50,000 Questions and Answers is the Sign of a Movement
Today, we released some pretty exciting data on the growth in participation in Avvo’s expert-only Q&A forum:
- 50,000 questions and answers are submitted to Avvo every month
- Avvo’s Q&A forum has a 90%+ response rate
- Every 90 seconds a user receives advice from an Avvo-rated and verified doctor or lawyer on the site
We’ve also put together an INFOGRAPHIC to show you how fast the Avvo Q&A forum is actually growing.
There are two important underlying trends that are in large part fueling this growth:
a) The continued momentum in the ePatient and eClient movements. More and more consumers are taking charge of their health and legal affairs, in part because of economic necessity, and in part because the Internet has made a wealth of medical and legal information available to the masses. Consumers are become more educated and, as a result, are participating more in deciding the treatments and solutions. They are also becoming more discerning about the providers they turn to for help. Eight in ten Internet users have looked online for health information, according to a May 2011 study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, and ePatients say the Internet has had a significant impact on the way they care for themselves and for others.
b) The increase in importance and popularity of social media platforms, including Q&A, in these movements. More and more, these empowered consumers are realizing that while search engines and other Q&A sites serve up access to a wealth of information, they don’t make it easy to find trusted information or expert advice that addresses the person’s specific need. As a result, they are turning to resources like Avvo that offer more personal, more reliable, and more efficient ways to get the advice they need and compare providers – all in one place.
These trends also provide significant opportunities for medical and legal providers as well. For example, professionals that answer questions on Avvo receive 7 times the number of contacts from prospective patients or clients than those that do not participate in Q&A.
The reason for this lies in the traditional “conversion funnel” that is taught in Marketing 101 courses. Consumers at the top of funnel researching a medical or legal issue are increasingly typing in longer, specific phrases or questions to get to the specific information they want. Google recognizes this so it places a high value on Q&A content, which mirrors these searches. As a result, professionals answering questions on Avvo show up in valuable long tail search results that are less competitive than very general keyword terms and convert better.
Avvo Q&A enables professionals to interact with ePatients and eClients researching providers in a significantly more meaningful way than a directory listing or website. Q&A is a series of conversations. And like any conversation, even a short one, Q&A provides insight into what it is like to interact with that provider, which is as important as experience or education. For those professionals seeking new business, Avvo Q&A is a competitive edge. For those who want to ensure that the medical and legal information that is available online is accurate and who do not want to concede health or legal thought leadership to celebrities, quacks and cons, it is a very powerful platform.
We also launched a new version of our homepage today to make it easier for people to ask a question of our tens of thousands of experts or search our database of questions asked on their topic of interest. Try it out and let us know what you think. We’d love to hear your feedback.
September 21st, 2011 at 10:43 am
More and more consumers are taking charge of their health and legal affairs, in part because of economic necessity.