We pose and respond to queries in the belief that the magic of a conversation will produce a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.
Quality engagement from our members is the holy grail of community managers. Everything stems from that – ROI, sales, brand loyalty, ticket reduction, etc. When members are largely silent, asking questions is one way to get things moving.
However, it's not just about asking questions; it's about asking the right ones. To get that magic flowing, open-ended questions are better for this than closed-ended questions.
Closed-ended questions can be answered in one or two words. There is no opportunity to discuss the topic. You might ask a closed-ended question and get a lot of one-word responses. On paper, that looks good for metrics, but it doesn’t add quality to the community or bring members together toward a shared purpose.
Open-ended questions, on the other hand, encourage deeper responses. They are designed to get the other person talking so that you can trade ideas, thoughts, or feelings; they usually start with one of the five W’s – who, when, what, where, or why.
Here are some examples of open-ended questions:
- What is your favorite color and why?
- What do you need to have to achieve a goal?
- How do you feel about…? or… What do you think about...?
- How do you measure…?
And here are a couple of questions for you. What do you think about open-ended questions? Can you tell me about a place or time when a closed-ended question is better?
Image credit: Photo by Danilo D'Agostino on Unsplash
