What is a Customer Community? (+Examples) |

Relationships with customers that only one way are the norm in 2005. The greatest brands of our times don't simply talk to their customers. They engage with them and build lasting connections. That's the point where customer communities come into.

In this piece, we'll define customer community, based on the latest research in academia to explain what makes a customer community unique. We'll discuss the advantages of a customer support community as well as provide instances of community relationships.

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What exactly is a community?

A Customer community is an exclusive space that hosts a relationship between a brand or company and their customers. It allows for customer inquiries and responses, information exchange, customer education or promotions, as well as product support and feedback. This relationship could be built through a variety of ways, such as like the use of email, a website and social media or a dedicated online forum.

The important word in this context is RELATED. Good customer communities aren't just places for brands to throw advertisements. The old saying is that customers want to conduct business with people they "know are like and trust" which is exactly what customer communities do best. It creates the space for the trust of customers to increase.

Customer communities are theoretically described as digging into what's called " Social Identity Theory :" when people become part of any group, including excellent customer groups-they experience an identity, purpose, self-worth, and sense of identity.

Here are a few incredible examples of what communities, be they free, enterprise communities or paid brand communities-can do...

• A non-profit organization has joined 9,000 national members.        
  
• The faith-based community has expanded to 470 leaders spread across the 67 nations.        
  
• An entrepreneurship org. launched to 5,000 members and recouped their investments in a mobile app that connects customers in just 2 1/2 weeks.      
  
• A health-focused launch to 100 members with high-tickets added $40,000 in ARR.        
  
• A community has launched a 13-week add-on course and brought in an additional $100k of revenues in only two months.        
  
• One personal finance community made $130K in just five days, using their most recent course.        
  
• One social impact SAAS company incorporated a community-based customer application with regular meetings and experienced a 70% rise in engagement and contributions.        
  

What a customer community does NOT

The theoretical basis for community-building helps us understand the reasons why they do not belong on your email list or your Facebook page. In order to tap into the benefits of community below there must be at the very least members that are comfortable and feel they belong.

With this in mind Here are some of the things that a community of customers does not include:

• An email list        
  
• The amount of followers on social media you've got        
  
• The members of your Facebook group        
  
• The amount of comments for your latest post        
  
• The number that is used by the people who call your customer service number        
  
• Chatbots users        
  

Since we discovered that the core of customer community is being a part of it and belonging, it's clear that these interactions aren't part of a customers' community. They are all interactions with your company, however they're not able to convey a sense of belonging.

The closest thing to this could be an Facebook groups , but even here we find very lack of brand connection and belonging. It's difficult to make use of Facebook to build the kind of dynamic relationships and user-driven engagement that grows a real brand community.

The reason you should create a community of customers

    The benefits of a user community

Member-led development

The new wave of businesses with high impact built on community membership. Indeed, communities are so powerful a business McKinsey has identified it as the ideal strategy for business in the year 2020 that is a flywheel of community.

We've witnessed the growth of member-led growth businesses-including customer communities. When they are paid for, they could generate incredible revenue streams through recurring transactions. However, the community can also put development in the hands of an autopilot.

It's been referred to as community as "a business that grows by itself" because the combination of content created by members, the excitement driven by members, and AI-powered tools that simplify community management makes it's much easier than ever before to establish the human connections that drive your business.

It's the secret that the big brands such as Logo, Apple, and Nike use all of these strategies, leading to massive gains. (See the below examples. )

Don't think about funnels. There's nothing like a customer group to help grow your brand on autopilot.

Enhance the brand's loyalty

A 2022 study argued that thriving brand communities are able to have a significant impact on brand loyalty-because the brand community becomes an important aspect of a person's identity. Actually, the strong connection between social identity and brand loyalty can be created intentionally and influences perceived value as well as customer satisfaction.

Making customers, clients, or even followers into members is something you should not take lightly. In contrast to all those relationship types, members belong.

And belonging instead of buying is the most important aspect of establishing a flywheel for community.

Increase CLV

It is well-known that the customer's lifetime value (CLV) is influenced by retention, but very few brands get it right. In a study, SurveySparrow found that the top brands had a nearly 94% retention rate, even though retention rates were as low as 4 percent in certain sectors.

Although brand loyalty is valuable as a whole however, it can also lead into increasing your customer lifetime value. This should be a given as retention and connections-again by converting buyers into members can grow your CLV like nothing other thing.

makes selling easy.

One of the things which was discovered in the research of community flywheels demonstrated was that selling can be made radically more simple with a community.

The standard sales funnel focuses on pushing all of your prospects through the sales process but then losing them until you reach the tiny portion that buys.

In a community of customers it's not necessary to do this. Virtually all members of the "leads" are always friendly, and until they quit the community they'll remain in your community whether they're ready to buy at this point or otherwise.

The result is an unbelievably wealthy sales environment, where you don't need to rely on pressure or fake deadlines Keep nurturing and giving value and watch the amazing results when you go to sell something. Some of our communities inform us that they even have people who want to know what they can purchase.

Then we come back to...

Receive the most comprehensive feedback

Feedback from customers is essential. However, HubSpot's research team discovered that 42% of companies do not survey their customers, or take feedback!

If there was a better way to collect feedback, rather than sending out questionnaires and expecting a response?

Meet the community of customers. We spoke to women's clothing label Oiselle Volee about their customer base we heard that they had something truly amazing. The Oiselle customer group offered members an area to connect with. It also provided an important feedback loop for the development of products. They could get instant feedback on product ideas, new products, and there were customers who requested items they had not even thought of.

Customer service should be on autopilot

We've pointed out Apple as a cool customer community example below. Apple uses their customer community for customer service and also gamifies the whole procedure so that only the most committed Apple users can join the community at no cost and provide answers at no cost!

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

Instead of calling a 1-800 number or waiting for chatbots, users can get their questions answered through the forum. That's powerful.

Let transformations take place

People buy a product or service because they want something. Most often, the thing they want involves a change in some way, be it you want to clean your kitchen (i.e. oven cleaner) for example, or losing 10lbs (ie. running gear), to have an ideal garden (i.e. a gardening magazine) as well as to enjoy weekends in the backyard with their loved ones (i.e. grilling out). ).

But just because someone buys the tent does not mean they know how to camp. This is where the importance of a customer base comes into. If you're able to go further than the purchase, and make sure that the customers to succeed using your service or product and you'll have enthusiastic supporters who'll share the news with others about your company. In short, a community of customers isn't just to sell more. It's about helping clients succeed.

There's more! A vibrant customer-based community can also give you useful feedback on your product and services. Feedback that could otherwise require you pay for.

Because of these and other reasons having a user community can be a huge benefit. Why are you sitting around to do?

    Learn how to make use of it to build a vibrant customer community on this page!

Harness real engagement

If your concept of engagement with customers is to hope the posts you post on social media will receive 15 likes, then you're in the wrong ballgame. The customer community is a way to create real customer engagement, real relations with clients- and remember it was said earlier that the aim is for the customer to become part of the community.

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

8 awesome examples of communities for customers

1. Topstitch Makers

Some amazing examples of customer communities from here on . Take a look at Leigh Metcalf, who built the Mighty Network (AKA a "sewcial network") to serve as an expansion of her fabric and sewing business, Topstitch Studio and Lounge. The company's Mighty Network, Topstitch Makers provides classes and regular sewalongs, which help participants to stitch their way to success.

2. Duolingo

Duolingo is the app which has made language learning enjoyable simple, quick, and very affordable (freemium)! And behind the scenes, Duolingo has a dedicated volunteers who dedicate themselves to answering user language questions as well as improving the experience.

Sold on the idea that EVERYONE should have access to the language of learning, these enthusiastic polyglots also offer their time and energy to integrate different languages and new modules on the site!

3. Oiselle

Oiselle is a women's clothing brand for runners that wants to go above and beyond selling items and to help customers connect and learn from others. They've built their own Mighty Network, Oiselle Volee built around the love of exercising. It was initially an opportunity to connect with runners, but the pandemic expanded what it was that the Oiselle community can do; it's 4000 members who can access a place to belong by engaging in real-time conversations as well as thriving online events.

4. Lego

Lego can be described as a multibillion-dollar brand. It is a favorite among children for its incredible building capabilities and known by parents as little landmines that cause pain when you step on them.

Just kidding!

Actually, Lego is loved around all over the world by children and adults alike, and a collection of devoted builders offer their thoughts on the Lego user community. Members can even decide which of their fan-built models are worthy of stamping approbation to make genuine Lego kits!

5. Peloton

Peloton became famous as the outbreak spread and everyone was striving to get fit in our living rooms. Peloton created a thriving customer community around exercise. Users can swap scores, chat via video during their sessions, and also encourage one another on the Peloton Facebook group.

6. Adobe

Adobe products are devoted to creating: photos, videos music, photos, and much more. They're industry standards. But ask anyone who's ever had the pleasure of using one of the Adobe product, and they'll tell you that they're difficult to understand.

The Adobe customer community allows users to discuss questions and solutions along with tips for making the most of their software. The company's slogan "Come for help, be encouraged," pretty much sums the way they work. It starts by helping users discover their applications, and then takes the user on a path to learning how to master their craft.

7. Apple

Apple has created a vibrant customer community that serves as a support platform. They've even gamified the experience so that contributors get more points and are allowed more modes of community management in the higher levels they climb. Users who get to the top levels also get access to a private community.

If you're thinking it, gamifying your customer experience so that customers are willing to provide the other with help is an excellent way to make use of customer communities.

8. Shopify

To experience an amazing customer support community in action take a look at Shopify. Because Shopify allows their customers to build shops to market their products and products, the Shopify community has a strong commitment to providing training and knowledge-building as well as answering questions and 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 an e-mail subscription to bring an extra income, come build with Mighty!

Mighty brings together courses, content, community, and commerce. Our flexible Spaces let you build a customer community unlike any other. We mix with chat, discussions, messaging, livestreaming, classes, live events and more (if you'd like). You can choose the features you want (and switch off the rest). ).

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 much easier to build a thriving customer community with only a few hours of work a week.

With Mighty Pro, you get G2's best-rated community software, your own branded app-that's your application on the App Store and Google Play Store. Furthermore, when building using Mighty Pro, you'll work together with our team consisting of Account Managers and Community Strategists who have scaled the size of 7-figure creator brands as well as 8+-figure subscription companies.

Call us now and we'll demonstrate the possibilities of a partnership.