One of my favourite things to do in member interviews is to open the community site (via sharing my screen) and let members talk me through how they experience it.
The results are usually quite startling (and great for discussing with the client).
We usually discover:
- Members don’t navigate through the site as planned.
- Most navigation options can be removed.
- The language and terminology used is often confusing (i.e. discussions vs. groups).
- The majority of features/content is ignored.
- During registration, members don’t read 90% of the information.
- We assume members have much more knowledge about the company (and communities) than we think.
- Most gamification features are irrelevant.
And this is only the tip of the iceberg.
If you want to gather great feedback, spend time with members guiding you through the site. You will be surprised.
