----- Original Message ----- From: "Dave Warren" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, July 31, 2004 7:59 PM Subject: Re: Misleading expiry reminder subject
> Kai Schaetzl wrote: > > >The reminder mail lists the CURRENT date in the Subject instead of the > >EXPIRY date. I suggest to change this. > > > >Subject: Automated Reminder: Your Domain is Expiring 2004-07-30 > > > >Expiry Date: 2004-08-04 > > > > > The problem with putting the domain name and/or expiry in the Subject is > that the message could contain more then one domain -- If it contains > several domains with different expiry dates, which one(s) do you put in > the subject? This is a fundamental problem with the renewal messaging system. It also prevents us having a URL in the message like http://www.oursite.com/renew.cgi?domain=whatever.com which could be clicked on and would take the customer straight to a prepopulated renewal form. We generate our own renewal notices starting 30 days before expiry and these have that sort of link in them which I know customers find helpful. They also can't mistype the domain name. While we are on the renewals issue I am fairly certain that the notification which says the domain will expire in 24 hours actually goes out 2 or 3 days before expiry. I delete all mine on a daily basis so I don't have one handy to check. Renewals are a very important issue for all of us in the domain registration business. I would categorise the main problems as: 1. Customers having changed email address. -------------------------------------------- 30-40% of our Opensrs generated renewal notices bounce because the billing email no longer works. To get round this we mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] using our own database starting 30 days before expiry. It is AMAZING how many this picks up, partly as we provide a catch all email account for the domain anyway. However, we may need to stop doing this as it upsets web designers and we may want to have resellers at some point. The whois data reminder does not seem to be having much effect with this. We mail customers 7 days after they register a domain name offering them an upgrade at a discount and even at 7 days 10% are bouncing so possibly the whois reminders don;t get through and many are not acted on. 2. Spam Filters --------------- I test our renewal emails in as many as I can find but still some of the webmail services go through periods of stopping them getting through. usually they are getting flagged using tests for "domain renewal scams". There are also the "challenge" systems where you have to enter a code before the mail gets through. Then there is the problem of customers reporting our renewal notices as spam which causes problems with blacklisting. I am collecting spam which gets through my own very tight filtering and examining how they do it with a view to using those techniques to get our legitimate emails through. 3. Customers! -------------- Those who renewed their web hosting two months ago and swear blind that it included the domain registration fee. Oh how I love these. We send our renewal notices on a friday for domains expiring in the next 30 days and I get 3 or 4 similar disputes even though they had paid them seperately when they first got them. 4. The renewal rates themselves -------------------------------- The correlation I have is that the more someone has paid for a domain name the more chance there is of them renewing it. Our .uk renewal rate is less than 40%. Our gtld is at about 50%. Things like .ms and .nu are at 60/70% or more. I have tried html emails with different messages and it made no difference to the renewal rate. I don't know what Tucows can do to help with these issues as they are really marketing ones. Maybe some help with the email technical side (although for us thats soon going to be irrelevant as we start doing all our renewal notices ourselves). Maybe better links to the renewal side of the client code via a ?domain parameter in the URL, for those who use the client code. Its really a marketing issue more than anything. Running regular mailings to customers might help. I have thought of just sending round my own collection of web design and internet tips as I collect them for my own use, but I worry about the spam issue and the opt in thing. Very few would opt in (I guess). Another thing I tried was sending out an email with adiscount code when a domain had expired 7 days previously. This was somewhat successful, but not enough to make it worthwhile because some people started letting theor domains expire to get the discount (it was one third off). Other ideas I am considering: 1. Phoning people the day after expiry. We only have english speaking staff so this might be problematic but I am goping to try it later in the year. 2. Sending renewals in the post. Given that large numbers of our customers seem to respond to bogus ones, it might be worth a shot. Thats my thoughts on the renewal issue. I am sure someone is going to say they have a 100% renewal rate, but we work in the bulk/consumer market and its just not reasonable to expect that. Regards Gordon Hudson Hostroute.com Ltd www.hostroute.net ------------------------------------------------
