Call for Entries: The ASP Best Support Websites of 2023
Dear colleague,
As you may know, the Association of Support Professionals (ASP) hosts an annual awards competition to honor the year’s Best Web Support Sites.
Judged by support professionals, the winning sites are widely regarded as leaders in online support innovation and implementation.
I’d like to invite you to submit your own support site for this prestigious award.
Of course, I can’t promise that your site will be a winner. But even if you’re a runner-up, you’ll still receive several valuable benefits:
- Site analysis: After the winners are announced, we’ll send you your scorecard results in each of 22 different categories, which can show you how key aspects of your site compare to benchmark averages of other support sites. The confidential scorecard will also include comments by at least five independent judges and suggestions for site improvements.
- Special reports: We’ll also send you a copy of two substantial reports that profile the winners, explore emerging trends in online support, and discuss current benchmarks of self-support websites..
The entry information explains the process in more detail. You can also find information about the awards and previous winners on the ASP Website. And I’m always happy to answer questions-just send me an e-mail at ahahn@asponline.com and I’ll try to help.
I look forward to seeing your entry!
Regards,
Al Hahn
Executive Director
Mobile 503-780-3520
ahahn@asponline.com
2023 Entry Procedures
Entries may be submitted by individuals, companies, or outside firms that participated in the site development process. Each entry must be accompanied by a completed application form and an essay or online form that describes the major challenge the site developers faced and three key site features is required. Those submitting an essay should review the FAQS concerning the essay or can submit the online form entry instead. Please do not submit both. Essays and entry forms are limited to 12 pages, including screenshots. We will accept video links to familiarize the judges with your site. An onboarding video might work well for that or an overview video. Do not attach video files as they are too large. Only links will be accepted and will probably help your scores.
Deadline for all entries is Friday, May 12th, 2023.
Scoring
The judges will use a scoring system that addresses five general areas:
- Site User Experience
- Content Offering
- Content Engagement & Interaction
- Site improvement Processes (Essay)
- Site Measurement Processes (Essay)
Each Entry Receives a Confidential Site Report
The reports contain average judges’ scores for all 22 areas that are judged. They also includes at least five independent judges’ comments as well as their recommendations for the three most important areas to improve. No one but you will see these reports, even the judges only see their own individual scores and comments. These reports are considered the most important reason to enter the competition.
Publication
The winning sites will be profiled in two ASP reports that will include screen shots, essays, and related material. All entrants will receive a complimentary pdf of each report after publication. Each entering company receives a confidential site assessment that includes average scores for all 22 areas that are judged, plus valuable judges comments on each of the five groups that are scored and comments on how to improve the site. This report is confidential to each entry.
Administration
Entries should be submitted to The Association of Support Professionals in electronic form (see application for details). Entry fee is $2,200 ($600 discount for ASP Corporate Members) for large company entries ($1billion or more in total annual corporate revenues), $1,650 ($400 discount for ASP Corporate Members) for medium size company entries ($100 million-999 million), and $1,100 ($250 discount for ASP Corporate Members) for small company entries (under $100 million).
Entry Instructions
Deadline for entries is Friday, May 12th, 2023.
We have made several changes in how we process awards entries. Please read these instructions carefully and review the FAQ section of the ASP Awards pages https://asponline.com/awards/awards-faqs/
Electronic entry submission: You may submit a longform entry without an essay or entry essay and short entry form. The essay must consist of two single files, and must be in PDF format and in a Word document, which we will need in case your entry wins and is published in The ASP Best Support Websites report. By submitting, you give us permission to publish your essay or entry information, should your site be declared one of the winners for 2023.
File transmission: Please use our online entry or email the PDF and Word files to ahahn@asponline.com.
Entry length: Most of the The online entry questions may be answered in a paragraph. Your essay or online form may not be longer than 12 pages (including a cover page). Please do not submit both the online entry form and an essay. Screen shots and other graphics should be embedded in the text and should be large enough to be easily read. Please save images at high resolution (200 dpi or better).
Color: Your entry/essay should use color images.
Cover page: Your entry form should include the following information: Company name, complete URL of support site, username and password (if required), name and e-mail address of person submitting the entry essay. If the site is password-protected, please assign a temporary password or access rights for the competition judges (see above). Access rights should not expire before August 31.
Essay contents: The entry or essay helps give the judges a better understanding of the background and context of your site. Where possible you should include links to an onboarding video or site overview video, but do not include video files as they are too large.
- If you submit an essay, please describe the single largest challenge you faced in implementing the current version of this site. Possible topics include problems of technology, project management, team organization, site design, budget constraints, promotion, special customer needs, etc. In addition, describe how you overcame this problem, what metrics you used to measure your results, and what lessons you learned that would help other support site developers.
- In a separate section of the essay, identify and describe three key features of your site that the judges should look at most carefully.
- Note that the essay contents must be substantially original, not used as part of a previous submission.
- Please note that there are two areas based on your essay the directly affect your scores. They are explained in the last two sections of the scoring.