Why Aren’t Members Asking More Questions?

A client wants members to ask more questions in the community.

Before suggesting tactics, you need to get to the source of why aren’t they asking more questions.

The best thing to do is interview 5 to 10 members and build out a table like that below which finds out what information members needed, where they went for that information, and why they did or didn’t ask in the community.

(click here if image doesn’t show)

Do you notice how valuable these insights are?

We now know not only the types of discussions and content we might create in the community (vendor list, a ‘review my effort’ area, list of examples, trouble-shooting), but also the resistance members have about asking questions in the community.

We know people feel intimidated about having their name attached to a question so we can add and promote a ‘post anonymously’ feature. We can create a button where members could email their questions to the community manager to post.

We know the community is great for questions where there are a ‘variety’ of responses (e.g. examples) so we can promote that as the main call to action to ask a question. It’s the best way to get the most responses.

We can also run a short email series campaign encouraging members to give feedback on each other’s work and remove the self-promotion stigma.

If you want more questions, find out why members aren’t asking questions first. What questions do they have, where do they ask them, and why don’t they use your community. The insights will be invaluable.