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Is there going to be an in-company search functionality ever?
When we launch RescueTime.com, we hope to add a link to our GetSatisfaction site to our support page. Love it. I can imagine, however, that people might get confused by a lack of search feature. In a way, the "Hey CompanyName" form does the trick, though I'd argue that people think about search forms differently. When searching, people think about the "right" keywords (the keywords that the rest of the world would use). When typing a question, concern, feature idea into the "Hey CompanyName" field, I'd wager they'd be less overt about what words they select.
I also wonder whether people would be just plain LOOKING for a search box. i.e. "I'm on a support site, I want to find information about a particular topic, how do I find it?!". The search box at the top right searches the whole getsatisfaction.com site, no? One cheap and easy idea around this might be a drop down menu with the upper-righthand search with a "search this company" and "search all of getsatisfaction" options (company as default).
Having recently done a lot of usability testing over the last year, it would be interesting to watch user behavior around the search/find action.
Just some thoughts. Love the hell out of what you guys are doing.
I also wonder whether people would be just plain LOOKING for a search box. i.e. "I'm on a support site, I want to find information about a particular topic, how do I find it?!". The search box at the top right searches the whole getsatisfaction.com site, no? One cheap and easy idea around this might be a drop down menu with the upper-righthand search with a "search this company" and "search all of getsatisfaction" options (company as default).
Having recently done a lot of usability testing over the last year, it would be interesting to watch user behavior around the search/find action.
Just some thoughts. Love the hell out of what you guys are doing.
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One other point--with online customer support most people send emails to the company explaining their issue. The "Hey" box is designed with this existing user behavior in mind. Our intent here is to leverage this existing behavior in multiple ways: search existing topics and move towards a new topic posting. In fact, we're planning a widget you can plug into your contact or support page that intercepts a user's proclivity to email with this Hey box functionality.
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Tony,
I can explain a little bit about our (or maybe just my) philosophy on the search within the site. One of the main thing to consider is that we fully anticipate that until Satisfaction is known as "THE place to go for customer support on anything" the overwhelming majority of people that find our site are going to be asking their questions to Google. And frankly, google is going to do better keyword-style searching than me even if I was 1000x smarter, so whatever we can do for search engine optimization is IMO going to be a bigger win for customer find-ability than any built-in search.
In addition to that, I think that de-emphasizing the traditional search box and rephrasing the search process as the start of the submission process is very important. As you alluded to, phrasing a sentence is more taxing than punching in a couple keywords and throwing the bones. I think that serves a couple purposes: First, it can help the end user focus on what their problem actually is. Yes, you will still get people asking questions devoid of context like "Why doesn't this work?", but if you show them search results showing how to better express their context, I think it will unconsciously raise the quality of questions being asked.
Secondly, the search isn't an explorative tool. Exploration is better served through the various browse pages and dashboard. You use the search when there is something more specific you want the system to give you back. When you have the search as stand-alone, the only thing it can give you back is an existing conversation. When it is bundled in, it can also give you the path to add your content to the system, if you so choose. Sort of like saying "Crap, we couldn't give you what you wanted (the answer), but here is something else that may help you get there". Also, in essence, you kill two birds with one stone. If your user learns how to search, they also learn how to ask their question. Granted, most people already know how to search the web. My mother still doesn't quite understand it, though.
I think that one of the challenges of approaching things this way, is as you have shown, overcoming the breakage of expectations. I'm not an interaction designer, but I am continually impressed with humanity's ability to adapt to changing situations. I see the problem with breaking expectations as mostly the same problem as presenting your user with dead ends. Meaning, when you break expectations, you present them with dead ends unless you properly communicate those breakages and lead them through to the new situation.
Damn it, I type too much...
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Hey Satisfaction Unlimited,
Scott says: "Until Satisfaction is known as THE place to go for customer support on anything the overwhelming majority of people that find our site are going to be asking their questions to Google. And frankly, google is going to do better keyword-style searching that me...."
One problem with this line of thinking is that when these users find you (through Google or by any other means), internal search is one of the things that will help keep them around because it will make certain tasks more efficient and your service more useful. Even now that your site is a destination for just a few hundred users who care about just one or two companies each, search is essential to help them do some of the things they will want to do on your site.
Scott says: "Search isn't an explorative tool... You use search when there is something more specific you want the system to give you back."
This is just plain wrong. A search engine might not be an effective tool for exploring the web as a whole, but internal search essential to exploring a new product or service. New people landing on your site will have all kinds of exploratory questions that beg for search: Has anyone added Firefox to the list of companies? My friend told me he posted some stuff about the Wii, where is it? Where is he? These questions are specific *and* exploratory.
You seem to be thinking about search as it relates only one kind of user - namely, a person looking for answers to a support question. But you need to do everything you can to support other kinds of users. A much smaller (but arguably more valuable) subset are people who are experts on a topic or two and have the energy and passion to write about it. The first time someone like this visits your site, she will want to know if it's the place for her. Her questions will be specific and exploratory.
Sorry for the dissertation, but good internal search isn't something that should wait until Satisfaction is "THE place to go for customer support." It's one of the things that will help make you the place to go.
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Inappropriate?Thanks Tony, a very insightful observation about the different kinds of inquiry! The search definitely needs a lot of clarification. I like the idea of choosing from the search box what kind of search you are doing, hopefully we can expand on that and even allow the searching of people and products & services within a company and Satisfaction wide. Right now the search box is searching within a company by default, on the next release we'll label it a bit more clearly. Great feedback!
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Inappropriate?Tony,
I can explain a little bit about our (or maybe just my) philosophy on the search within the site. One of the main thing to consider is that we fully anticipate that until Satisfaction is known as "THE place to go for customer support on anything" the overwhelming majority of people that find our site are going to be asking their questions to Google. And frankly, google is going to do better keyword-style searching than me even if I was 1000x smarter, so whatever we can do for search engine optimization is IMO going to be a bigger win for customer find-ability than any built-in search.
In addition to that, I think that de-emphasizing the traditional search box and rephrasing the search process as the start of the submission process is very important. As you alluded to, phrasing a sentence is more taxing than punching in a couple keywords and throwing the bones. I think that serves a couple purposes: First, it can help the end user focus on what their problem actually is. Yes, you will still get people asking questions devoid of context like "Why doesn't this work?", but if you show them search results showing how to better express their context, I think it will unconsciously raise the quality of questions being asked.
Secondly, the search isn't an explorative tool. Exploration is better served through the various browse pages and dashboard. You use the search when there is something more specific you want the system to give you back. When you have the search as stand-alone, the only thing it can give you back is an existing conversation. When it is bundled in, it can also give you the path to add your content to the system, if you so choose. Sort of like saying "Crap, we couldn't give you what you wanted (the answer), but here is something else that may help you get there". Also, in essence, you kill two birds with one stone. If your user learns how to search, they also learn how to ask their question. Granted, most people already know how to search the web. My mother still doesn't quite understand it, though.
I think that one of the challenges of approaching things this way, is as you have shown, overcoming the breakage of expectations. I'm not an interaction designer, but I am continually impressed with humanity's ability to adapt to changing situations. I see the problem with breaking expectations as mostly the same problem as presenting your user with dead ends. Meaning, when you break expectations, you present them with dead ends unless you properly communicate those breakages and lead them through to the new situation.
Damn it, I type too much...
I’m excited
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this is one of the best points
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Inappropriate?Definitely not just Scott's philosophy, but he's done the best job yet to articulate it, that was fantastic!
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Inappropriate?One other point--with online customer support most people send emails to the company explaining their issue. The "Hey" box is designed with this existing user behavior in mind. Our intent here is to leverage this existing behavior in multiple ways: search existing topics and move towards a new topic posting. In fact, we're planning a widget you can plug into your contact or support page that intercepts a user's proclivity to email with this Hey box functionality.
I’m thankful
3 people think
this is one of the best points
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Inappropriate?Hey Satisfaction Unlimited,
Scott says: "Until Satisfaction is known as THE place to go for customer support on anything the overwhelming majority of people that find our site are going to be asking their questions to Google. And frankly, google is going to do better keyword-style searching that me...."
One problem with this line of thinking is that when these users find you (through Google or by any other means), internal search is one of the things that will help keep them around because it will make certain tasks more efficient and your service more useful. Even now that your site is a destination for just a few hundred users who care about just one or two companies each, search is essential to help them do some of the things they will want to do on your site.
Scott says: "Search isn't an explorative tool... You use search when there is something more specific you want the system to give you back."
This is just plain wrong. A search engine might not be an effective tool for exploring the web as a whole, but internal search essential to exploring a new product or service. New people landing on your site will have all kinds of exploratory questions that beg for search: Has anyone added Firefox to the list of companies? My friend told me he posted some stuff about the Wii, where is it? Where is he? These questions are specific *and* exploratory.
You seem to be thinking about search as it relates only one kind of user - namely, a person looking for answers to a support question. But you need to do everything you can to support other kinds of users. A much smaller (but arguably more valuable) subset are people who are experts on a topic or two and have the energy and passion to write about it. The first time someone like this visits your site, she will want to know if it's the place for her. Her questions will be specific and exploratory.
Sorry for the dissertation, but good internal search isn't something that should wait until Satisfaction is "THE place to go for customer support." It's one of the things that will help make you the place to go.
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Inappropriate?Sobi, this is great stuff. One of the reasons we've opened up our system so early in our beta process is to get feedback just like this, so thanks.
We agree that search is fundamental, and have always integrated it into the site. The outstanding question is exactly how and where to apply it. We already have a first pass on topic search within a company space, and we plan on a Satisfaction-wide topic search relatively soon. This addresses most of the use cases you mention.
Still, in the context of Satisfaction there are a few ways to do search right and a lot ways to do it wrong. We expect to evolve this until we get it right, so don't hold back with the feedback.
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