User Engagement How do you bring back your former active users

[Nomad]

It is very common occurrence on forums that someone who was very active suddenly stops visiting the forum, without any concrete reasons, and then remains absent from the community. My forums do not have a long history, so I do not have any users who were active in the past and now have stopped using the community. But if you have such users, how do you bring back them to the community. One of the common strategies is sending them emails. But does this really work?

 

[Tatiana]

I send out an email to check on them. Along with an update on whats been happening on the forum - like new members, a contest or poll, an event happening in the chat room, current rp storyline, someone's birthday, a new member has joined, etc.

I might hear back from them in an email, or forum pm, eventually. About 75-80 percent I hear back - usually they have a lot of real time happening. They want to return, so I don't delete their account, unless they request me to. I would reach out, they might of lost the links to the forum or their computer died, etc. etc.

 

[Ravenfreak]

I've reached out to people via email on a forum I reopened. I didn't get anyone to log back in, though many people might not even have access to their old email accounts. I think it would be better if I can get back into my website's Twitter account and tweet letting everyone know we're back. I haven't had the time to do so lately though...

 

[Shawn Gossman]

Sometimes people leave because they've had a bad experience. I think the forum owner should look for that first and then try to contact the former active member with a solution.

I think being a person who generally cares about the whereabouts and welfare of an active member who's went inactive is essential.

If you only care about the activity and not the person, you get what you deserve.

If you truly care about the members, who should try to locate them (find their social media, send email, etc.) and ask if they are okay and that you miss seeing them around.

That would definitely make me come back or at least think about it, pending my situation.

 

[Shortie]

I think the first thing to look at when someone who was active stops coming back to the forum, is what the reason could be. In some cases, it could be personal reasons that they have had to stop coming around and that is understandable but in some cases, it could be due to an issue or something that happened with the forum that they are no longer happy with.

When I notice that active members stop coming around, the first thing I do is reach out to them via PM, and ask them how they are, I feel that is a good first step, especially if the member is a long-standing member.

The next step I take is to send out a mass email with updates and asking how my members are.

In most cases some tend to come back, if some don't come back at that point, it's usually due to something happening away from the internet.