Managing our online community is one of my many responsibilities. The online community is an extension of our content site, which is, partly, a subscription-based service. One of the challenges I face is how to deal with “inappropriate” members of the online community without losing them as a customer to our content site. Ultimately, the goal of the of the online community is to build a network of people who are loyal to our brand and become long-term subscription customers.
I am always disappointed any time that I have to remove a user’s membership in community, because it usually means that we’re losing a customer. As such, I often go to great lengths to try to rehabilitate abusers rather than banish them from the site. I know that the volunteer moderators who run the day-to-day community are often exasperated by my insistence, but I believe that if someone wants to be a part of our community, it’s in our best interest to try to find a way for them to be productive contributors.
Seth Godin had two posts this week that really hit home for me in this battle.
First, he asked What to do with people who aren’t going to go away quietly? He advises that when you have a customer that’s not going to leave you alone, it’s in your best interest to deal with that customer head-on. I agree completely. These unruly community members are people who aren’t going away. The violate of code of conduct repeatedly, they are slow to take responsibility for their actions, but they are quick to voice their outrage anytime a moderator takes action against their inappropriate behavior. They can be warned, reprimanded, or suspended and they’ll still keep coming back. When I encounter these people, I know they shouldn’t be ignored. For all the frustration that they bring me and the moderators, it’s clear that being a member of the community is important. When someone says to me “I want to be a customer”, well, in most cases I think I’d be foolish to say “I don’t want you as a customer.” I surely hope that the lifetime value of the customer is greater than the opportunity cost for me to spend the time to manage their behavior.
Seth followed up with Do you have customers or members? We have many more customers than we have members, and not all of our members are customers. What I want is for all of our members to be customers and all of our customers to be members.
Members can be difficult to manage, but they are clearly worth the effort.
