What is a customer community? (+Examples) |

One-directional customer relationships are so the norm in 2005. The top brands of the time don't just talk to their clients, but they communicate with them and establish real relationships. That's the point where customer communities come in.

In this article in this article, we'll talk about the definition of community, drawing on studies in the field of academia to highlight characteristics that make a community of customers distinct. This article will examine the benefits of a support community that is a customer-centric one, and provide you with examples of the community connections.

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What is the definition of a community?

A Customer community is an exclusive area that facilitates a connection between brands or companies and their customers. The community can provide questions and answers, knowledge exchange, customer education or promotion and also help regarding service or product issues and customer feedback. It can be created using a range of strategies including email, a website along with social media platforms or even a forum on the internet.

The key word here is RELATIONSHIP. Communities that have been successful aren't locations for brands to launch marketing campaigns. There is a belief that consumers want to do business with those they "know have a similar mindset and feel comfortable with," which is what a customer community does best. It creates the space for the trust to grow.

The customer-centric nature of interactions with customers can be theoretically understood through examining what's called " Social Identity Theory :" when people become an integral part of any group of people-which includes great community of customers-they experience a feeling of being part of something bigger, having a purpose, self-worth, and identity.

These are stunning examples of the kind of communities that customer groups, whether enterprises, community groups or sponsored by brands...

• The nonprofit has enrolled 9,900 National members.
  
• A community of faith has expanded to 470 people in more than 67 countries.
  
• An entrepreneurship org. launched to 5,000 members and has recovered its investment capital in a community app for customers within 2 1/2 weeks.
  
• A health-focused launch with 100 premium customers, that also boosted $40,000 into the ARR.
  
• One community started an add-on 13-week class that added the revenue of $100k within two months.
  
• A financial institution for personal use made $130K in just 5 days using their most recent training.
  
• One socially-conscious SAAS company integrated a community-based customer application with regular meeting times and witnessed a 70% rise in engagement and contributions.
  

What is a community of clients?

The theory behind the creation of customer communities helps us see what makes great communities for customers not your email list or even your Facebook page. For you to reap the benefits of a community, it is essential to be able to create people who feel they're part of the community.

For a better understanding Below are some features of a community that are important to customers: does not include:

• An email list
  
• How many your social media followers
  
• The members of your Facebook group
  
• The amount of comments to your most recent blog post
  
• Callers are directed to the customer service line
  
• The chatbot users that you have
  

As we've identified that the basis of all community-building is the feeling of belonging, it's easy to see the reasons why they aren't a community of customers. They are all interactions with your brand, but they're not able to convey the identity of your brand.

The closest thing we have in this case is an Facebook group but there's an absence of brand loyalty and feeling of belonging. It's hard to take advantage of Facebook to create the type of dynamic relationship and member-led participation that builds a genuine fan base.

The reasons to build a customer community

The advantages of having a forum for customers

Access member-led expansion

The new wave of highly-impact companies based on the idea of community membership. In fact, they are such a powerful business tool that McKinsey has identified them as the ideal strategy for companies in the year 2020. This is an ideal spin-wheel for communities.

There has been a surge of organizations that are managed by members- including customers communities. When they're compensated by the community, they can provide amazing opportunities to earn recurring income. But, communities may also allow development to be on autopilot.

The expression "community" has been utilized to define it as "a enterprise that's growing on its own" due to the fact that the mix of energy generated by members and content generated by members, as and AI tools to streamline management of the community implies that it's simpler than ever to make these human connections that will propel your business forward.

That's why big names including Logo, Apple, and Nike have all leveraged which has resulted in enormous profit. (See the examples below. )

Don't think about funnels. Nothing beats a customer group to grow your brand in autopilot.

Enhance Brand loyalties

The study of 2022 suggested that thriving brand communities influence the loyalty of customers to brands because the community can be a significant element of the identity of an individual. A strong connection between identity in the social world and loyalty to brands can be deliberately created and affects perception of worth and brand satisfaction.

Turning customers, clients or fans into members must not do lightly. In contrast to transactional relationships that members have, they belong.

And belonging instead of buying is one of the main facets of establishing a flywheel for the community.

Improve CLV

We are aware that customer life-time value (CLV) can be influenced by retention, but only a handful of brands are successful in achieving it. The study by SurveySparrow discovered that the most successful brands had an almost 94% retention rates, although the average retention rate was just 4 percent in some industries.

While brand loyalty is significant for its own sake it could also contribute to an increase in the value of your lifetime. This is a no-brainer since retention as well as connection through the conversion of customers to members will increase the value of your CLV in a manner that is unlike anything else.

It is simple to sell your.

One thing that the research of flywheels in communities showed was that selling can be a lot easier when it is in a social setting.

The standard sales funnel concentrates on pushing every lead you can through sales but then losing those leads until you have the minimum percentage of leads that you can purchase.

Within a customer-centric community, it's not necessary to mention these kinds of decisions. The majority of members in the "leads" remain welcoming, and in the event that they quit the community, they'll remain in your community regardless of whether they're ready for the near future or not.

It's an abundant sales atmosphere in which you do not have to be based on fake deadlines or pressure, just be patient and give worth and your outcomes will become awe-inspiring every time you try to market an item. Many people in our communities have shared with them that they also have members searching for items to purchase.

Then we come back to...

Receive the most comprehensive feedback

The feedback of customers is vital. But, the HubSpot research team discovered the following: 42% of firms don't survey their clients or gather feedback!

Could there be a more efficient method of gathering feedback instead of completing questionnaires and then just waiting for answers?

Enter: the customer community. We spoke to women's clothing label Oiselle Volee about their customer base, they shared an amazing account. The Oiselle customers' community offered members with a community to be a part of to. However, it also offered an invaluable feedback loop to the creation of new products. It was possible to get immediate feedback on their ideas for products along with new product ideas. They even had clients requesting items they had not even ever thought of.

Set customer service to autopilot

We've identified Apple as an awesome customer community model further below. Apple uses their user community for customer support and also to gamify the whole thing so that hardcore Apple users can join the community for free and get answers for no cost!

It's an excellent method of establishing trust in the brand that helps users turn the feelings that of being a part of the brand towards the business customers feel for the company into something that is productive, making customer service come to life.

Instead of calling a 1-800 number, or waiting for chatbots, users have the option of getting your questions answered via the forums. That's powerful.

Make transformations happen

People buy the product (or service) because they are looking for something. Usually, that something involves changes in some way, whether it's a clean kitchen (i.e. oven cleaner) or shedding 10 pounds (ie. running equipment) and also to build the ideal gardening space (i.e. the gardening magazines), or to spend weekends relaxing in the garden with your family (i.e. barbecue ).

If someone is buying a tent, it doesn't mean they know how to make it work. That's where the value of a customer-centric community could be found. If you are able to go above the sale, and assist your clients succeed in using the product or service you offer, you will have raving customers who will tell them about your business to acquaintances. A community of customers isn't only about selling more. It's to help your clients to succeed.

There's more! An active community of customers can give valuable feedback to your product and services. Feedback that could otherwise require you pay for.

In light of these factors, building a customer community can be a huge benefit. What are you wasting time for?

     Find out how you can make use of it to create the most active community of customers right here!

Harness real engagement

If your idea of engagement with your customers is to hope that your social media posts are liked by 15 people then you're playing a wrong game. Customer communities are an opportunity to build authentic customer engagement as well as genuine connections with your clients. Remember we mentioned the goal of our program was to allow a customer to be part of the community.

It's awe-inspiring when you're able to stop the content-driven treadmill of social media. You can create real engagement, which people love.

8 fantastic examples of community-based customer services

1. Topstitch Makers

Some amazing examples of customer service that is based on community available in this article . Check out Leigh Metcalf, who built the Mighty Network (AKA a "sewcial network") to serve as the fabric and sewing company: Topstitch Studio and Lounge. The company's Mighty Network, Topstitch Makers offers classes as well as weekly sewalongs that help members make their own success through sewing.

2. Duolingo

Duolingo is an application that made language learning fun simple fast, easy, and inexpensive (freemium)! In the background, Duolingo has a dedicated team of volunteers dedicated to assisting users with their needs in the language as well as improving the experience.

In line with the notion that EVERYONE deserves access language learning, these passionate polyglots volunteer their time and efforts to integrate other languages and programs on the website!

3. Oiselle

Oiselle is a women-oriented running clothing company that wanted to go beyond provide products, but also aid customers to learn about and interact to other runners. It has developed a Mighty Network, Oiselle Volee built around the love of running. At first, it was only a chance to make connections with an exercise partner, but the growth of the disease has widened the possibilities provided by the Oiselle community can do; it's 4000 members who can connect to a community by engaging in real-time conversations as well as thriving virtual gatherings.

4. Lego

Lego is a multibillion-dollar brand, known to kids for their incredible construction capabilities. It is also is often described by parents as tiny landmines that can hurt every time you step onto them.

Just kidding!

In reality, Lego is loved around everywhere by kids as well as adults, and a collection of passionate builders provide their thoughts regarding the Lego customers' community. Users can choose which of their fan-built models are given the seal of approval as authentic Lego models!

5. Peloton

Peloton became popular as the outbreak spread and everyone was trying to get active in our homes. They built a strong group of customers who exercise. Members can exchange scores, video chat throughout their workouts, and also support one another in Peloton's Facebook group. Peloton Group on Facebook.

6. Adobe

Adobe products are dedicated to making videos, pictures and music. They're the industry standard. However, ask any person who's ever had the pleasure of using one of the Adobe products and they'll inform them that they're hard to comprehend.

The Adobe customer community provides an opportunity for users to ask questions and get responses and share ideas for getting the most of the software. Their motto "Come for help and get inspired," is a good description of how they operate. They begin by helping their users discover their applications as well as taking them on a journey towards learning how to master their craft.

7. Apple

Apple has created a vibrant user-generated community that can also be a great Customer Service Platform. Apple has also gamified their user experience so that they get more points as well having access to additional modes of community management as they reach higher levels. Users who get to the highest levels also have access to a private group.

If you're contemplating gaming to boost your experience for customers in a way that they want to provide one another with assistance is a fantastic way to make use of a customer community.

8. Shopify

If you want a fantastic customer-centric community that is active check out Shopify. Since Shopify aids their customers with developing shops that market their goods and services and services, the Shopify community is committed to education and training, responding to frequently asked questions in addition to coordinating live gatherings.

Are you ready to create your own community of customers?

If your user-driven community is a no-cost enterprise or an organization that is community-based, or pay-per-month membership for additional revenue, you can build with Mighty!

Mighty integrates classes, content communities, commerce, and classes. Our spaces are flexible and let you create communities that are user-generated unlike other. Our community is a mix of chat, conversations and messages, livestreaming, classes or live events, and much more (if you'd like). You are able to choose the features you'd like (and turn the rest off ).

Mighty gives you a suite of member-management tools to make it easy to run the community, and our AI community-engine-Mighty Co-Host(tm)-automates things like member profiles, landing pages, course outlines, and even discussion questions. It's significantly easier to establish an active customer base with less than a few hours each week.

When you purchase Mighty Pro it comes with G2's most-popular community software, which you can use to create an app that you can customize and make your own application that you can place available on both the App Store, as well as Google Play Store. Google Play Store. Furthermore, when you build your own application using Mighty Pro, you'll work alongside our team consisting of Account Executives and Community Strategists that have built 7-figure creator brands and 8+-figure subscription-based businesses.

Call us today and we'll tell you how we can create.

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