Forum Use = User Growth!!!
Open Letter to Zoho staff:
It would appear you guys have created quite a service here. This is one of the most active and positive forums for any company product I have ever seen. I have seen other forums that have enthusiastic members, but none where the forum is for a product that is sold.
I think a lot of this comes from your attitude toward incorporating us into the Zoho network. You guys respond to every post and use words like, "kindly" and "thank you so much" and it fosters a mutual appreciation from users and moderators.
It would be nice to be able to take this a step further. I know Cybersurfer is trying to get more users involved in his Small Business wiki, and I had another user post that he is in the same business as me and wanted to share ideas...but currently it's hard to share.
Is there anyway this forum could be made even more open to idea sharing across platforms and by users?
Could you enable PM (private messaging) so users could communicate without posting their email address to the world?
What about if the Zoho moderators joined in more discussions like the "First major Blunder" discussion? I think that was a potential negative that turned out very positive because you guys got involved and listened to the users.
What if users were able to go to a section of the forum where they could discuss how they were using Zoho products for their business and share experiences with each other? there could be sections for: IT, Real Estate, mail order products, HR, etc...
If the Zoho users are made to feel like they are involved in something, they will continue to stay loyal and use the products...even if a competitor may offer something slightly better, because they may feel like they had a hand in creating the product (if ever so small).
Keep up the innovation!