Why Feedback is Crucial for Online Community Success

Online communities allow consumers to connect with peers and foster deeper connections with brands, but how do you determine their success?

Community feedback is one of a company’s most valuable resources, and a study by Microsoft found that brands are viewed more favorably by 77% of consumers if they proactively invite and accept customer feedback.

77% of consumers view brands more favorably when they proactively invite and accept customer feedback.

Feedback tells organizations what their customers care about and it provides new ideas for product and service improvements. Community feedback also helps you identify brand advocates and nurture customer relationships by showing your audience that their opinions matter.

In this post, you’ll find out what you can learn from community feedback and why it’s essential for online community success.

Online communities are a place where consumers share their thoughts and experiences, and brands should take note.

Businesses can use traditional surveys and questionnaires to get feedback, but many brands are opting to use additional features like Khoros’ Value Analytics as well. Features like these allow businesses to dive into audience conversations and generate insights without the risk of bias associated with traditional surveys. For example, a Pew Research Center study found that even a simple action like adjusting the order of questions can dramatically change survey results.

Organizations can use Value Analytics to quantify customer satisfaction with customizable surveys like CSAT and NPS, along with with such metrics as the success rate of user visits. Value Analytics can also help identify high-performing areas of your brand’s community and areas that might need to be improved.

Don’t just guess when making improvements. See what your audience is saying and incorporate their ideas into future updates. Use feedback to find out what customers like about your products and what they think could be better. Your business could introduce a hundred new features into the next version of a product, but your audience might only care about three or four.

According to a 2019 study by SurveyMonkey, 91% of people believe companies should fuel innovation by listening to their customers.

91% of people believe company innovation should be fueled by customer feedback.

By using Khoros’ Product Mentions and Product Associations features, your brand can automatically find conversations in the community that discuss your products, so you can address any concerns and also use feedback to find potential improvements for your business.

Find your superfans by observing who actively and positively engages within your online community throughout the feedback collection process. These valuable customers are essential to your business, as they are usually a trusted source of knowledge among existing members and can refer new people to your business.

In fact, the aforementioned study by SurveyMonkey found that 82% of people trust the voice of customers more than messages directly from the brand.

Businesses can find brand advocates by gathering feedback and seeing which users consistently leave high reviews or post positive experiences. Consider reaching out to these individuals and making them moderators or ambassadors within your online community.

Having audience members as moderators can boost brand trust and reduce dependence on your team when it comes to answering simple questions. The Huffington Post found that 67% of service interactions can be easily replaced with community interactions from other members.

67% of service interactions can be easily replaced with community interactions.

Utilize audience feedback to find brand advocates within your business’ online community.

Collecting feedback shows your audience their opinions matter and their voices are heard. In 2019, Khoros collaborated with several organizations to create the State of Community Management report and found that 61% of community members feel empowered when they are heard, which had a positive correlation with engagement.

Let your audience know their thoughts and ideas are essential to improving your business’ products and services. This practice helps your business grow and allows your audience to feel like they’re contributing to the big picture plans of your organization.

Increase engagement by giving community members a seat at the table and letting them know how much their input matters.

Build the best community for your brand and fuel business growth with Khoros Communities. Our community management software helps brands connect with customers and generate insights to create long-lasting relationships.

Acquire new customers, accelerate resolution, and unlock customer value while reducing service costs with our easy-to-use community software.

Learn how Khoros can help you collect community feedback and create customers for life.