How do WordPress users choose plugins, where do they get their news, how do they learn how to use a plugin and where do they go if they had questions regarding that plugin? This was our mission – to find out more about WordPress users.
Our experience in the WordPress universe is limited to that of an user, not a developer, so we needed to find out more about this industry and it’s people. The aspects mentioned above are vital because it tells us which features we should put forward and where we should improve. Therefore we created a survey that would take us closer to completing our mission.
We would like to show special appreciation to the wonderful developer community present on the dedicated Reddit page for WordPress. We knew Reddit is a good source of information for developers and more tech savvy people in general and they were very helpful with their answers as well as indications.
What we found out
1. What is the most important aspect that determines you to choose a particular WordPress plugin?
Interestingly, first place was shared between two criteria, Number of Users and Plugin Reviews, both being considered highly important, at 29.73% of the votes each. The third aspect that matters the most to WordPress users is Plugin Rating, at 18.92%. The other 21.62% was split between ease of use, compatibility, usability and position in search.
Inside the WordPress plugin directory, whenever you search for a plugin, you only see how many users have installed that particular plugin and what is its rating. However, this does not say anything about the reviews, such as what aspects of the plugin users appreciate or how it works in comparison to its competition. Therefore, it was really interesting for us to find out reviews carry a lot of weight when users decide which plugin to choose. What do you take into consideration when choosing a plugin?
2. What is your preferred method of learning about WordPress?
This was a question where respondents could give more than one answer. The option that was chosen the most, by a landslide, was through Reading (74.36%). Practising (43.59%) was the next option chosen, with Watching a video (23.08%), Interacting with other WordPress users (23.08%) and Listening to a podcast (2.56%) being the least chosen options.
Initially we thought that users would like to learn more via watching tutorial videos, and although this is still a valid and valuable method of learning, it is not the first among WordPress users.
Are video tutorials a thing of the past? Or is it just the case of more tech savvy users? How do you learn about WordPress?
3. When you have a question about a plugin, what do you do?
This was also a question where more than one answer could be chosen because an user could use different methods of approach depending on his issue or the plugin he’s working with. Here, the top answer was Reading a plugin’s documentation (61.54%), followed by Asking on a forum (38.46%), with Ask plugin developer and Read the FAQs page from the WordPress directory tied in at 3rd place with 35.90% each. The answer that was chosen the least was Google search for a video (20.51%), with some respondents saying they would read the plugin’s source (15.38%).
The fact that some users search for videos on Google reinforces our findings from the previous question. Not only that, reading also remains a constant with learning about WordPress.
4. Where do you get your WordPress news from followed up by Which websites?
The follow-up was important because we thought most users read the news on websites, therefore we needed to know which sites are deemed the most credible. And we were right, Websites got 71.79% of the votes, with Social Media on second place, with 43.59% (this was also a multiple choice question).
From the follow-up questions we found out which websites are regarded as the most trustworthy. Here are the top three websites:
This concludes the first part of our survey where we looked at how do WordPress users choose which plugin to use on their website. Next week we’ll be looking at the second part of the survey – where do users sit in relation to web form builders on WordPress. Where do they think form builders excel and what do they lack.
Leave us your answers to the questions asked throughout the article in the comment section below.
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Interesting results Alex.
As for question number 2, I think the preferred method of learning is reading because even today highly technical tutorials are still written rather than covered in a video. Tutsplus, Smashing Magazine and Sitepoint are a few examples where WordPress topics are still covered in written rather than videos.
Though I prefer videos for a series of tutorials