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Adding/creating a company is confusing!
Get Stratification is a great idea but it can be a bit confusing to grasp. I'd probably looked at the site a dozen times before I decided to go ahead and add my company. The main reason was because I wasn't exactly sure how to get started. I was confused.
That confusion carried through beyond the initial adding of my company, I think mainly because I wasn't sure how to differentiate a company from an account, etc. I'll try to remember the process.
It took me quite awhile to find the "Add a company" bit, but that initial form was easy enough to understand. Where I ran into trouble was the real name bit. I guess I was under the impression I was creating an account *for the company* and just "attaching" my name to it. It wasn't really clear to me until I went into the account details that it was more of a "person" and the company could live outside of that. I hope that makes sense.
I think the whole idea of adding a company could be more straight-forward. I think I get what you're going for with the real-name bit (assuming you can add a company without creating an account) but those good intentions we're just confusing to me.
I would have loved some more clear verbiage or instructions (maybe it was there and I didn't see it) that indicated that I could add a company without creating an account and/or that if I did create an account that it was for "me" and not "my company."
Maybe a step by step process would be better. Add the company and then say, "This company has been added. Hey, we noticed you don't have an account! Would you like to create one?" Something like that.
That confusion carried through beyond the initial adding of my company, I think mainly because I wasn't sure how to differentiate a company from an account, etc. I'll try to remember the process.
It took me quite awhile to find the "Add a company" bit, but that initial form was easy enough to understand. Where I ran into trouble was the real name bit. I guess I was under the impression I was creating an account *for the company* and just "attaching" my name to it. It wasn't really clear to me until I went into the account details that it was more of a "person" and the company could live outside of that. I hope that makes sense.
I think the whole idea of adding a company could be more straight-forward. I think I get what you're going for with the real-name bit (assuming you can add a company without creating an account) but those good intentions we're just confusing to me.
I would have loved some more clear verbiage or instructions (maybe it was there and I didn't see it) that indicated that I could add a company without creating an account and/or that if I did create an account that it was for "me" and not "my company."
Maybe a step by step process would be better. Add the company and then say, "This company has been added. Hey, we noticed you don't have an account! Would you like to create one?" Something like that.
I’m confused
11
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Tell me when someone solves it.
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The company marked this problem solved.
The best solution from the company
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First off, thanks for all the detailed feedback. It's very, very helpful. It seems that people are talking about two different issues in this topic. The original problem described was adding a new company into the system. We did a revision on that which simplified it and the confusion around it went down. Just go to http://getsatisfaction.com/companies/new to add a new company. Nonetheless, we're in the middle of another redesign of that which will dramatically improve it, particularly focusing on the employee claims issue.
The second issue I'm hearing is that the process of associating with companies/products as an individual is quite unclear, particularly from your dashboard/profile pages. The criticism is absolutely spot on--we haven't released a major revision to these yet, but it is coming in Q4. The way you associate with a company/product is from the company/product page. From a company page, simply click the I'm a Customer button on the right sidebar. On a product page, click the rate button on the product icon and rate the product. In both cases you will be associated with the product.
I’m thankful
The company says
this solves the problem
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Inappropriate?I also realize that this is a very unique problem, probably only applicable to business owners adding their own companies, but...hope it helps anyway! -
Inappropriate?It does help. A lot. We're crafting new verbiage for all of the navigation elements, in addition to reworking all the copy that explains what we do. We need to better present "how" you accomplish things on Satisfaction, as well as "why" you should participate. Thanks for the comments and advice!
I’m grateful for the feedback
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Inappropriate?Exactly! Well, I'm really glad it helps and for what it's worth I've been engaged enough to really explore around and I'm interested to see how y'all evolve here.
I’m glad to be of help!
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Inappropriate?Just added my company myself, and I see no obvious way to attach my user account as the "owner of" the company I just added... And don't get me started on how to add my products! ;)
Is there a FAQ? or tutorial? COuldn't find any. Although I love the idea of this site for customer support, I think it's a poor replacement for those 2 things... And clicking on help seem to bring you the getsatisfaction style customer support. Not user friendly... Kind of like if Twitter never used emails for anything...
I’m trying to enter my company
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This solves the problem
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We have been working on a video tutorial, and that would have undoubtedly helped you when you needed it. When you add a company, I believe we have two buttons: one for company employees and one for customers of a company. We recently redesigned that process, so your feedback is valuable. You can "claim" as an employee here: http://getsatisfaction.com/YOURCOMPAN... -
SO, in your system, there's no distinction between an employee and the owner of a company, is that correct? Thanks!
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There are distinctions. Currently, there are admins, official reps, and employees. You can set different roles if you are an admin.
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hmmm... I just "applied" for an employee badge... How do I become an admin? I own the company so... Thanks!
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You'll be the admin, Yann. I'll take care of it right now.
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Thanks a ton... You do get satisfaction around here... no doubt about it! ;)
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Inappropriate?I also had this issue adding the company and claiming it. It is a little confusing and simply takes a little time and exploration. I'd think that Get Satisfaction should look into simplifying this process however.
I’m indifferent
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Inappropriate?A couple ideas... When I go into my account, there is a tab that says "Products and Companies". When I go there, it shows the empty boxes and says "you haven't added any companies yet". i wanted to click on those boxes to add one, or at least see a link there somewhere.
Then in the "Employee Of" section, it shows that I am an admin of myself but there should be a link there as well to create a new company that I am an employee of, or to search to see if the company exists yet.
When I was at the companies page, the big box for add a company made it sound like I was starting a new account, when I already had one and just wanted to add a company under that account.
Would it possible to even just change the wording of this to "Add a Company to Your Account"?
Finally - I did add a company and went through all the descriptions and everything, but now can't find it again. I know it said it would take a couple days and there was an approval process, but I feel like it should show up somewhere immediately with a pending status, so i could continue to edit. For example, I did not upload a logo, thinking I could just go look for it later.
Thank you for this great service. Minus a few speedbumps like this, you guys have an amazing site and I am looking forward to implementing it!
Thanks
-Marty
I’m confident
5 Comments Add a comment
This solves the problem
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I gotta say, I went through the EXACT same process... Those empty company icons in profile beg to be clicked on... And everything else Marty's just mentioned is valid for me too...
Thanks! -
Thanks for this feedback, Marty. I'd like a way for you to access that company section while you're waiting for approval, too.
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Any progress on these ideas? Just watched the webinar and came back to see the new design. Lots of great improvements but still can't figure out the add a company thing.
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We've made some changes with the new design to improve the add a company flow, Marty, but you're right, one of the things that fell away was an obvious way to add a company that you're not an employee of. We're going to be adding that back onto the Customer home page shortly, but for now you can do it by searching for the company name in the header bar, and clicking the "Add it" link that appears when the company's name doesn't appear in search.
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On the other hand, if you mean to add a company you are an employee of as part of our free plan, there's a link in the header of the main company sign up page: http://getsatisfaction.com/pricing
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Inappropriate?I have to add my own recent experience to those above. I still cannot understand how all this works and as a seasoned web professional that is worrying. I created a company and added a product but somehow I also created an account for myself?? i also can't seem to edit anything and constantly get asked to re-login.
I really don't see why the process has to be so disjointed and the idea of being able to create an empty company and then 'claim' it is just counter intuitive. Doing stuff like this in Google for Business Listings is so much easier. And don't get me started on the four day wait for approval...
Will stick with it for a bit but it's dropped well down my 'must do' list. Taking the paid service is seeming more and more unlikely.
I’m not liking this at the moment
4 Comments Add a comment
This solves the problem
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This is valuable feedback, uoebusiness. Thanks for sharing it.
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Okay I'm finally beginning to get how this works. After I had been verified as an employee and made an admin of the company I could start doing things, like edit a product, which previously I couldn't. On one hand that seems logical, you can't give admin access until the person is verified, but on the other it's illogical in being able to create and partially populate a company and then not get access to it for four days.
I also now realise that in order to administer a company you have to have an account but I still don't see why the two have to be separated the way they are. From a usability point of view I think it would be better to only allow a company to be created by someone with an account. I also don't think the person that creates the account should automatically be seen as an official rep or a person that will provide support. I'm sure in a number of cases a company will be set-up by someone with the technical expertise but who then won't play any role in supporting it. The ability to have 'admin' users hidden from the people page would be an nice option.
A workflow scenario could be:
1. Create account
2. Once created the user has the option to create a company (or if it exists can register as an employee). During this the uer should have the option of being set-up as an admin only (won't show as a support person), admin + official rep/employee, official rep or employee.
3. Once the company has been created the user can set it up pending verification but it wouldn't appear in searches.
4. If verification fails then the company would be locked until the issue is resolved or deleted if it wasn't. If verified then it would be open for others to join and use.
There are most probably a multitude of problems with the above but some more logical and streamlined approach is required (imo). -
Based on when you posted your original comment it looks like you went through this before we posted an updated company sign-up process. It now works (for the most part) as you've suggested. Good suggestions! We will refine it further, of course, but we're excited about forward progress. We're also evolving our process for confirming employee status so this moves faster. Thanks for the detailed feedback.
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Hi uoebusiness. I also wanted to point out that anyone can add a company -- even a customer -- which is why the company approval process happens independently from the employee approval process. And anyone who adds a company first has to have a GS user account.
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Inappropriate?Oh dear! Seeing that people have been having a hard time with this for over a year without it being completely resolved does not inspire much confidence.
This process still seems very unclear as I'm also having a hard time figuring out how to add a company to my personal getsatisfaction account. I've actually had several aborted attempts and have deleted a couple of accounts.
Now both the urls and the company names I need are said to be taken. I'm sure it's just that they remain linked to the now deleted accounts. How long does it take for a url or company name associated with a deleted account to become available again?
I’m confused
1 Comment Add a comment
This solves the problem
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Don't worry I've still never figured out how to add a company to my account despite there being a whole page dedicated to 'Favorite Products and Companies'. You just get grey boxes that you can't do anything with.
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Inappropriate?Yes those unresponsive grey boxes are quite frustrating aren't they? Is this simply meant to encourage us to cough up cash for a paid account? Would it be any clearer how to do this then? This just makes me wonder about alternative services.
I’m confused
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Inappropriate?First off, thanks for all the detailed feedback. It's very, very helpful. It seems that people are talking about two different issues in this topic. The original problem described was adding a new company into the system. We did a revision on that which simplified it and the confusion around it went down. Just go to http://getsatisfaction.com/companies/new to add a new company. Nonetheless, we're in the middle of another redesign of that which will dramatically improve it, particularly focusing on the employee claims issue.
The second issue I'm hearing is that the process of associating with companies/products as an individual is quite unclear, particularly from your dashboard/profile pages. The criticism is absolutely spot on--we haven't released a major revision to these yet, but it is coming in Q4. The way you associate with a company/product is from the company/product page. From a company page, simply click the I'm a Customer button on the right sidebar. On a product page, click the rate button on the product icon and rate the product. In both cases you will be associated with the product.
I’m thankful
The company says
this solves the problem
EMPLOYEE
EMPLOYEE
