How to Get Lost users to Come Back to Your Product - Five Lessons From Facebook
The email - some names and photos blurred
One of the biggest challenges with free products is getting users to come back. Often times we end up with "tire-kickers" – people who sign-up, click around, and never return. These are people who might be interested in your product, but haven't started using it regularly. The problem is universal; everyone from small startups to giants like Facebook have to overcome it.
I recently got a taste of Facebook's answer to this challenge and I was pretty blown away.
Five years ago I signed up for a dummy Facebook account with an email address I rarely check. Yesterday, after signing in for the first time in a while I noticed that my inbox was filled with emails from Facebook trying to get me to sign up. Facebook must have tested this email like crazy and I was struck by how effective it must be.
Every startup should be sending emails this good. Here are my five key takeaways:
Everything in this email is designed to induce FOMO. The subject line specifically calls out people it thinks I know. If all the cool kids are on Facebook, I'm more likely to sign up. How can you get your inactive users to feel like theyneedto become active?
I signed up for this account and I still get emails every 3-5 days reminding me to sign-up. Facebook knows that once I'm hooked they'll see me come back regularly and they can make a bunch of cash. Facebook isn't afraid of sending too many emails because they know that the payoff is big enough. How often do you send your emails?
Facebook knows that if they can get me to 7 friends they can count on me coming back again and again. The email they send has one goal: get me to add friends. It's got clear calls to action, buttons within the email that are begging me to click them. If you could have every inactive user do one action, what would it be?
4: Be clever (Use your data)
Facebook figured out who to feature by matching my email address to scans of contact lists from the "find friends" feature. What data do you have that could be helpful in sending lifecycle emails?
Data shows that emails with questions in the subject perform much much better. Facebook does a nice job of asking a question that draws the user in. Do you ask questions in subject lines?
Facebook took years to develop these emails and I'm sure they've perfected them against piles and piles of data. By following their lead startups can get a leg up on the competition and better engage their users.