Closed
Bug 994367
Opened 11 years ago
Closed 6 years ago
Email to original poster is misleading. No obvious link back to the support forum. Users may get confused and not respond
Categories
(support.mozilla.org :: Questions, task)
support.mozilla.org
Questions
Tracking
(Not tracked)
RESOLVED
WONTFIX
People
(Reporter: unicorn.consulting, Unassigned)
References
Details
Attachments
(3 files)
The email contains a very large "Mark it as Solved" button and beside that a link to "This does not solve my problem." All very good. But what about when neither is the case. How to get back to the forum and clarify or provide requested information?
Initially I though there is a need for a "go to Forum and look at this reply" or "Go to forum and continue discussion" button. But on reflection I think it may be more appropriate to incorporate a selection of forum links. To the forum, to the user profile, to the question.
At the same time the question title should be hyper-linked, to provide yet another way to get back to the action.
While the body of the mail the display names should be used to identify the poster instead of their user names. There is little point having display names if they are not used.
The display of the reply time in the email to six decimal places is a bit over the top as well (2014-04-09 01:11:21.791586) especially when the forward email incorporates On 9 April 2014 18:11, <notifications@support.mozilla.org> wrote:
Perhaps just dropping the time would be a good idea. The email has it's own time stamp.
Comment 1•11 years ago
|
||
I checked it out by posting a new question under a secondary account and then replying to it using my normal account. The email I got in my secondary account showed no obvious way to get back to the support forum, for example, to provide requested information (you have to click on the "This doesn't solve my problem" link). This needs to be fixed.
Updated•11 years ago
|
Component: Forum → Questions
OS: Windows 7 → All
Hardware: x86_64 → All
Comment 2•11 years ago
|
||
CCing Bram.
Should we add an additional button or something?
Comment 4•11 years ago
|
||
Can we use a template similar to the one that’s sent to non-OP? This sounds like a similar problem that’s been solved before in a slightly different way. See attached.
But in this case, because the recipient is an OP, in addition to the button called [Post a reply], which serves the same function as “Go to the forum and continue discussion, we also add another button called [This answer solved my problem].
In addition to the buttons, we can also make the heading text clickable. When clicked, it will lead to the forum thread.
Comment 5•11 years ago
|
||
This is what we are currently sending the OP.
Bram, I'm not sure if one button should say "Mark it solved" and the other one "post a reply". In a lot of cases people want to let the person know that their answer helped them solve the problem. They actually want to write something. Maybe the buttons could say:
"Mark it solved" and in smaller size below: "and see online"
"This doesn't solve my problem" and in smaller size below: "Post a reply"
What do you think?
The highest priority here is to let the person give us feedback in case the problem was not solved. The second highest priority is getting feedback in case it was solved.
Flags: needinfo?(bram)
Comment 6•11 years ago
|
||
Rather than saying “Mark it solved”, why don’t we say something like:
* Yes. This answer solves my problem.
* No. This answer doesn’t solve my problem. Post a reply.
* Continue the discussion.
The button texts are a bit lengthy, but they clarify the action.
I am, however, worried that we have two buttons called “No” and “Continue” that essentially do the same thing and lead to the same place. To me, what seems to be smarter is to change the wording of “No” so it’s more inclusive.
So the new wording becomes:
* View this answer and post a reply.
* This answer solves my problem.
The colors could remain the same: blue for reply, and green for mark as solved. But let’s make sure to format both as a button.
At the same time, keep in mind that we will turn some texts into links, like what Matt had suggested:
* The Mozilla Support logo will link to support.mozilla.org (question: should it link to the forum instead?)
* The whole thread title will link to the thread itself
* The avatar and username will link to the user’s profile page (question: is this helpful?)
Doing all of the above will allow readers to access the forum in more ways than one.
Flags: needinfo?(bram)
(In reply to Bram Pitoyo [:bram] from comment #6)
> * The avatar and username will link to the user’s profile page (question: is
> this helpful?)
>
I have only been poking around SUMO for a month or so, but already I see people replying / providing requested information with a new question. I have also fielded questions for people suggesting they are unable to locate their previously asked questions. My solutions is linking to the profile. But anyone that has a better solution, please I am all ears.
Likewise I would love a solution to those folk complaining they do not get the confirmation email! I have no idea how they can not and still post questions. Unless the confusion stems from the discussion at bug 979607 where having an account does not stop them trying again because the button is more obvious.
Comment 8•11 years ago
|
||
(In reply to Matt from comment #7)
> I have only been poking around SUMO for a month or so, but already I see
> people replying / providing requested information with a new question. I
> have also fielded questions for people suggesting they are unable to locate
> their previously asked questions. My solutions is linking to the profile.
> But anyone that has a better solution, please I am all ears.
Yeah, I've been thinking about this too. There are probably some fancy things we can do, like have notifications so people can look back at recent activity on their questions/posts/etc.
Two simple ideas:
1- Add "My Questions" to the user dropdown -> http://cl.ly/image/1X2C3T1r3Y3j
2- Add a link to "My Questions" in all the forum emails that go out to askers.
Both of those could link to https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/all?owner=mine&show=all or something better that we create.
Comment 9•11 years ago
|
||
(In reply to Matt from comment #7)
> already I see people replying / providing requested information with a
> new question
Good! This is exactly the behavior that we want to encourage.
> I have also fielded questions for people suggesting they are unable to
> locate their previously asked questions. My solutions is linking to the
> profile.
You’ve uncovered a really interesting problem. Yes. I agree that there is no obvious way for question askers to get to their thread other than by following the link on the notification email.
In your case, it sounds like they might have deleted the email after receiving it and then wonder “how could I find the question I had asked two days ago?”. As a result, they asked a new question.
While linking to their profile page helps, I really think that we can do at least two more things:
1. The surefire solution is to have an easily accessible link to to the list of user’s questions
2. But the bigger design problem to solve is to surface the support forum more prominently on the website
To solve problem #1, I agree with both of Ricky’s ideas. In fact, I would argue that we should surface this page even more prominently by making “My Questions” a header navigation item. See attached.
Of course, below the forum emails, we’d also add a link that says “View a list of all my questions”.
And that’s problem #1.
To solve problem #2. We could try adding a link called “Support Forum” on the header navigation for a start. But I am doubtful that this will benefit many users. In fact, I think that most users don’t really care about browsing for other people’s questions. They care about their own questions, and other people’s questions that are pertinent for their situation. So I don’t think we should do this just yet.
I think we should try a combination of all of the above solutions and see if it solves the problem. What do you think?
Reporter | ||
Comment 10•11 years ago
|
||
(In reply to Bram Pitoyo [:bram] from comment #9)
> (In reply to Matt from comment #7)
> > already I see people replying / providing requested information with a
> > new question
>
> Good! This is exactly the behavior that we want to encourage.
>
I think you misunderstand the statement. They are responding with a new question, not replying to the thread. I don't want to encourage that action. I want them back to the thread that started doing that.
But I concur with everything else you say.
Comment 11•11 years ago
|
||
(In reply to Matt from comment #10)
> I think you misunderstand the statement. They are responding with a new
> question, not replying to the thread.
This is interesting. Do you know if these respond with new questions mainly contain:
* A question that follows the original question
* An entirely new question that’s unrelated to the original question
* A meta question about the forum (e.g. “I cannot see the answer I have posted”)
* A combination of all of the above
My guess is that these new questions ranges in topic all over the place, but I’d like to get to the bottom of this problem. (If the discussion gets too off-topic, we should open up a new research bug).
Comment 12•11 years ago
|
||
This is a small improvement to Ricky’s suggestion. We can give more priority to “My Questions” by making it a link on the header navigation area, and additionally a link under the user submenu.
Comment 13•11 years ago
|
||
Your pardon. May I offer an idea? In the alert messages that are sent to those who are watching a post,
on the bottom place a link box labeled =See / View Original Message / Post= or something like that.
On the alerts to the owner of the question, don't bother with a =This Solved The Problem= button.
Once getting a message, it might be a while before the reply works out. Or they may need more information.
One last thing, if I may. Before, in the alert messages, there used to be a link that would remove the
watcher from the watch list. That option was removed, so if I don't want any more alerts,
I have to log in, go to that posting, and remove myself from there. Thank you for your time. Fred.
Comment 14•11 years ago
|
||
This bug seems to have stalled. Any chance that this will get fixed soon?
Bug 682235 was just landed. It adds the following request to users during the AAQ process:
"3. Follow through. Sometimes, our volunteers would ask you for more information or to test out certain scenarios. The sooner you can do this, the sooner they would know how to fix it."
As Matt asked in the bug description, how do users get back to the forum to clarify or provide requested information, when the email the get contains no obvious link?
Comment 15•11 years ago
|
||
(In reply to Alice Wyman from comment #14)
> This bug seems to have stalled. Any chance that this will get fixed soon?
++ to comment 9, modulo comment 10
Who gets this next - atopal?
And, would it help if AAQ listed the user's recent questions before they are allowed to post a new one?
Flags: needinfo?(bram)
See Also: → 979607
Reporter | ||
Comment 16•11 years ago
|
||
(In reply to Wayne Mery (:wsmwk) from comment #15)
> (In reply to Alice Wyman from comment #14)
> > This bug seems to have stalled. Any chance that this will get fixed soon?
> ++ to comment 9, modulo comment 10
>
> Who gets this next - atopal?
>
> And, would it help if AAQ listed the user's recent questions before they are
> allowed to post a new one?
I see showing their previous items as quite helpful Wayne. Anything that makes intersections with the forums more discoverable is beneficial.
Reporter | ||
Comment 18•10 years ago
|
||
As later as yesterday I had a gentleman explaining that the email contained links to solve the problem and that the answer did not help. but I asked him a question and there was no obvious way to reply.
The very first thing in a Bug mail is a link to the bug, what is so hard about deciding users of Mozilla's support forums would benefit from just such a link.
The priority needs to be usability bugs for forum users.
Comment 19•10 years ago
|
||
What do you think about my suggestion on comment 6?
Two buttons on the bottom of every email:
* Blue button: View this answer and post a reply. -> Link to the forum thread
* Green button: This answer solves my problem. -> Mark as solved
Turn some email texts into links:
* SUMO logo links to support.mozilla.org
* Thread title links to the thread itself
* Avatar and username will link to the user’s profile page
Will this help?
Flags: needinfo?(bram)
Comment 20•10 years ago
|
||
(In reply to Bram Pitoyo [:bram] from comment #19)
> * Thread title links to the thread itself
As a first time SUMO questioner recently, I got one of the emails mentioned, with an answer that I could either say solved or did not solve my problem. I didn't want to do either of those but instead just wanted to view the original question (as I couldn't remember exactly what I had said or had tried already), and could see no way to do that from the message. At the very least, I think making the thread title link to the thread should be done, as that was what I expected when reading the message.
Comment 21•10 years ago
|
||
(In reply to Bram Pitoyo [:bram] from comment #19)
> What do you think about my suggestion on comment 6?
>
> Two buttons on the bottom of every email:
> * Blue button: View this answer and post a reply. -> Link to the forum thread
> * Green button: This answer solves my problem. -> Mark as solved
>
> Turn some email texts into links:
> * SUMO logo links to support.mozilla.org
> * Thread title links to the thread itself
> * Avatar and username will link to the user’s profile page
>
> Will this help?
Matt, does this sound good to you?
And, do we need to address comment 20? If so, here? Or should it be in another bug?
Flags: needinfo?(unicorn.consulting)
Reporter | ||
Comment 22•10 years ago
|
||
Sounds good to me.
Brams solution encompasses comment 20 as the suggestion is to linkify the Thread title in the second part. I think the Blue button will need to contain the "this answer did not help code for the forum, but otherwise I am happy.
Flags: needinfo?(unicorn.consulting)
Comment 23•10 years ago
|
||
I think Bram's solution is covering most of the concerns. I say we go for it.
Flags: needinfo?(mana)
Comment 24•9 years ago
|
||
(In reply to madalina from comment #23)
> I think Bram's solution is covering most of the concerns. I say we go for it.
I would suggest this is likely a major issue. Unless we know there are other significant reasons why user does not reply when their question recieves a response.
Is this also planned for Q3?
Severity: normal → major
Flags: needinfo?(mana)
Summary: Email to original poster is misleading in that it contains no obvious link back to the support forum. → Email to original poster is misleading. No obvious link back to the support forum.
Comment 26•9 years ago
|
||
I'm surprised this doesn't seem to be a big concern. Are there metrics about how often users respond to replies that may or may not have been specified as "needs more information" that might indicate this is or is not a widespread issue??
Summary: Email to original poster is misleading. No obvious link back to the support forum. → Email to original poster is misleading. No obvious link back to the support forum. Users may get confused and not respond
Comment 27•6 years ago
|
||
Status: NEW → RESOLVED
Closed: 6 years ago
Resolution: --- → WONTFIX
You need to log in
before you can comment on or make changes to this bug.
Description
•