Auto E-Mail to authors of INCOMPLETE LISTINGS

[bgordon]

How about an automated email to the user whose ad(s) are left incomplete after some determined amount of time (user configurable) like 8hrs.

This would not rely on the guy logging back in (he might have forgot where he was in his advertising frenzy) to see the incomplete ad. The integration of the mod where users are alerted to incomplete listings (found in this topic) is integral but could be taken a step further.

I think a friendly email from a template that directs him back to the site to complete and activate his listing would be proactive and even more effective.

How big a deal would this be?

I find that most of my incomplete ads are a one where the guy has chosen to PAY for the ad and for whatever reason it is not completed (maybe needs to transfer money to paypal or can't find his credit card) and lft in limbo. The customer may NOT come back on his own without a FRIENDLY PROMPT.

[civ]

Have you been spying on us? We just completed this very mod yesterday - how weird is that! We had been manually emailing our "Not Completes" and decided it was time to automate it since our emails were actually working and bringing customers back to pay for their listings.

Yesterday's live tests seem to work properly but we want to watch it for a little while before releasing it. We also need to tidy it up and wrap it up as a true mod.

We are running it via cron every 2 hours, with a 15 minute grace period so as not to not email someone who is currently placing a listing. These times are configurable of course.

Right now our email redirects the user to userbrowselistings, and we are providing them with their username in the email (also including their pw would be trivial) since they will likely need to login. Awhile back we wrote a manual payment form that did not require the user to login - perhaps we'll see about integrating that at some point.

[bgordon]

Originally Posted by civ

Have you been spying on us? We just completed this very mod yesterday - how weird is that! We had been manually emailing our "Not Completes" and decided it was time to automate it.

Yesterday's live tests seem to work properly but we want to watch it for a little while before releasing it. We also need to tidy it up and wrap it up as a true mod.

We are running it via cron every 2 hours, with a 15 minute grace period so as not to not email someone who is currently placing a listing. These times are configurable of course.

Right now our email redirects the user to userbrowselistings, and we are providing them with their username in the email (also including their pw would be trivial) since they will likely need to login. Awhile back we wrote a manual payment form that did not require the user to login - perhaps we'll see about integrating that at some point.

Sounds like great minds think alike! I have been emailing them too. Strange but it is usually the ones who are paying... Anyway, if you want someone else to test it out, I will do that for you. I can add the hooks if you give me some details. Failing that, I will be your first mod client. The username/password inclusion is a good idea. Make it simple for them to get in and complete (pay!) for their ad.

PM if you want me to help you test this out.