Catherine Rutgers noticed that whenever people subscribe to her blog, she gets a notice that includes their email address.
She wants to know if it’s a good idea to send a quick note of thanks and acknowledgement to new subscribers. Cat says, “That was my first instinct, but then I wasn’t sure if it would be appreciated or invading their privacy.”
I suppose it’s possible that some people would prefer to subscribe anonymously, but everyone should understand it is your blog and that you have access to their subscription.
Most people will be blown away that you took the time to personally acknowledge their automated subscription. I say Yes! Do it! Send a personal Thank You to their inbox and turn them into a fan for life.
Don’t be wordy. Don’t copy and paste the same text over and over again. Just say Thank You with sincerity.
Address the person by name if you have a name and be sure to sign your full name to the note.
27 thoughts on “Personal Notes to Subscribers”
I agree.
I once got a thank you note the first time I commented on a blog and I thought it was really nice.
Being appreciated goes both ways.
I agree. In this fast paced world with new technology and info coming at us all the time, I think a personalized thank you goes a long way.
Not only do I send an email but I use http://www.mailchimp.com, a free email campaign builder to send emails with my own personalized header to keep up the aesthetic of my site. Also with mailchimp I know if the person opens the email, and if that person decides to click on my links.
Free? Oh! I have to look into that. Thanks for the lead. 🙂
Since most of the subscribers (99.99999%) to my blog are spam accounts (I was suspicious and started doing searches on the IPs which confirmed my suspicions) I have stopped paying any attention to them. I once tried going through and deleting them but it was too overwhelming.
Do you advocate keeping in touch with (viable) subscribers via email? Honestly, I think only about 3 people read my blog for any given post in general.
Is there a way to tell who is reading? I have WordPress.org (which came with my host’s cPanel).
Patricia, you can put a free statcounter.com code on your WordPress blog to see recent visitor stats like what city they are from,or what post they came to read…It is really eye opening- you may have many more visitors than you know…
Hm… I got as far as updating the plugin data and then I got a page that said “Are you sure you want to do this?” but no choices for yes or no. The rest of the screen is blank.
Could I manually enter the code somewhere?
http://statcounter.com/wordpress.com/ Patricia & anybody else- here is a link to how to put statcounter code on your WordPress blog…
I’m not using WordPress.com, I am using WordPress.org. It’s apparently the paid version but it actually comes with my web hosting cPanel so it was included with the cost of the hosting.
Also, sadly, I can’t seem to make my theme widget friendly. So I am pretty screwed if this is a widget plugin. *sigh* I found directions for widgetizing one’s theme but I couldn’t get the directions to work for me. Figures, eh. I’ll have to figure something out one of these days, but I don’t have the time now. 🙂
Thanks anyway for trying to be so very helpful. I’m sure others will be able to use the advice.
http://statcounter.com/wordpress.org/ Sorry Patricia, I noticed the .org but I thought maybe it was the same…Here is a link to the wordpress.org instructions for inserting a statcounter if you are feeling smarter & braver than last try…(sometimes a second try works?)
Patricia: Widgets and Plugins are different. I’m no expert in this area, but plugins are usually made by 3rd parties and interact with WordPress. Widgets are sidebar areas (at least in my WP theme). Some are native to WP and others you can add with HTML
I say yes, too. I send people a quick thank you whether they sign up for my newsletter of even if they “like” my facebook page.
I don’t see how a thank you can ever be perceived as an intrusion.
I don’t get automated notification when I get new subscribers, I’d like to. I’ll have to go check it out. I reply to 90% of the people who comment on my blog IF they are not anonymous. Thanks for the tip.
The TYN [thank you note] is an elegant good old fashioned way of building any following…
I love to give and receive thank you notes.
When I began receiving updates in my Constant Contact monthly newsletter subscriptions I automatically began sending a personal “thanks so much”.
I also make the effort to reply to the commentors on my weekly blog post.
I love the back n’ forth possibilities of the virtual aspects of the Art/Life.
More people have had the chance to see, and talk to me about, my work in the last five years of enlisting techno-communications than I ever would’ve imagined.
When I say ‘Thank You’ I’m quietly, behind the scenes, also saying ‘Thank You’ for this life of being an artist with so many wonderful ways to share what I love.
Thank You !
Cheers Alyson and All.
d
I agree, personal thank you notes are wonderful…I got my first when I liked Kathleen Mattox’s fan page and she sent me a thank you msg…I thought that was elegant and have decide to do that myself since…
I originally considered sending a thank you message when someone “like” my fanpage, but then I started reading on various forums how most people didn’t like that and considered it to be spammy. Now I don’t have a choice. I can’t find out who or when a new person likes my fan page except that occasionally the stat numbers change.
As for my blog, I’m pretty sure most of the subscribers are not real people.
StatCounter Update: I sent an email to their support and have since gotten a reply that I plan to attempt to implement over the weekend. I’m snowed in today, so am trying to catch up on some other things first. Also might make cookies for my mother.
(Patricia) You beautiful person! Good for you for trying again…Good for you for planning to make cookies for your mother…Keep trying! We all know how hard it is for you right now & it is great to hear you still have got some fight in you…Baby steps…That’s just great!
Thanks for the encouragement Sari. It’s much needed and appreciated after this week! I’ve hardly been online at all. The weather (all this snow and now Air Quality Alert days!) has made taking care of my mother rather more time consuming even that usual so I am behind on things. I am still planning on getting the statcounter installed (tomorrow or later tonight).
One thing I have learned from this experience is that if I have the strength to deal with my mother’s Alzheimer’s I can probably face almost anything. Given the time and I can control the time as long as I am still alive and intellectually functional.
Go me!
I love to send thank you notes, emails. Whenever and to whomever. To combat all the complaining that goes on in the world, we should definitely send praises as well. On that note – yep, just yesterday I sent an email thank you to someone that subscribed to my blog. I never feel it’s an intrusion – but sometimes a little wishy washy – isn’t that ridiculous! (I even send thank you’s to the clerks at the grocery store)
Jennifer: That’s SO nice (to send TY to clerks at grocery store). You’ve gone above and beyond. Imagine how surprised they were to receive the notes!
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Since noone else has disagreed….
To me this is the same question as to whether you should send a thank you because someone follows you on twitter.
Overwhelmingly the answer to that question is NO – don’t do it unless you can make it very personal.
With only an email address for a blog subscription – how can you make it personal? I don’t think you can very often – the result – it’ll just look like a canned spam email, which people are generally not fond of receiving.
Ditto for spam direct message tweets. It’s simply annoying.
I think if you have something personal to say (for instance you can identify the subscriber by name and have check out their website or something similar) – great – go for it.
But if all you are going to say is “thanks for subscribing to my blog” – I’d say don’t waste their time. Wait til they comment and then engage them in a personal conversation.
Everyone can and should be able to make a reply thank you personal. I always stress that you are the next great supporter of my work. Without the support and interest of art lovers artist may stop creating. Thank you for being interested in my work and my career. I will answer your call and continue to expand and paint. Then just add thanks for signing up for my blog, email etc. (note: I don’t think twitter sign ups are as important but, may look into it)
Well, I’m still only (as far as I can tell) getting fake people subscriptions to my blog and I really don’t want to answer those and find myself with more email spam once they have my return email.
For my newsletter, unless they tell me, I don’t know if/when anyone subscribes. But that’s probably because I am still using PHPList.
Hello, all, Thank you for this lively, informative and inspiring discussion!
I’m trying out thank-you messages for now, and will monitor and adjust over time. For those who are discouraged by spam subscriptions, etc., if you haven’t already, contact your host: they will almost always be most helpful. All best wishes!!