Thank You for Commenting
Posted by Neena on 02/1/08 in Various Blogging Topics
Should you be sending thank you emails to people that comment on your blog?
Article Tags>> auto-responders | bloggers | blogging | commenting | personal | responding
Jennifer Chait at Freelance Writing Jobs doesn’t think so. Why not?
- If all bloggers sent thank you’s, all commentators would have a lot of email “spam”.
- It is a waste of the blogger’s time - they should be working on quality content instead.
- It is just as effective to respond to a comment right on the blog
- It is a turnoff. Commenting on the blog again may result in another email.
- This puts pressure on the commentator to subscribe to the blog.
In some respects I have to agree with Jennifer. I have received thank you emails for my comments, but the ones that I dislike are generated by auto-responders.
My philosophy is this: if I take the time to leave a well thought out comment, then I don’t want a canned response. Either don’t respond at all (hey, I understand that we are all busy), leave a comment back on your blog, or send me a personal email that you took the time to write. I don’t expect an email for a comment that I make, but if what I said sticks with you and you want to email me - write it yourself.
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RT Cunningham | Feb 1, 2008 | Reply
I agree. Canned responses suck. I get them and then delete them without reading them. They’re easy to spot as soon as they arrive.
Responding to comments is absolutely the best way to go, especially if you have comment subscriptions enabled. In fact, I’m constantly checking the boxes to subscribe to comments to not only see what the writer has to say, but what other commenters have to say as well.
Neena | Feb 1, 2008 | Reply
RT,
I couldn’t agree with you more. The subscribe to comments is a useful plugin, with this enabled - no thank you email is necessary.
And I will leave you my thank you right here - thanks for commenting, RT!
Heather Masson | Feb 1, 2008 | Reply
Hi Neena,
Interesting post. I don’t think an email thank you is necessary for every you get on your blog.
I do you the comment relish plugin that thanks a commenter for the first comment they ever leave on my blog. I have to say I’ve only had good feed back from it. But this certainly does give me something to think about.
Heather
David Bradley | Feb 1, 2008 | Reply
Yep, those autocomment responders are cheesy, also commenters often reply to this in email rather than posting a follow-up comment, so the discussion thread breaks. Same happens with comment subscribe I find too…
db
Neena | Feb 1, 2008 | Reply
Heather,
I am not familiar with the comment relish plugin. But if you have had good feedback from your audience then it is doing its job!
I wonder if the make up of the audience makes a difference. Non-bloggers or new bloggers would probably appreciate an auto response more than a seasoned commentator who might look upon such response as spam.
Neena | Feb 1, 2008 | Reply
David,
I hadn’t considered the angle of breaking the comment thread. Keeping the discussion going right on the blog keeps the readers coming back.
Another strike against auto-responders.
Making Sales Making Money | Feb 2, 2008 | Reply
Ive tried it both ways and no longer use it, Id rather develop the relationship through posts
Wayne Liew | Feb 2, 2008 | Reply
OK, this post gave me a head shot since I do use Comment Relish to send out a canned Thank You e-mail.
Well, how will it be if the e-mail is written in a way whereby it don’t seem to be a canned one. You can see, a canned mail will normally have two points: 1. Thank you, 2. Subscribe to my blog.
I think a canned e-mail which are written with no effort makes the blog looks cheap but what if effort had been placed?
Anyway, I don’t think such mails sent to my readers have caused problems to them though as I have seen replies.
Neena | Feb 2, 2008 | Reply
@Sales,
I am with you on that one. I have not tried an auto-responder on my sites and have no plans to do so.
Heather Masson | Feb 2, 2008 | Reply
I haven’t found any problems with the comment relish either Wayne. Guess maybe you’re right in that it’s in the way you word it. Also it’s a one time email, I think that makes a difference as well.
Neena | Feb 2, 2008 | Reply
Wayne,
I think a personalized auto-response is certainly better than a “thank you, subscribe to my blog” response. And as I said to Heather, if your audience has responded favorably, then it works for you and there is no reason to change.
Neena | Feb 2, 2008 | Reply
Heather,
The one time email is key - and might even go unnoticed as being an auto-response. It becomes annoying if a you, as a commenter, receive the same email after every comment that you write.
James Mann | Feb 13, 2008 | Reply
Well the first few thank you’s I received were fine but they do get to be annoying and once that happens I think of them as spam.
Perhaps if a little message came up directly after posting a comment that said thanks and get it over with.
I really don’t post comments to be thanked anyways. The same as I don’t post comments just to say ‘great post’. That just puts me in a bad mood.