I have done a few searches, yet failed to find anything resembling a definite answer to the following enquiry. I have also looked at a few sites, and have found mixed responses.

Should a hosting company provide public forums for their customers to use (or not, as the case may be), or is this seen as unprofessional?

Do potential clients view it as a useful means of judging current customer satisfaction, or do they simply check WHT?

Lewis

Hello,
I dont believe there is a definite answer to this as it's all down to each persons view of this.

I personally feel that a public forum can be a good or bad thing to have on your site. If you and your company offer excellent service and do your best to keep the clients happy and their websites running then your community forum will represent that. On the other hand, if you have bad down time, long response times then this will also reflect in the forum.

I like forums on websites. It adds a level of interaction with the service you offer.

I too feel that a forum adds a level of interaction with the service and site. But what if (as in my case), you have satisfied clients, yet quiet ones (ones who don't post).

Does this not create a bad image to potential clients?

Does this bad image outweigh the good image of having a forum for interaction?

Lewis

Thats a good question. The number of registered users on our forum is not near the number of actual clients we host.

I was worried at first when the original designer came up with the idea of putting a forum on our site. Lucky for StormHosts was that we had 3 or 4 regular posters and after a few months we had built up an acceptable amount of posts. More signed up also. Ours is still a small forum but I dont think it reflects bad.

I would suggest you go for it if you are confident your services are good enough to have clients post.

I agree with SaintsServers. I don't always think a forum is the best solution especially if it's practically dead. It could give a bad impression of your business and people can make an assumption on how empty it is, how little clients you have, etc. I just think it might drive some people away.

Although, on the other hand, I personally like businesses that offer a support forum. I think it is a great way to stay in touch with the staff, and express your opinions about the service freely with other members.

I guess it all just depends on how you think. If you don't have many members, it won't always drive people away, but it is certainly something to consider.

I have a forum on my website, and it has provided a good resource for clients to ask questions in that manner. However, it was still hardly used, which did, in my opinion, look bad.

If you are going to have a forum, make sure you have very few sections. For example, I only have 3 sections on my forum: General Announcements, Maintenance Announcements, and Service Support. 30 posts in 3 sections looks much better than 30 posts in 10 sections. Keep them at a minimal. I'm considering combining the general and maintenance announcements sections.

Also having a Knoweldge Base section isn't a bad idea. Filling up that section yourself should be too terribly difficlut.

- Adam

Originally posted by PylonSystems
Also having a Knoweldge Base section isn't a bad idea. Filling up that section yourself should be too terribly difficlut.


Do you mean shoudn't be too terribly difficult?

I would say he means shouldn't ;)

I think it all depends on your target audience.

I've tried everything to get our forum active. From contests, to using it for the referenced knowledgebase.

If not for me going there once in a while to clean the cobwebs, it doesn't get much use (maybe one post every three months).

All I can figure is; it must be something to do with the clients you get.

I'm leaving the forum up; as I don't see where it hurts us. But, I wouldn't put it past me just deleting it one day.

Originally posted by Stormhosts
I would say he means shouldn't ;)

Indeed. :)
[/offtopic]

- Adam

Originally posted by PylonSystems
If you are going to have a forum, make sure you have very few sections.

...

30 posts in 3 sections looks much better than 30 posts in 10 sections. Keep them at a minimal.

I was just thinking the exact same thing. I had 12 sections, and have already removed 5 this evening, giving a noticeably better impression. Most of the posts were from 2002 - 2003 anyhow, with no real benefit, even for someone wanting to know more about the company.

I think I'll keep the forum, although ensure that it looks neat and (ideally) used.

Thank you for your posts so far.

Lewis

we would never use a forum for our clients

our clients get real support when needed

our clients expect us to maintain their privacy

when you open a forum you are opening your business to the public, not always a good idea. and if you were to delete bad posts, chances are, someone has already seen it then youll really look bad.

i never did understand the whole forum thing. just seems cheezy and unprofessional! i guess its ok if you are one of those 4.00 a month hosting companies.

Hello,
Not sure I agree with you there. If support forums were the only means to support clients then I agree that it would not maintain privacy.

Clients on all forums I have visited have the support forum as another different means of communication. Some prefer the public interactivity. There is a company here which is well known for basing their home page on the idea of a forum and I dont think anyone can say this is one of "those 4.00 a month hosting companies" as well as others who use forums.

One of the web hosts that I use introduced a community message board for all of its clients about 8-12 months ago. I thought this was a really neat idea. This web host has over 15,000 clients and their tech support is very acceptable and I have no problem with their support team.

As a moderator on their new message board, I was curious as to what the response of their clients would be. Let's just say, this wasn't too hot of an idea. Out of all their clients, there are all so many who are willing to go to the message board and post. Secondly, out of the people that do happen to post -- you are bound to get some complaints. In my opinion, if there are going to be complaints, whether big or small, you can't have a haven for these kinds of issues on your own message board at least. There are many threads with complaints, although the utmost majority of the people are very happy with their service.

People have not felt the need to use the web hosts message board for discussing matters beyond "check out my web site". When people are looking for web site support, they will figure out where to go for it-- IMHO, when you make a place for clients to vent and interact, the results may not be consistantly postive. I wouldn't do it, but maybe others would?

Originally posted by LaurenStephens.com
we would never use a forum for our clients

our clients get real support when needed

our clients expect us to maintain their privacy


'Real Support'? How is helping a client through a message board system less real than through e-mail?

While privacy is a good thing, more often than not, posts might be along the lines of 'Does this service come with FTP?', 'Where are you based?' and 'Nice service, highly recommended' - which are not exactly highly private posts. If anything, it saves you receiving multiple e-mails with the same question.

SoftWareRevue: do you think that you may be inadvertently scaring off potential customers by having an out of date forum?

Lewis

Originally posted by Stormhosts
I would say he means shouldn't ;)

yeah sure !! "shouldn't"

Well my host has forums too and no problem with them too

Originally posted by SaintsServers
. . . SoftWareRevue: do you think that you may be inadvertently scaring off potential customers by having an out of date forum?

Lewis If I thought that, it'd be gone. :)

Although it's something I'm looking into closely now. And am pretty sure it's going to be history soon.

Originally posted by SoftWareRevue
I think it all depends on your target audience.

I've tried everything to get our forum active. From contests, to using it for the referenced knowledgebase.

If not for me going there once in a while to clean the cobwebs, it doesn't get much use (maybe one post every three months).

All I can figure is; it must be something to do with the clients you get.

I'm leaving the forum up; as I don't see where it hurts us. But, I wouldn't put it past me just deleting it one day.


I have to agree with ya ;) although I thought you had quite abit of activity.
And Nappy Yew Hear to you too :beer:

Originally posted by SaintsServers
posts might be along the lines of 'Does this service come with FTP?', 'Where are you based?' and 'Nice service, highly recommended' - which are not exactly highly private posts. If anything, it saves you receiving multiple e-mails with the same question.



if you have to answer questions like that on a forum board, id say your website isnt doing a very good job of selling your services.

have you been to any of these boards?

do you think people have better things to do than to weed thru hundreds or even thousands of posts trying to find basic information?

ick, not my cup of tea.

there are customers like forums, i run two hosts, one with forum, one withou, both websites offering same priced hosting package, i'd say the one with forum went more active and of course more customers.

also it's very true, most of customers are quiet, there are many are depending on only email support even they konw there is a forum.

so there is no right/wrong answer, it's up to you only.

Thank you for the replies and advice so far, it has been helpful.

Lewis

Originally posted by SaintsServers
. . . Should a hosting company provide public forums for their customers to use (or not, as the case may be), or is this seen as unprofessional?
It's not seen as unprofessional.
Do potential clients view it as a useful means of judging current customer satisfaction . . .
You bet! :)

Originally posted by LaurenStephens.com
we would never use a forum for our clients

our clients get real support when needed

our clients expect us to maintain their privacy

when you open a forum you are opening your business to the public, not always a good idea. and if you were to delete bad posts, chances are, someone has already seen it then youll really look bad.

i never did understand the whole forum thing. just seems cheezy and unprofessional! i guess its ok if you are one of those 4.00 a month hosting companies.
Lauren, respectfully, you missed the mark there, but it's ok. With HTTPme, I have proved you wrong in every point you made. :)

Forums are tricky, and if they get thousands of members and thousands of posts per month, then they're a highwire act. But they create a sense of community, and in this business, that's an incredible asset.

But they're not the be all and end all of hosting. My next hosting venture is not having a forum. It's just not that type of business, nor do I want to be manning the forum 18 hours a day. Been there, done that, bought the T-shirt. :)

You could also setup something so when someone buys webhosting they are automatically signed up to the forum. This would insure a decent amount of members, and increase customer satisfaction because they wont have to register, and also increase the chance of them posting :)