Why you need a support forum.

February 21, 2007

I'm a fool. A big fool. A really big fool. Why? Because I always thought forums were too much work to maintain.

I never liked creating forums, because I always felt like I wouldn't have the time to moderate them properly. I felt like they were more work than they were worth. I was so wrong.

I had a number of people suggest that I start a forum for my $7 Secrets product, since it's caught on like wildfire (with more than 6,000 customers just through my site–not to mention the copies sold by the hundreds of resellers out there). They thought it would be a good place to share ideas.

So, against my "better judgment", I created a forum for the product. It's at:

http://7dollarforum.com/

I emailed my $7 Secrets customers about it, and as of the time of my writing this (less than 24 hours after sending the email), I've got more than 200 people registered to the forum (and lots of people "lurking" about but not registering).

This forum made me realize that I was a fool for not creating forums in the past. Here's why:

The Forum Is Covered In Testimonials

The first thing people started posting to the forum were testimonials for the product! Now anyone who goes there will see a bunch of really happy customers–and that's great for sales. I am indebted to my posting customers for these unsolicited comments.

The Forum Has Sparked New Ideas

Yes, in less than 24 hours, I've already received and implemented some great profit-creating suggestions made by the forum members. There was a suggestion that I add a "tell-a-friend" form to the scripts that come with $7 Secrets, which I did. My testing of that form has resulted in dozens of new visitors to the site already–and it's less than 16 hours later.

The Forum Members Answer Support Requests

There have already been a half dozen examples of people posting questions and issues they're having to the forum about the scripts that go along with the $7 Secrets report. This happened while I was sleeping, and one of the members who was still awake and at the forum answered the support question in detail.

I woke up, checked the forum, and saw that my members were helping me out with support! I actually had fewer support tickets today in my help desk because of their generous support of those other users.

What a fool I was for not realizing that people will help each other out.

Summing It Up

So yes, I was a fool. Whether your product is informational, or whether it's software (or like $7 Secrets, a combination of both), you need a support forum. I am thrilled with the success of this one, and it only took about thirty minutes to setup and configure.

Posted by Jonathan Leger | Filed Under Internet Marketing, Blog
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Comments

6 Responses to “Why you need a support forum.”

Desmond on February 23rd, 2007 11:12 am

Jonathan dont want to get off track here but what do you use to track your conversions? and do you use it the for tracking the videos you used for your case study on videos on youtube and google?

Thanks,
Desmond

P>S> I purchased $7 dollars secrets cant wait to put it to use.
Steve Renner on February 24th, 2007 4:45 am

Jonathan,
Thank you for the great script. The new additions are outstanding. I see there is a flurry of activity at your new forum, you have creatated a whole new internet marketing resource with this script.

All the Best!
Steve Renner
John on February 24th, 2007 10:17 am

Jonathan,

I also want to echo the sentiments about your $7 script. You really have out done your self with it.

Like Desmond, I would also be interested in what you use to track conversions.

Thanks,

John

PS Also, my compliments and thanks for the great forum.
Scott Sutherland on February 24th, 2007 10:59 am

I actually LOVE forums, though I haven't really got a support need (yet). Frankly, I think forums are an AWESOME way to organize information. I have devised a "Collaborative Project Management on a Shoestring Budget" system that utilizes a forum and Microsoft Excel. It's an excellent way to document processes, allow interaction, stay on top of task status, let everybody know what's going on, and just "shoot the breeze" if they feel like it. And it's CHEAP!

Am, the Forum Advocate!

Later!

Scott
Steve on February 24th, 2007 11:12 am

While I agree a forum can be incredibly useful to both the creator and the participants in the right setting, I believe the type of customers you are supporting has a big role in its success.

With your clients you have a reasonably technical and well informed demographic.

If I were to start a forum on my site it would probably add another hour of tech support per day as my demographic is more newbie oriented and as such, technically unsophisticated (how do I log in, how do I post etc).
Britt Malka on February 24th, 2007 6:04 pm

I've had several support forums, one for my books (published in Denmark). I got a lot of questions, also repeating questions, only one person once answered another persons question, and then I got a lot of spam. So I closed down the forum.

If you have a forum, you should always keep an eye out for updates and patches that closes security wholes. I didn't have the time for that.