digital electronic mail sent over the internet.
72
votes
14answers
6k views
Is it good practice to force users to give us their email address before showing them our site?
Our company has a website that sells wine. Our idea is that we will ask user to sign up using their email address before they can see any products.
The reasoning behind this is that if a user comes ...
59
votes
13answers
4k views
Why does the email subject appear before the body when composing an email?
Note: I am not talking about reading experience, I am focusing on the experience of composing email.
I am very aware of this issue since it happens to me all the time, and I am pretty sure that it ...
48
votes
12answers
2k views
How can I guard against users accidentally sending emails without attachments?
I often dash off emails to people and still I forget attachments. I am using an email client which does keyword sniffing, e.g. if I type 'attachment' or similar it will pop up a warning, but more ...
40
votes
6answers
2k views
When the username is an email address should the field be called 'username' or 'email'?
When the username for a service is an email address should the field be called 'username' or 'email'?
30
votes
10answers
2k views
What is the best email username to use for a myname.com domain?
Not sure if this is an UX question, well somehow it is, but I didn't know a better place to ask anyway. So I will just throw it in here.
Let's say I have the domain johnsmith.com and I want people to ...
23
votes
6answers
1k views
activation email message optimization
I've got a site (e.g FooBar) and 1 out of 2 users registering never activate their account (via clicking on an email link) so I'm trying to improve this.
The flow is pretty standard:
user lands on ...
20
votes
2answers
369 views
What's better for invitation emails: a temporary password or a one-time login url?
Our web app allows our customers to invite their collaborators into their account. They can submit the new user's email address, and our app sends the new user an email inviting them to login. Once ...
17
votes
8answers
4k views
Using mailto: links for email addresses…what is the practice these days?
When giving out your email address on a site, do people still use the mailto:email@example.com syntax for the link?
Does this work with people using web mail clients? I use gmail and whenever I click ...
16
votes
6answers
477 views
Should validating an email automatically sign someone into an application?
When signing up for a new account with a web application, it is standard to send a validation email. I don't want to go into the pros and cons of the validation email though.
When receiving a ...
15
votes
6answers
2k views
Contact form or mailto: link?
I'm aware that mailto: links only work for people who use a mail client. Assuming most novice users don't, is it safe to assume that contact forms are only appropriate when the target audience isn't a ...
15
votes
3answers
1k views
confirm email or email verification later?
I have a registration form, name, email, password. I also offer the Facebook connection and in the future all other Open ID ways but for now I would focus on the regular process:
Currently, I require ...
12
votes
4answers
789 views
If your login is an email, should you canonicalize/lower-case it?
A lot of sites today don't have a username, just a "login email".
If a user opened an account as foo@mymail.com, and are now trying to login using FoO@mYmAiL.cOm - should we accept this login as ...
11
votes
5answers
815 views
Should I let a user copy/paste into a confirm e-mail field for a registration form? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Preventing a user from pasting from the clipboard into a mandatory form field
There was a question of stackoverflow, that a programmer did not wont to let the new users ...
10
votes
3answers
184 views
Should general 404 page be shown to the user if he clicks one-time link second time?
There is a Sign up function in a web application. After user signs up, an email message with confirmation link is sent to his email address. This confirmation link is obviously valid only one time.
...
10
votes
4answers
321 views
Is a web form that sends an email bad UX versus native email client?
I am developing a web-browser-based contact form for our public web site. The form allows a user to enter their email address and compose a message. Upon submission an email is generated and sent to ...
10
votes
2answers
358 views
Email confirmation on password reset?
I am building a prototype to a system that has a user account system in place. Of course with any account system, the user should be able to reset their password should the need arise (e.g., ...
10
votes
3answers
748 views
Reply all replies to self?
The mail client Microsoft Outlook have the option to use “Reply All” in a mail conversation. When you hit the “Reply All”-button, your name sometimes turn up in the to-box, meaning you’ll also receive ...
9
votes
4answers
302 views
email field or username for logging in an application?
What is the best solution for an app : Email or username field?
I like email because:
it's unique
user will easily remember
it's personal (which can be a disadvantage sometimes; Multiple users on ...
9
votes
4answers
527 views
Subliminal user registration
I'm developing a forum/community board and I want to avoid registration forms. So I decided to make user registration almost implicit.
What I mean is, if an unregistered user is about to do something ...
8
votes
7answers
407 views
Hyphenating URLs and email addresses that would overflow their container?
This is clearly bad UX and web development:
It's important to make sure that email addresses and URLs don't overflow the container, but also that they are fully visible.
But should the email ...
8
votes
4answers
366 views
When a user's login email has been changed, what should happen?
I'm making an online frontend for a system. This system is normally used by a business providing a service to a customer. The customer will have the option of using this online frontend in addition to ...
8
votes
3answers
289 views
How can I provide a simple dialog for a user to enter multiple email addresses (for invitations)?
I'm creating a dialog (modal) that asks the user to enter multiple email addresses to which an item on the website is shared to. The dialog is about 530x500 pixels big.
Right now I'm asking the user ...
8
votes
2answers
3k views
Examples of well written emails for recruiting participants for usability tests / interviews or surveys?
I'm looking for examples of emails for recruiting participants for tests or interviews. I felt my first drafts for the last time I recruited were somewhat impersonal.
So how do you write good ...
7
votes
3answers
929 views
Sending a formatted email vs. sending a PDF as attachment
I am working on a site that will have a "send to email" feature for semi-personalized content (think something like a short shopping list). We already will have a print-friendly view of this content ...
7
votes
5answers
268 views
Usability of an email field without label “email”
Does it make sense to a user that this field is for email only?
Or is it confusing?
7
votes
5answers
318 views
Why is it common practice to send newsletters from fake email addresses?
Has someone researched the amount of recipients who respond to newsletter emails, and see "Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently"? -The ratio is probably high.
People who reply ...
7
votes
2answers
160 views
Are “Thank You for Unsubscribing to our Newsletter” emails necessary?
I am about to disable the "Send a Thank You for Unsubscribing to our Newsletter" message for some of our clients as I think it's superfluous and unnecessary.
My suggestion was to have an Unsubscribe ...
7
votes
4answers
257 views
How should email threads be ordered?
I thought I had the answer to this question. If you view raw email, you can see that the most recent email is at the top, with the rest below in reverse chronological order. I think it's fair to say ...
7
votes
1answer
182 views
During sign ups, how to best instill confidence that email addresses will be safe
Many sign up forms will ask you for an email address so that they can contact you.
Even the most minimal sign-up (other than no sign up) will need an email address to send you a validation email.
...
7
votes
4answers
122 views
Multiple email address field in a simple form
This is a survey site, and after completing the survey the user has the option to send a copy of the report to themselves. There is a small container on the page, with a text field and a submit ...
6
votes
2answers
335 views
no-reply@yourdomain.com or a real address?
For authentication emails and various other one-way communication applications often use no-reply@yourdomain.com. This comes across as unfriendly when compared to something like hello@yourdomain.com.
...
6
votes
3answers
142 views
What would be an expected behaviour for resetting the password?
When a user uses the »I forgot my password« link several times and gets a couple of emails, each one with a tokenized link to reset his password, what would be the appropriate behaviour?
All links ...
5
votes
3answers
161 views
Logging in with email only
I'm working on a blog and there will be an option to post a comment.
I could implement registration with username, password and email — the standard way. I could implement 3rd-party authorization ...
5
votes
4answers
219 views
Email notification service - registration required or not?
I am creating a notification service in my web app that will allow people to be notified when certain types of postings are published according to their tastes.
They will be able to sign up for ...
5
votes
3answers
275 views
Why do you need to keep users engaged through your site?
I hope this is an appropriate forum for this topic. If not, I apologize.
To rephrase the question, I am debating a new tactic that some marketers are trying to implement that goes against everything ...
5
votes
2answers
253 views
Email first registration
I'm wondering how to structure our signup process.
We really need email verification, so the idea is that instead of having the classic 'register then verify' process, we ask for the email first, and ...
5
votes
1answer
200 views
Flag vs. Star in E-mail apps! Which would be the optimal placement for a 'flag' or 'star' icon in e-mail apps?
Most people read from left to right, so In my opinion the flag or star icon should be definitely on the left.
In MS Office it's on the right, but there is an exclamation mark on the left (which has a ...
4
votes
6answers
262 views
Is a captcha necessary when email validation is being utilised?
During registration for my new website, I'm going to require that a link is clicked in a confirmation email before a new user has full privileges. Is this a good way to remove spammers/bots, or do you ...
4
votes
2answers
228 views
Should I save mail list subscription information for users who unsubscribe?
I'm planning a possible email subscription management system for our company. Users will voluntarily opt-in for initial registration, and can control which specific mailing lists they'll be ...
4
votes
3answers
316 views
Any evidence of increased click through rates on blue underlined links in html emails?
I'm redesigning our company email template. At the moment links are grey, bold and not underlined. I don't think this makes it very clear that it is a link. My gut instinct tells me that I should make ...
4
votes
3answers
357 views
Emails in plain text or HTML?
When communicating with customers, is it better to send emails in plain text or html formats?
Each has different strengths and weaknesses, but the question of which is better still remains. Which ...
4
votes
3answers
401 views
What do you think of the new Yahoo Mail UI? Is it a good or bad UI? [closed]
Recently Yahoo changed the UI of the Yahoo Mail service. I am curious what you think about it?
There's one "retro" function - keyboard shortcuts :-)
and what is really interesting about them I ...
4
votes
5answers
125 views
What is a more personal email address than support@yourdomain.com or sales@yourdomain.com for a Service-oriented product?
If you have an email where you want your users to contact you with any and all questions, a true concierge/high-touch point of contact, what would you call it?
Most products use emails like:
...
4
votes
2answers
102 views
Should i line wrap my emails?
When my coworkers send their emails, some would diligently line wrap the body text into lines that are at most, say 78 characters wide, others would use no line break in a paragraph, and the ...
4
votes
3answers
183 views
Should email verification links expire?
It's a common practice for websites to send email verification links on sign up. Should these verification links expire? I know about a bunch of website where they do and I wonder why?
4
votes
4answers
386 views
Has anyone usability tested (handwritten) email before?
I was just reading this article: How to send and reply to email. It's basically about the user interface and user experience of email. There are many good tips, but unfortunately the article doesn't ...
4
votes
1answer
188 views
What's up with the Preview Pane? Why or why not to use it in internal web app messaging systems
I am about to redesign an app w/ internal messaging (ala Facebook) and just curious to get some input from the UI community on the concept of 'Preview Panes'.
It seems that the majority of the ...
3
votes
4answers
172 views
What is the purpose behind some websites letting the user enter more than one email?
Some websites like LinkedIn, Quora, Facebook etc. let the user enter one or more email addresses. The user can make one of them as primary account and they show him all the emails he entered so he can ...
3
votes
2answers
193 views
How to handle creating new account with email address that is unverified on another account?
We have email address verification on our accounts. Users have to verify their email addresses when they create their accounts and when they update their email addresses on existing accounts. With new ...
3
votes
3answers
581 views
Email Reminder Best Practices
I'm working on the email reminder system for a business-to-business social networking site.
I'm not sure how often to send out email reminders for users who have actions to complete. Or even how many ...
