I could imagine the kind of reaction when I send out a “Thank You” note to those people who has just commented on my blog as a little gesture of my personal appreciation. I wish I could do it manually with a little bit of personal touch each time but it wouldn’t be that time-effective, would it?
A couple of my readers asked me if I did write that “Thank You” note manually which would then be a very nice gesture and effort from me. The answer is “yes” I did write it on my own but I don’t send it myself each time. I use a nifty plugin Comment Relish; it’s probably one of the most under-utilized WordPress tool and yet one of the most effective one to build loyal readership.
A Relish for You & Your Comment
Comment Relish by Justin Shattuck is intended to send a relishing, Thank-You e-mail message to new commentators on your blog. When a user comments on your blog, if they have never commented before, it will send the message automatically.
Installation
- Download Comment Relish plugin
- Extract compressed archive
comment-relish.zipto desired folder on your local computer. - Upload
comment-relish.phpto yourwp-content/plugins/directory - Activate plugin via administrative panel of Wordpress
- Configure the message on Plugins > Comment Relish option page
The message dispatched to your commentator is defined within the plugin’s preferences. Numerous tags have been integrated to allow for information to be included in the message easily (i.e. timestamp, author name, comment, etc.).
The way I use it is to thank my commentator for their feedback and remind them to subscribe to my RSS.
A Differing Point of View
Vijay from Siteguide.us has 3 reasons why Comment Relish is not good for your blog.
- People hate auto-responder (agree)
- Looks like a desperate attempt to publicize the blog (disagree)
- Not the best first impression (disagree)
He argued that in the absence of the plugin, blogger interaction increases greatly. Yes, you are half-right but I would have to disagree with that piece of opinion as I believe that the use of it combined with a personal response to those who comment makes the best of both world.
To each his own, I for one appreciate a simple effort than no effort at all. It’s up to you to decide whether to use it or not. It’s really one of those things where either you love it or hate it.
Hey, let me know what you think.
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About Yan
I have to agree with Vijay. It’s an annoyance and it isn’t opt-in, which can put you on the wrong side of the CAN-SPAM act.
The only kind of autoresponding you should be doing, beyond comment notification, is a double-opt. This is what Feedburner does with email RSS subscriptions. You can also do this for newsletters and to announce new blog posts using an autoresponder service. But don’t send unsolicited emails. It’s a bad idea.
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I thought the Thank You note was nice to get and made me see that you care about your readers and appreciate them for leaving comments. That was my first impression of it.
And look, it must have worked because I’m back and I am also a new subscriber :)
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@Frank: You certainly have your point but as I said it before the first impression is better than no impression at all.
How could it be considered spamming if the email message is sent only to first time commentator?
However, I do agree with you that unsolicited email is never a good idea.
@Emma: I’m glad you find this blog useful. With or without the plugin, I really care about those readers who leave comments here and I’m making all the effort to reply to every single of them personally.
So who says that with the plugin, blogger interaction decreases greatly?
I did find the Thank-You email to be a nice touch when I first commented here Yan. I’m curious how the plugin determines who a “first time” commenter is. Perhaps a cookie? or by email? Less than 10 comments? 20 comments? perhaps this is even customizable in the options?
I beg the question because I have received numerous auto-thankyou’s over the past couple months. Receiving the same auto-thankyou time and time again could pose as a problem for some regulars I would imagine. But overall, a good plugin and nice touch.
Very interesting article. I will try comment relish plugin this weekend.
Thanks
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Hi Yan,
Thanks for visiting my blog, and for reviewing the category :) ! I answered.
I had a thought whether there was a comment plugin which would add all the features from one pack. Including this “Notify me of followup comments via e-mail” and “Spam protection: Sum of 4 + 8 ?”. All of them you use are very practical.
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@Colin: I think the plugin on my blog made a fool of itself by sending an email every time when you made a comment. I’m scratching my head how it could happen like that.
In normal cases, it will only send once to the first-time commentator and no more thereafter. Let me see whether I could pin-point the problem. But overall, I don’t think sending one “Thank You” email is taken as ’spamming’, is it not?
@Pancheus: Glad you find it interesting and thanks for dropping by.
@Rado: You are welcome. I’m using both “Subscribe to Comments” and “Math Comment Spam Protection” which I’d recommend you have it on your blog.
Hi Yan!
It worked for me, I read it as an extra effort on your part to be appreciative, and in turn appreciated that.
I’m going to give it a try. I recently commented on a very large blogger’s site and I received an auto reply that thanked me for commenting. It also invited me to subscribe to his list which I did.
I was so impressed with the system I saved the email for reference later when I figured out how to do it. Now I know thanks to Yan. As long as it only sends one email and I can change the subject line I’ll give it a try. I didn’t care for the subject line: ‘RESPONSE REQUIRED: Confirm your request for information from hissitedotcom’
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@Brian: Right, I’d not call it spamming if it only send one ‘thank you’ email to the commenter. In fact, many impressed readers have privately emailed me and asked me how did it.
Glad we are in the same opinion and hope your commenters will appreciate it as well.
When i first received an email from a blogger for commenting in his blog, i was surprised and happy both!Little did i know that there was such a thing called auto responder. But as time went, when i happened to notice that nearly all blogs had this feature, it did irritate me a little. But not quite so. It’s fun!:)
@Ranjani - I think it’s a great feature to have, though some quarters are pretty much against it. So it’s your call whether to use it or not. To me, a little something is always better than nothing.
I like it, I think it’s cool…most know it’s not you. I don’t see it as spam because you can’t continue to email that person…but, on the other hand I can see how automatically getting an email without opting in for it can be spammy…
hmmmmm…..
It’s a good idea and I started using it when I found out about it, but, I wonder if it does turn anyone away?
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Great Idea.. its working ….
Its good idea to appreciating the readers by sending some message .
Responding manually tothe reader is tough job so relish does a good work .
Please tell me how to use this auto email responder in my Blogger blog!! Plz help! :(
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