Is it good to have a support forum ?
- Thread starter Raees
- Start date
Well having forum is not needed for webhosting company. All you need is livechat, the most appropriate option for any host to have this. Think of it this way, have you ever signed up to a forum with your hosting company to just ask for simple support? it's usually the ticket or livechat.
I've always found support forums to be helpful as well as beneficial. If someone is having similar problems to yours, it's nice to be able to go back and see what suggestions were made to the other person. Who knows? If you and the OP are having similar problems, what worked for them may very well work for your incident.
ForumSource
Resident
Support forums would definitely be helpful and not harm anyone, but for a web host, tickets and live support are more common.
Yes, support forums are something that can bring the staff together with the customer overall provide better support for bigger companies. Having a support forum gives everyone the ability to search for users before they create a topic and provides more interaction with you, the staff, the customer, and other customers.
It gets boring when you just have a ticket system and there's only one staff member assigned to it. 😛
It gets boring when you just have a ticket system and there's only one staff member assigned to it. 😛
flash_drive
Acquaintance
No.
I only use the Support ticket system and live chat.
Support forums are a great place for spammer's to spam you.
I only use the Support ticket system and live chat.
Support forums are a great place for spammer's to spam you.
I do like it when a host has a support forum. Gives me an insight into how other customer's are doing with their services, as well as a place to discuss the company with them in general.
That said, I do use support tickets more.
That said, I do use support tickets more.
Doctor Tech
Resident
As mentioned by the previous replies, support forums are usually a nice benefit to users seeking support as there may be previous clients who have had the same issue as them.
However, it is extremely important to administer the forums properly which will require manpower. You will also have to watch out for clients who may provide their fellow users with unreliable support unintentionally.
However, it is extremely important to administer the forums properly which will require manpower. You will also have to watch out for clients who may provide their fellow users with unreliable support unintentionally.
I believe it depends on which method you can be most efficient with. The ticket system is great if you can work the support tickets promptly and efficiently - same for a support forum. The advantage of having a support forum is that when someone has the same issue as another person they can browse for the solution or you can easily link to the post where another user had the same issue. It just depends on which one you can work most efficiently.
Joshua Farrell
FP's Housekeeper
One of the hosts I used to be on that had a support forum, had terrible service, and never admitted to things. The host didn't even have live chat, or a ticket system. There were a number of times that I was IP banned from their host, and my website, after upgrading from their free service, to the paid service, and never had any satisfactory experiences with them on their support forum.
If you do consider a support forum, please try to be accommodating on it, even when you don't want to, since it is difficult to find a good host that will admit things publicly, when they would rather do it privately.
If you do consider a support forum, please try to be accommodating on it, even when you don't want to, since it is difficult to find a good host that will admit things publicly, when they would rather do it privately.
Joshua Farrell said:
Wow Joshua, that host sounds very unprofessional. I think it's important for a host to treat their service like a business and make customer service a priority. Are they still in business? That really does sound like bad practice.
I think you need a support option, maybe a couple options, but a forum doesn't have to be one. Live chat and support tickets would work just as well and is what you see you a lot of companies using, no forums involved. If you want to get the community involved in offering support and even helping out in other ways, a forum can be helpful. If not, it's not really worth the hassle of setting up and maintaining one.
Joshua Farrell
FP's Housekeeper
Sharon said:
The host went out of business sometime in the last year and a half.
I'd only recommend having a support forum if you are going to watch it closely. It can get quickly unprofessional if there's too much spamming, or if the customers on there are neglected more than the support tickets.
It's incredibly time consuming to have a support forum and they are often under-utilized by clients anyway. We have a forum here: http://forum.holderhost.com/index.php but Plato and myself have decided upon closing it when we role out some updates which are coming soon.
It's difficult to create a community around a webhost. A lot of clients just want a good service with no hassle: that's it.
It's difficult to create a community around a webhost. A lot of clients just want a good service with no hassle: that's it.
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