13 Highlights on the Latest

Trends in Online Communities

Market Survey e-Book

September 2014

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

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

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

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%

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.

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

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%

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.

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%

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.

HIGHLIGHT #10 Marketers use community to

help drive SEO

12

Use their community to

create content that drives

organic search traffic.

74%

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.

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

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%

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

Appendix

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

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

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 technologyConsumer goods

EducationNon-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