"Post-sales questions" category, public

[gwyneth]

That way people who've bought accounts but haven't been activated would be able to ask more specific questions, and avoid being off topic in the Pre-sales questions, Reviews, and yes, this Suggestions category.

If public, it would also help almost-ready customers find out more and feel more secure about their transition.

[gwyneth]

forgot to add:

With something like this category description: "You've bought HG hosting, and now you've got a question but can't see the rest of the forum yet? Post it here."

Judging by some recent forum posts, the activation period creates high stress for some customers.

Remember the joke in Annie Hall ("hardly ever...three times a week"; "all the time...three times a week")?

The same 48-72 hr. period for forum activation is like that, depending on which side of it someone's on--to someone who signs up at 6 p.m. Friday of a long weekend, it's unreasonable to wait until business hours. But it's also unreasonable to expect many "business hour" type services to take place round the clock, holidays included.

A post-sales questions category could make things a lot easier on both activators and activatees. It would also minimize those, "I don't know where to ask this but I don't have access yet..." that really don't belong anywhere else.

[GatorDHanna]

Good idea. I like it. I'll talk to some other people here and see what we can do.

[dwrunyon]

I would *really* suggest having some additional people authorized to activate new folks. I've noticed this issue for a few years now and it seems to me that it would be critical enough to warrant having someone checking the cue at intervals around the clock in between other tasks and whatnot.

[gwyneth]

Originally Posted by dwrunyon

I would *really* suggest having some additional people authorized to activate new folks. I've noticed this issue for a few years now and it seems to me that it would be critical enough to warrant having someone checking the cue at intervals around the clock in between other tasks and whatnot.

daniel, I'm guessing it's not as straightforward as we might expect, since the activatee has to be matched with a paid-for account, by signup domain, which implies several systems--at the least interfacing with the billing system.

Haven't you been involved with IT stuff long enough to know that "shoulds" (as in "should be easy") usually aren't?

[dwrunyon]

Originally Posted by gwyneth

Haven't you been involved with IT stuff long enough to know that "shoulds" (as in "should be easy") usually aren't?

Things is though, to *my* mind it's not an IT issue, but one of *customer service*. It's just not good to have totally new folks with their freshly set up web hosting trying to get their sites set up and trying to learn as much as they can about things feeling "locked out". It can be a feeling of extreme eagerness that's going unfulfilled, which can be extremely frustrating. To my mind it would be worth whatever trouble has to be gone through to quench that, even if it required having someone that was to some degree *dedicated* to the task during the main hours of activity. It really can mean a significant difference in some folks's first impressions.

[gwyneth]

Although the category would be sort of a backup/workaround for the unactivated, that isn't the reason it should exist. It would be useful even if activations were never an issue.

As Daniel notes, the immediate post-signup period can be frustrating and anxiety-ridden. A place to ask questions about the early parts of the process would not only be reassuring, but probably save on some live chat and support time.

Note that this should NOT be a "hosting newbie" category, but for those new to Host Gator. That's a very important distinction, especially in a public category. People of all levels of expertise have new-customer type questions, and many hosting newbie questions are better raised in the other categories.

[dwrunyon]

I agree that a public Post Sales would be good, but the *main* reason that I personally would want more immediate access to the full forums is being able to search through historical threads / posts. It's an awesome archive! I really do think that the folks in charge of this particular aspect of HG should do some sort of serious brainstorming on what can be done to accommodate new sign ups to the forum, whatever those solutions might be. Each new person's first impressions count!