How to Create a Forum Website for Discussion & Customer Service

Before social media, community forums reigned supreme as the primary digital medium for customer-to-customer communication. While social media has taken over in popularity, millions of people still use forums (likeReddit) to interact with other customers and discuss different products and services online.

企业使用论坛吸引客户并回答人们对产品和服务的问题。用户可以坦率地说话，并与其他分享相同兴趣，问题和批评的客户互动。

在这篇文章中，让我们看一下如何为您的业务创建论坛网站。然后，我们将提供一些最佳实践，您可以用来利用它作为客户服务渠道。

1. Pick a location to host your forum.

The first step is deciding where you want to host your forum. It can be a page that's found at the end of the URL, like www.example.com/forum. Or, it can be a子域located at the beginning of the URL, like forum.example.com. Where you choose is dependent on your current网络托管提供商以及您的组织方式built your site.

2. Choose a content management software to create your forum website.

一旦您挑选了一个网页，下一步就是选择一个content management software. This software builds your forum's pages and lets you design and categorize its content. The right software makes all the difference, so be sure to select one that can match the theme and features of your current website.

3.组织论坛的结构。

Before creating pages, you should consider how you're going to organize topics. It should be easy for customers to find what they're looking for and your forum's navigation features should support its visitors' needs.

Start with identifying the topics you'll want to create discussions for. These can focus on troubleshooting specific products and services or could be for general topics like customer ideas and workarounds. You should also include a search bar, so visitors can bypass categories if they're looking for a specific page. Organizing your forum this way will help users navigate your site and find information that's relevant to their interests.

For example, onMumsnet, a parenting forum, the navigation at the top makes it clear what topics are covered and organizes them in sections. If you don't have a specific topic in mind, the threads are organized by active conversations.

如您所见,Mumsnet的右边, there is a "Trending Now" section that has a list of topics. So besides the navigation, users can click on this button and will see a list of topics in alphabetical order.

Another way to organize your content is by popular and featured topics. This is how the签证开发人员社区论坛is organized and it's one of my favorite forum designs. In the screenshot below, you can see popular community topics and featured topics.

Additionally, the Visa Developer forum has great navigation because it also features tutorials, blogs, and webinars. Community members can engage with the communityand在一个位置使用教育资源。bob体育苹果系统下载安装

Regardless of how you organize your content, your forum page should have these elements:

• 主题
• Search bar
• Navigation menu
• Sign in/Log in button
• Popular community topics
• Widgets for upcoming events, latest blog posts, webinars, or tutorials if applicable

4.设计您的论坛的主题。

Your forum's theme should match your surrounding website. It should use the same colors, logos, and layout as your existing content so customers aren't confused when they navigate to a new page.

一些内容管理系统提供了与大多数网站布局相匹配的主题。在下面的示例中，在选择论坛主题时，用户可以从各种选项中进行选择。

5. Create user rules for your forum website.

Visitors should feel empowered to participate in your forum's discussions. To do that, all users will need to abide by a set of rules that promote healthy, informative conversation. These rules ensure discussions stay on topic and everyone feels comfortable with contributing.

您可以开始的一些示例规则是：

• Be respectful, even when there's a disagreement.
• 没有粗话或歧视性评论。
• No spam or self-promotion.
• No links to external websites or companies.
• 没有NSFW（工作不安全）内容。

社区规则的一个很好的例子来自Educational Theatre Association.

正如您在下面的屏幕截图中看到的那样，该组织列出了其最重要的规则，包括如何参与建设性的生产性对话。这些规则是一个很好的起点。

Additionally, the site also has a complaint and reporting process so users know what to do when they see someone break the rules of conduct.

6.从有趣的讨论主题开始对话。

在发布论坛之前，您应该写一些鼓励对话的一般讨论主题。这将为新用户打破冰，尤其是当您的论坛启动时。毕竟，用户对帖子发表评论要比他们自己写的要容易得多。

7.在您的网站上发布论坛。

现在是时候发布您的论坛了。将您的页面现场设置，然后将论坛的主页连接到主要网站。用户访问您的品牌主页时，应该能够轻松找到您的论坛。

8.向听众做广告。

Now that we've covered the technical steps you'll need to take to create a forum, the next step is to make it an active community. Like an awkward middle school dance, getting participants engaging with each other can be a lot easier said than done.

Start with reaching out and advertising to your most loyal customers. These people are genuinely interested in your brand and will be excited to participate in your forum. If you can get them talking, other visitors will be more likely to join the conversation.

You can advertise to them by targeting them in social media ads or reaching out via email. Additionally, you can advertise your community on search engines. Just think of all the ways you currently advertise your marketing campaigns and begin a campaign for your forum.

9.增加与徽章的参与。

Of course, engagement is something that's hard to kickstart. You don't want to manufacture it and have the conversations seem stilted. A great to encourage engagement is to provide incentives.

For example, one incentive you can provide is badges. When users regularly participate in your forum, reward them with badges that other users can see. Your most active users can be your "regular contributors," and will feel a sense of belonging by participating in your community.

10.适度的用户参与并响应客户查询。

论坛是生活，呼吸，活跃的社区，一旦创建一个社区，就需要参加它，如果您希望它蓬勃发展。这意味着您的企业应该领导讨论并利用论坛作为客户反馈的连续资源。

客户服务代表应分配以调解您的论坛并回应客户查询。他们应确保用户遵守论坛的规则，并回答客户对您的产品和服务的任何问题。这不仅可以使您的论坛保持活跃，而且还将提供令人愉快的支持体验。

11.收集用户反馈。

As your forum grows, it's important to collect feedback from its users. Ask them how they're enjoying the experience and where you can make improvements. Doing so will keep users engaged and satisfied with your forum's content and interface.

A great way to do this is to start a thread on your forum directly. In that thread, you can link to a survey. On the other hand, you could also email all your community members an NPS or customer satisfaction survey just like you would when you're collecting feedback on your service organization.

现在，您已经设置了论坛，让我们在将其用于客户服务时查看一些最佳实践。

社区Forums for Customer Service

将客户路由到您的主要支持渠道。

社区forums are designed to foster discussion, and while these conversations often center around customer roadblocks, solving problems on your forum can sometimes be tricky.

In some cases, it makes more sense to work with a customer through your traditional customer service channels than it does to work with them on your forum. Since anyone can comment on a public forum, it can become difficult to keep track of the ongoing thread between you and the customer. Especially if it's a long-term case, transitioning the conversation to yourhelp deskorticketing systemcan help your team retain valuable information that will help them solve the problem faster.

使用屏幕截图和屏幕记录来演示故障排除步骤。

使用论坛进行客户支持的一个好处是，很容易包含可以将您的故障排除步骤进行背景化的内容。例如，您可以包括屏幕截图和屏幕录音，概述客户需要做什么来解决他们所经历的问题。现在，当其他客户遇到同样的问题时，他们可以参考您的图像和视频，而不必提交其他支持票.

Keep track of customer ideas and workarounds.

Forums should inspire customers to provide honest feedback for your products and services. This will lead to valuable discussions that highlight areas to improve your business.

当中介你的论坛,你的团队保持交易ck of ideas and workarounds proposed by your customers. You can even assign a specific segment of the forum to these posts, like in the example below.

社区forums are a great way to get feedback from and engage with your customers. When customers are actively engaged in your community, they'll be more loyal and give your company fresh ideas.

编者注：该帖子最初于2020年4月发表，并已更新以进行全面性。