Your community is only as good as the support it provides, so if engagement is low or your knowledge bank is lacking, you’re failing your customer.
As you strive to offer the best customer experience possible, branded communities have become the preferred method for collaboration. And making sure you’re providing valuable and useful content plays a critical role in keeping your community engaged.
During our webinar, we explored community content strategies with Stewart Florsheim, VP of content enablement for industry-specific Salesforce-based applications leader Vlocity, and Perficient UI/UX solution architect, Andrew Smith.
We covered:
-The role content plays in measuring community success
-Steps for managing the creation and execution of content
-How Vlocity deflects cases using killer content delivered through its new Salesforce community
2. 2
About Perficient
Perficient is the leading digital
transformation consulting firm serving
Global 2000 and enterprise customers
throughout North America.
With unparalleled information technology, management
consulting, and creative capabilities, Perficient and its
Perficient Digital agency deliver vision, execution, and
value with outstanding digital experience, business
optimization, and industry solutions.
3. 3
Perficient Profile
• Founded in 1997
• Public, NASDAQ: PRFT
• 2018 revenue est. $495 million
• Major market locations:
Allentown, Atlanta, Ann Arbor, Boston, Bozeman, Charlotte,
Chicago, Cincinnati, Columbus, Dallas, Denver, Detroit,
Houston, Lafayette, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, New York City,
Northern California, Oxford (UK), Phoenix, Seattle, Southern
California, St. Louis, Toronto, Washington, D.C. (metro)
• Global delivery centers in China, India and Mexico
• 3,000+ colleagues
• Dedicated solution practices
• ~95% repeat business rate
• Alliance partnerships with major technology vendors
• Multiple vendor/industry technology and growth awards
4. 4
Sales Service Community Marketing Platform & Apps
10+ Years as
Trusted Partner
Scalable
Boutique
Client Track
Record
Industry
Experts
Bench
Strength
Time To
Value
3000+ENGAGEMENTS
500+CLIENTS
240
TOTAL
CERTIFICATIONS
Lightning
LIGHTNING
CERTIFIED & ACCREDITEDCUSTOMER
SAT RATING
9.76/10
8. 8
The Need for a New Community
Vlocity’s original community
was built on VisualForce
without the advantages of the
Salesforce Lightning
templates:
• Easy development
• Easy maintenance
• Modern look and feel
• Ability to easily include new
features such as Groups,
Answers, and a leaderboard
• Scalability Pictured: Old VisualForce Community
9. 9
Goals for a New Community
Goals:
• One portal for all client- and partner-
facing resources, including:
– Documentation
– Knowledge Base
– Vlocity University
– Process Library
• Federated search across all
repositories
• SSO to Vlocity University
• Improved case deflection informed by
all of the relevant content on the
Community
• Best-in-class, engaging experience
with enhanced collaboration features
including Groups, Ideas, Answers,
Knowledge Base
10. 10
All About User
Experience
First, look at who is using the community,
then make it functional for them
• Modern/clean design on the latest
technology Salesforce has to offer
• Created the ability to find answers on
their own (self-help)
• Designed to increase user adoption
• Built for more community involvement
14. 14
Encourages Self-help
and Case Deflection
• Part of case deflection is allowing users
to easily self-help
• Support cases with Vlocity's OmniScript
• Save time and money with case
deflection
15. 15
Scaling with a Solid Foundation
• Starting with a great foundation enables Vlocity to
expand its community functionality and presence
• Salesforce Lightning Communities have consistent
updates every quarter
Examples for future expansion:
• Audience-specific content and pages are very powerful
• Easy to create new pages
• Easier to adapt/transform pages and layouts with the
community builder
16. 16
Vlocity's Information Design
Vlocity's core content is designed to be as complementary as possible.
Documentation
• Describes how the product is
intended to function
• Mostly reference information
• Includes user guides, developer
docs, release notes, etc.
Training
• Designed to get users up and
running as quickly as possible
• Includes eLearning and
instructor-led training
Knowledge Base
• Knowledge, mostly from Support
• Includes case solutions,
troubleshooting information, best
practices, tips
17. 17
Content for the Community
Vlocity’s goal is to give customers and
partners access to as much relevant
content as possible, when and where they
need it.
Core content produced by Vlocity:
• Documentation
• Vlocity University
• Knowledge Base
Software:
• Vlocity Process Library
18. 18
Content for the Community
Contributions from the community:
• Groups: special interests and topics
• Answers: Q&A forum
• Ideas: product enhancements and new
features
Vlocity employees can also:
• Create and join Groups
• Participate in the Answers channel
• Respond to Ideas
19. 19
Content Challenges
Harnessing the universe of relevant
internal content
Challenge:
Vlocity has useful content in many internal repositories
Solution:
Short of mining information, solicit relevant content
and acknowledge employees when they provide it
20. 20
Content Challenges
Gathering content from the Community
Challenge:
How can we gather useful content from our customers
and partners?
Solutions:
• Offer engaging channels that complement each
other (e.g., Answers, Groups, Ideas)
• Implement leaderboards and other forms of
gamification
21. 21
Content Challenges
Curating content
Challenge:
Vlocity has three releases per year across
most verticals
Solutions:
• If your company supports multiple
releases, you may need to develop
processes, or find technologies, that
manage versioning
• Use collaboration features where you
can to capture user feedback
22. 22
Content is King!
Remember:
• Keep it relevant
• Keep it fresh
• Keep it current
Solicit content from the experts and, as
appropriate, acknowledge them for their
contributions and expertise:
• Employees
• Customers
• Partners
23. 23
Measuring Success
Early statistical trends look very positive:
• Case deflection has been trending up, on average, about 50% over prior months
• Vlocity’s had lots of visitors! (Nov 12, 2018-Jan 9, 2019)
24. 24
Measuring Success: Content
Most popular content:
• Process Library
• Documentation
• Knowledge Base
Organic collaboration:
• 16 Groups formed
• 18 Ideas submitted
25. 25
Q&A
Stewart Florsheim
VP, Content Enablement
Vlocity | Industry Cloud Apps
E: sflorsheim@vlocity.com
linkedin.com/in/stewartflorsheim
vlocity.com
Andrew Smith
Solution Architect, UI/UX Designer
Perficient
E: andrew.smith@perficient.com
linkedin.com/in/andrewsmithsalesforce
Perficient.com NASDAQ: PRFT