At HomeSwapper we had become aware of an issue that swappers were having with ‘timewasters’; other users who weren’t responding to messages or were not active users of the swapping service. We’re always looking to make the site the best it can be for our swappers, so we asked what they thought could be done to tackle this – and what a response we got!
We had some fantastic suggestions come through to us and our team then explored all the options, looking for solutions that would be fair to everyone. These will be introduced in phases and we are very happy to announce the first one here.
The ‘timewasting’ issue that seemed most important to our users was when swappers don’t respond to their messages, so it was this one we decided to action first.
If you haven’t replied to all your messages in the last 3 months, then the following message will appear on your Dashboard.
HomeSwapper dashboard warning
On the Messages section of your account you’ll also see the following message when trying to create a new message.
HomeSwapper messages on dashboard
You can easily see any messages you need to reply to as they will be highlighted in red
If you haven’t used HomeSwapper in a while, you may also need to click the “load earlier conversations” link to check if there are any older messages you need to reply to. Remember – you only need to reply to messages up to and including those from 3 months ago.
And when you look at other tenants’ walls you’ll also be shown a warning message that you are not able to write on it
HomeSwapper wall
With this measure, we aim to encourage users of HomeSwapper who intend to use the site for mutual exchange to reply to all their messages – even if only to say ‘no thank you’.
To clear these notifications, all you have to do is go through your inbox and reply to all messages you haven’t replied to yet.
This can be done by typing a personal reply or using the message suggestions feature.
HomeSwapper inbox
We also have a ‘No thanks’ button installed in messages, which can easily be clicked on to let other swappers know you’re not interested.
But of course – it’s much easier to keep up with your inbox and reply to messages as they come through!
As soon as all the messages in your inbox have been replied to, you’ll get the Platinum badge.
This means that you can once again send new messages, write on other swappers’ walls and view other users’ contact details.
HomeSwapper message dashboard
Thank you to everyone who gave suggestions and we look forward to letting you know the next phase very soon!
The HomeSwapper Customer Support team are always on hand to give advice and tips on how to get the most from HomeSwapper. They deal with Swappers every day and have a unique insight and view on the thousands of successful swaps that take place on HomeSwapper.
