metrics and measuring success in online communities

Connie Bensen, Techrigy

Step 1: Identify Business Objectives Step 2: Decide on Priorities Step 3: Choose What to Measure & Tools

◦ Quantitative ◦ Qualitative

Step 4: Benchmark Step 5: Identifying Trends & Reporting

Generate more word of mouth Increase customer loyalty Bring outside ideas into organization Increase product/brand awareness Improve new product success ratios Improve public relations effectiveness Reduce customer acquisition costs Reduce customer support costs Reduce market research costs Reduce product development costs

Prioritize the Business Objectives in order of importance◦ What keeps your boss up at night?◦ What are the competitive threats?

This identifies goals to measure

Generate more word of mouth <1 Increase customer loyalty <4 Bring outside ideas into organization <5 Increase product/brand awareness <2 Improve new product success ratios Improve public relations effectiveness <3 Reduce customer acquisition costs Reduce customer support costs Reduce market research costs Reduce product development costs

What percentage of increase is wanted? ◦ Estimate at first◦ Use to set goals◦ Translate into for business needs

Examples:◦ Marketing – increased product awareness & WOM

(ROI is the # of additional sales)◦ PR – improved brand sentiment (ROI = additional

customer loyalty)◦ Product research (ROI = the difference in time it

used to take)◦ Decreased support calls by X% (ROI = the cost

savings)

Activity on site◦ Number of visitors & repeat visitors◦ Number of registered users versus active◦ Frequency of posting & number of comments◦ Types of searches

Number & type of content created Number of relationships created Usage of features Number of subscriptions via email & rss Increase in SEO rank

Web Analytics◦ Google Analytics, StatCounter, getclicky◦ Proprietary to community

Social Media Monitoring◦ Free tools such as Google Alerts, SearchTwitter.com, ◦ Tweetbeep◦ Professional tools such as Techrigy, Radian6, TruCast◦ Social Search Tools – Delver, WhosTalkin?, Samepoint,

Socialmention, Serph, OneRiot

Net Promoter Score (NPS)◦ Survey tool used to measure sentiment about the brand◦ http://www.netpromoter.com/calculate/nps.php

Gather testimonials◦ Marketing use◦ Product development & use cases◦ Identify brand advocates◦ Appreciation for customer service

Document link to source for follow-up

Quantitative◦ Use to calculate progress (% increase)

Choose 1 measurement per business objective

What are other departments measuring?◦ Collaborate if others are already gathering info

Ongoing ◦ Note & report customer requests needing immediate

assistance◦ Identify topics requiring FAQ’s or blog posts

Monthly◦ Marketing /Public Relations◦ Feedback on connection of messaging◦ Identify sites for potential partnerships ◦ Report on time periods of high traffic◦ Feedback on brand sentiment

Executive/Management◦ Overview of brand sentiment & competitive analysis◦ Offer insight/suggestions on future trends & key industry

topics

Outline the following & provide recommendations based on them:

Ongoing definition of objectives (established from goals of the position)

Interaction - Trends in members, topics, discovery of new communities

Qualitative Quotes - helpful for feedback & marketing Recommendations - Based on interactions with the

customers Benchmark based on previous report Web analytics (unless someone else is tracking

them) Social Web analytics

Building a B2B Community◦ Connie Bensen at Techrigy

Building a B2C Community◦ Kellie Parker, Sega America

Connie BensenChief Community Officer, TechrigyNewComm Forum - April 27, 2009

Value & ROI of Community

Sourcesof

Conversations

Web Traffic Google

Analytics

vs

Social WebTechrigy SM2

Our CommunitiesOur Communities

After 6 mo’s:Freemiums increased by 5.8 timesCustomers increased by 4.33 times

Return on Community Building

o Brand Awareness

o Word of Mouth

o Public Relations & Marketing via Social Media

o Shorter sales process

o Shorter dev’t cycle

o Upselling

Get Started Today!

Use the five steps to establish the metrics◦ Identify Business Objectives◦ Prioritize◦ Choose What to Measure & your Tools◦ Benchmark now ◦ Identify Trends & Report on Them

Contact info:

Connie BensenChief Community Officer, Techrigyconnie@techrigy.com@cbensen