It’s been nearly three years since Mautic's founder David Hurley sat down and penned the first post on Mautic. Since that time, it’s been a season of tremendous growth and learning as we set out to provide every business with a marketing automation solution that was best in class…and free!
As I reflect on that post, we find ourselves meeting and in many cases exceeding our expectations. We are indeed meeting the needs of small businesses, adding incredible features and gaining access to bigger markets. But this has not happened without the incredible support from our community.
With every update, we see individual names of people who are making incredible contributions to Mautic. Every time I survey the forums or Slack, there are passionate, driven people who have dedicated themselves to see this community and solution grow.
But this growth hasn’t been without it’s challenges. Developing a feature rich solution that meets the demands of a growing industry, while tackling the many bugs that gets in the way, can be trying. But we are as committed as ever to listening to you, responding to your needs and exceeding user expectations, every step of the way.
It’s clear to us that real focus is needed in the community. This is simply a reality of our rapid growth. We realize that more resources are needed to bring value, while creating a place where each member is represented and recognized.
To that end, I’ve been asked to lead the community management effort at Mautic. Since I began working at Mautic over a year ago, I’ve been working in a number of capacities, but have developed a real passion for engaging our community and fostering relationships that connect people to value, while equipping them to add their own.
There are a number of key growth areas that we’d like to tackle in the near term. But in order to be successful, it requires input and support from the entire community. To that end, we will be reaching out in a focused way to solicit that feedback regarding these areas soon. They include;
- Forums: One of the ways we engage as a community is by connecting with one another via our forums. Unfortunately the existing forum application limits us from accomplishing other things like recognizing contributors, up-voting specific problems and so much more. We’d like to explore other tools that will bring even more value to the community in this area.
- Onboarding: This continues to be an area we’re excited about further developing. The current onboarding process is challenging at best, and we recognize it needs to be addressed. Our goal is to make every new user to Mautic feel supported while setting up, configuring and running their very first campaign. We’ll be taking steps to assess, review, edit and develop more succinct tools.
- Marketplace: A community’s strength is found in how it brings value to every member. We continue to believe that Mautic’s greatest strength is in it’s people. The ones who contribute value each and every day. Whether it’s answering a question, or solving a technical challenge, we believe that the value chain should be reciprocal. So we’ll be exploring ways to bring the marketplace to life this year.
I have reached out to many of you already in an effort to ensure that everyone that connects with Mautic, feels supported to grow their business. But if I haven't connected with you, I'd like to say "hello" and please feel free to reach out to me (via Slack: @jseevers or email) and introduce yourself, or provide a comment below. I’ll be working diligently to bring content, process and structure to the work being done in and around our growing community.
I want to personally thank each and every one of you for how you have come alongside us, supporting users, sharing your experiences and adding value. We could not do what we do without the best people in the world in our community.
We’ve just begun. Be on the lookout, there are incredible things ahead!
