Alex Krupp has a great post on his blog about the role that responses play in encouraging repeat participation from members in online communities.

I recently saw Bob Kraut present a paper on the mediating variables for Usenet participation. The study looked at how getting a reply affected the chance that a poster would return and post again.

For oldtimers who received no replies, 84% posted again. For oldtimers who did receive a reply, 86% posted again. For newcomers who received no replies, 16% posted again.

What’s startling though is the effect getting a reply had on newcomers posting their first time. When looking only at newcomers, getting a reply increased their likelihood of posting again from 16% to 26%. That’s a 62% increase!

Apparently, getting a reply increases satisfaction in all four dimensions. It increases current benefit, it increases expected future benefit, it creates a common bond with the individuals who posted replies, and it increases identification with the group as a whole.

This is completely in line with our experience at Judy’s Book. Receiving responses to questions and getting comments on your posts creates a reason to re-engage with the site. One important thing to remember is to not just have feedback be an online thing.

In the early stages of your community’s evolution prospective participants are not going to be coming back frequently to see what’s happening. Communicating with them via email is a great way to give them a reason to come back. It’s a great way to keep mindshare high and to provide a gentle reminder to people that others care, they should keep the conversation alive.