A Couple of Minutes – Tales From My Community Manager Letterbox

Do you have a “contact us” link/section in your community? Do you get those emails? If not then you should. As the Community Manager you are on the front line of your community and it’s important that you have  your finger on the community pulse. Many people will use the contact us link to ask site usability questions, express concerns, complain, or from time to time (but don’t hold your breathe) say thanks.

How you deal with those emails is extremely important. Don’t just resort to generic responses. Let the person at the other end know there is a really live human available to answer their questions and respond to their concerns. Indeed, if you can, go above and beyond. It may only be a couple of mins of your time, but will reap great rewards. By going that little step further you are showing the sender that their membership of your community is important, and that they aren’t just a number. In other words show you care.

Here’s what plopped in my Community Manager letter box today:

Hi
Address in Benidorm please

Thank you

Obviously I had no idea what this was about, so I asked:

Hi,

Whose address are you looking for in Benidorm?

Regards

Sue

They came back with:

hi sue
i may have requested the address of Iceland Supermarket, the one that opened this year (in Benidorm) from your organization by mistake.

Sorry. Although I am a expat living in Spain and visiting Benidorm next week.
I am I suppose a born time waster haha

Sorry again
Merry Christmas to you

At this point I could have just responded with, “Sorry I don’t know” but instead I spent a couple of minutes of my time to search for the address of the place concerned for him:

No, you are not a time waster at all … lol

Here you go, here’s the address for the Iceland in Benidorm:
http://overseas.es/stores/12

Happy Shopping. I envy you, as I am in the US and we don’t have an
Iceland here. I miss a lot of British goodies.

Merry Christmas to you too.

Sue

A couple of minutes of your time now may help lay the foundations for what becomes a long term relationship with a community member. Even if you run a community for a brand or product, it’s easy to go that extra step and help source an item for a customer who contacts you through the community. They will tell others how helpful you’ve been and what a great community you run.