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.

1. 13 Highlights on the Latest Trends in Online Communities
Market Survey e-Book September 2014

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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%

6. 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.

7. 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

8. 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%

9. 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.

10. 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%

11. 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.

12. HIGHLIGHT #10
Marketers use community to help drive SEO
12
Use their community to create content that drives organic search traffic.
74%

13. 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.

14. 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

15. 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%

16. 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

17. Appendix

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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 technology
Consumer goods
Education
Non-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