What are your thoughts on whether to include message text in notification emails?

[jauburn]

Right now I have it turned off. My thinking boils down to 2 reasons:

1. Not including the text forces users to visit the site. But since I don't make any money off of advertising on the site, there's probably not much reason to force folks to visit in order to read replies. So I'm torn.
2. Any "bad" words in thread titles or message text won't trigger someone's spam filter and put my forum's messages into spam in the future.

Your thoughts?

 

[Roo82]

I leave mine turned off for private conversations it forces people to come and read it you're more likely to get a response that way.

 

[AndyB]

Turn it on. It's so annoying to have to go to the forum each time you get a notification email just to check if the Conversation post is important. Happy members are more likely to use your forum.

 

[StarArmy]

I've found that when I didn't include the text, the emails started to be marked as spam for being repetitive. When they included content, the filters seemed to appreciate that and I got less bounces.

 

[jauburn]

I've found that when I didn't include the text, the emails started to be marked as spam for being repetitive. When they included content, the filters seemed to appreciate that and I got less bounces.

Interesting. You've obviously linked cause and effect. I wonder whether the link is actually valid.

 

[StarArmy]

The change in bounces was immediate when I put post snippets back into the messages, and I didn't change any other mail settings.

I think, to a mail filter, if you send essentially the same message again and again, it looks suspect.

 

[Donny]

That's an issue they need to deal with themselves (the email providers) then. Their false-positives system clearly sucks. Just go through their procedure to verify you're not spam and continue. If that was the only reason you added the snippet.

Personally I leave them out for PC's and Posts. I want the user to come back to the forum. They'd know if it was important. If their question was important in the first place, they'd come back. If they were not expecting a PM, it's probably not important enough to check at 3am. But perhaps in the morning break or whatever.

I think changing the setting on an established forum upsets members more. It's not fair to say they're not happy if they've never had the setting to show the snippet, they know no different.