ClassCreator.com | Blockbuster sites, amazing reunions

Share Tips

New Topic Reply Subscription Options  

alumni not responding to e-mails

Forums: General Discussion
Created on: 05/18/13 01:22 PM Views: 1340 Replies: 18
Saturday, May 18, 2013 at 1:22 PM

We have over 1,000 alumni on the website. I send occasional e-mails to everyone about events, our forums and other topics and I never get responses. How can I get the alumni to open e-mail from us. Does anyone else have this problem.

Reply
Saturday, May 18, 2013 at 2:14 PM - Response #1

Hello, Please know you are not alone. I am not sure how you know your alumni are not opening the emails, unless you are judging by site visits, which is the only way I know to do it (but I am not vastly experienced). My suggestion would be to not disclose all the details or information in your emails to the site members, but send just enough information that it entices them to click on your link you paste into your email (provide a link to the page and information on your site) to see / read all the information, details, full story, etc. That way you will know for sure they are at least coming to your site, as you can view the statistics and notice a rise in visits following a particular time and date your new email was sent to members.

Best wishes!

Reply
Saturday, May 18, 2013 at 2:15 PM - Response #2

You might check your Statistics page (Notify Me statistics) to see how many are actually receiving the group emails. I would guess the classmates are opening the emails you send. Interest peaks when the site is set up and during reunion(s) time, but then seems to slowly dwindle.

Reply
Saturday, May 18, 2013 at 2:28 PM - Response #3

Yes, you are not alone. Just as with your site, my site has been up 4 years. I have a very small class which was close knit and a core group can always be depended on to visit the site after I send out a class email. But, many do not respond and I've stopped doing forums because of non-responsiveness. I get the most responses from polls and surveys. Only a handful of classmates update their profiles or post pictures. When they do, there is a big uptick in statistics. Just wish others would take the initiative. I wonder if it's a privacy issue or computer literacy issue (we're in our 60's).

Reply
Saturday, May 18, 2013 at 2:36 PM - Response #4

Hi Rhonda,
As far as my experience and knowledge goes, everyone that is selected to receive an email when you as administrator "Email the Class" receives the email. Only ones that would not receive such are the ones (if any) that have elected not to receive emails from the administrator via 'Email the Class' and I have only ran across this situation ONCE, recently, where ONE individual elected to NOT receive emails from the administrator of the site, at least for the time being. He actually had checked the circle (under his 'Notify Me' preferences to NOT receive emails from the site administrator... the one at the bottom of the Notify Me List of options and the only one that is strongly recommended to leave active), thereby making his name in the 'Email the Class' section of the site and list of members... grayed-out and not checkable (not able to be included) with the words next to his name (NOTIFY Flag OFF). Thought I would share this information, as it is was a rare occurrence. One that I hope remains rare. Smile Thanks!

Reply
Saturday, May 18, 2013 at 2:49 PM - Response #5

As Marla said, " My suggestion would be to not disclose all the details or information in your emails to the site members, but send just enough information that it entices them to click on your link you paste into your email (provide a link to the page and information on your site) to see / read all the information, details, full story, etc.".

If you post the DETAILS of your e-mail the class in a new USER FORUM, and post the link to the user forums in your e-mail as to where they can find out the details, you should be able to judge which of the classmates are interested enough to click the link to read the details. On the main forum page of the selected topic User Forum, you can see the number of forum topics and you can also see the number of views that the forum has had. This is most likely the number of classmate views, but it does not count classmates, but views, so it could be the same classmate more than one time.


Reply
Saturday, May 18, 2013 at 2:54 PM - Response #6

Hi Marla - we have 220 active members and 4 have chosen not to receive emails : ( so just thought I'd mention checking the stats. I also have a web site for our school district's education association - 212 active and 3 have chosen not to receive emails. I actually asked one of these members and they said they hear it from others and didn't want to be bothered. Well, whatever! Very Happy

I tend to use the Announcements more than Email the Class - When I discovered that 150 of the 220 were not receiving Annnouncements, I sent an email to them and 30 then changed their Notify Me settings for Announcements. Still, 120 do not receive Announcements. Oh, well . . . whatchagonnado? Smile

Reply
Saturday, May 18, 2013 at 2:55 PM - Response #7

Rhonda, you probably already know this, but Notify Me settings are something that the classmate needs to set for themselves. It isn't something that the admin can change for them (unless they tell you their password)


Reply
Saturday, May 18, 2013 at 3:11 PM - Response #8

Kyle - Yup, that's why I've sent emails to them to update their settings. 30 of them did make the change to be notified, but we still have 120 who didn't. It was a good move when CC gave admins the names of who is not being notified and the ability to email them. Thanks for that! Smile

Reply
Saturday, May 18, 2013 at 3:23 PM - Response #9

Okay, I do not send notifications when an announcement is added or edited. So do share... does the entire announcement go to each member or simply a link to the announcement? I believe this was recently discussed but thought it is a good point for here, as well. Smile

Reply
Saturday, May 18, 2013 at 3:41 PM - Response #10

Good question, Gwen! And thanks Rhonda for the advice to check the Notify Me Stats... as I was not even aware we had this listing on our Stats page. I guess I've had my head buried in work and missed this update. After I replied about my experience with emailing the class, your words stuck in my head and I went to my sites and saw the new-to-me Notify Me Statistics. It is a wealth of concise information, at our very fingertips! Thanks for mentioning it and Thanks CC for providing it for us!

Reply
Saturday, May 18, 2013 at 4:49 PM - Response #11

Gwen - when I make an Announcement, I click the box at the bottom of the page "Notify # classmates that a new announcement has been posted. The classmate (if they've set their Notify Me settings to receive) receives an email that includes the beginning of the announcement . . . they must click on the link which will take them to the homepage to read the entire annoucement. There is quite a bit of text included with the announcement link so it's a bit hard to send a teaser. My announcements are usually the reporting of the death of a classmate's parent and a link to the obituary. I've also used the Announcements for when a classmate was running for mayor, local get-togethers (when classmate band members will be at a local bar) and other local information (newspaper links) that may be of interest to those living away from the area. By using the Announcement format, it at least gets people to check the homepage of the web site once in awhile! : )

Reply
Saturday, May 18, 2013 at 5:04 PM - Response #12

That is right. I did read that a blurb would go out IF you send the announcement notification. As you suggest, Rhonda... a short announcement may leave nothing left (as a teaser may). That is why I turned the option off on the Preferences page under ADVANCED OPTIONS. I will use it when an announcement has a good bit of info and the topic is one which will get their attention and they will be clicking the link to read the rest.

Until then, I will send emails. In an email, we can highlight more than one topic with links. A picture is another good thing to bring them back. One step at a time... Smile

Reply
Saturday, May 18, 2013 at 5:10 PM - Response #13

For some reason, there has been no interest shown by way of responses from email the class, the user forum and message forum with our group. Only 10% of active members have actually checked their Notify Me settings. I don't send notifications each time I post/edit a new announcement either. Is the system supposed to do that or the admin ? What's clear is that when I communicate through the Message Center, sometimes I click up to 40 names, and since we are a Multi Year but small class, it's a challenge to remember everyone's name/class year( unlike the email the class) ...But the reward is I/we get to see who checked in because the system monitors it. Depending on the topic we do get feedback. The best response was when I shared with the group I spent last Christmas Eve at the ER. with a torn ligament. But the majority won't respond, I wish we can add a LIKE button at the end like FB; at least we can use it as a gauge if the subject mattered or not. Hopefully in the near future the message center will be equipped like the message forum. Wink

Reply
Saturday, May 18, 2013 at 5:20 PM - Response #14

Gwen - After checking out your site photos, I see you're an Illinoian! I'll have to Google and find where McHenry is!

Ahh . . . Chicago (I was thinking north) . . . Smile

Reply
Edited 05/18/13 5:23 PM
Sunday, May 19, 2013 at 1:07 AM - Response #15

Thanks for the ideas and suggestions.
I appreciate seeing, as in this thread example, that website issues are being addresses and not just having responders, who are none class creator staff, saying it must be a difficulty for such and such number graduating year class and beyond followed by laughter related abbreviations and words. Didn't appreciate that sort of treatment.

Reply
Sunday, May 19, 2013 at 7:43 PM - Response #16

I agree with you, Gary. We look forward to seeing you again in TAP's Live Chat on Wednesdays when your time allows. Hope you had a good weekend.

Reply
Edited 05/19/13 7:44 PM
Monday, May 20, 2013 at 8:54 AM - Response #17

Thank you, Gwen. Yes I did. Same for you as well.

Reply
Edited 05/20/13 8:56 AM
Monday, May 20, 2013 at 12:06 PM - Response #18

This morning at 08:39 AM I sent an email to the whole class but I never received it; also sent the same email to myself at 10:28 AM; nothing. Then I sent two emails outside the system via other email programs to test my gmail account (the one connected to the class login) and they were all received.

I haven't had any trouble like this in the past and the Email The Class shows it was sent so I am left wondering "is there a problem on the server side this AM"?

Thanks.... Patrick Mattson

Reply
New Topic Reply  
Subscription Options: Have all new forum posts sent directly to your email.
Subscription options are available after you log in.