What is a Customer Community? (+Examples) |

Customer relationships that are one-way are a thing of the past in they were in. The most successful brands of our times don't simply talk to their clients, but they interact with them and build lasting relationships. This is the point where customer communities come into the picture.

In this article in this article, we'll talk about the definition of customer-centric community, drawing on studies in the field of academia to highlight what makes a community for customers unique. The article will discuss the benefits of a customer support community and provide community relationship examples.

((toc))

What is a community?

A Customer community is an exclusive area that facilitates a connection between a brand or company and its customers; it could allow questions and answers, as well as knowledge exchange, education for customers or promotional opportunities, or assistance with product or service issues and feedback. It can be constructed by a variety of methods, like the use of email, a website, social media, or an online community.

The important word here is RELATED. Good customer communities aren't just locations for brands to lob marketing pitches. According to the old saying, consumers want to do business with those they "know, like, and trust" which is what customer communities do the best. It allows this trust to grow.

Community of customers can be theoretically understood as digging into what's called " Social Identity Theory :" when people become part of any group, including great customer communities, they feel a sense of belonging, motivation, self-worth and self-worth.

Here are a few stunning examples of the kind of customer communities, be they free, enterprise communities or paid brand communities-can accomplish...

• The non-profit has onboarded 9,900 nationwide members.        
  
• A community of faith has grown to 470 leaders across the 67 nations.        
  
• An entrepreneurship org. launched to 5,000 members and made back their initial capital investment in a community app for customers in 2 1/2 weeks.      
  
• Health-focused launches to 100 members with high-tickets increased the ARR by $40,000.        
  
• One community started a 13-week add-on course and added $100k to income in just two months.        
  
• One personal finance community generated $130K in five days with their latest course.        
  
• A social-impact SAAS company mixed a customer-community application with regular meetings and experienced a 70% growth in participation and engagement.        
  

What is a community of customers does NOT

Understanding the theoretical foundation for community-building helps us understand the reasons why they aren't your email lists or Facebook groups. For you to reap the advantages of a community, you need to have at the very least members that are comfortable and feel they are part of the community.

In this regard, here are some of the things that a community of customers isn't:

• An email list        
  
• The amount of social media followers you have        
  
• Members of your Facebook group        
  
• The amount of likes on your last post        
  
• The number that is used by the people who call your customer service line        
  
• Chatbots users        
  

Since we discovered that the core of customer community is being a part of it, it's easy to see that these interactions aren't part of a customer community. They are all interactions with your company, however they're not connected to the feeling of belonging.

The closest thing here could be an Facebook groups , but even here we find very loose brand attachment and belonging-it's difficult to make use of Facebook for the kind of dynamic relationship and member-led engagement that grows a real brand community.

The reason you should create an online community for customers

    The benefits of a user community

Member-led growth

The new wave of businesses with high impact built on the concept of membership communities. Indeed, communities are an extremely profitable business model that McKinsey recognized it as the ideal strategy for business in the year 2020: a community flywheel.

We've witnessed the growth of growth companies led by members, including customer communities. If they're paid, they're able to generate incredible revenue streams through recurring transactions. However, the community can also put growth in the hands of an autopilot.

The term "community" has been used to describe it as "a business that grows itself," because the combination of content created by members, the excitement driven by members, and AI-powered tools that simplify community management means that it's now easier than ever before to establish the human connections that drive your company.

It's the secret that brands like Logo, Apple, and Nike use all of these strategies which is resulting in massive profits. (See the below examples. )

Do not think of funnels. Nothing is more powerful than a client group to help grow your company's image on autopilot.

Enhance the brand's loyalty

A 2022 study argued that vibrant communities for brands can influence so much on the loyalty of customers to brands because the community can become an integral aspect of a person's identity. Actually, the strong relationship between identity in social settings and loyalty to brands can be created intentionally and influences perceived value as well as brand satisfaction.

Making customers, clients, or followers to members must not do lightly. Unlike all of those relationship types, members belong.

And belonging instead of buying is an essential part of building a community flywheel.

Improve CLV

We are aware that customer life-time value (CLV) is driven through retention, however only a handful of brands achieve it. In a study, SurveySparrow observed that the best brands enjoyed around a 94% retention ratio, despite the fact that retention rates were as low as 4 percent in certain industries.

Though brand loyalty can be valuable by itself however, it can also lead to increasing your lifetime customer value. It's a simple fact, because retention and connection-again changing buyers into members will grow your CLV like nothing other thing.

It makes it easy to sell your.

One of the things which the research of flywheels in community revealed was that selling is radically simpler with a community.

The conventional sales funnel focuses on moving all prospects through the sales process, losing more and more until you reach the tiny percentage that will buy.

In a community of customers there's no need to make this. Most of your "leads" are always warm, and unless they quit the community they'll be part of your network whether they're ready to buy yet or otherwise.

The result is an unbelievably rich environment for sales in which you do not have to rely on pressure or fake deadlines, just keep nurturing the relationship and delivering value. You'll be amazed at your results be awe-inspiring whenever you attempt to sell something. Some of our communities inform them that they have people who want to know what they can buy.

That brings us back to...

Receive the most comprehensive feedback

Customer feedback is vital. However, HubSpot's research team discovered that 42% of companies never survey their customers or take feedback!

Was there were an easier way to gather feedback, rather than sending out surveys and hoping for a response?

The customer community. When we talked to the women's clothing brand-Oiselle Volee-about their customer community, they told us an amazing story. The Oiselle customer base provided members with an environment to be part of. But it was also providing an invaluable feedback loop to the development of products. They could get instant feedback about their product concepts or new products. Sometimes, some customers even requested products that they hadn't thought of.

Set customer service to autopilot

We've highlighted Apple as a cool customer community model below. Apple utilizes their community of customers to provide customer support, and gamifies the whole process so that the most dedicated Apple users can join the community to answer questions for free!

It's a brilliant method of putting trust in the brand and lets them harness the sense of belonging that members are feeling for the brand to something that brings customer service live.

Instead of dialing a 1 800 number, or waiting to be contacted by chatbots, users are able to get answers through the forum. That's powerful.

Make transformations happen

The majority of people purchase a product and/or services because they are looking for to purchase something. The most common thing is a transformation of some sort, whether you want to clean your kitchen (i.e. oven cleaner), to lose 10lbs (ie. running equipment), to have an ideal garden (i.e. a gardening publication) as well as to enjoy Saturdays in the backyard with their family (i.e. grilling out). ).

If someone is buying an outdoor tent doesn't suggest they're able to set up camp. That's where a strong customer community comes in. If you can go beyond the purchase, and make sure that your customers actually succeed with your service or product, you will have raving supporters who'll share the news with them about your business to their acquaintances. The goal of a customer base isn't just about increase sales. It's about helping customers succeed.

There's more! A vibrant customer-based community can offer valuable feedback on your products and services, feedback that would otherwise be required to pay to get.

For these reasons and more, building a customer community makes a ton of sense. What are you wasting time for?

    Learn to utilize it to establish a flourishing customer-based community right here!

Harness real engagement

If your notion of customer engagement is that the posts you post on social media will have 15 people liking them, you're in the wrong ballgame. A customer community can create real customer engagement, real connections with your customers. Remember we mentioned that the aim is for a customer to be a member.

It's amazing when you can get off the content treadmill of social media, and develop genuine engagement, which people love.

8 awesome examples of communities for customers

1. Topstitch Makers

Some amazing examples of customer communities that you can find right here . Look no further than Leigh Metcalf, who built an Mighty Network (AKA a "sewcial network") as an extension of her fabric and sewing business: Topstitch Studio and Lounge. The company's Mighty Network, Topstitch Makers is a place to learn and offer weekly sewalongs to empower members to sew their way to the success they desire.

2. Duolingo

Duolingo is an app which has made language learning enjoyable, easy, and pretty quite affordable (freemium)! Behind the scenes, Duolingo has a dedicated group of volunteers that dedicates themselves to assisting users with their language needs and improving the quality of the application.

Built on the belief that EVERYONE should have access to languages, these zealous polyglots even give their time to bring different languages and new modules on the website!

3. Oiselle

Oiselle is a female-focused running clothing company that wanted to go beyond just selling products and assist its customers to connect with others. They've built an Mighty Network, Oiselle Volee built around the love of exercising. At first, it was just an opportunity to connect with runners, but the spread of the disease has expanded the scope of what it was that the Oiselle community does; now it's 4000 members who can access a community via real conversations, and vibrant virtual events.

4. Lego

Lego can be described as a multibillion-dollar brand. It is a favorite among children for the amazing building potential and known by their parents as landmines that cause pain the moment you step onto them.

Just kidding!

In fact, Lego is loved around all over the world by children as well as adults, and an army of dedicated builders discuss their ideas in the Lego user community. The members can also vote on which fan builds will receive the stamp of approval to become genuine Lego kits!

5. Peloton

Peloton became famous during the pandemic when everyone was trying to exercise in our living rooms. Peloton created a thriving group of customers who are interested in exercise. Participants can share scores, have video chats during their sessions, and support each other in the Peloton Facebook group.

6. Adobe

Adobe products are devoted to creating: photos, videos, music, and more. They're industry standards. However, ask any person who has ever had the pleasure of using one of the Adobe product, and they'll inform you that they're not easy to learn.

The Adobe Customer Community allows users to ask questions and get answers, as well as strategies to get the most out of the software. Their motto "Come to help, get inspired," pretty much sums their approach, which starts with helping clients discover their applications, and takes them on a journey towards learning how to master their craft.

7. Apple

Apple has developed a flourishing customer base that also doubles as a customer support platform. Apple has also gamified their experience so that contributors get more points and are allowed more community moderation features in the higher levels they climb. Users who get to the highest levels also have access to a private community.

If you're contemplating it, using games to improve your customer support such that your customers would want to spend time providing each other with support is an excellent way to make use of customer communities.

8. Shopify

If you want to experience a fantastic customer-centric community that is active take a look at Shopify. Because Shopify allows their customers to build shops to market their products, the Shopify community is committed to providing training and knowledge-building by answering frequently asked questions, as well as even hosting live gatherings.

Are you ready to create your own community of customers?

If your customer-centric community will be a free enterprise or community-based one, or paying for a membership that brings an extra income Come build using Mighty!

Mighty connects courses, content, community, and commerce. Our flexible Spaces let you build a customer community like no other, mixing in discussions, chat & messaging, livestreaming, online events and classes (if you'd like). You can choose the features you want (and turn the rest off ).

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 radically easier to create a thriving customer community with just a couple of hours time per week.

With Mighty Pro You get G2's top-ranked community software on an app that you own and brand. It's your application on the App Store as well as the Google Play Store. Plus, when you build with Mighty Pro, you'll work together with our team comprised of Account Executives and Community Strategists that have built the size of 7-figure creator brands as well as 8+-figure subscription companies.

Book a call to today, and we'll explain the possibilities of a partnership.