Top Ten Reasons to Build an
Online Community
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Agenda
• Online communities vs. Social
networking
• Benefits of online communities
• Top 10 reasons to build an online
community
• Vovici Community Builder Module
• Q&A
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Panels vs. Online Communities vs. Social Networks
Online Social
Panel Community Network
Researcher
Researcher
Researcher
Member Member
Panelist
Member Member
Member
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Social Networking
• Unlike communities, a member of a social
network can only see their friends’
activities
• Social networks started with student
populations before becoming mainstream
• For socializing around music and
entertainment and pictures or for
business networking
• Not ideal for business
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What Is An Online Community?
• Group of members who agree to interact with
you and with each other
• Bound by common interests (products,
services, job function, industry affiliation)
• They want to interact with and learn from
others with similar interests
• Provide rich information about themselves,
their interests, likes, dislikes, suggestions
• Consistent and informed source of feedback
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Top Ten Reasons to Build an Online Community in
2009
10.
9.
8.
7.
6.
5.
4.
3.
2.
1.
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10. You Know 2009 Will Not Be Like 2008…
• Corporate bankruptcies are on the
rise
• Unemployment will be higher
• Consumer purchasing will be lower
• Housing prices will be lower
• Credit will be tighter
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You Know 2009 Will Not Be Like 2008, But Do You
Know…?
• How this will affect your customers?
• How this will affect your prospects?
• How this will affect your resellers?
• How this will affect your partners?
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9. Give Customers a Place to Discuss Your
Organization
U.S. 18+ Participation in Online Communities
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8. Increase Loyalty Just by Having a Community
Deloitte's 2008 Tribalization of Business Survey,
of 140 organizations with communities:
• 24% report increased loyalty
• 24% bring outside ideas into the organization
faster
• 28% report their overall brand awareness
increase
• 35% report an increase in word-of-mouth for their
brands
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7. Use Employee Insights to Drive Customer Loyalty
Case Study:
• International Bank
Background:
• Tremendous growth in an emerging market
Challenges:
• Increased competition for local sales talent
• Increased competition for customers
Use of Employee Community to Meet Challenges:
• Using employee feedback from community to position bank as an \"employer of choice\"
• Using employee community to share customer feedback from the field and for
employees to submit product and service ideas
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Employee Loyalty Drives Customer Loyalty
High Risk
50
40
30
20
10
0
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007/2008
Percent of High Risk Customers Percent of High Risk Employees
Source: Walker Information
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6. Introduce Prospects to Your Organization
• A virtuous circle of community engagement
More
helps expand that community Members
• The more community participation, the more More
More Site
Ideas &
pages to be indexed by search engines Visitors
Topics
• The more pages, the higher the search
engine traffic
• The more prospects discover your institution
Higher
and engage with existing customers to learn More
Search
Engine Comments
Rank
about it
More
Pages
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5. Generate Thousands of Ideas
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5. Generate Thousands of Ideas
60,000
50,000
40,000
30,000
20,000
10,000
-
March April May June July August September October
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4. Provide a Rich Source of Qualitative Insights
Quantitative Research
• Closed questions • Online Communities
• Limited response options • Focus Groups
• Can’t get the story behind • Provide the Story
the story behind the story
Qualitative Research
• Provides hard data that • Can’t extrapolate to a
can be extrapolated to a larger audience
larger audience
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Feedback Communities vs. Focus Groups
Focus Group Online Community
Medium In person Online
Participant Size 8-12 100s-1000s
Respondent Bias Medium Low
Time Frame 2 hours Years
Turnaround Time Weeks-Months Hours-Days
Geography Major Metropolitan Area Worldwide
Cost Variable Fixed
Cost per High Low
Response
Methodology Qualitative Qualitative &
Quantitative
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3. Provide Comprehensive Quantitative Feedback
Target
Audience
Empanelled
Audience
Community
Members
Active
Community
Members
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2. Compress the Traditional Feedback Cycle
• Get feedback almost
instantly – much faster
than your competitors
• Combine qualitative
and quantitative
research more rapidly
than ever
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Traditional Feedback/Innovation Lifecycle
3-6 Months
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New Feedback Cycle: Online Communities + Surveys
Create targeted survey Post question to forum
Gather responses See responses
Analyze data Create questions for surveys
Days, Not Months
Bridge Gap
Between Quantitative &
Qualitative Data
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And the #1 Reason to Build an Online Community in
2009…
10. You Know 2009 Will Not Be Like 2008, But Do You Know…?
9. Give Customers a Place to Discuss Your Organization
8. Increase Satisfaction Just by Having a Community
7. Use Employee Insights to Drive Customer Loyalty
6. Introduce Prospects to Your Organization
5. Generate Thousands of Ideas
4. Provide a Rich Source of Qualitative Insights
3. Provide Comprehensive Quantitative Feedback
2. Compress the Traditional Feedback Cycle
1.
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1. Sustainable Competitive Advantage comes from
Changes
• Community members participate because
they want your organization to serve them
better
• Engage employees in the community so that
they can be customer ambassadors
• Short term, develop an infrastructure that
will enable you to rapidly implement new
ideas
• Long term, develop a culture centered on
customer-driven innovation and co-creation
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A Case Study in Sustainable Competitive Advantage
• http://www.dellideastorm.com/
• Launched February 16, 2007
• One of first feedback communities to allow members
to vote each other’s ideas up (and, later, down)
• Has generated 10,495 ideas submitted by 6,000
members; average idea generates about 8
comments and 8 votes
• Dell has implemented … 160 ideas
• 40 Dell employees participate, as members of a
team called “Communities and Conversations”;
employee participation widening
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Why Build Online Communities?
Imagine walking into a room full of your customers at
any time, where you can ask any question, and are
guaranteed to get a response….
……How would you use that?
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Examples of Online Feedback Communities
Maintains Brand Integrity
Demonstrates
Controls
management
access
commitment
Bill of Rights
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True
Feedback
Community
Profile
Updates
Results
Targeted Shared with
Surveys members
based on
profile data
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Our Approach: A Single Platform That Uniquely Combines:
v4
Database
Profile Survey
Data Responses
Online Surveys
Proprietary Panels &
Online Communities
Business Intelligence
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About Vovici
SELECTED CUSTOMERS
60% Of the Fortune 500
2,000 Customers in over 47 countries
Million completed surveys in more
150 than 150 different languages. KEY PARTNERS
15 Years of industry experience,
leadership and innovation
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Special Book Offer:
• Arrange a demonstration or request a call-
back to receive a free copy of “Weapons of
Mass Collaboration” by Vovici CEO Dean
Wiltse
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Questions & Answers
• To request a demonstration of Vovici
Community Builder Module, contact
your sales executive or:
• 1-800-787-8755
http://blog.vovici.com
• sales@vovici.com
• Our presenters welcome your
questions:
• Jeffrey Henning, Chief Strategy
Officer & Co-founder,
jhenning@vovici.com
• Brian Koma, Vice President of
Marketing, bkoma@vovici.com
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