Does anyone depend on Questions & Discussion in add-on areas?
Permalink
So we have PM's to the owners (presales questions)
We have support if you've paid for it..
We also have Questions and Discussions - a traditional forum for each each theme/add-on where anyone can post and anyone can read. The idea here was for more complicated and free stuff people might just help one another. Same way you often get better help from apple support forums (not staff) than some of the geniuses. (see how I did that? thinking of you m.)
Were thinking up a new UI where there's one place to ask questions, then you type what question it is... (Just a sales q, nah I paid for this less than 30 days ago - support!, etc)
The question has emerged: does anyone actually depend and use the questions/discussion forum as it was intended? a traditional way for the people using your add-on theme to help one another. Should we be keeping that around or should we just kill it?
We have support if you've paid for it..
We also have Questions and Discussions - a traditional forum for each each theme/add-on where anyone can post and anyone can read. The idea here was for more complicated and free stuff people might just help one another. Same way you often get better help from apple support forums (not staff) than some of the geniuses. (see how I did that? thinking of you m.)
Were thinking up a new UI where there's one place to ask questions, then you type what question it is... (Just a sales q, nah I paid for this less than 30 days ago - support!, etc)
The question has emerged: does anyone actually depend and use the questions/discussion forum as it was intended? a traditional way for the people using your add-on theme to help one another. Should we be keeping that around or should we just kill it?
Yeah thats the way the whiteboard looks...
1) Question
2) Type it...
The part i'm wondering is, do we ever really need the public to be able to
chip in to help on these questions. I know when I was revisiting this
several years ago Ryan (here) thought it was pretty helpful to have
questions and discussion on some of our add-ons, but that may have changed.
best wishes
Franz Maruna
CEO - PortlandLabs Inc
1) Question
2) Type it...
The part i'm wondering is, do we ever really need the public to be able to
chip in to help on these questions. I know when I was revisiting this
several years ago Ryan (here) thought it was pretty helpful to have
questions and discussion on some of our add-ons, but that may have changed.
best wishes
Franz Maruna
CEO - PortlandLabs Inc
Yeah thats the way the whiteboard looks...
1) Question
2) Type it...
The part i'm wondering is, do we ever really need the public to be able to
chip in to help on these questions. I know when I was revisiting this
several years ago Ryan (here) thought it was pretty helpful to have
questions and discussion on some of our add-ons, but that may have changed.
best wishes
Franz Maruna
CEO - PortlandLabs Inc
1) Question
2) Type it...
The part i'm wondering is, do we ever really need the public to be able to
chip in to help on these questions. I know when I was revisiting this
several years ago Ryan (here) thought it was pretty helpful to have
questions and discussion on some of our add-ons, but that may have changed.
best wishes
Franz Maruna
CEO - PortlandLabs Inc
Personally, I check the Q&D for every single add-on before (& sometimes after) purchasing.
I find this part of the site goes a long way towards helping with future decisions. Its one extra thing that makes concrete5.org that much friendlier and more helpful in comparison to other CMS's.
So... from a buyers POV, I'd say its super important for the customer... as important as the 'forums' option in the theme marketplace. Its the go-to button for anything and everything regarding a certain add-on. Finding that Q&D button was like finding the holy grail! ^^
Just my two cents.
I find this part of the site goes a long way towards helping with future decisions. Its one extra thing that makes concrete5.org that much friendlier and more helpful in comparison to other CMS's.
So... from a buyers POV, I'd say its super important for the customer... as important as the 'forums' option in the theme marketplace. Its the go-to button for anything and everything regarding a certain add-on. Finding that Q&D button was like finding the holy grail! ^^
Just my two cents.
I use and check the forums for addons and themes all the time. Sometimes other users have posted their fixes publicly, or have helped others out where the original developer didn't / couldn't.
However, I don't rely on activity in the discussions as a deciding factor if I am to buy an addon or not. Also, I seldom check the forums for my own addons / themes, but I do check the support area on a daily basis.
However, I don't rely on activity in the discussions as a deciding factor if I am to buy an addon or not. Also, I seldom check the forums for my own addons / themes, but I do check the support area on a daily basis.
Interesting interesting.
What about the opposite approach, mixing support into q/a and marking them support for devs to notice (with appropiate loud emails and whatnot) but leave them blended with other questions.
I recently paid $5 to bump my ticket at whmcs (even tho support is included in our plan) and it was pretty cool
—
Sent from Mailbox for iPhone
What about the opposite approach, mixing support into q/a and marking them support for devs to notice (with appropiate loud emails and whatnot) but leave them blended with other questions.
I recently paid $5 to bump my ticket at whmcs (even tho support is included in our plan) and it was pretty cool
—
Sent from Mailbox for iPhone
Interesting interesting.
What about the opposite approach, mixing support into q/a and marking them support for devs to notice (with appropiate loud emails and whatnot) but leave them blended with other questions.
I recently paid $5 to bump my ticket at whmcs (even tho support is included in our plan) and it was pretty cool
—
Sent from Mailbox for iPhone
What about the opposite approach, mixing support into q/a and marking them support for devs to notice (with appropiate loud emails and whatnot) but leave them blended with other questions.
I recently paid $5 to bump my ticket at whmcs (even tho support is included in our plan) and it was pretty cool
—
Sent from Mailbox for iPhone
+1 for killing a products "forums".
If a products "forums" are intended to be "a traditional way for the customers using our add-ons and themes to help one another", then we have to be honest and say that this is not what they are being used for.
@wagdi has a good point about the value that it can add to a product, however, a products value should based on it's reviews, not a public forum of community members helping each other. If a products forums were being used entirely for support, this would be a different story.
With our experience, 99% of our customers that do end up using a products forums are using them for support related questions. It's not that they are abusing the system or doing something wrong, it just seems there is some confusion over where they should post their questions. Having two places to post questions does not help with this confusion.
Currently the link inside the "support" forum for opening a support request states "report issue". Then inside the popup, the form submit button states "report bug". We believe this is why the majority of users click back and decide to use the forums instead. If both of these buttons displayed "request support", chances are more customers would use it for that purpose.
A paid support/updates option has been discussed for the 5.7 version of c5org. If this does end up happening, a products "forums" will be a tempting place to ask for free support.
If a products "forums" are intended to be "a traditional way for the customers using our add-ons and themes to help one another", then we have to be honest and say that this is not what they are being used for.
@wagdi has a good point about the value that it can add to a product, however, a products value should based on it's reviews, not a public forum of community members helping each other. If a products forums were being used entirely for support, this would be a different story.
With our experience, 99% of our customers that do end up using a products forums are using them for support related questions. It's not that they are abusing the system or doing something wrong, it just seems there is some confusion over where they should post their questions. Having two places to post questions does not help with this confusion.
Currently the link inside the "support" forum for opening a support request states "report issue". Then inside the popup, the form submit button states "report bug". We believe this is why the majority of users click back and decide to use the forums instead. If both of these buttons displayed "request support", chances are more customers would use it for that purpose.
A paid support/updates option has been discussed for the 5.7 version of c5org. If this does end up happening, a products "forums" will be a tempting place to ask for free support.
Unlike the core team (look at the number of pages eCommerce has for documentation), we only get 1 page for documentation for each addon. So on several of my own addons I have started addon forum threads to provide supplemental documentation, notes on use, notes on using with other addons etc. These days I add pages to my own site for most such documentation.
Occasionally I get forum posts that should have been support requests. As Chad notes, starting a ticket then answering a question about where to post it would help avoid support being posted in the wrong place. As would @hostco's point of simply getting the labels consistent. A button to move a forum post into a support request would be a convenient addition.
Occasionally I get users posting to the discussion to make suggestions on use or ideas for new features. It is extremely rare that users post in response to each others' forum posts.
Where I have an addon that integrates with another developer's addon, I often post use notes and a link in the other developer's addon forum.
As @wagdi and @growthcurve, I always browse addon forums before buying. Seeing how a developer handles questions in their own forums is at least as useful as reading reviews.
To conclude. addon Q&D forums are useful. I would like ways to make them more useful, not to kill them. Make it easier for customers to realise they are there and what has been posted.
- A button to move a discussion thread into a support thread.
- A note of recent forum posts on the main addon page.
- Include addon forums amongst the main c5 forums listing and also include them in the main forums search results.
Occasionally I get forum posts that should have been support requests. As Chad notes, starting a ticket then answering a question about where to post it would help avoid support being posted in the wrong place. As would @hostco's point of simply getting the labels consistent. A button to move a forum post into a support request would be a convenient addition.
Occasionally I get users posting to the discussion to make suggestions on use or ideas for new features. It is extremely rare that users post in response to each others' forum posts.
Where I have an addon that integrates with another developer's addon, I often post use notes and a link in the other developer's addon forum.
As @wagdi and @growthcurve, I always browse addon forums before buying. Seeing how a developer handles questions in their own forums is at least as useful as reading reviews.
To conclude. addon Q&D forums are useful. I would like ways to make them more useful, not to kill them. Make it easier for customers to realise they are there and what has been posted.
- A button to move a discussion thread into a support thread.
- A note of recent forum posts on the main addon page.
- Include addon forums amongst the main c5 forums listing and also include them in the main forums search results.
1 - it's not license dependent.
2 - it does not have progress tracking
3 - it's burdensome to feel as a developer that we have to monitor this. if you have 10 products, you have 20 areas to cover for support every morning - noon - and night.
Summed up - PITA. But perhaps that is because it's not quite clear what qualifies as support and what doesn't?
To me a healthy solution if we must have that would be to simply make one support link that asks a basic question to first determine where it goes:
1 - chose which describes your reason for posting:
* a support issue
* a feature request
* a styling/design need (not support)
* a general question
Basically - only 'support' should go under support. The others would go into discussions where the general community can contribute. The last three of which not at all being a valid reason for a refund imho.
But speaking honestly, it would not break my heart at all, nor would I view it a negative impact so far as sales go, to remove product discussions all together.
C