Now and then, I get an email with a subject line in all capital letters, often “URGENT” or otherwise imploring me to read the message or take an action. I always wonder why people pen such subjects, as many email etiquette articles warn that writing in all caps can come across as yelling. But, netiquette aside, people do it anyway. Might using all caps in a subject line be effective (even if rude?) Boomerang previously looked at how...
Read More
A few months back, we announced a new and improved version of Inbox Pause, our extension that helps users manage their inbox and email more purrductively. We got a lot of great feedback, but for a few people who misheard our announcement, Inbox Pause was barking up the wrong tree. It’s not that Inbox Pause had any shortcomings, it’s just that a few of our users were hoping the plugin would fulfill a different pawpose. We wanted to...
Read More
Years ago, when Boomerang went by Baydin, we committed to donate a portion of our profits to educational efforts in Burma (with the disclaimer “if we ever generate any!”) So when profitability stopped being a hypothetical in 2013, we made our first donation to build a mobile classroom for children working in Burmese tea shops (more on that later!) Since then, Boomerang has grown, as have our donations. Giving back is an important part...
Read More
When you’re drafting an email, ending it is the easiest part. Whether you sign-off with “Warmest Regards,” “Thanks,” or “Keep On Keepin’ On,” it only takes a second, and you probably don’t give it a second thought. Do email closings even matter? And if so, is “best” really best? We looked at closings in over 350,000 email threads, and found that certain email closings deliver higher response rates.
Read More
For a few people at Boomerang, this is the only company they’ve known since graduating college. They lucked out. For most of us, we found our way here by navigating career paths that meandered through various industries, companies, and roles. Our common experience was that at some point we came across Boomerang and saw something special that warranted a move. This is the story of my journey to Boomerang and my experience since joining...
Read More
Your Monday morning alarm might be the worst sound in the world. Weekends fly by, but Mondays drag on forever. As avid Office Space fans, we wondered if having a “case of the Mondays” was an observable phenomenon. Our finding? Monday really is the worst day of the week: it’s when people make the most mistakes in their email subjects (which, as we will show, matters), as well as the day with the most negative email subjects. Subject...
Read More
Update: Inbox Pause has graduated, and is now a feature within Boomerang for Gmail and Boomerang for Outlook. Learn more here! As the holiday season approached, the Boomerang (Inbox Pause) team worked secretly on a gift for all of our Inbox Pause users. Today, we’re proud to unveil it. A substantial update to Inbox Pause is immediately available that makes the plugin faster, more reliable, and easier than ever to use. Try the New...
Read More
Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night has stayed the United States Postal Service. But has email? We were curious whether email was the cause of USPS’s recent, well-documented woes. Does our love (and extensions) for snoozing in Gmail and scheduling email in Outlook make us complicit in the post office’s struggles? If not email, what’s the real cause for USPS’s mounting losses? We found that while the Internet era has...
Read More
During my last two weeks as a summer intern at Boomerang, there was a running joke about how I cried every day. While this may seem a bit ridiculous, the truth is that I could not imagine my summer and my time at the company ending. Unlike any of my previous work and research experiences, this internship allowed me to both grow as an engineer and gain confidence in my own abilities. Here are only a few of the reasons why my summer was...
Read More
Word of mouth recommendations are among the most effective ways to get new users. But they can be an elusive element of a marketing mix. Aye Moah (our Chief of Product) wrote a piece a few years ago on how Boomerang uses the paywall to have a positive interaction with users. But we also use it to encourage customers to tweet about Boomerang in exchange for more message credits (which allow users to snooze or schedule emails for...
Read More