June 3rd, 2009
Avatars in Emails Increase Response Rate up to 20% for Rypple
by Joshua Porter | 
3 Comments | shortlink: http://bokardo.com/p/1118
Just wanted to share a stat gleaned from a client, Rypple. Rypple makes a innovative enterprise service based on personal feedback. The core of the service is an idea taken from highly productive people: they tend to constantly ask for and make changes based on feedback they receive from peers.
For some folks, however, getting and giving feedback is not part of their normal routine. (even though it should be) Therefore, instilling a sense of trust around the service is crucial, even for users who might already work together. So when someone gets a request email from a Rypple user asking for personal feedback, they aren’t always sure if the email is legit or if it’s some sort of SPAM.
In working through this design problem, the folks at Rypple have found that avatars are very helpful in gaining initial trust with a feedback request. After Rypple added avatars to emails, response rate improved between 15 and 20%. Just like that. The simple addition of a picture increases interest/trust a significant amount.
That’s some food for thought…there aren’t many ways to increase response rates that much that easily…this also adds another data point to the importance of avatars in social design.
Also, another recommendation: always include names next to avatars. In case avatars aren’t clear pictures of the person in question, the receiver might not have any idea of who it is. Use avatars, but don’t trust them to be instantly recognizable…
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Comments
1. Neil 9:11am, Wed 3rd, 2009
That’s believable; Twitter’s changes to the follower notification emails certainly improved the experience for me. It’s usually a spammer, but at least you can see an avatar in situ before clicking the link and making the jump to the profile page.
Do Rypple have a before & after screenshot comparison of the emails, and perhaps a few more details on the numbers involved in the 15 – 20% improvement? I’d love to hear more on this.
2. Trista Meehan 11:24am, Wed 3rd, 2009
Thanks for the interesting post!
I did a related A/B test a few months back. I was surveying some of our users anyway, so I sent half my email list a standard survey request and the other was slightly more personal and included my name and picture.
Although there was *not* a significant difference in the survey response rate, I did receive several dozen direct, personal email responses (some took the survey, some did not) giving us suggestions and/or praising our service. About 98% of those were responses to the more personalized invitation with my name and pic. Almost all addressed me by name.
I think they felt their feedback would actually matter, since they were addressing a real person.
3. Jake Holman 4:40am, Tue 9th, 2009
Hi Joshua,
Although I know that personification of otherwise inhuman corporations is always a bonus and is sure to increase some sort of return, I was wondering if you could define the term “response rate” for me. That term can be construed in many different ways – so it would be good to get a real, true, understanding of the figures and how they were gained.