Advice sought on Total Driver forum.

TotalDriver · 11-06-2006, 07:22 PM

Hi all,

A bit long-winded, sorry ;)

Each week we handle hundreds of email enquiries just from people checking out our website. We are always striving to be #1 in Service and Quality, and it worries me that sometimes, people in the office might not always follow up each email or have all the correct info on the original request to be able to follow them all up.

This has led me to starting our own forum. The reason for this is it seems every question gets answered, and answered correctly. I have been on the sideline of this forum, and from the outside, looking in - the fordforums.com.au format seems very manageable.

So far, I have bought and installed vbulletin on our server. It is really easy to set up, apart from my lack of php and html expertise. The only thing I'm struggling with is how to put a rotating banner ad in the top right hand corner. I have installed phpadsnew on the server, but haven't worked out how to place the banners on the forum yet!

My question is, what do the paying public expect to get from our forum? Obviously our sponsors will have their input, and Total Driver will be displaying it's products, but what keeps people coming back again and again? I really don't want it to turn into a full on advertisement, I'd like it to be more personal than that. I like the fact that we can keep track of our students/clients, and even chat online one on one with them!

The forum is up and running but it's basically a blank canvas. I'm hoping you guys could give me some inspiration

I'm not trying to poach for members, we've got 12,000 customers I can do that to! You can see what I've done so far at www.totaldriver.com.au/forum

I await your advice.

Thanks,

XR8 Uterous · 11-06-2006, 07:28 PM

You might want to change the text colour of the forum rules when you register, its very hard to read how it is at the moment.

TotalDriver · 11-06-2006, 07:31 PM

Good start, see that's the stuff I don't get to see - will do it now.

Cheers,

Mike

XR8 Uterous · 11-06-2006, 07:32 PM

Im having a quick look around now to see what i can find, in case you havn't figured it out im registered there as Crouchie.

And also, you said you wanted to make it more personal, having your user name as Admin, doesnt sounds personal, more like your some machine that patrols the forum.

TotalDriver · 11-06-2006, 07:35 PM

I'd already thought of that. I was just using "Admin" whilst setting up. I wanted all our staff to just use their first names, keep it personal like that.

DOC · 11-06-2006, 07:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TotalDriver

Hi all,
A bit long-winded, sorry ;)
Each week we handle hundreds of email enquiries just from people checking out our website. We are always striving to be #1 in Service and Quality, and it worries me that sometimes, people in the office might not always follow up each email or have all the correct info on the original request to be able to follow them all up.
This has led me to starting our own forum. The reason for this is it seems every question gets answered, and answered correctly.
I await your advice.
Thanks,

I think a forum to handle enquiries is the wrong way to go, it's a bit like press 3 now to go to inquiries, the responses will be slower, may be the views of a forum member that in some way does not fit the company profile and will be less personal.

Over all a good idea for general chat but not to do what you have stated.

Keeping it personal would work better, and surley it would be easy enough for the staff to pass any questions that they do not know the answer to along to a higher authority to answer ?

also you could cover many general questions in a online help file type format.

just my 2c
Pete

TotalDriver · 11-06-2006, 07:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DOC

I think a forum to handle enquiries is the wrong way to go, it's a bit like press 3 now to go to inquiries, the responses will be slower, may be the views of a forum member that in some way does not fit the company profile and will be less personal.

Over all a good idea for general chat but not to do what you have stated.

Keeping it personal would work better, and surley it would be easy enough for the staff to pass any questions that they do not know the answer to along to a higher authority to answer ?

also you could cover many general questions in a online help file type format.

just my 2c
Pete

Thanks Pete, I see your point.

One thing I liked about the forum is that we can be one on one with the clients anywhere in the world. When it's email based, it confines us to one computer, and if the person with that computer isn't available for some reason, that's where the problem begins. We've had it previously where we set it up so email requests went to all on the network, but then you get the problem with more than one answer.

We have a few of us that can handle requests, being forum based if we all take responsibility and check often, at least one of us will get to the customer in time.

I'm thinking general requests that benefit all customers would be answered in the forum, but anything else would be replied by a more personal approach.

Cheers,

Mike

**Falcon Coupe** · 11-06-2006, 07:43 PM

No XAGT pics on there ?

fiery · 11-06-2006, 07:49 PM

Mike you posted what I had written before I posted it so had to edit this..

Well done.. great idea.. looks good and yes keep the personal contact for specific enquiries...

Good luck with it, hope it goes well

TotalDriver · 11-06-2006, 07:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fiery

Mike you posted what I had written before I posted it so had to edit this..

Well done.. great idea.. looks good and yes keep the personal contact for specific enquiries...

Good luck with it, hope it goes well

Thanks Kerri

Appreciate your help!

Mike

graphixboy · 12-06-2006, 10:42 AM

Hi Mike,

I emailed you some 3 months ago and never got a response, I didn't realise you had the emails filtered by a staff member.

But this explains it.

Cheers
Steve

TotalDriver · 12-06-2006, 11:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by graphixboy

Hi Mike,

I emailed you some 3 months ago and never got a response, I didn't realise you had the emails filtered by a staff member.

But this explains it.

Cheers
Steve

Hence the reason I am taking these steps.

It's not that the emails are filtered, it's just if someone downloads email on their computer and marks them on the server as "read", and if they don't action the emails - I don't even know they exist, there lies the problem.

Is there something I can help with Steve? I know I'm 3 months late.

Cheers,

Mike

TotalDriver · 11-06-2006, 07:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Falcon Coupe

No XAGT pics on there ?

YET! hahahha