Skip to main content
Solved

Best practice around solving questions

  • January 20, 2023
  • 4 replies
  • 100 views
sarahmasterton-brown
Forum|alt.badge.img+4

Hey inSided community.👋
Looking for some guidance please. We’re 7 days into our live community and we have questions being raised about our software product. (phew)
In some scenario’s, there isn’t one straight answer, and occasionally a member has unearthed a product bug which takes some time to fix - a bug report and support ticket need to be raised.
What should I then do with the question as there isn’t technically a ‘best answer’. Do I just leave it unsolved?
There also needs to be a follow up on the thread when we have the issue fixed. Can I mark this question in control for follow up?
Any suggested working processes for this would be helpful.

Thanks 💪

Best answer by DannyPancratz

Thanks for asking, as Alistair’s answer gave me some ways to improve our process with moderator tags, etc. 

Our process is to reply with instructions on reporting a bug through our support portal (it’s preferred that the end user reports the bug, not staff, so they can be asked follow-up questions, etc). And we mark that as the answer. 

From my POV, this is the right approach for a few reasons: 

  • Reporting - at some point you or your stakeholders are going to care very much about the % of questions answered. Questions like this do receive a definitive answer, even it’s not the ideal answer. And like Alistair said, best practice is to tag/track those and follow up with the new answer (you can mark a new reply as best) once the bug has been fixed. 
  • Trust and authority of the answer - Other users might see the reply about the bug and assume that there’s an open question as to whether it’s actually a bug or not and they might not notice that the reply came from staff, etc. Marking it as the answer provides some “weight” or definitive authority that it’s 1.) a bug, 2.) your company knows about it, and 3.) it will likely be fixed at some point
  • The psychology of marked answers - you want users to see those green check marks. It’s a signal that “this place helps answer questions” that will make an impact on their adoption and engagement over time. 
  • Superusers and gamification - the psychology of answers comes in here too. If you want other community members helping answer open questions, keeping this off their list as a question to investigate will improve their experience. If the unanswered question feed doesn’t build trust (too many questions with answers that aren’t marked), they’ll stop using it. It can also reduce their motivation to try to solve open questions they see in the regular feed. 
Every day is a school day
elliott.vickrey

4 replies

Alistair FIeld
Forum|alt.badge.img+4
  • Alistair FIeld
  • Expert ⭐️
  • January 20, 2023

Hi @sarahmasterton-brown 

A subject very close to my heart and one I am thrashing through my mind every week.

I would lump this into Knowledge Management. 

i.e. the Knowledge is beyond the community members, so needs to be managed externally to the community and then pulled in…. I digress.

 

As a moderator you can use moderator tags to INTERNALLY flag 🚩and item as a Bug or Support issue requiring follow up. This can then be used as a filter in the Content Dashboard (save view) to keep track of such topics. 

 

If support is required, you need to direct the user to submit a ticket, and once the answer IS available, it needs publishing immediately as an article📝 and you can close the loop in the thread.

 

Similarly if it is a bug. I would say that once confirmed you can say as such i nthe thread, and close the topic. The best answer here is:

 

And then loop back once fixed.

 

I do not have anything formal to offer here in terms of documents. But I hope that helps.

Great topic!! 

The needs of the many, outweigh the needs of the few. 🖖
DannyPancratz
elliott.vickrey
sarahmasterton-brown
Forum|alt.badge.img+4

OK, thanks for the explanation @Alistair FIeld  
I will certainly use the moderator tag - that’s really helpful. 🙏
 

Every day is a school day
DannyPancratz
Forum|alt.badge.img+9
  • DannyPancratz
  • VIP ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
  • Answer
  • January 20, 2023

Thanks for asking, as Alistair’s answer gave me some ways to improve our process with moderator tags, etc. 

Our process is to reply with instructions on reporting a bug through our support portal (it’s preferred that the end user reports the bug, not staff, so they can be asked follow-up questions, etc). And we mark that as the answer. 

From my POV, this is the right approach for a few reasons: 

  • Reporting - at some point you or your stakeholders are going to care very much about the % of questions answered. Questions like this do receive a definitive answer, even it’s not the ideal answer. And like Alistair said, best practice is to tag/track those and follow up with the new answer (you can mark a new reply as best) once the bug has been fixed. 
  • Trust and authority of the answer - Other users might see the reply about the bug and assume that there’s an open question as to whether it’s actually a bug or not and they might not notice that the reply came from staff, etc. Marking it as the answer provides some “weight” or definitive authority that it’s 1.) a bug, 2.) your company knows about it, and 3.) it will likely be fixed at some point
  • The psychology of marked answers - you want users to see those green check marks. It’s a signal that “this place helps answer questions” that will make an impact on their adoption and engagement over time. 
  • Superusers and gamification - the psychology of answers comes in here too. If you want other community members helping answer open questions, keeping this off their list as a question to investigate will improve their experience. If the unanswered question feed doesn’t build trust (too many questions with answers that aren’t marked), they’ll stop using it. It can also reduce their motivation to try to solve open questions they see in the regular feed. 
sarahmasterton-brown
Daniele Cmty
elliott.vickrey
sarahmasterton-brown
Forum|alt.badge.img+4

Thanks for asking, as Alistair’s answer gave me some ways to improve our process with moderator tags, etc. 

Our process is to reply with instructions on reporting a bug through our support portal (it’s preferred that the end user reports the bug, not staff, so they can be asked follow-up questions, etc). And we mark that as the answer. 

From my POV, this is the right approach for a few reasons: 

  • Reporting - at some point you or your stakeholders are going to care very much about the % of questions answered. Questions like this do receive a definitive answer, even it’s not the ideal answer. And like Alistair said, best practice is to tag/track those and follow up with the new answer (you can mark a new reply as best) once the bug has been fixed. 
  • Trust and authority of the answer - Other users might see the reply about the bug and assume that there’s an open question as to whether it’s actually a bug or not and they might not notice that the reply came from staff, etc. Marking it as the answer provides some “weight” or definitive authority that it’s 1.) a bug, 2.) your company knows about it, and 3.) it will likely be fixed at some point
  • The psychology of marked answers - you want users to see those green check marks. It’s a signal that “this place helps answer questions” that will make an impact on their adoption and engagement over time. 
  • Superusers and gamification - the psychology of answers comes in here too. If you want other community members helping answer open questions, keeping this off their list as a question to investigate will improve their experience. If the unanswered question feed doesn’t build trust (too many questions with answers that aren’t marked), they’ll stop using it. It can also reduce their motivation to try to solve open questions they see in the regular feed. 

Thanks @DannyPancratz  This is super helpful and I completely agree that customers should be raising their own tickets and highlighting the processes makes it easier.
Good shout on the gamification part and keeping an eye on the nature of open questions. I’m noticing it’s quite easy for this to get a little messy.

Every day is a school day
Terms & ConditionsCookie settingsAccessibility statement