What is the consensus of the best way to communicate with folks reporting problems in your area? I’ve seen some suggest using this Forum, while others use Email, and some just note in the request. Some even use canned answers (not very user friendly).
Especially if more info needed… :geek:
I use canned answers but personalised and adjusted to suit then leave an email address (created especially for the purpose!) for further comment.
I use personalized* canned answers too, and when necessary, ask them to send additional details to my email address. When I’ve inherited months-old (and occasionally years-old) requests, I approach them with an apology for the delay, explaining that their reports are handled by volunteers, and none was assigned to that particular location until recently. But I rarely ask someone who submitted something more than 90 days ago for more information (unless I know that the person is still active), since it’s unlikely that he or she would still remember details. In those cases, my canned response is more or less along the lines of “You mentioned wrong driving directions, but did not provide any details. I checked the roads nearby and fixed the problems I found.”
The important thing is to show that Waze is interested in learning about and fixing errors. The users who have responded to my replies have been much better at either submitting more detailed reports, or emailing me with details when it’s practical. If you have dozens of requests to get through, it’s best to handle the most recent ones first, and save those submitted 100+ days ago for later. The old ones may refer to something already fixed, and so current reports need the most attention.
*identifying the problem they reported and where it was reported, and, when applicable, what I did to fix it
I try to bring people more into the community by using a forum private message post link in my responses.
IE: http://www.waze.com/forum/ucp.php?i=pm&mode=compose&u=7751
I totally agree that Waze has a critical interest in making sure user requests get answered and processed, or else Waze is going to have a hard time attracting “permanent” users. As such, I think they need to improve the tool set that we have available to manage and update requests. In particular, the system needs to be much better at allowing feedback/response to occur directly within the request itself. Relying on email direct between the AM and user (although I also use that method currently) is non-sustainable. I’m not saying email doesn’t work, but, for example, it could “reply-to” an address that would update the ticket.
-flmbray
This would surely be helpful. The majority of Update Request that I have seen do not include enough information to make the edit which requires interaction with the requestor. Did you post your suggestion to the UserVoice site?
I’ve been including an Email address when I request more info. I figure it’s easier for them. If I don’t get a reply in a reasonable time and I don’t understand the request. I close it out.
There are plans to really rework the update request process on the client and infrastructure side. These may or may not include voice annotations as we can do with road reports already, and the communication between Wazer and AM will take place within the web interface so there should not be a need to swap email addresses.
While I see this as important, I also believe there are other, much more pressing issues to resolve which I hope are fixed and stabilized prior to implementing a drastic feature change like this.