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I want to start off by saying I really like Goozex. It’s a great service that provides an amazing value. However, I feel like Goozex has one Achilles’ heel: Community Relations/PR. Every time Goozex rolls out some big change they just seem to drop the ball when it comes to informing the community and explaining why the change is good/necessary.
What I would like to do in this thread is discuss ways in which Goozex could improve how they communicate with the Goozex community. No matter how a change might better Goozex it’s no good if it’s not presented in a way that the community is informed about and understands the reasoning behind.
To highlight my point I want to spend a little bit talking about the problem as it’s happened in the past.
Since I’ve been on Goozex there have been at least a few changes in the past that have been handled poorly:
1) Reducing the amount of games you could have “On Hold” to 10. (Just to make it clear this was a previously proposed change and is not going to happen.)
2) Raising the points cap to 1200 points the first time that was quickly reversed.
3) The second time they raised the points cap to 1200.
4) The recent restart of the Goozex Exchange.
In each of these instances I think there is/was at least some merit to the change they intended. But, whatever benefits there may have been were completely overshadowed by the lack of finesse in how they were enacted. People were often confused on the G-Team’s reasoning in enacting the change or even completely unaware that a major change was going to be made. I will say that the Goozex has gradually improved in this area learning from their mistakes. However, with the recent reaction to the new Goozex Exchange I think there is obvious room for improvement.
Let’s take the most recent incident, the reopening of the Goozex Exchange. Here I think the problem was a conflict of expectations. Most people thought the Exchange was going to function much like it previously did, where you could get a relatively new game for a large, but not excessive, markup (1600 points). It seems like the G-Team has a different vision of the Exchange.
Now if I’m off the mark here feel free to correct me but it seems like Goozex views the Exchange as a premium service. If you don’t feel like waiting in line for a high demand game you can jump the line essentially for a very large markup (~ double the price). Even though it costs Goozex money for each game bought this way, it should bring new copies of the game into the system, shorten the queue somewhat and reduce any glut of points in the system.
Now while I personally would not partake of such a service I do think there is some merit to the idea as I just laid it out. I also feel that if Goozex had properly positioned the new Exchange as what they seem to intend it to be that there would have been a great deal less ill will and a cooler, more productive discussion could have taken place. Unfortunately, that’s not what happened and now there are a lot of people who are very upset and less likely to provide constructive feedback.
So now we finally get to the suggestion section of this post. Here are some ways that I think Goozex could improve their community relations so that incidents like this are less common and less severe. Obviously this is not an exhaustive list. People should feel free to add other ideas and critique ideas that are given.
1) A Goozex Newsletter Mailer that comes out simultaneously with a major Change
I’m not sure if I got the name right but people should know those nifty little emails everyone gets explaining all the cool new stuff on Goozex. I like the Goozex Newsletter emails and think it’s great for keeping informed on what’s happening with Goozex. I don’t know at what interval they come out but I think it would be really smart if Goozex aligned the releases of major changes to coincide with the email.
You’re going to reach a lot more people with email than you will on the forum and making sure people are informed is the first step to good community relations. Which leads me in to the next suggestion:
2) Introduce the idea on the forum with a well-constructed and up to date thread.
Now I know I just said you’re not going to reach as many people on the forum but the forum is the home of the hardcore Goozers. These are the guys who are the most invested in Goozex and its biggest supporters. They are your base. If you can’t get them on board with whatever change you’re going to make then you’ve basically shot yourself in the foot.
Most of the people on the forum would love nothing more than for Goozex to grow and become better. That’s why you need to introduce ideas with a well laid out and informative OP. If the G-Team has a good reason for a change they’re trying to make and it’s well laid out people will be willing to give it a fair shake.
Also key here, as things change this should be reflected in the OP. This is forum 101 here but I feel like Goozex overlooks it. A person’s introduction to a thread is going to be that first post. If the situation has changed in a big way the OP should reflect that. A lot of these discussions get really big really fast and a good first post can help stop people from re-treading ground.
3) Get a Community Relations representative.
Following up on number 2, having a discussion is good, but you can’t take part in a discussion unless you have someone in it representing your viewpoint. Maybe I’m off base here, but with a lot of the discussions it seems like Goozex has been, “Here’s our great new idea, discuss and have fun,” and that’s it. What I mean to say is that the G-Team has been slow to react when there’s been a negative reaction to a change. By the time someone finally steps in most of the threads had already spun out of control. At that point it’s going to be a lot harder to change people’s minds.
I think if Goozex had someone who’s responsibility it was to be part of the discussion correcting misconceptions and pointing out an idea’s good points it could totally change the dynamic of a thread. A lot of the time in these threads you have a lot of people guessing at what the G-Team’s real reason for changing an aspect of Goozex is. If you have someone out there backed up by a clear OP no one has to guess what your motive is, it’s out there front and center. The discussion turns from trying to divine the G-Team’s thoughts to actually discussing the subject at hand.
Now, this doesn’t have to be a dedicated position as this is a job that probably isn’t needed full-time. You could pick one of the admins or maybe one of the mods if people are comfortable with that. The important part here is to have someone that is in close contact with the people running the show. This is your guy out there fronting the whole she-bang. They need good access to the G-Team and the G-Team needs good access to this person.
*edit* Just wanted to add here that there's a pretty good counter point brought up by Hexpane. There is definitely a danger with getting too involved in a discussion. Maybe there's a happy medium? I'm not sure, so suggest away.
Wow, that was longer than I expected. Still, these are just a few suggestions off the top of my head. I’m sure other people have some other good ideas to contribute. So please critique and contribute your own points of view. I think that while Goozex has had some problems here it’s nothing that can’t be fixed.
One final thing, please don’t just turn this into another discussion about the Exchange or any of the other changes I brought up. Even if you have strong feelings one way or the other about these topics I think that everyone can recognize that the way things were handled could have been improved. That’s what we’re here to discuss so please try to stay on topic.
Thank You.
I think that we should be happy that the Gteam is active on the forums and that they listen to what we have to say. I would have to say the customer service/communitiy relations that Goozex has surpases most buisiness's out there. People just need to not take it so personally when Goozex makes a change. People have gone way overboard on this Goozex Exchange thing. Goozex is handling it just fine. People dont need to participate in it. You can ignore it if you dont like the price points.
The other changes that were introduced without warning were probably not the best ideas but Goozex has given plenty of warning the last few times they have wanted to make changes and they have taken what we had to say into consideration for those changes as well so again I dont really see a problem here.
Newsletter and FAQ would be perfect.
Forums are a dangers mess of complaining and hating, even the GZ forums which IMO are 100X better than other forums (less flaming, less haters)
But only like 10% of GZ traders actually post on the forums.
"Community Manager" is one of the most phailed jobs of intert00bz. I remember when Everquest was one of the first MMOs to hire one. They hired this really bright guy who knew tons about EQ and was well respected in the community. What happened later? A billion "LOLZ ur FATTIE!" threads on EQ "OMG M GONNA KILL YOU FAT BOY" death threats, and Sony actually SHUT DOWN EQ forums for good (don't know if they brought them back)
Turok had a community manager, bc ya know that Turok community is freakin huge!
Seriously, it sounds like the coolest job on the planet. Just know a lot about something and be able to answer questions w/ well written factual info.
But getting death threats and being attacked all day long I bet didn't go over well w/ stress levels for people. Imagine being the Turok community manager, sitting on a message board w/ 3 people.
killmak: I think that we should be happy that the Gteam is active on the forums and that they listen to what we have to say. I would have to say the customer service/communitiy relations that Goozex has surpases most buisiness's out there. People just need to not take it so personally when Goozex makes a change. People have gone way overboard on this Goozex Exchange thing. Goozex is handling it just fine. People dont need to participate in it. You can ignore it if you dont like the price points. The other changes that were introduced without warning were probably not the best ideas but Goozex has given plenty of warning the last few times they have wanted to make changes and they have taken what we had to say into consideration for those changes as well so again I dont really see a problem here.
Were people really given plenty of warning about the Goozex Exchange? People seemed to be completely surprised by the price points that the games and blu-rays came out at. I personally see that as Goozex digging themselves a hole that they now have to get out of. I don't think it had to go down like it did. Again, I could be completely wrong but I think there was a big disconnect between how people thought the service was going to be and how it actually was.
I think the most telling thing about all of the incidents I mentioned is not that there was a massive storm of anger and complaining but, who was doing it. It wasn't just the guy who signed up 3 days ago and is "outraged", it's veteran Goozers. I think it's a problem when you try to change something and your staunch supporters are the ones leading the opposition charge.
You're right though, Goozex could probably carry on like it has always done without changing anything and still be alright in the end. I just think they're making it harder on themselves than they have to.
Is there really a reason that things have to keep going down like this? Everytime they come up with some improvement or feature they're going to have to wade through a sea of outrage? I don't think they do.
Like when they tried to reduce the "On Hold" limit to 10. There was a ton of bitching and no constructive criticism. Then Goozex explained why they wanted to do it, "to allow your position in line to more accurately reflect where you actually are in line." Shortly there after there was a helpful suggestion, "change your position in line to show your position in just the active requests instead of all requests." See, a nice simple suggestion that made the whole issue moot. A great change which we still enjoy today.
I think there's no reason we couldn't skip the worthless bitching and outrage step and move directly into constructive criticism. I outlined some simple suggestions to help this along. So to put it straight to you, what's the downside to my suggestions here?
Would having newsletter releases coincide with big changes have any detrimental effect at all? Or having Goozex clearly and concisely explain why something is happening and their rationale behind it in a thread's first post?
I do admit that Hexpane brought up a good point about having a community manager become a liability. There's definitely a downside to having someone in a discussion like that. But, that's exactly the sort of thing I was looking for when I posted this.
*Edit* One point I feel I didn't address properly. Killmak you're right that Goozex does a very good job overall with how they interact with the community. I just wanted to add that I feel that this is a particular area where Goozex seems to have trouble. So yeah, Goozex is good on the whole but rolling out a big change seems to be a weak point of theirs. That's the particular area I'm focusing on and not Goozex as a whole.
2 of the 4 examples you gave for not being announced, were announced in forums (second 1200 pt cap raise and new goozex exchange) the cap raise was basically determined by members in a series of polls. I admit I paid no attention to the exchange, but from what I can surmise, the official became neglected to say the least.
I believe zannabianca is the community manager (may not be official title, but it is the same thing)
vexingthoughts: 1) Reducing the amount of games you could have “On Hold” to 10.
1) Reducing the amount of games you could have “On Hold” to 10.
I gotta wake up early for work tommorrow, I'll read it tommorrow... I read this, and this isn't a real change is it? If it is I may consider leaving goozex...
thguy123: vexingthoughts: 1) Reducing the amount of games you could have “On Hold” to 10. I gotta wake up early for work tommorrow, I'll read it tommorrow... I read this, and this isn't a real change is it? If it is I may consider leaving goozex...
It was a change. It has since been increased to 100.
Forum Moderator
Hey everyone,
We actually very much appreciate this topic. Yes, we have done "surprise" changes in the past that did the GTeam no favors. Just want to clarify a couple of things and then leave the discussion back to the members.
1. We are very sensitive to the issue of sending emails and creating the perception of "spam" -- we rarely send out an email announcement unless its a super major change.
2. With regard to the recent exchange, we purposely did a "soft" launch. Once we get some developments out we'll be pushing it more on the general non-forum community.
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cheeznrice: thguy123: vexingthoughts: 1) Reducing the amount of games you could have “On Hold” to 10. I gotta wake up early for work tommorrow, I'll read it tommorrow... I read this, and this isn't a real change is it? If it is I may consider leaving goozex... It was a change. It has since been increased to 100.
Yeah sorry, guess I didn't make it very clear, the first 3 were previous changes. Of which lowering the "On Hold" limit never did happen. I'll go add a note in the OP to make sure people clearly understand that this is not something that's going to happen.
devyanks90: 2 of the 4 examples you gave for not being announced, were announced in forums (second 1200 pt cap raise and new goozex exchange) the cap raise was basically determined by members in a series of polls. I admit I paid no attention to the exchange, but from what I can surmise, the official became neglected to say the least. I believe zannabianca is the community manager (may not be official title, but it is the same thing)
Sorry, again I guess I didn't make it clear. I didn't mean to imply that all of those changes were unannounced. Just that those that weren't didn't help the situation but, making it perfectly clear is good. Maybe I should edit it to more clearly reflect this.
Blackcoyote: Hey everyone, We actually very much appreciate this topic. Yes, we have done "surprise" changes in the past that did the GTeam no favors. Just want to clarify a couple of things and then leave the discussion back to the members. 1. We are very sensitive to the issue of sending emails and creating the perception of "spam" -- we rarely send out an email announcement unless its a super major change. 2. With regard to the recent exchange, we purposely did a "soft" launch. Once we get some developments out we'll be pushing it more on the general non-forum community.
Hmm, I see what you're saying. That's a valid limitation with sending out too many emails. I guess the best option there would be to try to move things closer to scheduled Goozex Newsletter releases and not just send out an email whenever something changes. Though in certain instances that understandably might not be feasible.
I think the biggest change that was handled correctly was the addition of the movie database, because not only did people have high hopes (like the new Goozex Exchange), but there were constant updates, and announcement beforehand on the newsletter and Goozcast (though this was only because Blackcoyote was the special guest). Though even then, like new, many details were left up in the air. I think this has to happen though since I'm sure the G-Team would rather not get people's hopes up with a certain estimate of anything. I think that that was where the Exchange failed to get people over, since they already had an expectation of what type of price point was going to be included, so their expectations were already set. On the other hand, the G-Team also tried to clearly not get anyone's hopes up by admitting that the prices weren't going to be the same and that the same type of merch wasn't going to be available, but people didn't exactly pay attention to that it seems.
Blackcoyote: 1. We are very sensitive to the issue of sending emails and creating the perception of "spam" -- we rarely send out an email announcement unless its a super major change.
Then why did I get a "we miss you" e-mail this past week? I would much rather get an email once a week about new developments (or you could just throw that in the game point change e-mails and make it a combined "weekly update" e-mail) than 1 e-mail stating come back and request more games.
I for one wouldn't mind receiving emails for updates. The news letter updates somewhat infrequently, so it would be nice to be kept apprised.
devyanks90:Then why did I get a "we miss you" e-mail this past week? I would much rather get an email once a week about new developments (or you could just throw that in the game point change e-mails and make it a combined "weekly update" e-mail) than 1 e-mail stating come back and request more games.
I think you can turn those off in your account settings. It's under "Edit E-mail Preferences".
vexingthoughts: In each of these instances I think there is/was at least some merit to the change they intended. But, whatever benefits there may have been were completely overshadowed by the lack of finesse in how they were enacted. People were often confused on the G-Team’s reasoning in enacting the change or even completely unaware that a major change was going to be made. I will say that the Goozex has gradually improved in this area learning from their mistakes. However, with the recent reaction to the new Goozex Exchange I think there is obvious room for improvement.
A few people have already mentioned this, but I'm going to say it again as another notch on the board...
Goozex could have personally sent out a representative to the homes of every member, brought refreshments, presented a 30-minute Powerpoint on the merits of such system changes, and reminded us on a weekly basis leading up to the deployment of the new feature... but people would have still complained about it.
Members of an eCommunity tend to complain about the lack of community involvement on the part of the hosts, but it usually isn't because they feel like they're left out in the cold. It's because they want a face to which their rants can be directed. Somebody mentioned Everquest earlier, but I've heard this mentioned many times with respect to World of Warcraft - Blizzard's community involvement is supposedly stellar - and the amount of complaining is the same.
If a change doesn't provide a direct B-line to what a user wants, they will complain about it; greater good be damned. There are lots of people complaining about the high prices of the Goozex Exchange right now who don't care in the slightest that it's a huge dent in the bottom line at the Goozex HQ. If more people were aware that a high volume of lower-priced purchases could endanger Goozex, I imagine many responses would be to the effect of, "Well, as long as they send me the games I ordered first."
A big difference between the Goozex forums and many other online communities is the fact that the forum members are all customers that have "invested" in Goozex in one way or another. Many of the changes the G-team makes (1200 point cap; 10 hold items; algorithm retweeking, etc.) affect these members' bottom lines. So I think some measure of vocal uproar is necessary and should be encouraged in that respect.
I also agree that these changes should be communicated via e-mail at launch. If the G-team's going to wait until the newsletter to communicate new feature, then don't launch it until they release the newsletter. It's not fair to the 90% of users who don't read the forums.
Sometimes I wonder if Goozex should just adopt a quarterly update system, where rather than releasing new features piecemeal, they roll them out collectively four times a year (or twice a year, whichever is more appropriate), and take minimal feedback. But that'd probably serve them better as a business and the members worse as customers.
They also switched the time-out length to confirm AND the length before the system closes a trade. I didn't hear about either of these, and I'm pretty regular on the forums.
Obviously, I've since heard about them, but it took several weeks.
I'd say there could be some sort of sticky for announcements at the top of the 'active' forums, because I'm figuring that's where most of us spend our time. Is there a sticky somewhere else for announcements? If there is, I don't know about it.
edit: found it here. I see announcements for the exchange and movie trading, but nothing about general site updates. Found the discussion of trade time-outs. Perhaps I just missed it, then...my bad. The stickies are way back from 2007...