Question For Folks Who Purchased The FBG Season Long Pro Premium Subscription - Emailed Rankings (1 Viewer)

[Joe Bryant]

First thing - THANK YOU.

Seriously. I know it's fun for some to   our Premium Subscription here but this board would not exist without it. It's how our business operates. So thank you. For real.

I also know a lot of you subscribe just to help support the forums. That's awesome too. Thank you.

***

Ok, a question for the folks that purchased the Season Long Pro subscription.

Every week, we email to our subscribers our weekly cheatsheet rankings. I know people love them as I always get lots of feedback on them. 

But I don't like the rankings very much in email format as they are often out of date in a couple of hours. The rankings and projections we have on the website are vastly superior. https://www.footballguys.com/season-long

I'd much rather people use those rankings.

But yet, I know some folks love the rankings that are emailed.

My question then is, Why? Why would folks want rankings emailed when they can view the most current rankings on the website? Is it just for the convenience that it's right there on your phone or computer?

Thanks for any and all insights.

J

 

[rockaction]

I'd just like to say that I directly use the site for the rankings. I don't really even check the emailed rankings. Thanks though, Joe, for the service. I just don't open them, really. 

I also find myself using the blue-bannered "Tools" bar a lot this year. I know people complained about the new format as far as the forums go (and the drop down does interfere at times), but overall, it's easier to navigate your product with it and I find myself using the product a whole lot more this year as a result. 

 

[tigerz]

It’s probably convenience. Website is not the most user friendly and requires more clicks than one would like and some links are buried in drop downs etc. plus have to login and stuff.

plus league dominator and having to sync and it being a little delayed due to pulling from ESPN etc. 

think many people probably just have to set their lineups before matchup and want a quick answer so they don’t get a zero. Some people just have no time and live on their emails as it’s a habit for busy people to check that constantly.

 

[Ruffrodys05]

I've never bothered to look at the email rankings because as you've noted they are outdated literally within hours. Being well aware of the constant updates to the site rankings makes the email list worthless to me.

I use League Dominator all season long also. That gives me pretty much everything I want, weekly, even if Bloom's projections come in later than I'd like. LD, and Bloom's projections for D'Ernest Johnson were the nudge I needed to go ahead and start him Thursday night. That decision right there will most likely be the reason I win this week in that league. Two 5-1 teams dealing with injuries and the "byepocalypse", head-to-head? Yeah, I'll take that slight advantage all the way to the bank.

 

[Joe Bryant]

It’s probably convenience. Website is not the most user friendly and requires more clicks than one would like and some links are buried in drop downs etc. plus have to login and stuff.

plus league dominator and having to sync and it being a little delayed due to pulling from ESPN etc. 

think many people probably just have to set their lineups before matchup and want a quick answer so they don’t get a zero. Some people just have no time and live on their emails as it’s a habit for busy people to check that constantly.

Thanks. i can see the convenience factor.

Although to be fair, the process to get to the rankings on the site are:

Click: https://www.footballguys.com/season-long

Then at the top of that page, click PPR Rankings https://footballguys.com/subscribers/myfbg/mycsforemail.php?ppr=1

It's literally 3 seconds.

And you can have the same info presented in the email but know that it's current.

I can see how people like to have the reminder in the email box. I know many people do "live" out of their email box. I do. 

Thanks for the feedback. Please keep it coming. 

 

[Joe Bryant]

I also find myself using the blue-bannered "Tools" bar a lot this year. I know people complained about the new format as far as the forums go (and the drop down does interfere at times), but overall, it's easier to navigate your product with it and I find myself using the product a whole lot more this year as a result. 

Thank you @rockaction The bolded was exactly what we hoped would happen. 

 

[Dacomish]

There are E-mail Rankings???

Serious though, I pretty much stick to League dominator or the current site rankings as you said things change very quickly. Thanks for all you and your staff do @Joe Bryant !

I couldn't think of another premium service with the features and free contests like FBG and I'm here for the long haul! 

 

[tigerz]

Thanks. i can see the convenience factor.

Although to be fair, the process to get to the rankings on the site are:

Click: https://www.footballguys.com/season-long

Then at the top of that page, click PPR Rankings https://footballguys.com/subscribers/myfbg/mycsforemail.php?ppr=1

It's literally 3 seconds.

And you can have the same info presented in the email but know that it's current.

I can see how people like to have the reminder in the email box. I know many people do "live" out of their email box. I do. 

Thanks for the feedback. Please keep it coming. 

That’s not entirely accurate. first email button is one click. You got to fire up web browser then type in football guys to get to starting point.

Most people don’t keep sub level links on their bookmarks so they don’t go directly to season long. Myself I either start from top level home page or articles page. Articles page is a mess as sometimes the season long link is buried. Should probably always be first or second link.

also, if on phone or iPad cookies don’t sustain due to the way the cache refreshes so you got to login. I don’t have to login to email. Passwords take time.

also, due to the size of the photo it’s actually not on the top of the page you have to scroll down first to click it.

I know it sounds nitpicky and stupid but usability is an entire industry nowadays and 3 seconds is a lifetime in todays age. You can’t underestimate laziness and the low attention spans audiences have now. It’s all about instant gratification as people can’t watch commercials in age of direct streaming and 3 second tik toks over 10-30 minute YouTube’s. 
 

 

[Joe Bryant]

That’s not entirely accurate. first email button is one click. You got to fire up web browser then type in football guys to get to starting point.

Most people don’t keep sub level links on their bookmarks so they don’t go directly to season long. Myself I either start from top level home page or articles page. Articles page is a mess as sometimes the season long link is buried. Should probably always be first or second link.

also, if on phone or iPad cookies don’t sustain due to the way the cache refreshes so you got to login. I don’t have to login to email. Passwords take time.

also, due to the size of the photo it’s actually not on the top of the page you have to scroll down first to click it.

I know it sounds nitpicky and stupid but usability is an entire industry nowadays and 3 seconds is a lifetime in todays age. You can’t underestimate laziness and the low attention spans audiences have now. It’s all about instant gratification as people can’t watch commercials in age of direct streaming and 3 second tik toks over 10-30 minute YouTube’s. 
 

Thanks. I don't think you're being nitpicky at all. I do think we have the flow to get to the rankings extremely smooth. Usability is absolutely crucial and I think we nail that. If there's another site that is cleaner or faster, I'd love to see it. But we both agree it's still 3 seconds. I don't know anyone who doesn't have a web browser open at all times.

And I don't disagree at all that all things being equal, people will take 1 second of opening an email over 3 seconds of looking online.

But it's not remotely "all things equal". It's stale rankings in 1 second vs current rankings in 3 seconds. My question for folks is I'm interested in those that will accept the lesser product to save 2 seconds of time.

And for sure, I'm not arguing either way. We provide both avenues so it doesn't really matter to me. I'm simply interested in trying to understand how and why the customer chooses different avenues of our product. 

 

[Joe Bryant]

Myself I either start from top level home page or articles page. Articles page is a mess as sometimes the season long link is buried. Should probably always be first or second link.

Hi @tigerz

Something is wrong. We did two important things at the beginning of the year to address this.

1. If you go to https://www.footballguys.com/ the top picture link is a large rectangle box that says SEASON LONG START HERE in orange and then says "Week 7 Season Long". it's the most prominent thing on the  https://www.footballguys.com/ page. Are you not seeing that?

2. if you click that large link for the Weekly page, you go to https://www.footballguys.com/season-long.    We've made it so that link stays the same every week and displays the current week's weekly content. So it's super easy to bookmark and always go right to the current weekly content.

Is that not how it's working for you?

 

[tigerz]

Hi @tigerz

Something is wrong. We did two important things at the beginning of the year to address this.

1. If you go to https://www.footballguys.com/ the top picture link is a large rectangle box that says SEASON LONG START HERE in orange and then says "Week 7 Season Long". it's the most prominent thing on the  https://www.footballguys.com/ page. Are you not seeing that?

2. if you click that large link for the Weekly page, you go to https://www.footballguys.com/season-long.    We've made it so that link stays the same every week and displays the current link. So it's super easy to bookmark and always go right to the current weekly content.

Is that not how it's working for you?

so I found that is the workaround but I’m the type of subscriber who does so for the articles. So my browser always directs me to the articles page since I want to see them as soon as they pop out. But then I have to click out of the articles section to go to the home page then click the button to see if the article I want to read is updated and the link is blue. It’s nitpicking but just trying to help give feedback. I have no specific problem as I can figure this stuff out through trial and error but it’s minor grievances. Sorry, to derail you and waste your time.

also, im not the type to look at email rankings so maybe I shouldn’t have responded. To be honest, I would think you’d reach your potential audience better if you linked to this post within that weekly cheat sheet email but you probably are going to do that already…

actually, I just checked and I don’t even know what email you’re talking about. Have a lot of emails from you that I read but haven’t seen those. From the sound of it I guess I’m not missing much though.

 

[Joe Bryant]

so I found that is the workaround but I’m the type of subscriber who does so for the articles. So my browser always directs me to the articles page since I want to see them as soon as they pop out. But then I have to click out of the articles section to go to the home page then click the button to see if the article I want to read is updated and the link is blue. It’s nitpicking but just trying to help give feedback. I have no specific problem as I can figure this stuff out through trial and error but it’s minor grievances. Sorry, to derail you and waste your time.

also, im not the type to look at email rankings so maybe I shouldn’t have responded. To be honest, I would think you’d reach your potential audience better if you linked to this post within that weekly cheat sheet email but you probably are going to do that already…

actually, I just checked and I don’t even know what email you’re talking about. Have a lot of emails from you that I read but haven’t seen those. From the sound of it I guess I’m not missing much though.

Thanks. Again, that doesn't sound nitpicky at all. I always need feedback.

But to be clear, we don't see this as a "workaround" at all though, This is the primary way people access our weekly content.

We put a huge value on improving usability and listened to feedback in week 1 and made major changes to get this flow right. 

So now anyone who goes to the home page has the Weekly Content prominently displayed. Plus the link stays the same so people can bookmark and go right to the weekly content. 

We'll keep trying to polish it up but I feel super good about the usability right now. If you have specific suggestions on what we could improve, please feel free to comment here or DM me. Thanks.

 

[Army Eye]

Convenience.  I have my email open literally all the time on my PC.   So it's nice to have rankings right there in my inbox.  It's also convenient on mobile where my mail is easy to jump to.

That said, those are more just to get the temperature of what FBG are feeling when I'm bouncing things around in my head.  When it comes time to set my lineups or make some big decisions,  of course I am pulling up the web rankings.  So it would be fair to say- I use both the email and the web versions every week.

I do think both the emailed rankings and the web rankings have a rather poor usability aspect to them.  They are very long pages, but there are no anchor links to jump to the various sections.   My poor mouse wheel...

 

[dkp993]

I'd just like to say that I directly use the site for the rankings. I don't really even check the emailed rankings. Thanks though, Joe, for the service. I just don't open them, really. 

I also find myself using the blue-bannered "Tools" bar a lot this year. I know people complained about the new format as far as the forums go (and the drop down does interfere at times), but overall, it's easier to navigate your product with it and I find myself using the product a whole lot more this year as a result. 

This is 100% accurate for me too.  Lineup dominator via the tool bar is the only place I look.  

 

[GreenNGold]

The emailed rankings is one of the few emails I ignore from you guys, I always come directly to the site for the most up to date rankings when I need to check. 

 

[Joe Bryant]

Convenience.  I have my email open literally all the time on my PC.   So it's nice to have rankings right there in my inbox.  It's also convenient on mobile where my mail is easy to jump to.

That said, those are more just to get the temperature of what FBG are feeling when I'm bouncing things around in my head.  When it comes time to set my lineups or make some big decisions,  of course I am pulling up the web rankings.  So it would be fair to say- I use both the email and the web versions every week.

I do think both the emailed rankings and the web rankings have a rather poor usability aspect to them.  They are very long pages, but there are no anchor links to jump to the various sections.   My poor mouse wheel...

Thanks @Army Eye  I can see using both like that for sure and letting the website be the "official" word.

For usability on the web rankings, I'm interested how they can be better. Can you point me to a url link that does what you're saying? Thanks.

 

[davidwb]

So, it used to be that I couldn't get on the FG site with my work laptop when I was on the road, so the email was the only way to go. But, as if by magic, last year I could get on the FG site with the work laptop...plus I have put my FG password into my iPhone. Both work great and are better than the email, so the email is no longer necessary for me.

BTW...don't tell my boss.

 

[Dacomish]

So, it used to be that I couldn't get on the FG site with my work laptop when I was on the road, so the email was the only way to go. But, as if by magic, last year I could get on the FG site with the work laptop...plus I have put my FG password into my iPhone. Both work great and are better than the email, so the email is no longer necessary for me.

BTW...don't tell my boss.

If my boss only knew how much time I spend on FBG during a week I would be in pretty big trouble.....lol! 

 

[Bri]

I'm not drinking the whole email in. My thought is simply- I need a wr, found one in email, done. 

I have read it. It is thorough and well done but I'm not reading it all when WW is on my mind.

Also, ya know how fantasy sharks determines projected points to be who should start? Can you guys use a the MFL API to email "a better player is on the WW?" That would be great. I wouldn't want an email every time a staff member bumps a player .1 projected points but...a few points maybe

 

[Joe Bryant]

I'm not drinking the whole email in. My thought is simply- I need a wr, found one in email, done. 

I have read it. It is thorough and well done but I'm not reading it all when WW is on my mind.

Also, ya know how fantasy sharks determines projected points to be who should start? Can you guys use a the MFL API to email "a better player is on the WW?" That would be great. I wouldn't want an email every time a staff member bumps a player .1 projected points but...a few points maybe

Thanks Bri. We can't do that in the email as it requires synching to your league but the "there's a better player in your Waiver Wire" feature is a HUGE part of the Premium Subscription. You can view our projections https://www.footballguys.com/projections/inseason and click on your league and see the free agents available in your league right there so it's super easy. That ability to see who in your specific league with your specific scoring system is available probably the most important feature we offer. 

 

[Smack Tripper]

Are we no longer emailing game day updates?

 

[greyhorse]

 I like the email rankings because I don't really navigate the website on my smartphone.  There's no FBG app for season long content, is there?  I think there might used to have been one but it never seemed to work or update?

I like waking up early in the morning or late at night being able to see rankings easily.  I know there are tons of ranking lists every week from multiple sources, but I like seeing some validation of what I may be thinking, or perhaps causing me to rethink.  I don't put a lot of weight into any rankings lists though.  I typically use the 5 second primer to see what my best options for the week are.

As an aside, I'm liking the format changes this year.  Love the ease of especially navigating to Tools, using the Rest of Season rankings, Waiver wire report, Lineup analysis, Trade analysis, etc.

 

[Joe Bryant]

Are we no longer emailing game day updates?

They were mailed as always. We mail what we have for 1:00 pm games and then also for the 4:00 games. 

But in same way, it's by far best to get it in real time updated here https://www.footballguys.com/subscribers/sundayupdate/

 

[Miles]

One use case that saved my bacon this week... Another site emailed me their rankings on Friday. I had a pick'em decision to make for WR, and so was looking through them to see what they thought. I scanned, but didn't see Antonio Brown. I scanned again. And again. Why wasn't he in the top 30WR? That prompted me to go to my roster, and saw his "out" designation.

The push aspect of the email made me realize I had a roster problem on my hands. (but, in general, I really use the league dominator -- definitely agree that it's a killer feature of the site).

 

[Army Eye]

Thanks @Army Eye  I can see using both like that for sure and letting the website be the "official" word.

For usability on the web rankings, I'm interested how they can be better. Can you point me to a url link that does what you're saying? Thanks.

Off the top of my head I couldn't think of a web page that does it, so I whipped up a quick demo in codepen.  One click to get to any position instead of tons of scrolling up and down:  https://codepen.io/scott-mcculloch/full/XWapwae

 

[Chaka]

To be perfectly honest I view my subscription here the same way I viewed hanging out in hipster coffee shops when I was in college.

I love your space, I have vested interest in your success so I am happy to pay rent but otherwise leave me alone. IOW far too many emails, I would block any other service that sent me so many emails for something I didn't use. But I love you guys so I simply accept it and delete them individually without viewing them.

I'm here for the SP and gladly pay to continue it's existence.

ETA: You've done a good thing here Joe don't ever stop.

Seriously, my username on virtually every other platform is FBG_Chaka. You are my online identity.

 

[Instinctive]

I either unsubscribed the emailed rankings or they go to spam. Last thing I need is more emails. Tools are on the site, and the tools are great. I come to the site to use them.

 

[Joe Bryant]

Off the top of my head I couldn't think of a web page that does it, so I whipped up a quick demo in codepen.  One click to get to any position instead of tons of scrolling up and down:  https://codepen.io/scott-mcculloch/full/XWapwae

Great. Thank you and thanks for taking the time to put that together. 

 

[Joe Bryant]

To be perfectly honest I view my subscription here the same way I viewed hanging out in hipster coffee shops when I was in college.

I love your space, I have vested interest in your success so I am happy to pay rent but otherwise leave me alone. IOW far too many emails, I would block any other service that sent me so many emails for something I didn't use. But I love you guys so I simply accept it and delete them individually without viewing them.

I'm here for the SP and gladly pay to continue it's existence.

ETA: You've done a good thing here Joe don't ever stop.

Seriously, my username on virtually every other platform is FBG_Chaka. You are my online identity.

Thanks @Chaka! 

 

[Judge Smails]

Funny - I get no emails from FBG even though I have a premium season long membership.  Thought I've opted in several times.  I have to go to the site.

 

[SDJohnny]

I use lineup dominator instead. The email rankings are instantly deleted. The lineup dominator is keyed to my league specifics, the ranking are generic. Also, if I need guidance its just on a fringe player/bye week filling that may be worse than a WW pick and lineup dominator serves that purpose much better than the emailed rankings.