Inactive Period - Changed to 180 days

[AnneBruskland]

As discussed at the last Administrator's Meeting, we have received quite a bit of feedback regarding user inactivations. The system is designed to inactivate a user account and remove the user's ridematch requests from the system, after a specified period of time, in order to ensure ridematch requests are current.  Prior to inactivation, three reminder notices are sent to the user (content below) via email, based on configured intervals in the system (historically set to 24, 48 and 72 days).  Once the specified time is reached (historically set at 90 days), the record is inactived and an account inactivation notice is sent(content below) is sent to the user via email. 

Significant feedback has been received, especially from partners in rural areas and/or where the application has just recently been implement, that 90 days does not provide time to build up sufficient ridematch requests in the system for many users to find suitable matches.  Feedback has also been received from administrators from regions where the ridematch database is robust expressing concerns that records do not remain active indefinately to ensure ridematch requests in the system are current.  After much discussion, and balancing the various interests expressed, it has been decided to adjust the inactivation period to 180 days, effective immediately.  The system has been updated to reflect this new timeframe.  Reminder notice intervals have been adjusted to 50, 100, and 150 days. 

We will be monitoring the impact of this change.  Please continue to provide feedback, as we move forward, regarding any impact the change to the inactivation period has had on your programs.  Also, please review the below notices and share any suggestiongs you have on how they might be improved.  Also, if you have any questions regarding the above, please let me know.

 

Anne

 

Reminder Notices:

Dear ##ReceiverFirstName##,

We noticed you haven't visited us in a while. Please sign into ##DomainShortName## soon to keep your account active. Signing in at least twice a month is a great way to keep your ridematch requests up-to-date (if you have them) and to find out if you are eligible for any incentives.

So, come see what's new, check your ride match requests, and enter any recent trips on the calendar to track your achievements and earn rewards.


Best Regards,
##DomainShortName## Team

 

Account Inactivation Notice:

Dear ##ReceiverFirstName##,

We noticed you have not logged into the ##DomainShortName## system recently. Your account has been marked inactive. You could reactivate your account by logging in at any time.


Best Regards,
##DomainShortName## Team

 

 

[Dan Kaempff]

Thanks to all for considering and accommodating this request.

[Nathan Broom]

Thank you, Anne and all, for the experiment and the good explanation of it.

I'd like to see more clarity in the reminder notices. For example, the second sentence ("Signing in at least...") might read more like, "Signing in periodically is the only way to keep your account and ridematch requests active in the system and stay informed of new incentive programs."

I'd also suggest that the inactivation notice state clearly that ridematch requests have been deleted at that point. The third sentence ("You could reactivate...") might change to something more like, "You can reactivate your account by logging in at any time. Any ridematch requests associated with your account have been deleted. As long as your account remains inactive, you will not receive any further messages from potential ridematches or system administrators."

I hope for a future option for users to post ridematch requests longer than six months without needing to login. Defunct ridematches could be screened by other methods like bounced emails and non-response to match requests--something more relevant than time alone. For many people, the prospect of remembering which password they used at a particular site is more daunting than the prospect of just letting the thing go inactive. I hate to see us lose good matches that way, especially in smaller networks where there may be only one match on a certain route to begin with.

Again, thanks! This issue has a big impact on the viability of the system for ridematching in rural and small-urban areas.