What is the definition of a customer community? (+Examples) |

Relationships with customers that only one way are the norm today. The greatest brands of our present don't simply talk with their clients. They interact with them and establish real relationships. This is where a community is born.

In this piece in this article, we'll discuss about the definition of customer-centric community, based on academic research to show the features that make customer-centric communities unique. We'll share the benefits of having a community that supports customers and provide examples of relationships between communities.

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What exactly is a community?

A customer community can be described as a dedicated area that facilitates the connection between a brand or company with its customers. The community can provide questions and answers, and also knowledge exchange, educational opportunities for customers, promotion opportunities, or even customer assistance and feedback. It is constructed in different ways, such as through the use of email or a website, social media, or an online community.

The key word is RELATED. A good customer community isn't just locations for brands to deliver sales pitch. In the words of an old saying, consumers want to do business with people they "know know, trust and are able to trust" which is what customer communities do very well. It gives customers the chance to increase the confidence of clients to increase.

Customer communities are theoretically described by examining what's known as " Social Identity Theory :" when people become an integral part of any social group, including great customer groups, they have an identity of belonging, motivation in themselves, and self-worth.

Below are some incredible examples of what communities, being enterprises, community groups for free or paid brand communities-can do...

• The non-profit group has enlisted the ranks of 9,000 National members.
  
• The religious community has grown to 470 people from more than 67 countries.
  
• An entrepreneurship org. was launched with a target of 5,000 and recouped its investments in a mobile app that connects clients in 2 and one-half weeks.
  
• Health-focused launches to 100 premium members, which increased the ARR by $40,000.
  
• The community is launching an additional 13-week course which increased income by $100k in only two months.
  
• One financial community to be used for personal purposes made $130k in only five days using their most recent program.
  
• One social impact SAAS firm integrated a community of users app as well as their regular conference and experienced a 70% rise in engagement and contributions.
  

What's a customer-centric community?

The theory behind community-building helps us see the reasons why they do not belong to your email lists or on Facebook groups. For you to reap the benefits of community below it must contain at minimum, members who believe they are part of the group.

To put this into perspective, here are some of the things that a community of customers does not include:

• An email list
  
• The amount of social media users you follow
  
• The members of your Facebook group
  
• Amount of people who viewed the latest post
  
• The people calling the customer service line
  
• Chatbots are users of chatbots.
  

Since we've discovered that the most important ingredient of the customer's community is to feel a part of it and belonging It's easy to see the reason why these aren't customers' community. All of these interactions have to do with your company, but they're not linked to the feeling of being part of it.

The closest thing we could get is the form of a Facebook Group however, the group we see lacking the sense of belonging and brand loyalty. It's not possible to use Facebook for the type of dynamic relationships and user-led engagement that grows a real brand-related community.

Why you should build a community of customers

 The benefits of an online community for users

Access member-led development

A new generation of highly-effective companies based on the idea of membership communities. Communities are in fact extremely effective that McKinsey identified it as the perfect business model that will be the norm in the near future. community flywheel.

The last few years have seen a rise of businesses that are led by customers and members of the communities. If they're paid, they're able to provide amazing opportunities to earn recurring income. However, the community leaves development to the control by an automated system.

The expression "community" has been used to describe it as "a business that is expanding its own size," due to the nature of community-generated content, excitement created by the members, as well as AI-powered tools to simplify the management of your group makes it simpler than it's ever been to establish the human connections that will drive your company.

This is why companies like Logo, Apple, and Nike have all benefited from the power of social media, resulting in enormous increases. (See the following examples. )

Don't think about funnels. There is nothing more effective than a group of customers to improve your business's image by autopilot.

Enhance brand loyalty

The study of 2022 found that communities with strong brands are able to have significant effects on how loyal customers feel towards brands as communities become an essential part of the persona of the individual. The close connection between social identity and the loyalty of brands is a deliberate process that can influence perception of value and customer's satisfaction with the brands.

Turning customers, clients or even followers members is something that you should take seriously. In contrast to relationship types, members belong.

And belonging instead of buying is the primary goal in establishing a flywheel for the community.

Improve CLV

We're aware that customer life-time value (CLV) is influenced by retention. Yet, only a small percentage of companies are able to achieve this. According to a study, SurveySparrow found that the brands with the highest success had 94% retention, even though retention was just 4 percent for certain industries.

Although brand loyalty is an important thing as a whole, however it could also contribute to an increase in the value of your life. It's a simple fact since the retention of customers and the buyers with members, will boost the value of your brand in a manner that's unlike any other.

It makes selling easy.

A thing discovered in the study of flywheels within the community revealed was that negotiating can be made much easier when you have the support of a crowd.

The traditional sales funnel will direct every lead you can get through sales but then losing them until you reach the small percentage of leads that you can buy.

In a community of customers there is no need to take this step. The majority people who are your "leads" are always friendly, and until they choose to move out of your network it will remain within the community, regardless of whether they're ready to make a purchase now or otherwise.

This results in a hugely rich sales environment that does not require that you rely on pressure or unrealistic deadlines. Simply keep cultivating the relationship and delivering the value. Your outcomes and be inspired every time you're trying to sell an item. Certain communities in our community inform there are members who are looking for objects to purchase.

Then we come back to...

Receive the most comprehensive feedback

Feedback from customers is essential. However, HubSpot's research team has found that 42% of businesses aren't asking their customers for feedback, or take comments!

If there was a better way to collect feedback than sending out questionnaires and hoping to receive some response?

The customer community. We spoke to Oiselle Volee, a women's clothing company about their community of loyal customers, they revealed to us something remarkable. The Oiselle customer community was providing its members with a place to meet. But it also served as the opportunity to provide feedback for the development of products. They could get instant feedback about their product concepts along with new product ideas. There were also customers who asked for items they'd never ever thought about.

Customer service should be on autopilot

This article has included Apple as a great customer-centric company in the following. Apple utilizes their community of users to provide customer support as well as gamifies the entire process so that only the best Apple customers join for no cost and can provide answers without cost!

This is a great way to bring trust in the brand and allows customers to transfer the feeling of belonging that members are feeling in the company to become effective, which will bring customer service to live.

Instead of dialing a 1 800 number or waiting on chatbots to answer, users can may get answers to their queries through the forums. That's powerful.

Transforms are possible

A majority of consumers purchase a product and/or services because they want to do something. Most often, it's a transformation that is or is of a certain kind, for example you want to clean the kitchen (i.e. oven cleaning) or lose 10 pounds (ie. operating equipment) or build the perfect garden (i.e. an article on gardening) and to enjoy weekends in the backyard with their family (i.e. barbecue ).

Yet, just because a person purchase an outdoor tent does not mean they know how to get it working. It's the place where a strong, customer-oriented community is available. If you're able to go further than the sales, and support the customers to succeed using your product or service are offering, you'll soon find rave supporters who'll share information about your business to friends and acquaintances. A group of customers isn't simply to increase sales. It's about assisting customers to succeed.

There's more! Active customers will provide valuable comments on your products and services. The feedback you receive could require customers to buy.

In light of these advantages, a user-friendly community can be a huge benefit. What are you waiting to start?

     Learn to use it to create a vibrant customer base on this page!

Harness real engagement

If your idea of engagement with customers is that your posts on social media get 15 likes, you're playing the wrong game. Customer communities are the best way to achieve real engagement with customers, and to build relationships with your customers. Remember it was said earlier that the purpose is to encourage customers to be an active member.

It's amazing when you put an end to the sluggish pace of content driven social media and create real interaction that people enjoy.

8 fantastic examples of customer communities

1. Topstitch Makers

Some incredible examples of community-based customer services available in this article . Take a look at Leigh Metcalf, who built the Mighty Network (AKA a "sewcial network") in the context of her company that sells fabric and sewing: Topstitch Studio and Lounge. The company's Mighty Network, Topstitch Makers is a place to learn and host weekly sewalongs to assist members in sewing and achieve success.

2. Duolingo

Duolingo is an app that has made learning languages enjoyable as well as easy and much free (freemium)! Behind the scenes, Duolingo has a dedicated group of volunteers that dedicates their lives to assisting customers with their needs in the language as well as improving the quality of the.

In line with the idea that EVERYONE should have access to languages, these zealous polyglots are also willing to give their time and efforts to add more languages and programming on the site!

3. Oiselle

Oiselle is a woman-centric business that aims to go over and above offering products, and help its customers to connect with fellow runners. It has developed a Mighty Network, Oiselle Volee which is built around the pleasure of exercise. At first, it was just an opportunity to connect with runners, however, the spread of the disease has expanded what the Oiselle community can offer; now its members of 4000 can have an environment to connect by engaging in real-time conversations as well as thriving virtual occasions.

4. Lego

Lego is a multi-billion dollar brand beloved by kids for its amazing building potential and the fact that their parents refer to it as a tiny landmine that causes discomfort when you step on their surface.

Just kidding!

In reality, Lego is loved around all over the world by children and adults alike as well, and an assortment of passionate builders provide their views about the Lego community of users. Members can vote on which fan builds should get the seal of approval as authentic Lego kits!

5. Peloton

Peloton became popular in the midst of the epidemic when everyone wanted to work out in the walls of our house. They built a strong group of customers who are interested in exercise. Members can exchange scores, chat via video between sessions and support each other in the Peloton Facebook page.

6. Adobe

Adobe products focus on making videos, photos and also music. They're standards for the industry. Ask anyone who's employed an Adobe products, they'll inform you that they're not easy to learn.

The Adobe customer community offers a forum for users to share their concerns and suggestions as well as suggestions to make the most of their software. Adobe's motto "Come for help and get inspired" pretty much sums the company's philosophy. It starts with helping users learn about their software and take clients on a quest to becoming experts in their field.

7. Apple

Apple has built a thriving user base, and also acts as a support platform. The company has also gamified their experience in order to make sure that their users get more points and are allowed more modes of community management as they climb. The users who reach the higher levels are also granted access to an exclusive community.

If you're contemplating this, gamifying your customer service to ensure that customers are willing to assist each other is a great way to use an online community for customers.

8. Shopify

If you're looking to be part of a an amazing customer-focused community in motion Look no further than Shopify. Because Shopify aids their clients with developing stores for selling their products and goods The Shopify community is committed to offering training and education as well as answering questions as well as hosting live events.

Ready to build your own customer base?

If your community-based customer is free to join or a the community is based or pays for a membership that brings additional income, you should create it with Mighty!

Mighty connects the best of courses, content as well as community, commerce and. Our communities are customizable and enable you to create a community of users that is unlike any other. There are discussions, chat and livestreaming, courses or live events, and much more (if you want). You can choose those features that you would like to use (and turn off all the others). ).

Mighty gives you a suite of member-management tools to make it easy to run the community, and our AI community-engine-Mighty Co-Host(tm)-automates things like member profiles, landing pages, course outlines, and even discussion questions. It's significantly easier to establish a vibrant customer-centric community in only a few hours of time per week.

The app comes with Mighty Pro it is G2's most well-known community software, an application that is yours to manage and control. You own the app in both the App Store as well as the Google Play Store. Furthermore, when building using Mighty Pro, you'll work with our team of Account Managers and Community Strategists who have grown 7-figure creator brands and 8+-figure subscription businesses.

Call us now and we'll explain how we build.

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