Going above and beyond on end user self-service support helps.
1. Mouseover help on every input field
2. Searchable help system with screen captures, it has to be comprehensive.
3. Video help, Camtasia style walk throughs.
Your users are not dummies. They need support, on the feature they are using, when they are using it. You can either provide that support self-service or you can provide it via email/phone. One is far easier for the user (self-service) and the other is much harder on you (answer emails on how to use basic functionality).
I ran a free crm system for about 10 years, it took refining how each feature worked and creating all of the different ways of self-service support but I was able to get technical support down to 1 question per week. That was with about 1,200 unique daily users... users who would be in the system all day because they had all of their calendars, files, contacts, and other things online in the system. They didn't want to wait for support, they wanted the answer right away and I made sure they could get it without contacting me.
Average Joe user, he looks at this and is just guessing:
https://dmhx3adjqsy1o.cloudfront.net/assets/marketing/shots/... I see a support link but I bet that link goes to a generic support page and not support for that page in particular. So now the user has to jump through hoops to find support and might give up.
The user needs to understand the the benefit (of each admin page), what the page is doing, some ideas of how to read the data, and get the most out of it. There can be no assumptions that the user knows anything... they are going to have to be taught and you want that done by self-learning.
The user signed up because of the top 1/3rd of the homepage with the marketing talk. Just because they sign up doesn't mean they fully understand the system, how to use it, and how to dig deep into each page and get the benefits.
Sadly I was great at making things easy to use, I was great at making new features, I had no problems getting into things like Twiistup and being nominated for the Webware 100, etc... but making money I am not good at. For example I had a two year head start on Basecamp and they are living high on the hog and I am just barely living :) I had to just abandon the crm (I just cut off the signups but all of the old users are on it still using it) and I am going in a new direction.
Have you tried simply charging for it ? Put in a pricing grid with the corresponding app restrictions. Of course, grandfather in all existing user to a free tier with a generous grace period. The free tier may or may not accessible to new signups. Call it the "end of beta".
Seriously, try it. You obviously are providing value to users. I'd love to hear from you on how it goes.
I have been thinking about making everything super encrypted and charging $100 a month. I have had a number of defense contractors come and try it but not use it because I could see their data. Then I wouldn't need to upgrade the interface which is a bit aged. But I am burned out right now, maybe in 6 months. The current users, I hit them up for some donations but I attracted people who don't really want to pay.
1. Mouseover help on every input field
2. Searchable help system with screen captures, it has to be comprehensive.
3. Video help, Camtasia style walk throughs.
Your users are not dummies. They need support, on the feature they are using, when they are using it. You can either provide that support self-service or you can provide it via email/phone. One is far easier for the user (self-service) and the other is much harder on you (answer emails on how to use basic functionality).
I ran a free crm system for about 10 years, it took refining how each feature worked and creating all of the different ways of self-service support but I was able to get technical support down to 1 question per week. That was with about 1,200 unique daily users... users who would be in the system all day because they had all of their calendars, files, contacts, and other things online in the system. They didn't want to wait for support, they wanted the answer right away and I made sure they could get it without contacting me.
Average Joe user, he looks at this and is just guessing: https://dmhx3adjqsy1o.cloudfront.net/assets/marketing/shots/... I see a support link but I bet that link goes to a generic support page and not support for that page in particular. So now the user has to jump through hoops to find support and might give up.
The user needs to understand the the benefit (of each admin page), what the page is doing, some ideas of how to read the data, and get the most out of it. There can be no assumptions that the user knows anything... they are going to have to be taught and you want that done by self-learning.
The user signed up because of the top 1/3rd of the homepage with the marketing talk. Just because they sign up doesn't mean they fully understand the system, how to use it, and how to dig deep into each page and get the benefits.