your head around. That PM was very handy though.

I like the idea of PMs or emails that are both welcoming and helpful. But what is written in them could point to possible problems.

I joined one large forum that had the option to receive a series of introductory emails. I chose this option, but after receiving the first email, I lost interest in the site and didn't read the rest of the emails. Any forum that required 7 emails to explain how it all worked was too complicated for me.

Lois

[TheDPQ]

Could you go more into depth on what caused the problem? You are saying the email itself turned you off or that even with the email the community didn't appeal to you.

[Doug]

My site has a PM (not an email) that it sends out when members join. It goes over the basics of how to post, our rules, and who to contact if you have any questions. Short and simple, but it works.

[writespeak]

Could you go more into depth on what caused the problem? You are saying the email itself turned you off or that even with the email the community didn't appeal to you.

It was the complexity of what the email contained that turned me off. I didn't want to have to follow email guides to know my way around the site. IMO the forum itself should've been easier to understand, and any helpful information about it should've been at the site itself, not in emails. Those emails were way beyond welcomes.

In addition to the emails, IIRC I didn't like the forum colours or the fact that you had to pay to use key parts of the site. I understand that forums have to be at least self-supporting financially, but I'd rather have ads at the site. Or perks for some memberships. Not being able to really use the site was a turnoff for me in addition to the email guides and the colours.

Lois