A Case Study: Microsoft Community SupportDustin JohnsonPrincipal at Ant’s Eye View

Our Story Begins in the Summer of 2006 with a Realization…

90% of the investment helped 1% of the customers

Also, Developers Don’t Want to Use the Phone…

…But They Love the Forums

So, What Did We Do?

#1: We Dove In and Learned on the Fly

#2: We Created a Brand New TeamPhoto Credit: Christian Wind, www.christianwind.com

#3: We Kept The MVPs HappyPhoto Credit: www.flickr.com/people/vividbreeze/

#4: We Sold, and Resold, and ResoldPhoto Credit: www.flickr.com/people/obo-bobolina/

What Was The Impact?+ 10M Page views+ 1M New Users+ 10k Answers+ 44% Answer Rate+ 100% Answers from Community

Expansion!International EnglishSimplified Chinese

What does this all mean to you?

Customers Are HereCompanies Have Invested In Contact Centers+Knowledge Base

Integrating the Cloud is 10% Technology, 90% People and ProcessesKnowledge Base

AgilityResourcesVisionOperationsKnowledge Base

Maturity ModelPhase Three: 12-18 MonthsPhase Two: 12-18 MonthsPhase One: 12-18 MonthsThemeAwarenessParticipationMaturityExec MeasureUnique VisitorsCommunity PostsSuccess RateIdeal Exec Goal20% of Potential Audience Visit The Community1% of Unique Visitors Post50% Success RateCommunity BehaviorConsumptionContributionChampionContent SeedingSME ParticipationReputation SystemProduct IntegrationInfluencer Outreach and EngagementBroad IntegrationLeversOpportunity!

Content Seeding

SME Participation

Reputation System

Product Integration

Influencer Outreach and Engagement

Broad Integration

If Only I Had Known…Knowledge of social web norms is helpful and hard to teachEgo is an incredibly powerful motivatorTraditional support tone is not as effective as conversational toneBusiness success is tied to customer participation, so play nice

Thank You!Dustin Johnsondustin@antseyeview.comTwitter: @dustinjo