Invite

Also known as: Send Invitation

Tags: forms, social

Offering users a way to invite their friends to start using your website is a good way to get more users to your site. Invite feature is also necessary for online collaboration tools, because people are used to such a feature and expect an easy way to connect with their existing network. Therefore the possibility to invite your current network to a new service will be viewed as important part of the user experience.

Facebook allows users to import their contacts. It also allows to change the language of the invite.
Source: http://www.facebook.com/

Facebook allows users to import their contacts. It also allows to change the language of the invite.

What problem does the pattern solve?

  • Use when the user experience is enhanced by having a network of connections.
  • Use when growth of the service is dependent on friends of friends.
  • Use when you want to supplement traditional user acquisition with user based referrals.
  • Use when a user has participated in the site enough to have formed an opinion of the value, to then recommend it to a friend.
  • Don’t use right after registration when the user hasn’t actually used the site. When presenting the option to invite others, do so after enough interaction with your site that the user actually has something to refer.

However

  • If the use of the site and its features is heavily dependent on a group of people interacting, the need to allow a user to bring their friends along, through invitations or bulk registering will override the recommendation of encouraging use before inviting friends.

When to use it?

  • Use when the user experience is enhanced by having a network of connections.
  • Use when growth of the service is dependent on friends of friends.
  • Use when you want to supplement traditional user acquisition with user based referrals.
  • Use when a user has participated in the site enough to have formed an opinion of the value, to then recommend it to a friend.
  • Don’t use right after registration when the user hasn’t actually used the site. When presenting the option to invite others, do so after enough interaction with your site that the user actually has something to refer.

However

  • If the use of the site and its features is heavily dependent on a group of people interacting, the need to allow a user to bring their friends along, through invitations or bulk registering will override the recommendation of encouraging use before inviting friends.

How to use it?

  • Use an in-context email form.
  • Provide the user with messaging that showcases the benefits of joining the service.
  • Allow the user the ability to personalize the invitation.
  • Don’t force a user to invite others to the site before they have had a chance to try out the features.
  • Don’t spam a user’s address book or contact list from other sites.

Consider to

  • Allow the user to invite others via access to their address books.
  • Provide a mechanism that allows the user to send a copy of the message to themselves.
  • Provide a mechanism to bring contacts and email addresses over from other social services.

Why to use it?

Allowing users to invite their friends to your site is part of the viral nature of a social site. Providing tools and system interactions that allow your users to be good netizens will enhance the overall experience and your site’s reputation in the long run.

Sources

This pattern is based on the “Invite” pattern from Yahoo! Design Pattern Library.

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Comments

  • aHMET Aug. 17, 2012 03:28

    airbnb's invite page kicks some real ass. it gives total control over old invites.

  • whoop (www) Nov. 20, 2012 09:44

    Nice use of bootstrap throughout.