How Online Communities Improve Every Stage of the Customer Journey

In this ebook you’ll learn how your brand can use an online community to improve every stage of the customer journey, from awareness and interest to purchase and advocacy.

Online communities are highly valued by consumers today. Why? Here are just a few of the reasons:

• Peer content is more trusted. 75 percent of customers viewed interacting with other customers in a brand’s online community as a valuable experience according to a Forrester Study]. This is why you see reviews embedded in almost every online commerce site today. From social media to the sharing economy, the backbone of these new industries is reputation—as determined by your peers.

• Community content is fresher. Active communities operate around the clock, around the globe, and users are constantly posting new ideas. In today’s fast-moving world, the most recent content is also the most relevant.

• Communities scale and specialize. As communities grow, they gather more answers with every new question that is asked. Communities also find new, innovative ways to use products and generate new ideas.

• Inclusion. People exchange personal information and details about problems they are facing specifically, so they can feel more connected to other people they might otherwise never meet. Communities help people feel connected to something bigger.

Great communities are built to meet the needs of an entire customer journey: from when a problem is discovered, through purchasing a solution, learning to use it, and becoming an expert. Communities organize this way naturally because they are built by people who are making their way through these journeys. People who share similar interests tend to ask similar questions, provide helpful tips and answers, and share ideas about how to do things better. However, many communities today are underutilized because of a misperception that communities are for answering questions about broken products.

Communities have a lot of untapped potential, and new technology makes it possible to place all those valuable conversations in places where everyone can easily find them. This ebook is a guide to help communities build more connections and solve more problems by embedding the best community experiences in more places along the customer journey. This not only helps people solve problems and get better, it also helps communities grow.

Download the ebook now to learn more.