New interactive FAQ's to be Launched by Club - Feedback Requested [Archive]

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GVGjr

11-06-2009, 09:30 PM

Hi everyone,

Some great news!! The Club is about to launch a new online FAQ system (Frequently Asked Questions) and we have been requested to ‘test it out’.

This online FAQ’s will become an integral part of the Club website – particularly with Finals just around the corner – and the Bulldogs are the first AFL Club to launch such an initiative.

All types of feedback (both positive and negative – so long as it is constructive) will be warmly welcomed by the Club – simply post your feedback in this thread.
Before posting your comments it's important that you do this with the view of adding some value.

Robert Stubbs, the Club’s Chief Operating Officer told me that the system is designed to provide 24 / 7 responses to members’ queries, and help new supporters understand all the various membership options. In particular, the Club will be posting all the normal Finals questions onto the system so everyone is updated quickly and easily.

Please note that the system is still in 'test mode’, but the more members and supporters that use it during testing will improve the accuracy of the system when it is launched publicly in a few weeks.

The Link is here (http://www.aqtual.com.au/home/westernbulldogs/wb_faq.asp)
(Please note that the link is not a Western Bulldogs site during testing, but will be part of the Club website once it is launched.)

Looking forward to your feedback and “Please ask as many questions as you want – ‘the more the better’ to help improve the accuracy of the system.”

BulldogBelle

11-06-2009, 09:58 PM

Some ideas that might help -

Have the FAQ's set out in sections -

eg;

Memberships ( List all the related questions to memberships in one section)

Training Schedules ( List and update weekly training times & provide the link to the area on the WB site.

Spirit West and other groups FAQ's - How to contact them ( bring in more revenue & get the word out)

Interstate Supporter FAQ's - (A place where supporters from interstate can contact their respective groups in this section list each state and the contact member's number)

An email address - set up by the club to answer questions and reply back. (This might actually be a good idea, if implemented correctly).

Home Games FAQ's - Pop up box to list the home games for the year and the replacement games highlighted when the club plays a home game interstate.

Sponsors FAQ's - List all of our sponsors (possibly their websites also) for members to become more familiar with what the sponsors are all about.

GVGjr

11-06-2009, 10:00 PM

Functionally the Western Bulldogs Online FAQ's works very well and as it is in beta test mode I see some small opportunities for improvement.

Opening most links we are presented with a full screen with a white background with limited text and even though it answers the question, it could be visually more appealing.

- Some images of Players or Sponsors could be in the background of the answer
- With some of the brief answers a larger font could be used
- The question about "How to book" Woofer should contain an image of Woofer.

I like the Got A Question? option that allows you to ask a question or browse.

- When browsing through my "Finals Tickets" question it opened up to a number of options which was functionally far better than I expected. I know that was already one of the Top 10 FAQ's, but I wanted to test it further and I was pleased with the result.

- When asking a question about "What is a Coterie Group" I got a full page definition which was more than adequate. There was also links for further explanations if required.

The Hot Topics options is another good one although it does duplicate some of the top 10 questions.

The "Updated" buttons are a good feature that would allow members to quickly review any changes.

The View Top FAQs by Category is another good feature that allows for your search to be more specific.

Regarding some of the content:
- It occasionally points to some out of date or not current information ie 2007 membership.
- No mention of the auto renew or the monthly payment option in the Membership Payment Methods option unless you specifically type those questions in the Got A Question? link. Given that they are major selling points they probably should feature more prominently.
- Some of the content is way too brief and needs to be more specific.
- Acronyms - Not everyone understands them so they need to be more specific.

I'll keep having a look because we should find some more questions and observations for the club.

The Coon Dog

11-06-2009, 11:31 PM

Terrific concept & if implemented correctly could prove extremely useful, which would benefit both members (existing & potential) & the club. Its a matter of bedding down the right questions & answers.

Some of the terminology could be seen as 'inhouse jargon' (Premiership Gold/Silver) so there is a need to be mindful that not everyone accessing the information is familiar with the terminology.

I particularly liked the information pertaining to community requests where an alternative is offered.

Accessing Grand Finals Tickets would have to be one of the more difficult matters to explain & whilst this has been attempted I'm not convinced it will allay too many fears to be honest. I guess you can't legislate for people's ignorance, despite the best endeavors.

Some information suggests contact by phone (Interstate/Away game tickets), where an additional website link could be offered.

There is information relating to Bulldogs Central for merchandise, but no mention of Watergardens or an online link.

The worry I have with mentioning training times is the reliance of the website to be constantly updated to reflect accuracy.

Player appearances have 'very stringent criteria', but there is no mention of what they are.

I like the idea of upcoming games, but would look to include broadcast details & also include details for upcomming Williamstown games.

boydogs

12-06-2009, 12:39 AM

I think it is fantastic – I am learning a lot from reading these. It is also excellent for this forum to have such a relationship with the club to be testers for them :) Well done GVGjr

Here are some negatives they may want to look at

It is not clear on the front page what 'Got a question?' and Ask does. My first assumption was it sent off an email, rather than being able to search the FAQs. I realise this is more than just a search as there is a 'Request Email' option after searching, and we don't want an email option to be available straight up so that it could be used before searching the FAQs, however perhaps it could be called 'Search Questions' and still include the 'Request Email' option after searching, to ensure users are aware of the feature which could assist them to find their answer

The Browse button should have the tooltip 'Browse all questions' as a header above it to clarity what it does and that it is seperate to the Ask function

As TCD said The 'How Can I Request a Player Appearance?' question should contain a link to information on the criteria used to determine which player appearance requests will be selected. I know this used to be on the club site, can't find it now. It contained things like the function must be not for profit, must contribute to the community, must not be something players could get injured doing etc.

There is no 'Next Page' option to show more FAQ's – when selecting 'All' under 'View Top FAQs by category' you only see 10 questions, when there are many more. Same for the 'Club' and other options. There is a lot more information on the Browse option that from the front screen you would not anticipate, the front screen should also allow you to scroll through all questions in each category.

The Corporate dropdown under Browse only shows 3 questions, as opposed to the 10 shown when selecting Corporate from the 'View Top FAQs by category' lookup

The 2009 Fixture option on the Browse button is not on the 'View Top FAQs by category' lookup

The 'Did this information answer your question?' label on the Ask search results contains '(closes window)' below it – this should be beside it to clarify that both the Yes and No options close the window and not just the No option

If you select Ask and search for 'purchase jumpers', under 'Top Match' it says 'There are no suitable answers to your question in our database', but then the related questions section contains a Bulldogs Central question with what I was looking for

If you select Ask and search for 'purchase jumpers' there is an option 'nothing relevant' to select which would appear to record the result of the search – this is obvious and should be automatically recorded – alternately if one of the related questions was/wasn't what you wanted you can't select Yes/No

If you select 'Request Email' after using Ask, the screen reads 'We will get back to you lastest within 5 working days' – spelling and grammar incorrect

If you search for Cooney the Top Match is 'Who is the Senior Coach, Rodney Eade?' which does not contain the word Cooney at all. The related questions are more relevant

If you make an entry in the Ask box, click away then click back after the test you entered the test box clears rather than allowing you to edit or add to the entry that was in there

Additionally, I think the club should strongly publicise the new feature on the website, in the newsletter & magazine, on hold music etc.

I would be happy to discuss any of these suggestions further if they like. Thanks GVGjr for the opportunity to test this out I think it will be great :)

Dry Rot

12-06-2009, 12:51 AM

All the assessments above are very good IMO. I hope to add my own on the weekend (I write web sites, work out navigation etc).

If you would like to really help the club, may I suggest that you really have a good look around the page ie use all the available buttons, ask a question, follow through player links, use the Browse button etc.

When you do, i suggest that you look at it quite dispassionately because simple praise (or pointless criticism) will not help the club.

Some questions I'll be asking myself include:

1. General navigation and organisation of information

- Is the navigation intuitive and easy to use?

- Likewise, are the links/groupings/folders/questions appropriate?

- Is the landing page (first one you see) the best way to show/organise the FAQs?

- To get the most use out of this FAQ section, should it just appear as a drop down menu item across the page on the club's home page (as indicated in the beta version), or should there also be a full (and interesting) question and embedded link on the club's home page? (It would be regularly changed to maintain interest/attention)

2. Design/layout

IIRC Telstra control the club sites and offer a limited range of templates and the content management system. Within these limitations:

- Are the pages easy to read/scan?

- Are there any simple ways to improve this?

- Is there any clutter that can be removed? (eg personally I don't like the Hot Topics on every page after I've selected a topic of interest)

3. Target audience

- Who is all this aimed at?

- Should it be targeted at current members and fans to provide the FAQs/info they need?

- Or potential fans/members who know bugger all about the club?

On a quick glance, I see some good info for the former mixed in with some pretty bland info for the latter eg "Who is Rodney Eade?"

4. Content

Arguably, this goes to both what questions are asked/offered and the answers given.

There was a good point made earlier:

Some of the terminology could be seen as 'inhouse jargon' (Premiership Gold/Silver) so there is a need to be mindful that not everyone accessing the information is familiar with the terminology.

Too often, marketing information is providing from the POV of the client, not the customer.

- Is the content user friendly and appropriate for the club's "customers" ie you?

- Is the content expressed in a way that you the customer/member/fan easily understand?

- Is the content relevant to you?

- Is the content useful to you?

- Are there any useful questions and answers that are missing?

I hope that the above structure and questions will help you help the club to make this section of the club's web site better.

There are all sorts of ways of analysing these FAQs and helping the club. My questions above may be a helpful guide to you or maybe not.

Either way, I hope you can spare some time, click on the link, thoughtfully have a look around the Club's FAQs and post your thoughts here.

LostDoggy

12-06-2009, 01:28 PM

GVGjr

12-06-2009, 11:06 PM

I got this from Robert Stubbs and he has been very happy with the feedback so far. It would be nice if a few more added their thoughts.

The current feedback certainly shows that I haven't highlighted the key part of the package being its 'natural language system'.

For example, you can ask "When is the next game?" or "I don't like my current reserved seat - how do I change seats?" or "Who wears number 19?" or "is the bulldog shop open on Sunday?"

In other words, it is an "interactive FAQ system" - not simply a static list of questions / answers.

It is a dynamic system, all Top 10's (and there is a dynamic Top 10 for every category (membership, finals, club, corporate, events etc)

Also, each answer provides an option to 'Request an email'

Scraggers

13-06-2009, 01:27 AM

Like it, like it, like it ... and i agree with a lot of the suggestions here already ...

In particular I would like to see more hyperlinks to the particular part in the website that the FAQ is talking about ... the ones that I used were good ... I want to see more

Get rid of the jargon ... we have quite a number of ESL (English as a Second Language) supporters ... make it more user friendly

Asthetically speaking, I don't like the header ... something more update would be better

I like the suggestion of supporter interaction ... years ago you used to be able to lodge a story about your life with the Western Bulldogs and more recently you used to be able to ask the coaching staff a question ... I want to see this come back

I really love the natural language system 'thingy' (that's the technical word) ... very user friendly

Love it ... love it ... love it :D

firstdogonthemoon

14-06-2009, 12:11 AM

I think it is great. It does need a good search function and LOTS of content. Nothing worse than a FAQ that doesn't answer FAQs.

My main suggestion is that club includes its position on difficult things like poker machines and the issues with the development.

Not saying this to be controversial, in fact just the opposite. The comms department will have already articulated a position on all of the controversial issues. If the search function of the FAQ can turn up an answer to searches like "poker machines" and "maribyrnong council" (based on already established positions) I think this would be useful. The club should not shy away from difficult issues if they already have a public position on them.

The fact that I disagree with the clubs position on most of these issues doesn't come into it. It will be very useful for people and media to be able to locate information on these issues.

Mantis

14-06-2009, 12:09 PM

I think it is a really helpful resource.

A little problem is the font size when you open one of the subject boxes. It is perhaps a little small and a little hard on the eyes, especially for our older supporters who I think would gain some great information from this site.

The most important thing I believe is that it is continually updated. When a 'hot topic' comes up it would be great that club would update their view point and reasoning behind these views.

Topdog

14-06-2009, 12:51 PM

Only been able to have a very brief look so far but I am liking what I am seeing.

Will write something more detailed when I have had time to properly look at it.

The Bulldogs Bite

15-06-2009, 01:10 AM

From a first glance, it's very good. The 'updated' mark is very useful and will work well at bringing certain information to the user's attention. The key to any good website is simplicity; outlining the most important information with as few words possible. This can be difficult and a lot of sites get it wrong by over emphasizing or not concentrating on the main points. However, I think this captured the simple but effective "to the point" structure that's needed.

Hot Topics is something I like. A lot of user's will be drawn to that and it's likely a lot of their enquiries will be answered in this section. Saves time and is obviously very accessible.

The viewing by category is another good concept. It's a nice "finish" to a well detailed information source. It's simple, but effectively outlines specifics and if a user understands exactly what they are looking for, it's very helpful. It skips straight to the point/section and it's easy to find because of the simplicity of the design.

Lastly, the 'got a question' part is my favourite part. The search engine seems very helpful when in the past, it hasn't been. It's clear that an emphasis has been put onto this section as whenever you type something and click 'ask', it comes up with a range of options relating to the matter. A lot of user's will use this method rather than sifting through the information - it's quick, easy to use and effective.

In conclusion it's a big step-up from what has been in the past. There's a wide range of information that can be found via a few steps. Obviously that's the most important part. The layout and design I like - it's very, very simple and easy to use. A lot of FAQ's in various other websites are jumbled and I know a lot of user's don't bother if it's a complicated set-up. This one's good though - anybody can use it, and it's visually appealing.

The only thing I'd add, which has already previously been noted, is a supporter interaction. However if this is going to be done, it has to be done well and not thrown together. If the concept is able to be structured and function well then it can be a big selling point to actually GO to the website.

Well done.

Topdog

15-06-2009, 06:57 PM

Agree that the 'Ask a question' area is great. I wrote the following question.

can i use my membership to enter the game this week?

and it gave me answers for the following

How do I collect my Membership Fulfillment?
How do I get into Games?
Can I use my Membership Card in Canberra / Darwin?
What are the Replacement Games?

3 of the 4 are great answers.

Navigation / Organisation
Easy to use, you don't find yourself getting lost. At first I didn't like the idea of the pop up answer screen but I have grown to like it as it is easy to close down without losing your spot. Site is also easy to load.

Design / Layout
Not too cluttered and I actually like the simple white background. Keeping ads/sponsers to a minimal is always good for what is supposed to be a helpful page. The dropdown box is in a convienient location and works well on every browser I have tried it in (Opera and IE8). The updated icon is also very good to see and makes the page a little bit easier to read.

They also seem to have taken on some advice from Dry Rot already and have changed the rather pointless question of 'who is Rodney Eade?' to
Who is the Senior Coach, Rodney Eade? <--- much more useful and good for people who don't know a lot about our club. Same should be applied to the question 'Who is Woofer?'

Overall I think it is fantastic and really something that has been missing for a long long time. The community section in particular is very useful and some of the questions on there are things I have often wondered about but could never be bothered calling to ask. Most importantly they have left it as what looks to be mostly simple text / frame work and not tons and tons of Ajax / flash. Good stuff.

Dry Rot

15-06-2009, 11:16 PM

A few more comments FWIW

1. General navigation and organisation of information

- Is the navigation intuitive and easy to use?

Could be better, but might be a layout issue. Gets a little confusing moving from this page to Browse page.

- Likewise, are the links/groupings/folders/questions appropriate?

Looks pretty good, reflects main navigation of site.

- Is the landing page (first one you see) the best way to show/organise the FAQs?

IMO, this could be improved - see layout comments.

- To get the most use out of this FAQ section, should it just appear as a drop down menu item across the page on the club's home page (as indicated in the beta version), or should there also be a full (and interesting) question and embedded link on the club's home page? (It would be regularly changed to maintain interest/attention)

I'd recommend that there should be refreshed text box and link on the main page, otherwise this good new feature gets a bit lost , just relying on the main navigation across the top.

2. Design/layout

IIRC Telstra control the club sites and offer a limited range of templates and the content management system. Within these limitations:

- Are the pages easy to read/scan?

Landing page is OK, but layout could be better. IMO I'd have more space between the top banner and navigation and whatever appears below it

Browse page and folders are OK, although the navigation and method from the first page (could be a template thing). Also there is some problem with the alignment of the "Q" and the type.

- Are there any simple ways to improve this?

IMO there is. Convention suggests that what is below the two sets of 10 questions (i.e. View Top FAQs by Category, Got A Question? and Browse button) should be at the top, with two sets of questions below.

- Is there any clutter that can be removed?

Personally I don't like the Hot Topics on every page after I've selected a topic of interest. They are rhe same questions and are just clutter IMO after the landing page.

3. Target audience

- Who is all this aimed at?

I see that some of the questions like "Who is Robert Murphy" have been removed. Presume they are catering to keen fans down to at least someone with some knowledge and interest - was too broad before.

4. Content

Content is pretty good overall, some pages of questions could do with more three.

Seems to be a good balance with info given, plus links back into pages of main web site.

Seems pretty relevant and useful.

5. Interactive questions

Some worked well like

Can I buy an interstate membership?

These simple questions didn't:

How many goals has Murphy kicked?

Who is the Bulldog's captain?

What is the Bulldog's home ground?

Who do the Bulldogs play next week? (Answer was Round 14)

I think this feature is good but needs more work.

Overall a good first effort but some simple changes NB layout could really help.

Good luck to the club with this.

GVGjr

15-06-2009, 11:23 PM

Great read DR. I'm sure the club will appreciate your efforts.

Topdog

21-06-2009, 05:00 PM

Disappointing that the more simple questions (club captain) didn't work. However it is still the testing phase so should be sorted out by the time it goes to air.