Idea: Onboarding mentor? (1 Viewer)

[Jon]

We get a steady stream of new members signing up here. Some hang around, many go. In order to improve the ratio of those who keep coming back, I was thinking about a concept of "Onboarding Mentor". The idea is that the noobie has someone they can go to for answers on how to post, where to post, and so on. Someone to hold their hand in the early stages of being an AWF member.

Anyone have some thoughts on this?

 

[Dreamweaver]

As Nobody else has said anything I'll get things started.
I am more that willing to help As long as the person I'm trying to help Is interested in learning "what Little I do know" and not one of the "you do it for me" type.
One problem I could see is the time zones each pair would have to be in the same timezone.

mick

 

[Micron]

You'd have to provide a private channel methinks. None of us are perfect and knows everything about Access, so if mentoring looks like a thread, then when the mentor provides some guidance, someone else will invariably throw in their 2 cents. We kind of have a mentoring system already whereby anyone who needs help can get it from anyone, but when that help is given, it sometimes descends into mild bickering and/or several other opinions on how to do something. The last thing I'd want as a mentor is to watch a "lesson" go off the rails because anyone can post whatever they want into it. I understand the desire to retain traffic but I think a lot of people who join here do so for a specific problem and once that is solved, there's no reason to hang around. They will come back as soon as they run into another issue.

My guess is that such a venture would take away from a member's ability to post help in threads in the usual fashion because there's only so much free time to devote here. It's a noble idea but I'm pessimistic about your chances.

 

[pbaldy]

Interesting thoughts expressed here.

I'd be willing to help new members, I assume it would be via the PM system. It would need to be understood that technical questions wouldn't be answered via that system, just how to navigate the forum.

 

[Jon]

Thanks for chipping in on this thread. Here are some of my thoughts on why this may be worth exploring.

1. Google has cut our traffic by 35% or so. The number of new people coming here has therefore shrunk. Over time, this may lead to a slow decline and demise of AWF. You could all end up with just Reddit!

2. Google also looks at the metrics of return visitors to rate how useful a site is. If people keep coming back, then they will rank us higher in the listings. It can be a virtuous circle.

3. In business, there is a concept called "churn". Many of you may have already heard of it. It refers to the number of customers lost per time period. The higher the churn rate, the less sticky the site, the slower the rate of growth, or the faster the rate of decline. By helping onboard users, it may reduce that churn rate. If more people come back because they find this place a welcoming environment, they may become regular members who participate. Reducing friction on how to get started posting may assist in that process.

4. Research suggests that you get more happiness and dopamine hits by helping others than pursuing selfish interests. Let's all be happy!

Any thoughts on the above 4 points?

 

[Micron]

I see the task of helping a member on how and where to post as being a short interaction (maybe one or two 'lessons') and I don't see how it fits in with why they come here in the first place. I understand your concerns about those points you've made, but in order for any business to succeed, isn't understanding why they come and then getting them to repeat that over and over one of the key concepts of marketing? That is your goal, right? I just don't think that telling them how and where to post will help much with that. IMO the reason they come in the first place is because they have an issue. Hopefully that gets solved to their satisfaction so they will come back. The problem would seem to be that a lot of time might elapse until that happens.

SEO would seem to be at the mercy and whim of the Google gods and your only options might be to ride it out, try to maintain a high relative position until others drop off (maybe UA for example) so that that traffic has fewer options, one of which is still yours, and to examine why something like Reddit seems to be having more success. Just shooting from the fingers here, but what if you had video tutorials or such similar instructional material for Access noobs? I realize there's already tons of them out there (e.g. Steve Bishop) but YouTube isn't exactly an interactive platform. Here, you could watch a vid or read a lesson, and if you have an issue with implementing it, you have a great tool for getting assistance.

 

[Jon]

@Micron, you may very well be right and I like your video idea. I did create some before, but I think they made people sleepy.

The idea behind the mentor thing is about leaning on the churn ratio. In internet marketing, there is this concept called "friction". Sometimes even minor changes on a landing page can improve conversion. It could be changing the size, text or colour of the call-to-action button, or what picture is used. Companies like Google have an extimated 7,000 tests per year that they do on various aspects of their operation. Other sorts of things that are tested are headlines. You can change the headline and the advert can have a significantly different response. They try out new things to see what reduces friction or just improves the outcome.

So, in my mind, I am thinking there are some people who give up before asking a question, or get confused and so never come back. Of course you could also be right, or maybe we both have relevant points.

Reddit has critical mass and huge funding. I am running things on a shoestring, while Reddit raised $300 million last year. I think the behemoth wins!

 

[Micron]

So, in my mind, I am thinking there are some people who give up before asking a question, or get confused and so never come back.

Hopefully others will comment on that.

I suspect that from a non technical standpoint, knowing the answer to that can only help. I'm not a big believer in surveys and often won't participate in those initiated by mega corporations because they're making so much money and yet offer me nothing for my time. Perhaps it is different in the UK or other parts of the world, so I'm saying if you can ID those who don't come back after say 3 months, will they tell you why if you ask one or two questions?

 

[Isaac]

Thinking back to my earliest days in subjects like Excel, Access, and VBA generally .... which admittedly was mostly on Utter Access (but I think my experience would probably hold true despite which forum), some of the posts which deepened my knowledge the most were the threads where seasoned developers posted mild disagreements or varying (or even conflicting) viewpoints on things during threads. Some people see this as going off the rails, but I didn't....I saw it as a whole bunch of extra knowledge for me, at no cost (it didn't really "cost" me any angst to read through the comments, but then again, I am a fast reader). By far the threads that taught me the least were the ones where my question was answered most directly and with a single comment. It was instant gratification, but not really quite as valuable (if I were to be so bold as to compare them) as the ones where seasoned developers actually demonstrated many viewpoints even to the point of disagreement--that REALLY broadened my horizons and gave me the deepest knowledge. I remember posting things about a datatype once and got 3 pages of responses where people argued about datatypes, memory, optimization, how vba processes things behind the scenes, and who knows--probably the invariable 1 page response from Albert K too. For me those were the most valuable takeaways of my "forum experience".
However, I know some posters are not looking for that, they just want their most immediate problem solved and to walk away. But generally as they mature as developers, they learn to appreciate the deeper knowledge that comes from more in depth discussion. I.E., on Stackoverflow I learn more from the "dissent" [comments] than the "opinion of the court" [upvoted answer].

To answer your actual question, Jon, I think people's need for hand holding is adequately met by the occasional comments they'll get anyway, like "I suggest you post this thread in such-and-such forum rather than introduction", or, "I suggest you ask this question on something other than a profile post", or various pieces of advice like that. I think the mentoring might be overkill but that's just me and I'm new here so don't listen to me ha ha

 

[Jon]

Maybe a light-touch approach could be worth an experiment, where someone drops in the post that we run a mentoring system here, whereby if they need any advice no how to use the forum, just drop them a private message for a mentor to help. Like all these sorts of things, we can theorise about it but then we get a different viewpoint once something is tested. That is my view anyway. Then again, I am reading a booked called "Experimentation Works", so I am tilted heavily in that direction right now.

 

[Micron]

I might be mistaken, but something tells me a new member cannot pm if they have less than 10 posts?

 

[Jon]

I have no idea actually. If we find that is the case, it can be fixed.

 

[Micron]

I might be thinking of posting links before 10 posts...

 

[Jon]

Links are naughty.

 

[Dreamweaver]

I haven't had a chance to read all the posts added since I was last on but:

A While ago you was talking about some sort if system where advanced members would create detailed decriptions on a given topic that you would create a sort of library that never got off the ground.

Also I did read a reply that suggsted videos thats a really good idear but you need to push it further in that they will need a catagory and users should be able to comment and or ak for help.

One thing about the videos is if a user is watching one on the site your stats go up as they spend more time here.

My sites not like this one as it's more about my programs but I thing I just started was linking my programs and forums together.

I'm sure there is a lot we can do if we put our heads together in that case google wouldn't stand a chance

 

[Jon]

@MickJav Some great points there. You have given me an idea. Perhaps we need a forum called Site Help? The idea is that anyone who needs help in using the site can post there.

Also, great point about people watching videos on this site, pushing up the Time on Site metric.

 

[pbaldy]

Does your initial email to users when they join include a "how to" section, perhaps with pictures? Better yet a link to a post on the site with pictures and/or video, so they spend more time here.

 

[Jon]

I like the "with pictures" idea. Good job! Will have to try to find the initial email they get.

 

[pbaldy]

Good job!

Is there a raise attached to that attaboy?

 

[Gasman]

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