Unghost Me
I'm toying with this idea and I'd love to hear you folks' feedback. The problem is people get ghosted in email all the time, whether it be you sent an email expecting a reply in a business context or relationship and then the other person never replies to your email (this is called ghosting).
Here is my solution to it:
Unghost as a service
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When you want an email response from someone, forward the thread to email@unghost.co
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Unghost.co will respond to the ghoster with an email requesting them to respond with some pre-defined responses (user customizable) and a buymeacoffee gift if they respond
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The ghoster, receives an email from Unghost.co- they will see predefined messages that they can autorespond with... this way if they were ghosting simply due to lack of time, this helps them with that. They also see there is a valued reward if they reply (a coffee or it can be something else)... this way it helps them see that the recipient values their time and wants a reply. It also signals a friendlier tone just like you meet someone at a coffee shop.
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The ghoster chooses a prebaked response or customizes and responds (hopefully) and then they get the reward (coffee) and they're happy. The recipient gets a response and is happy! The reward can be made timebound so the ghoster would have to reply within a week to get it.
Usecases:
- Relationships
- Business 1 on 1s
- Email marketing
Would any of you use such a service?
Generally if I don't reply to an email, that is my response.
I wouldn't want more emails asking why I'm not replying to stuff.
Exactly, it frustrates me if I receive more emails asking why I didn't volunteer to reply. If there are more questions like that, that will go to spam folder.
as someone being sold to all day, I'm no longer sensitive to gift cards and whatnot. As others have said, if I didn't reply in the first place, no interest. I do check ALL the emails I receive though and reply to the ones that I see value in.
Does mean you don't have a business case #SampleOfOne
Have to say I completely agree! Everyone treats email differently -- Which some try to solve (👀 HEY.com). Some people probably do need an incentive to respond, where others made a clear decision.
You are going to regularly end up on email blocklists, so you're going to need to have a plan to handle that.
Hi. If you still want to work on this, I have an interesting usecase. Message me on IG @blasabe
Some feedback.
Relationships.- I don't think to email with a gift will make it better. It borders on desperation.
Business.- I think it can work in some markets but it will be seen by most as a bribe. Most of the business will have a policy to not accept something like that.
Email marketing.- I can see something in here. Most email marketing campaigns are instantly deleted so a cup of coffee might be a good incentive for some people. Though that could be a bit expensive.
I see a lot of value in such a service. However, I believe it will be flagged as spam by e-mail services. A new mail comes from a new address a person never subscribed to. All e-mails are very repetitive.
I'll echo other posters here - my initial non-response is my response.
The thought that my email address then gets funnelled into an automated email chain makes my skin crawl. It's a one-way ticket to my block list from there.
I don't mean to be cold, but in general if your startup idea boils down to "send more automated emails" it's probably heading in a direction perpendicular to popular sentiment. That might be able to make some money in the short term but I don't think it's a good long term bet.
if you got even only 40-50% positive results (i consider an argued negative answers as positive) i would happily pay 90-150€/month for it (as an individual trying to launch B2B products)
dm me a link as soon as you get an alpha going
How do you solve the problem of unghost getting ghosted?
Hi infiniteone, actually I've done a lot of very high ticket sales over cold email... I'd love to talk about this with you.
Add me on Discord: do#3695 (I am also a fullstack programmer).
This reminds me of those automated emails that follow up with me if I haven't responded to someone's previous emails. I'm not sure what software does it, but I usually get these emails when I sign up for a new product. I usually (if not always) unsubscribe from them if they offer an unsubscribe link.
I personally don't like the automated emails, but I belive they can be effective.
Quite interesting.
As a ghoster I'd maybe feel weird about receiving such an email, because -for me- there's probably a logical reason for not responding (anymore). As the "ghostee" I wonder how desperate I'd feel to use an external service to get someone to respond. However, I've never personally thought about something like this, so if executed nicely it could very well work (depending on use case/subject ofcourse).
Thanks for your feedback- for the email marketing/cold email usecase... you are already sending an email thats cold and if you set your campaign right- you'd have auto-followups. So i don't see how this is that different in the case of it seeming 'desperate'?
Maybe desperate isn't the right word, although at some point there might just be a very good reason for someone to not respond. You can't force them. Luckily/sadly, depending on which side you're on!
This comment was deleted 4 years ago
Yes, this is assuming you already did that and haven't gotten a response. Also you are doing just that with unghost, you are using a service that does it and allows them to also quickly reply thru autogenerated options and as a token of appreciation for their reply, you offer them a coffee. Kinda like how people tweet out saying i'm in this town and i'll buy you a coffee to meet and discuss X.
This comment was deleted 6 years ago
Yup, it wouldn't need any plugin or any obtrusive change- just forward the thread or last reply to the service's email.