The Bad and Good of Support Forums

If you are selling a product then you will need a way to support your customers.

This decision often comes to two choices either forums or a help desk, but which one is best?

The first thing I would like to say is that it's worth mentioning that you should never use regular email. This can be chaotic in a flash.

Make sure you research the top help desk solutions and select one that is best for you (for us, it's HelpScout however there are several).

When we first launched we provided all assistance using an assist desk, but for no other reason than it is just simpler to use. Sign up for an account and you're operating.

      A funny incident occurred.      

With more customers they started requesting that we start implementing forums.

Not just a few request here or there. We received a lot of these requests almost every day.

It was a bit of a challenge to establish the forum. In some ways , it appeared redundant. In addition, it required support at multiple locations.

We decided to go ahead adding forums as an alternative possibility of support because of the growing demand. Looking back I am so glad that we did.

The Forums we have created are now a HUGE Asset

There are people who feel drawn towards communities. Over the years our forums have proven to be a place of bustling activity.

When someone makes a choice, to join a community that freely shares thoughts and ideas with one another.

Without forums, this would have no chance of happening.

However, it is important to note that forums for support do present some very important challenges.

Indeed, the issues are so difficult to make companies consider removing them completely.

The most common forum challenges

One of the most difficult issues with forums is that by their nature they never were intended to serve as tools for support.

Yes, they can be useful in that use-case at some level, but over the years the help desk applications have substantially outperformed them in terms of capabilities.

Forums do not have all the features available, including reporting, statuses tags, canned responses, and ticket history.

If you want these features and features, you must make it happen your self.

Another challenge in using forums is the fact that as time passes on the information within the threads becomes dated.

It means that someone who searches the forums may discover a solution no longer applicable and then "bump" this thread to get more information when it doesn't make sense.

I'm able to recall the thread which resurfaced and was over two years old. In the end the individual's query wasn't connected to the original thread. It only added confusion.

Though this could be a rare occurrence but it is more frequent than you think.

The scenario described above doesn't occur to us anymore due to the customisation of our functionality to end threads on the basis of inactivity.

This is only highlighting the main issue: you have to custom add features to those already available in help desk applications.

However, despite this...

While there are some issues with customer support through forums, we've found that the benefit that it offers customers is worthwhile.

We do sell software but through our forums, we also provide a strong community, which is a major advantage for many because in addition to software they gain years of knowledge capital.

However, my suggestion to anyone selling a product (be the software itself, online courses for example.) should begin by setting up the help desk.

Keep track of the feedback as time passes for a better understanding of whether forums make sense for them. It's a good idea to ask your clients to determine if this is something they want.

At the end of the day, you want to be there for your customers. The tools you use are just a (small) element of the overall equation.