Dealing with Group Invitations

I have had an issue come up and would like the opinions of the forum on how to handle things like this...

I am Sales Manager for a company that sells Oriental furnishings and interior decorations. Every week I go through our sales, and offer an invitation to all those who have bought stuff from us to join our customer group, so that they can get future announcements about new products, etc. So far we have over 180 members and not a single complaint, until today, when I got the following IM:

"you have been muted and an abuse report has been send by spamming and sending unwanted invitations. Keep of my mailbox or...."

This was the very first thing I heard from this person.

I looked up the person and they bought one item from us, and had not bought anything from us prior to this week.

That means that they got exactly one invitation from me.

This person has been in SL well over a year, so isn't a newbie.

I have asked my boss to apologize for any inconvenience caused, obviously, because I am not trying to harass anybody, but instead offer a service for our customers. I can't apologize myself, because I assume that he has done what he said, and muted me.

So, several questions:
First, is this an ARable offense? Am I going to get banned from SL for doing it?

Second, is this really that objectionable? If get a group invite I will refuse it (and maybe politely ask the sender not to invite me again).

Third, is there a way for me to find out if there really is an AR against me? And if so, what the progress is?

I am obviously seriously thinking about not bothering to invite anybody, especially if this is ARable - I don't want to do anything even vaguely objectionable to our valued customers.

I have to say that I am confused and upset about this, and would appreciate the advice of the more knowledgeable people on the forums.

I'd say that person either didn't like your company/products very much, or thinks any group invite is spam if you didn't ask for it explicitly. Take it easy

Since the definition of "spam" is "an unsolicited contact for purposes of selling products or services" and since the individual already has an ongoing business relationship with you (having purchased goods) the individual has no grounds for complaint.

I would, however, ban the individual from my store to prevent any future "misunderstandings"

Most of deeming somethine AR-able has to do with intent. There's also the matter of frequency. You obviously weren't grief-spamming this person with invites. If they AR you it WILL be ignored.

If you really only intend this group for product announcements, I'd recommend setting up a subscribe-o-matik or similar system. Something that distributes notes to people. It's totally opt-in, and people don't have to worry about giving up a group slot or getting group chat spam.

Subscribe-o-matik is expensive, but there are probably cheaper alternatives by now.

Big time. Total spaz.

If you were indiscriminately blasting group invitations, that would unquestionably be spam and you would deserve a good whoopin'.

It's really irritating when group invitations are sent out to every single visitor to a place, but at least this focuses it down to people who displayed a vague passing interest. It's a little less irritating if it is kept to the minimum, that is, check if the person has been offered group membership before, or is already a member.

If you are only sending invitations to paying customers, or people who request them, then there is a bona fide business relationship there and your action is completely appropriate. Make sure that the group's charter explains its purpose clearly, because that is all the recipient will see in the way of explanation when the invitation dialog appears.

I am not a fan of unsolicited marketing personally, but there is no way that I would AR a one-time event, particularly if it was a follow-up to a purchase that I had made and certainly not considering the number of people who will spam one with all sorts of rubbish merely because one is on the search list. I would just ignore this, nothing will happen. (If anything _does_, you will be informed, and then you can make a fuss, but it won't.)

You might want to put up some sort of sign advertising your group or, as noted, use a "subscribe-o-matic" type device. This will make things a lot easier. I am definitely a fan of (properly-working!) subscription devices which do not need group slots, and I have written them for private clients - I have barely enough group slots to actually do the work I need to do, let alone join product update ones, and if there isn't a direct need to have a group working (e.g. group land areas, special offers inworld which rely on people having group tags on) then I wouldn't.

Thank you, everyone, for your views. We certainly don't invite anyone who visits, just those that have actually bought a product.

I will look into the subscription thing.

Can someone give me a good reference to one?

Thanks. You have put my mind at ease a bit.

If you are manually processing the list, why not send an IM to the person first, thanking them for the custom and explaining that you have an update group available and would they care to join it. Slightly more work for you, but shows even more personal service. Then, you only need to process the positive responses.

You could even go so far as to have the script that is logging the transaction send the message, the down side of that is that an object cannot receive an IM if the person responds.

If I like a product I will buy more but, I do consider unasked for invites spam and would report if more than one otherwise I just decline.

Maybe the person had gone on a buying spree that day, and 10 other shops had already sent their invitations. It could have been a "last straw" thing.

I would never assume that someone buying my items would want to be added to a group. Just arbitrarily sending invites to all your customers seems like spam to me. Mild spam, but still spam. (I, too, would not have reported just one)

I agree with an in-store sign for people who want to join groups.

I suggest that you place a sign on your land with info about your group and who to contact to become a member of it and or the name of the group if you have an open enrollment. If you do this you make this a voluntary option for your visitors, which I think it should be. You can also place a greeter on the land, which can give your visitors info about the excisting group.

I think it's rather annoying myself to get loads of group invites, if even one from each person or group, they add up and it's not amusing to having to deny and close group invite dialog boxes all the time. To me it's like any spam I get in my mailbox at home irl and I'm a real spam hater The way you do it, I'm afraid you scare more people off your land than the opposite.

I can see the points of everyone on here, and agree that the best system would be to have something where they can EASILY opt-in. Heck, I don't enjoy the random spam I get in RL, either, although when I already have some sort of business relationship with a company I kind of expect it.

I like the idea of moving away from a group and towards a notification list - would still very much like some references as to where I can research one.

This is the best solution, imo.

I would take it your Group is an open enrollment and has no fee to sign up. IMing the customers lets them know there is a Group available IF they wish to join.

For most of us that have been here a while, there's two things that pop us off with unsolicited Group Invites.
1) Our Groups are full and we couldn't accept if we wanted to.
2) We get these invites DAILY, so they have become an annoyance. Even from legitimate senders.

It is #2 which is the worse case. Due to the [censored] people that spam Group Invites, or send them out with a 100L$ fee hoping no one will notice, or sending them to newbies to split off the group liability feature so all those unsuspecting people pay for tier when it's due, has jaded a lot of us.

Personally, I prefer a Notecard in my purchase that has the Group name. If I want to join, then I'll join, if not, it will be in my inventory for if I want to later. You may also think about placing up a sign at the store that says about the Group (for those too lazy to open Notecards *grins*)

~Jessy

I dont want to be harsh but, if I buy something from you , Im damn well perfectly capiable of joining your groups mailing list if I want to, I dont need it offfered to me, I didnt ask for it, and I certainly wil not accept it if it pops up.Though you might consider it good business, its really just a tool to get more sales, it has nothing to do with good CS, its 100% uninvited solicitation,

That being said, I dont really think it should have been AR'ed,. I mean shoot, if you dont want it, just press decline, easy enough, someone who would AR it, has got sot to much time on thier hands

There are Group inviters out there, scripts that when touched give as link to your groups page, I would say those are going to be more effective and less time consuming, and will alllow not just puchasing members buy anyone that might want to purchase from you later

IM me and I'll send you a group inviter script

I will tell you upfront I do not like spam. If I like the product, I am very capable of coming back and looking for more things. Perhaps you will think I am being a bit anal, but it comes down to this. I purchased the trinket, I don't need to know that you have a new version in pink being released on Friday or Suzie Jones was the 10,000 customer who purchased it.

Between running my own business and being a sim administrator, I have more than enough stuff on my screen. The spam box that invites me to your group is just another piece of clutter I have to deal with.
I understand very well why this person was upset.
Spam should be a AR offense. I see more and more of it each day.

Rox

I would consider an invite to a group spam, even when I bought a product. It's much more customer friendly to put a notecard in your product box that explains how to join your group.

Last week I bought something and also got contacted with offerings. For me that is a reason to stop buying and mute a person.

Subscribe-o-matic has a free 14-day trial. You can get the hardware at SLX for L$1.
http://uncensored.slexchange.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=323598

I use it, and while I'm still trying to determine whether the cost is worth it (I have the unlimited-list-size plan), it's a pretty cool system. Their site:
http://www.subscribeomatic.com/

Yesterday I got invited to join a group and not concentrating, I clicked on 'accept' thinking 'damn, I didn't check it out first!'....

So today I logged in, checked the group out, found it had no application or interest to me so left! The fact that a stranger offered an invite is certainly not an AR-able offence in my opinion.

Someone just fell out of bed the wrong side that day and I doubt anything will come of it, don't worry! Trying out one of the other options offered in this thread may be a good idea, if for no other reason but to save yourself some stress. Good luck in the future!

I have read this thread (several times over) with interest.

I was a little surprised to see that an IM would be viewed as less intrusive, and less spammy, than a group invite. That's an interesting data point to have.

I'm very new to this business-owning thing, and since my business is hospitality (running a cafe rather than making and selling stuff) it is perhaps that much more important that I not alienate potential return visitors.

I have "click to join group" signs up but I find that they are rarely used. Since I can't be at my cafe to greet people all day, I have scripts that tell me who has been there. My policy so far has been to send a group invite to anyone who visits the cafe on two different days - that's someone who liked it enough to come back. I've invited maybe 10 or 12 people who meet this criterion, and most have accepted; some have declined. I have never received a complaint about it.

But if it's not considered polite, I don't want to do it. I could, instead, send an IM to those twice-visitors, reminding them of the existence of the group and telling them the benefit of joining (i.e., a notice when I am having a party or DJing music). I guess I can see where the IM would be a little more personal than the random group invite.

Another concern I had - I don't know if this makes any sense - is that people might be annoyed to find out that I have tracking scripts telling me who has been there. I am sure this is extremely standard practice in Second Life but I can see it might be spooky to someone who hasn't thought about it. This, of course, is a problem whether I go the group invite or the IM route.

Just musing on things - I haven't really got a coherent position. Still learning.

I agree that I wouldn't want a store I shopped in to invite me to a group. If I bought a lot in a particular store, then perhaps yes. Mostly I would see it as annoying, sorry.

I have a VIP group for my own store. People can join voluntarily, I never ask anyone. I never spam the group messages. Once every couple of months I send the VIPs a newsletter with anything I hope they would find interesting about my island - I like to hold competitions etc here. I also send them special freebies - perhaps something from a new line I am doing, or a unique custom version just for them. All new members get a Welcome Pack with a special custom watch and other bits in it. I like to think I spoil them

Sure, I would like to get more sales because of the group - not necessarily from the VIPs themselves, but perhaps because they mention to friends that they liked something from my store etc. I also like people to come enjoy my island! After all, that is why I saved up and got one, and pay tier for it.

I hope the way I handle the group is beneficial to both myself AND my customers.

Thank you all for some truly excellent advice. It's good to get perspectives from the Forum crowd. I have re-thought my sending out invites and will stop doing it.

The notification list idea is a good one, but the subscribeomatic, while looking cool, I would like us to be able to buy, rather than have to pay a monthly usage fee. Are there alternatives? We have servers we can run things on, so it's not like we need to rent server space.

I think I'm an tending towards just putting out the group invite thing until we can find a viable subscription list thing.

I really appreciate the help given from this forum!

I have had places which were deliberately spamming the members of groups for places that were in direct competition. That should be AR-able as harassment but unless there are bulk complaints it wouldn't be taken up.

Some people are just uptight asshats in SL as in their RL Kalderi. Will you drop me a LM for your store please? I'd like to check out your oriental furnishings

I have read this thread with keen interest and am wondering which way to go now, since the group for our shop is closed membership, to be elligible to join you have to spend a minimum amount in the shop or have had custom work. The purpose of our group is to give vip members a first view of new releases, sometimes special releases only available to vips and, vip discount days, again only available to group members, this is our way of giving something back to our loyal customers.
And before anyone jumps on me, we do also have general sale days for all residents of sl.

Up until now we have always sent out group invites on a daily basis to those elligible to join our group and have never received a single complaint in over a year of trading, and get very positive feedback from our members. Like others have said, in general the invite is only sent once to an individual and there are signs up in most of our stores outlining the requirements for being invited to the group. When I have been on vacation and therefore behind on invites, I have actually had people IM me asking where their group invite is.

So, to me anyway, it would seem there are definitely a fair proportion of residents who actually expect the invites, this may also be due to the signs we have in our shops giving information about the group.

Does anyone else have any observations ? I'd like to see more input on this before I and many others I am sure, make a final decision on which way to proceed

Well as an avid shopper I get several of these group invites a week, I also get several group invites from places I've never been. They are indeed annoying since any "notices" that get an e-mail sent to you will go towards your cap and therefore cause you to miss important IM's.

Rhiannon Boronski I would say that an invite such as yours, for special VIP privileges are probably fine and even something to be happy about.

But random, just because you shopped here, invites...nah. Don't do it. I like the suggestion of putting a note-card in each purchase saying how to join the group or put a "click to join group" sign up. If they are "rarely used" use that as a guide to how many people really want to join your group.

to the OP - I don't think it was AR-able, but I would probably think twice about shopping there again, for fear of more random invites, at the very least I would probably IM you thanking you for the invite but to please put me on a list of people to NOT offer membership to again.