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Club online capability

Phishing replied on 08/07/2020 22:14

Phishing profile picture Member

Phishing

Caravanner from Merseyside

Posted on 08/07/2020 22:14

Accessing the homepage currently takes more than 20 seconds (as it did last night), this is common if not the norm (assuming you just don't get the maintenance screen). Using the forum is virtually impossible, the delays are dreadful. The homepage is confused, cluttered and by any online standards very poor. The search and booking functions are a whole other topic but look like a 1960s holiday brochure begrudgingly squeezed onto a website.

Please undertake a professional review of the server functions and user requirements and get someone in the organisation who knows what they are doing.

The top 10% of commercial sites have a server response time of less than 300ms, the average commercial performance is a server response of less than 1 second. Anything more than 1.5 seconds is considered very poor. This site takes up to 20 seconds, that is 200 times slower than a good commercial site. 

Please employ someone who understands digital marketing and get them to make you understand that if you do not get this aspect of the club right then you will severely damage the future prospects of the club. If you do not get the digital presence right then the club will be superseded by sites that do actually understand digital marketing and revenue generation.

The club is a £100 million pound business, serving hundreds of thousands. It currently has the online performance that is just not acceptable.

 

 

 

 

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huskydog replied on 09/07/2020 17:39

huskydog profile picture Member

huskydog

Motorhomer from Kent

Posted on 09/07/2020 17:39

CT used to be all ok and working well , then they did a big update a while back and it all went downhill from then ! Sometimes it’s best to leave things alone 

Phishing replied on 09/07/2020 18:07

Phishing profile picture Member

Phishing

Caravanner from Merseyside
Posted on 09/07/2020 07:57 by Cornersteady

Using the forum is virtually impossible, The top 10% of commercial sites have a server response time...

Agree with you it is slow but why do you continue to use it P?

I just don't understand, if there are better and faster sites out there then use them? Why keep coming back to CT? You must like it, even if only to keep complaining about it.

Please employ someone who understands digital marketing and get them to make you understand that if you do not get this aspect of the club right then you will severely damage the future prospects of the club.

Also remember you are just talking about the forum, I've just done a 'test' booking for a site and it was super quick, I did it a few times over the last 10 minutes and always no problem. Surely that is the main business of the club? CT is just really an add on? It has been said, and I agree, that while we may like to think we that post on CT are the club but we're just a very small minority.

Or you really saying that getting CT right or not will really severely damage the future prospects of the club?

I also have no problems with the layout 

Posted on 09/07/2020 18:07

I use it because I am a member and believe a healthy forum promotes and improves the membership experience. I have gained a lot from it and occasionally try to lend my experience to others.

I complain about it because it is very poor, I have given you metrics as to why it is poor. You say just go elsewhere. 

As you say, there are faster sites so why dont I use them instead. That statement is the very reason I complain. Commercial companies spend millions in building an online community as they understand that loyalty to a brand is crucial to survival. The club have a huge loyal customer base, but they choose to let them move on to other forums because they cant be bothered sorting their own digital services. 

So why does this endanger the club.

Well if I was to move to a well run forum then I am subject to excellent advertising media from companies who know how this stuff works.  I am now likely to try alternative insurance, sites and booking platforms. The club site traffic reduces and so does the revenue from advertising partners. This would slowly drain revenue streams from the club.

As you point out, people just do not accept poor digital services, they move on. 

The club do not understand this. There are many huge organisations that no longer exist because the did not understand this. 

The club has a membership demographic that is bias towards people who do not live a digital life, this is changing, the club is trying to follow but is paying lip service.

The hobby has seen a massive increase in popularity, and covid means that this year will amplify the demand. This will change.

Just for interest, tonight the landing page took  24 seconds to respond, the CT tab took 10 seconds to respond, the booking page took 14 seconds to respond and a search took 8 seconds. I would remind you that the industry measures this in milliseconds. 

Institutions with poor online services become former institutions.

Cornersteady replied on 09/07/2020 20:57

Cornersteady profile picture Member

Cornersteady

Caravanner from Tyne & Wear
Posted on 09/07/2020 18:07 by Phishing

I use it because I am a member and believe a healthy forum promotes and improves the membership experience. I have gained a lot from it and occasionally try to lend my experience to others.

I complain about it because it is very poor, I have given you metrics as to why it is poor. You say just go elsewhere. 

As you say, there are faster sites so why dont I use them instead. That statement is the very reason I complain. Commercial companies spend millions in building an online community as they understand that loyalty to a brand is crucial to survival. The club have a huge loyal customer base, but they choose to let them move on to other forums because they cant be bothered sorting their own digital services. 

So why does this endanger the club.

Well if I was to move to a well run forum then I am subject to excellent advertising media from companies who know how this stuff works.  I am now likely to try alternative insurance, sites and booking platforms. The club site traffic reduces and so does the revenue from advertising partners. This would slowly drain revenue streams from the club.

As you point out, people just do not accept poor digital services, they move on. 

The club do not understand this. There are many huge organisations that no longer exist because the did not understand this. 

The club has a membership demographic that is bias towards people who do not live a digital life, this is changing, the club is trying to follow but is paying lip service.

The hobby has seen a massive increase in popularity, and covid means that this year will amplify the demand. This will change.

Just for interest, tonight the landing page took  24 seconds to respond, the CT tab took 10 seconds to respond, the booking page took 14 seconds to respond and a search took 8 seconds. I would remind you that the industry measures this in milliseconds. 

Institutions with poor online services become former institutions.

Posted on 09/07/2020 20:57

Sorry but you're seem to a lot out with these times you mention, other sites on my computer certainly do not take milliseconds, the BBC, youtube, other forums all take a few seconds. You are really saying that all your sites load in milliseconds P?

PS I have cable broadband and the fastest available from Virgin media, I notice that sites load just as fast when away from home, at work.

Anyway I tried the booking page it loads really fast on mine, tried it at minutes intervals no problem, must be a fault at your end?

I really don't think that members will stop using club sites because of the slowness of CT, I think people, unlike yourself perhaps, see the real end result, that is being on a club site, matters more than how slow CT is.

And remember, the vast majority of members, or those staying on site, do not use CT. I know amazing but there it is. Anyway lets see if your prophesy will come true, it might, it just hasn't happened yet in the long time you have been saying it will.smile

replied on 09/07/2020 21:04

profile picture

Posted on 09/07/2020 21:04

Well if I was to move to a well run forum then I am subject to excellent advertising media from companies who know how this stuff works. 

 

Don't see adverts myself as I prefer not too

davetommo replied on 09/07/2020 21:24

davetommo profile picture Member

davetommo

Motorhomer from Lancashire
Posted on 09/07/2020 08:39 by Cornersteady

being a minority forum

Did I say that PD? or just trying to cool and eat your porridgewink I said that we who post and read on CT are a small majority of the people who use club sites and use the website for booking.

But experiential learning always good, in your head please make a list of the regular contributors on CT, what do you get 30, maybe 40 names? Out of all the people who use club sites?

every day you will see new names posting albeit just the once or twice and I suspect it is far more widely read by lurkers

So they post once or twice and then what happens? And your suspicions are based on what? 

So taking all your regular posters, the new once or twicers, the lurkers, (although how a lurker - good name btw has any effect or can be classed as a user of CT I'm not sure) what grand total do we get? 100, 200? Still really small compared to the people who use club sites?

 

Posted on 09/07/2020 21:24

  • every day you will see new names posting albeit just the once or twice and I suspect it is far more widely read by lurker

What is a lurker

 

 

replied on 09/07/2020 21:27

profile picture

Posted on 09/07/2020 21:27

A lurker is one who often reads but never posts

EmilysDad replied on 09/07/2020 22:11

EmilysDad profile picture Member

EmilysDad

Caravanner

Posted on 09/07/2020 22:11

I must have the same p poor interweb as Phishing as this site takes far longer to load up than any other website.

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