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🤔 Forum Veterans: How to make new members' posts more visible?
Hello sellers!
We have noticed that many new sellers on the forum post questions that remain unanswered.
Your experience could make a difference for those who are taking their first steps here on the forum.
What would you recommend to new members to make their posts more effective and get more responses?
- How to better structure questions?
- What information to include?
- Other practical suggestions?
Looking forward to your valuable insight.
15 replies
Seller_76AUwmqvSyRIM
One of the reasons is the poor working of the forum.
- "Latest activity" should show recent posts at the top by default
- Viewing a thread or voting on a post should not count as activity in the "Latest Activity" view. This will allow posts without any answers not to get lost among spurious activity
And of course, nested replies need to be eliminated.
The old forum (and yes, I will now wash my mouth) had a "Latest" option. That was so good. Have a look at seller dash forum dot com for a reminder (LOL, it won't be long before you delete the link).
Another reason for no replies is that even the posters with the biggest patience can't be bothered to answer the same questions, again and again, eg Amazon have charged me £30 and I only signed up as an individual.
Seller_ZVAz3d5lZuGid
Absolutely spot-on @Seller_76AUwmqvSyRIM.
@Spencer_Amazon - new member's post are visible but not all can be answered by us. First of all get rid of the nested replies, as so many posts are lost, not seen, and sometimes valuable information hidden away in the 'nests' - this is the ABSOLUTELY WORST thing about the forum.
Totally agree about a view or a vote should NOT be counted as 'Latest activity'.
Lack of replies has absolutely nothing to do with how questions are structured, or what is asked - many of the questions asked are ones that no other seller can do anything about - I believe there needs to be more input from the forum mods in answering these questions, not just closing threads that are duplicates, or passing on the the 'relevant team', as we rarely see any feedback. As said, the same-old, same-old questions over and over again. I truly despair at how often I have tried to explain the difference between seller accounts and selling plans. I believe the fault lies with the sign up page, and lack of clarity and explanation. Someone ages ago composed a flow-chart which was brilliant and meant that there were no mistakes in newbies understanding what they needed to do to set up a new account.
Seller_RAXEWLxQ2dbmN
As others have said, please get rid of the 'nested' replies format to make longer threads more readable.
As it is, I no longer bother looking at long threads due to the amount of time I have to waste searching for the latest replies among all the hidden-by-default 'replies to posts'.
On the older forum formats, all replies were shown in order of posting time/date and it was much easier to keep up with topics you were interested in.
I assume the forum software originates from Amazon's central servers so I'm not hopeful that any suggestion we make here in the little old UK will ever be implemented. :(
Seller_ZVAz3d5lZuGid
@Spencer_Amazon Look forward to any feedback re. your post to we 'Forum Veterans', and our suggestions !!!
Seller_40ozsHlGqPuEL
Dear @Spencer_Amazon,
Here are 10 major concerns and suggestions for improvement:
1) Visibility of New Posts: Many posts go unnoticed; strategies to improve visibility are crucial.
2) Forum Structure Issues: The nested replies format buries responses. Linear threads could enhance readability.
3) Redundancy of Questions: Repeated queries (e.g., account setups) frustrate veterans. A FAQ or guide for newcomers could help.
4) Inconsistent Moderation: More involvement from moderators is needed to address unanswered or recurring questions.
5) Lack of Response Clarity: Encourage precise and well-structured questions for better answers.
6) Missing Information: Posts should include details like order numbers, ASINs, and relevant timelines.
7) Unclear Forum Activity Metrics: Update metrics to focus on meaningful activity, not just votes or views.
8) Lack of Useful Onboarding: A clearer signup process and flowcharts for new sellers could prevent confusion.
9) Community Fatigue: Address repetitive questions with pinned solutions or collaborative guides.
10) Delayed Feedback: Ensure queries passed to teams receive timely responses and updates.
Seller_d8YGbIjNqwFxn
Provide as much information as possible on your first post so people can actually help. There are too many vague posts on here which just don't make sense.
Keep the post concise. A long rambling post is unlikely to get read.
Make sure you answer questions put to you by other sellers. There is nothing worse than trying to help someone and getting no reply.
Make sure you update the post with the final solution. Others can search for your post and use it to resolve their problem.
I think one of the biggest reasons there are less engagements on posts is because members can no longer be anonymous. When anyomiyty was allowed there were a lot more replies to posts.
Seller_0sVkARBIRM7Oe
Either put them in bottles and chuck them over the side, in the hope they will wash up on some foreign shore. Or maybe launch the life boats and take them with us as we all think about leave this sinking ship of a forum.
Seller_QuM1AZgzfU9x4
I've set the forum to show recently created at the top which works well enough for my needs - it seems the default is not to anyone's liking.
As for posts from new members not being visible, i suppose i wonder whether they even should be more visible than a "veteran's" post. After all an Amazon hurdle is an Amazon hurdle regardless of how long someone has been selling.
It's also the case that a lot of posts from newer sellers fall into one of two categories: firstly a problem that isn't so much due to being a new seller or secondly a combination of "where's my £30 / where can i find a supplier / can i buy from Boots / how do i get ungated?" Not sure either warrants a new seller badge.
Something i think a lot of posters could do to help themselves (other than searching in help which would answer a lot of questions in itself) is to give a little more detail up front.
The number of posts that start with Amazon have done X to me and i don't know why is staggering. It always take a couple of responses for them to actually post the notification from Amazon which they'd had all along and explains everything. It is sometimes like banging your head against a wall to the point where i'll give up and move on to someone else.
Seller_RlZVPg3d6ZUGP
- Most of the questions require a mod to help and answer not 'forum veterans'
- Once you've replied to something its too hard to find if anyone else answers unless its a direct reply to you
- Posters need to be honest and up front if they want help not hide relevant info
- Posters need to remember this isnt Amazon support (unless theres a way to have people on here who can actually help)
- Posters need to remember to say thanks for the help not just attack people when its not the answer they want - help is given for free, noone is getting paid to be on here
(as an aside did anyone actually win any of the 'prizes' offered on here?)
Seller_76AUwmqvSyRIM
You know what happens if you don't say thanks! LOL
