e-book: 13 market trends in online communities 2014
DESCRIPTION
More than 800 professionals in support, marketing, and product teams weighed in on their thoughts and plans for online customer communities. There are 13 key findings in this new e-book including: the ROI of support communities (as much as 10-25%), the importance of user-generated content, the benefits of increased SEO, how to generate new product ideas from the community, and much more.TRANSCRIPT
13 Highlights on the Latest
Trends in Online Communities
Market Survey e-Book
September 2014
Introduction
• In July, Get Satisfaction conducted a market survey to professionals in support, marketing, and product teams regarding their use of online communities.
– More than 800 people responded.
• The purpose was to uncover online community trends in all sorts of organizations. (See Appendix for demographics.)
• This e-book reviews the highlights.
2
HIGHLIGHT #1 It is still a new market for online
community platforms
61%YES
39% NO
When asked if they had an online customer community:
Of those with a community
33%
have had it less
than 1 year
Another 25% at 1-2 years
3
HIGHLIGHT #2 Online community is becoming
a higher priority for companies
25% of those surveyed plan to deploy an online customer
community within the next year.
4
HIGHLIGHT #3 They see obstacles in their way
Multiple choices allowed.
5
When asked, why haven’t you deployed an online customer
community yet?
We don’t
have the staff
to manage it.
48%
Not sure
how to get
started.
42%
Too
expensive.
29%
Don’t see
the value.
22%
Will take
too long to
deploy.
18%
HIGHLIGHT #4 Companies are using their
communities for social support
6
Companies say their community…
84% 77% 57% …provides a
social
support
experience.
…is a key
component to
their customer
support.
…enables a
peer-to-peer
support
model.
HIGHLIGHT #5 Social support communities
are a cost savings
49% say community has been
a cost-savings for
customer support
More than 1/3 report
annual support cost savings
of 10-25%
7
HIGHLIGHT #6 User-generated content is more
credible than anything else
8
Agree that user-generated
content has more credibility
in supporting brand trust than
employee-generated content.
62%
HIGHLIGHT #7 Even those companies with no
community see the value
9
78% 69% 49% Believe
community
would provide
better
customer
service.
Believe their
customers would
like the ability to
have self-service
support.
Believe
community
would enable
a peer-to-peer
support
model.
HIGHLIGHT #8 Benefits of community go
beyond support to marketing
Multiple choices allowed.
10
Use their community to
create a more engaging
website.
67%
Say it differentiates their
brand with a social
customer experience.
63%
HIGHLIGHT #9 Companies plan to expand their
communities to help generate revenue
11
Multiple choices allowed.
54% Plan to use their
community to prevent
churn or increase
up-sell opportunities.
50% Plan to use their
community to engage
prospects earlier in the
sales process.
HIGHLIGHT #10 Marketers use community to
help drive SEO
12
Use their community to
create content that drives
organic search traffic.
74%
HIGHLIGHT #11 Even companies with no community
see the value in marketing
13
Believe a community
would help them market
to customers and
prospects much better.
77%
Believe a community
would significantly
improve their brand.
69%
Multiple choices allowed.
HIGHLIGHT #12 Advanced companies use community
to generate product ideas
14
72% 67% 63% Use their
community to
get feedback and
insights on how
existing products
are used.
Collect ideas for
new products or
features directly
from customers
Use their
community to
collect ongoing
voice-of-
customer
insight
HIGHLIGHT #13 Communities are a great place
to test new products
15
Get feedback on new
prototypes or beta products
before they are released.
46%
Conclusion
• Online communities are a high priority; 25% of those
surveyed have plans to deploy in the coming year
• Social support is a popular first use case with strong ROI
• Marketers use communities to provide a more engaging
website and increase SEO
• Product teams gather ideas and test new products
• Get the full report www.getsatisfaction.com
16
Appendix
SURVEY METHODOLOGY
• Data collected from Get Satisfaction Market Survey during
3 weeks ending July 24, 2014.
• Survey was promoted to the Get Satisfaction contact
database, socially, and on the web.
• 826 people responded.
18
DEMOGRAPHICS
Less than $50M 67%
$50-200M 16%
$201-500M 5%
$501m-1B 4%
More than $1B 8%
Annual Revenue
Small
Enterprise
Midmarket
100-500 42%
500-1,000 11%
1,000-5,000 12%
5,000-10,000
8%
10,000+ 27%
19
Number of Customers
DEMOGRAPHICS
28% 21%
14% 9%
8% 6.5%
6% 4%
3.5%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%
B2B Tech – SaaS/Software Other
Consumer internet/online technologyConsumer goods
EducationNon-profit or government
B2B Tech – Hardware Consumer hardware/electronics
Finance
29%
20%
17%
15%
12%
7%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35%
Customer Support/Service/Success
Marketing
Other
Product Development/ R&D
Operations
Sales
20
Industry
Department