Press Releases
For Immediate Release
Control private online community less for better customer insights
Watertown, MA - June 11, 2007
Companies win when customers drive the conversation in private online communities, says new Communispace research
The less companies try to control the activities in their private online communities - and the easier they make it for customers to interact and initiate dialogue - the more vibrant and valuable the community will be for both the brand and customers, according to new research released today by Communispace.
The research, which analyzed activity in 84 private, branded online communities, suggests that companies’ interests are best served when they enable customer-to-customer dialogue and activities, but don’t try to control or limit them. These customer-initiated conversations yield valuable marketing insights and customer engagement with the brand, according to the study titled “Beyond the ‘Other’ Box: Giving Customers an Independent Voice in Your Community.”
The study found that those communities with a higher percentage of activities initiated by members (vs. the company) had greater overall participation in terms of participation rates, volume of contributions and frequency of activity. Specific findings include:
When customers initiate the conversation they say more and contribute more often over time. On average, members generated nearly half (44.1%) of all activities on the online community sites, with individual communities ranging from 4% to 82% member-initiated content. These “ownership” rates, as evidenced by members initiating and directing many-to-many conversations, were found to be positively correlated with weekly member participation rates, number of weekly contributions per contributor, and the percentage of active weeks a member contributes during their tenure in the community. In other words, a higher percentage of members are visiting more often and saying more in communities that have a good mix of customer voices and topics.
The more people “own” the community, the more they talk with the sponsoring company. People in high-ownership communities engage more with the company sponsoring the community. For example, a financial services community with a 58.9% ownership rate averages 78.7 contributions per client-generated activity, while a comparable community with 38.9% ownership averages only 56.6 contributions per client-generated activity. Even in relatively “high-ownership” communities, the majority of contributions still go to company-sponsored activities, e.g., asking members to take polls, brainstorm ideas, share journals or report on shopping experiences. The mere presence of multiple voices seems to promote overall community participation.
Implications
These study findings suggest some important implications for companies looking to create online consumer communities:
By allowing members to engage with each other in the context of a brand, they will engage more with the brand itself.
Not limiting conversations to topics determined by the sponsoring company allows “outside-the-box” ideas to come to light – ones that might otherwise be overlooked.
The more member-initiated conversations, the more likely that community discussions will stay relevant and engaging without facilitators having to predict what topics will be of interest to members.
Ensuring that members can make their voices heard independent of the sponsor’s agenda and making the dialogue truly reciprocal may also help members feel valued and listened to, and thus promote participation.
For a copy of the study, please go to http://www.communispace.com/3_news/perspectives.asp
About Communispace
Communispace Corporation, headquartered in Watertown, Massachusetts, is a leading social networking firm that specializes in creating online communities used by major corporations to build long-term relationships with customers. The company builds, manages and facilitates private branded communities that deliver the voice of the customer and enable businesses to generate continuous insights, drive faster innovation, and build loyalty. Founded in 1999, Communispace has created more than 250 online customer communities for industry leaders including: Kraft, Hewlett-Packard, Charles Schwab, Hallmark, Unilever, GlaxoSmithKline, Hilton Hotels, General Mills, PepsiCo, Capital One and many more.
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To talk more about these ideas:
Janet Swaysland
Foghound
617.549.9366
jswaysland@foghound.com
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