Alliance Recruiting Automated Messages

[Vangu]

I fully understand why almost every alliance has a template for their mass messaging tactics. But if you are going to do this there should be some rules for the recruiters to follow such as keeping track of who they have messaged as nothing is more annoying then getting 20+ messages a day and with at least two or three of those from the same person or alliance...with the same message. If you are going to have a template for such things at least make it flexible enough to put the persons name in it a time or two this will make the person think you actually care or give the illusion the message is not simply the same exact message hundreds of other players got. If you are going to do anything and want a better turn over rate (amount of messages sent vs how many actually join/reply) make the message unique to each person that you send it to. This means you have a basic set of things you want in the message but you don't copy/paste and send. Maybe take the time to look at the players resources and comment on that and how they can increase gains by trading with others and your alliance has an open spot in a trade circle. My last suggestion to most of you is to take out anything that refers to the person being annoyed or tired of all the messages...if your message is not 100% unique to that person and is just another copy/paste then you have no right to "sympathize" as you are part of the spam.

I fully support the alliances and players that actually write each message they send to players to try and recruit them. Sadly I am even wondering if that is done as I have got about 30 messages in the last two days and not once has one been unique.

Edited June 20, 2010 by Vangu

[Itsuki Koizumi]

This is the method that has worked for a while and has successfully gotten many recruits for a lot of alliances. If you don't like it, don't join. I doubt most alliances would care.

[Vangu]

If my only argument was the messages alone I would quote the message rule "Do not use any form of mass messaging script to send mass messages to other users in Cyber Nations." And ask why it matters if its a script when the player is just going to do the same exact thing the script would do. Mass messages itself should not be allowed.

[abdur]

#1: Most successful alliances DO NOT spam the same person over and over again on the same day with the same message, if you feel they are doing it wrong, they obviously arent. (look at the number of recruits they get.)
#2: Getting rid of mass messaging would make Intra alliance communication through CN, terrible for the bigger alliances.


I just dont see this working out.

[Vangu]

Out of 200 messages odds are they are going to get a few people and out of those some will not last in this game or will just leave the alliance. Again I am not against the messages I am just saying they could be done better.

[Baldr]

Your nation is one day old, and your alliance affiliation is "None".

That's pretty much the ideal target for people sending recruitment messages, which is why you are getting so many.

Join an alliance, and those will pretty much stop. Even if you don't join an alliance, changing your AA to something other than "None" will greatly lower the number of recruiting msgs you get.

I've been playing for over two years, and I don't think I've gotten a single recruitment message for most of that time. I got some when I was, like you, brand new, but as soon as I joined an alliance, they ended, and I've never seen them again. (Including a month or so when I was unaligned, but using something other than "None" in my AA field.)

Setting your AA to something other than "None" will also help lower your odds of getting raided.

[Vangu]

I am not new to the game just a new nation in the game and even back when I first started I disliked how the system works so here I am. While not trying to change the in-game system I am trying to at least get people to update their messages.

Edit: And I would like to think i'm not alone on thinking less of an alliance after seeing some of the spam in the last two days. A well written mass message is better then nothing if you have to go that way. Not saying well written as in grammar just something original and drives the point of your message without being a hypocrite in your own message....those types annoy me the most.

Edited June 20, 2010 by Vangu

[iMatt]

[quote name='Vangu' date='20 June 2010 - 08:17 PM' timestamp='1277075860' post='2344224']
I am not new to the game just a new nation in the game and even back when I first started I disliked how the system works so here I am. While not trying to change the in-game system I am trying to at least get people to update their messages.

Edit: And I would like to think i'm not alone on thinking less of an alliance after seeing some of the spam in the last two days. A well written mass message is better then nothing if you have to go that way. Not saying well written as in grammar just something original and drives the point of your message without being a hypocrite in your own message....those types annoy me the most.
[/quote]
For those who are starting out and have the same priorities as you - there *are* alliances which put some thought and time into each message, but a) no alliance has the resources to send messages to all of those little nations just starting. 1 in 100 actually continue in the game for longer than 100 days (complete guess). And b) if a person is interested in not getting a generic message, they often put it in their bio, saying "I don't read generic recruitment messages", so those who are taking time to read the bio will know and adjust. For c) these tactics are used mainly on higher NS or older nations who are unaligned, don't be annoyed that the new nations are spammed; it gives them something to read, an "intro" to an alliance, which imo is a good thing. Get them involved in alliances and that's half the battle of keeping them active in the game.

[TheDave]

[quote name='iMatt' date='21 June 2010 - 11:20 PM' timestamp='1277158796' post='2345720']
no alliance has the resources to send messages to all of those little nations
[/quote]

I organised a recruitment drive when in GDA and we sent messages to every unalligned in the game and it took less than an hour with only 6 of us sending the messages. Its not that time consuming to do at all.

[iMatt]

[quote name='TheDave' date='21 June 2010 - 07:49 PM' timestamp='1277160537' post='2345745']
I organised a recruitment drive when in GDA and we sent messages to every unalligned in the game and it took less than an hour with only 6 of us sending the messages. Its not that time consuming to do at all.
[/quote]
I was referring to the "thought out and personal" recruitment messages, not the stock ones. That's the whole point of my previous post

[TheDave]

So you did. I should read properly

[lonewolfe2015]

That's nothing new, I remember when I rerolled and I collected all those messages and rated/ranked people just to stack up the competition for people to see (never showed the messages, thats not fair)

If you don't like it, you really don't have to join them. There are alliances out there that won't spam the same people, use the same messages, or even mass message people in general. Some people do like to talk to you, but there's a catch.

If I were to write a unique message to every new nation, the time involved is not proportional to the number of quality members I'd get. So why waste my time? That is what I ask you to answer if you feel you deserve a unique one handwritten for you, then everyone does, yes? I can't know you're the best one in the newest batch, pick em at random, hope you hit gold!

[Vangu]

Have any of you ever actually tried to and noted on the difference. I know one person that did all generic spam for two weeks and didn't get a single person to join but got a couple replies. Would he have done better if the messages were unique to each person he sent it? Maybe but no one knows. And the message does not have to be 100% unique but at least give it more such as making room for the person name or do the spam at the bottom of the message but a short sentence at the start that is not part of the daily spam...if it shows or hints at maybe you actually care if they join or not maybe they will.

[iMatt]

[quote name='Vangu' date='22 June 2010 - 01:16 AM' timestamp='1277180169' post='2346189']
Have any of you ever actually tried to and noted on the difference. I know one person that did all generic spam for two weeks and didn't get a single person to join but got a couple replies. Would he have done better if the messages were unique to each person he sent it? Maybe but no one knows. And the message does not have to be 100% unique but at least give it more such as making room for the person name or do the spam at the bottom of the message but a short sentence at the start that is not part of the daily spam...if it shows or hints at maybe you actually care if they join or not maybe they will.
[/quote]
As before though, think about the number of people who go to deletion on their 25th day, not looking again at their nation. Think about the number of people who might not see that first personal line since there are so many messages in his inbox already.

I'm not saying personal recruitment messages don't have their time and place, but definitely not to nations who are 0 days old. It's not feasible.

[abdur]

[quote name='iMatt' date='21 June 2010 - 08:24 PM' timestamp='1277166222' post='2345866']
I was referring to the "thought out and personal" recruitment messages, not the stock ones. That's the whole point of my previous post
[/quote]
The recruitment team at UPN did send 'thought out and personal' messages to the nations that joined, all we had to do was organize it on IRC and Timezones.

Edit: atleast when I was MoR.

Edited June 22, 2010 by abdur

[Sanru]

I doubt he still does active recruiting but about a year and a half ago there was a great recruiter in The Immortals who sent out personalized messages to each nation he targeted for recruitment. his message included specialized start-up advice based on their resources and chosen government and a simple offer to help them should they be interested. upon a response, he gave more advice and sent them a link to the forums. This sort of messaging takes a lot of time and effort to properly pull off and eventually will burn out even the best of recruiters, but I think this is the sort or message you are/were looking to receive.

[Ironfist]

Typing 25 names > Typing 25 messages

^^ That's the bottom line. The idea of recruiting is to put a though in a new player's head that they [i]could [/i]join Alliance A rather than Alliance B. It's not really to try and get all 25 messaged members to their forum because that would be an unrealistic goal (though a nice one if it worked). A recruiter just wants to know that their message was read and recognised, and that their alliance name is out there in the new player's mind for future reference.

In the end, like other people have said, you only really get 1 in 100 that actually like your message. Probably about 90 of those won't even read their messages. What is the point of making unique letters to satisfy each potential recruit when 90% of your work is pointless in the end?

I'm not saying that personalised messages aren't a good thing. It'd be great to be able to do that but time is money (not in this game but you get my point). It's just not a realistic objective in the grande scheme of things.

[Bradford]

I'm very interested in this conversation.

I do a lot of recruiting, and I have never used a mass mailing. I'm no angel - I wish I could spend the time to craft a perfect, witty message that was completely unique for each of the people I message. It's not possible for me. I have several core messages that I customize to the individual circumstances of the nation. So at a minimum, you get your name in the greeting, and at least one or two points specifically relating to what I can find out about you in several minutes of looking.

I will never get huge numbers of recruits this way because I rarely send more than 30-40 messages a week. However, I've been very pleased with both the caliber of people who've replied and our rate of retention once they're with us.

None of which is meant to suggest that others are doing it wrong. I'm just agreeing that it's possible to recruit successfully without using automated messages. I wish I knew the recruiter Wappas referred to above - sounds like he and I would get along great!

[NoLaurelTree000]

TS, is it really such an inconvenience for you to receive a stock message? stock messages are stock for a reason, they list the selling points and benefits of joining the alliance. considering that for every 100 messages you send out, youll get 4 or 5 responses, its simply not worth the time or effort to personalize every message.

want to know how you can get a personalized message? respond to a stock message. then a recruiter will take the time to talk with you and answer any questions you have.