Printable View
Because i can honestly say, in the last few years since Condom Cash has been up and running i have heard from maybe 10-15 surfers/members total and most of them were for technical support issues with Evidence Wipe.
I dont understand why some people seem to have a lot of contact with their 'members' or site visitors, is this the norm?
Regards,
Lee
We have a forum and a very loyal following. 10-15 member emails would be the number we get on a slow day.
get feedback almost daily and it really does help with making the site better.
Yes, I answer each of them so they KNOW that their concerns are being addressed by the WEBMASTER.
LEE
i hear from members about their favorite models or about what they'd like to see in videos. for example, several members want our most muscular guys to loudly proclaim "I"M HUGE!" to the camera :D
So you think this is just a hassle that site owners with exclusive content have to deal with?
Ive spoken to a few large PPS program owners tonight also and they told me that they never really hear from their members either unless it is about a tech issue.
Regards,
Lee
When I was diong AVS sites I once got an email from a guy who was really impressed with a specific model photo set. Since it was all purchased and licensed content, I replied explaining that I did not have contact with the model but I was happy to send him another set featuring this twink that I had not published yet for his personal viewing pleasure.
We get comments on a pretty regular basis. Suggestions, comments about which models they particularly like, what scenarios they want to see, etc.
While we get a good number of these typically after the updates. The comments are valuable but stats are far more important. Three huge fans of one particular model writing over and over should never offset the unique counts.
What surfers say they want and what they really do are two different things.
We get all kinds of emails...from tech support to messages about models to people's weirdest thoughts/fantasies...
The emails can be fun...but it's the phone calls that are the most entertaining! Especially since my name is first on the dial by name directory...which most of the weirdos like to go through.
we hear a lot of good things all the time from our members - mostly because our stuff is good but also because we are REAL people who really run our site - and people like to have personal contact with us - we also give them good stuff when they contact us...
getting positive responses from people makes us feel good and when we feel good, we produce more -
When I was at Fratmen, I'd get maybe 30 emails a day from members.
some were tech support, some were kudos for a scene they liked, many were with suggestions for new scenes (none of which we'd ever do), some were complaints about lack of/too much body hair, some were offers of "modeling" work from creeps, some were requests for "private meetings" with models....
We get hundreds of comments on the CollegeDudes247 site itself each week (in fact we have received over 10K comments since launch), emails, and instant messages from members and visitors. Rather than being a hassle, it is a great way to get feedback from consumers. I agree with Alex that stats are better, but we have found that comments are a relatively good proxy.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alex_Manifest_M
Oh, and then there's the 800 number that Fratmen has.
When a good model would come out, people would call just to tell us they liked him or if a guy came out that people didn't like, we'd hear about it... trust me, we'd hear about it.
As a relatively new site I had hoped to get more member/surfer comments because I think the info is valuable as to what they like and don't like. But OnTheHunt averages maybe 3-5 comment or support emails per day. Retention has been really good so far so I guess I like to think no news is good news!
True enough Alex, the same is also true for webmasters ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Alex_Manifest_M
Regards,
Lee
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.
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.
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
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.