Building Your Website One User at a Time

One User Does Make a Difference

I would rather have 1 passionate user than 10 regular users. That 1 passionate user will give more constructive feedback, become more active and tell more people than the 10 regular users ever would.

This seems contrary to popular belief. Building a website one user at a time seems like it would take forever to build momentum.

There’s truths to this, but the overall problem isn’t the time it takes–it’s your attitude.

When you treat your users as a whole instead of individuals they feel unimportant. When they feel unimportant your site lacks feedback from the people you need it from most.

What does this actually mean?

This means when a user takes the time to e-mail you, respond. Thank them for taking the time to contact you and let them know they’re important to you.

When a user makes a suggestion, actually consider it. Not every suggestion is a gold mine, but often users suggest things you will never consider.

When a user complains, listen and listen well. This is your chance to really win over a user. Instead of blowing them off–consider it from their point of view. Do they have a valid point? If so, let them know. If not, try to resolve the situation the best you can. If you put your best foot forward the user will notice.

User Complaints Hurt my Ego

A while back I was designing a new front page for MacTips. I wanted new users to be able to find popular content easily.

Right after launching the new page I got this e-mail:

I just went to your site and I absolutely despise your new setup. It makes me want to stop looking at the site, which is exactly what I (and probably countless others) am going to do. The format is so complicated that I can’t find the actual tips without reading about a thousand different links that all look the same. You over-structured to the point that the site is rendered useless and defunct. I hope you realize you immense mistake and how inviting simplicity can be. People looking for the kinds of tips that your site offers are now especially disinclined to view your site. Good luck!

Re-reading this still makes me cringe–but it shouldn’t. I worked very hard on the new front page and I thought it was great. But after considering it from his point of view–he was exactly right.

I tried to fit so much information on the page, I made it all useless. Not only did I change it back, but I started removing unnecessary information from the rest of the site. As a result the site is much easier to navigate and looks a lot cleaner. I still have some things to change, but I’m headed in the right direction now.

That user did me a huge favor. Dozens of users were probably thinking the exact same thing, and would have never returned without telling me. He took the time to e-mail me. Not only was I able to improve the site for the whole community, but I gained a loyal user in the process

Why Did You Unsubscribe?

You can also be more proactive in communicating with your users. The e-mail list does fairly well at MacTips with over 500 subscribers. This number is growing by about 15 users every day.

Of these 500 subscribers, only 1 has unsubscribed. That’s not a bad ratio–but I wanted to know why, so I e-mailed him:

Hi “rew”,

I’m the webmaster of MacTips.org. Recently you subscribed to MacTips and then unsubscribed.

I was curious why? This is in no way an e-mail to try and get you to re-subscribe.

You are my first and only unsubscriber and I was just curious why? If there’s something I can do to keep users I’d like to do it, hopefully you shedding some light can help that.

If you don’t want to answer, then please don’t. You’ll never hear from me again–I was just curious if it was something specific that I could address.

Thanks,
Brad

I was very careful to let the user know he wouldn’t hear from me again if he didn’t want to. Because he unsubscribed I assumed he didn’t want to hear from MacTips again.

I was surprised by his reply:

I didn’t mean to unsubscribe I was wondering why I hadn’t received any tips. Please go ahead and subscribe me again. Thanks.

Had he not accidentally unsubscribed, I would have listened to what he had to say to prevent future users from unsubscribing.

Instead I was able to gain another subscriber and maintain my 500/0 record.

Hard Work Pays Off

Building a successful website is not easy, but it’s not rocket science either. Knowing that your users are your livelihood should always keep things in check for you. Treat them with respect and as individuals and you will be surprised by their response.