[IPS News] 4.4: New Email Features

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It's easy to think that email is a relic from the past; from simpler times long before social media and the rise of phone apps.

And it's reasonable to think that way. Your phone constantly pings at you, and your laptop OS constantly pings at you, so why bother with email?

Because it's still a hugely powerful medium to get and retain attention.

In 2017, over 269 billion emails were sent and received per day. Of those, 3,360,250,000 are opened, read, and a link clicked.

Email is still very much a critical tool in your quest for retention.

Invision Community knows this. We have options to notify members of replies by email, weekly or monthly digests by email and members can opt-in for bulk emails sent from your community team.

Given how important email is, it was only fair that we invested in some love for our email system for 4.4.

Email Statistics
Just above, I mention that 269 billion emails are sent, and 3.4 billion are opened, read and clicked.

How many emails are sent from your Invision Community daily?

(No cheating and checking with SendGrid)

You probably have no idea as we didn't record email statistics.

As of Invision Community 4.4 we do!

Chart showing the number of emails sent daily

We now track emails sent, and the number of link clicks inside those emails.

Email Advertisements
Email notifications are a powerful way to get your members to revisit your community. The member welcomes these emails as it means they have new replies to topics they are interested in reading.

While you have your member's attention, you have an opportunity to show them a banner-style advertisement.

The new email advertisement form

When creating a new email advert, you can choose to limit the advert to specific areas such as topics, blogs, etc. - and even which forums to limit by.

Subliminal messages

This is a new way to reach your audience with your promotions.

Unfollow without logging in
Despite spending most of this blog entry shouting the virtues of email, it's inevitable that one or two members may wish to stop receiving notification emails.

In previous versions, the unfollow link would have taken you to a login page if you were signed out. For members that haven't been back in a while, this may cause some annoyance if they do not recall their login details.

Invision Community 4.4 allows non-logged in members to unfollow the item they received an email about or all followed items without the need to log in.

You no longer need to log in to unfollow items

Respecting your member's inbox is vital to keep on good terms with them and to keep them engaged in your community.

We'd love to know which of these features you're most keen to try in 4.4. Please drop a comment below and let us know!

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