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Indeed!
There are a handful of vocal members and a huge number that would never consider contacting a site.
I watch stats much more closely than the direction coming from members and their emails because when read properly, the stats are far more accurate. We know exactly how many times which members watch which videos. We know what the hit rate is on a new vid or image set based on the number of members that watch it once or repeatedly.
That is why some outsiders might say "I want more of this and more of that" but when a group of members are ignoring a particular model or type of video, we know where our direction should head. I have had affiliates tell me "get the clothes off faster and make the model talk dirty". Well with the way we cut out videos into sections, it is very easy to see that while almost everyone watches the part 4 money shot, over 2/3 of the members watch the entire 20 min from beginning to end the first time. If a site has 5000 members and gets fewer than 500 fan-mails or comments per week, the stats will give a far better read on what people really want and what they really like to see.
For example. We recently put up a verbal domination muscle worship video with Zeb Atlas (who many believe to be GROSSLY overexposed). Some members wrote in and said "I am a proud gay man and will not be talked down to or told "beg like the dog you are" may have been very adamant in their disdain, but that video has been watched over and over again. This more than any other recent video has been requested to be placed on DVD.
Second example: "I hate tatoos! Why would anyone run their bodies that way? They will be so ugly when they are old!" But which videos get the most views? The tatt'ed bodybuilders.
By no means to I mean to say that verbal members are not important. They can be your biggest cheerleaders. But the tail should not wag the dog. We give them three ways to contact us: phone, email and online forms. This is in additional to one 90 min chat I host each month where they can chat with the Chairman. Holding that at a time that works for US and EU members has been very positive in terms of making technical improvements and modifying the user experience. But when it comes to content, we keep to our plan and let the stats sing to us.
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We even run into members in person.
We had a member come up to us at lunch. To let us know how much he liked the site, at the Folsom street fair this weekend.
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Lee,
We get emails and phone calls from members on a daily basis as well as run into them at bars and events all the time.
Bill
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I like fratmen's idea where the owner/ webmaster has a "webmaster" chat with the members. , he does this once a week and its a great way to basically have a round table discussion with your members and viewers and makes them feel more involved.
I interact with similar chats a couple of times a week and we prominaty post our main # across the site, i defiantly want to hear from a member if there is a problem rather than them just leaving.
we also get members involved like making some of the more level headed ones moderators in the chat room, it makes them feel like part of the team and takes some of the workload off your paid staff or yourself. I have one member who has taken it upon himself to check around the whole site every day and give me an e-mail list of anything that needs tweaking or fixing, if a link goes down or he finds a spelling error ( lol imagine that ) this saves me countless hours of my own time.
Members can be your greatest resource, use them.
