A support person told me today:
“We go through the support questions in our inbox first, then if we have time we answer questions in the community”
Isn’t this backward?
An unanswered question in an inbox isn’t ideal, but it’s only doing harm to one person. No one else can see it.
An unanswered question in a community is harming the entire community. It discourages other members from asking questions in the community. It’s a very visible sign about an organisation’s disinterest in its customers.
Worse yet, as unanswered questions accumulate people will stop using the community and send more questions into your inbox instead. You can reduce a lot of the questions in the inbox if you answer them in the community first.
Maybe support staff should answer questions in the community first and then look at their inbox?