Deeper Insights Through Intelligent Community Engagement

Liam Hughes Dan Fleetwood

President, QuestionPro Communities Founder, Biggerplate.com

#CommunityInsights

Benefits of an Engaged Community

Get your research done quicker

Save money/budget

Uncover unparalleled insight

Increased confidence research results

Brand promotion

Greater participation

What’s on the agenda today?

❏ Getting members to join

❏ Increasing levels of engagement and participation

❏ Sustaining member participation over time

❏ Tips for not only engagement but meaningful engagement

❏ Measuring engagement effectively

❏ Deepers insights achieved through engagement

On the agenda: Biggerplate Perspectives

● Working with limited resources (people, time, money)

● Value of community: Sense & Respond

● What we got wrong/right

● Lessons learned

● Recommendations

Getting Members to Join

Ways to get members

❏ Customer list ❏ Social media ❏ Website recruitment ❏ Word of mouth❏ Third party recruitment ❏ Adwords/marketing/SEO

New Members Need to Feel Welcome

❏ Have a personal welcome message

❏ Embrace a new members/FAQ section on the member portal

❏ Clearly explain the purpose of the community

❏ Have clear expectations (very important)

❏ Get them involved in an activate from the start

Biggerplate: What we got wrong

● Clear proposition

● Ignored search

● Taking people by the hand

● Lack of something ‘saleable’

● Underestimating time for social media

Biggerplate: What we got right(ish)

❏ Community tone/personality❏ Customer list and email marketing❏ Social media choices (platforms with purpose)

Biggerplate: Lessons Learned● Clear proposition

○ Why you exist○ Why they should join○ Benefits over features

● Welcome process○ “Plan for gran”○ Assume nothing is clear○ Articulate next step (engagement action)

Biggerplate: Lessons Learned● Search

○ Think/write in keywords○ FAQ has search value○ Link building = community building

● Social media○ Start small○ Choose wisely○ Plan for silence

Biggerplate: Lessons Learned

● Customer list/email marketing

○ Quality over quantity (data cleansing)

○ A/B Message testing

○ Segmentation & targeting

Increasing Engagement

Engagement Meter

❏ Engagement meter/module

❏ Gamification and levels to excite members

❏ ‘Rookie’ to ‘All Star’ level

❏ Need to complete activities each week to stay on track

❏ Email triggers and prompts

Clear Communication and Messaging

❏ CLEAR MESSAGING

❏ In ALL communication with members, communication needs to be

clear, concise, and consistent. Remember the three C’s!

❏ Emails, announcements, invites, all should help foster and promote

the overall message and sense of engagement in your community.

5 Points to Boost Engagement

❏ Have a clear and well thought out point system

❏ Make sure rewards match the makeup of the community

❏ Have regular surveys and activities at scheduled times

❏ Get members to invite friends to the community

❏ Create a sense of pride and exclusivity

Biggerplate: What we got wrong

● Trying to get engagement from everyone

● Over designing/planning/complicating

● Slow to explore technical solutions (that scale)

Biggerplate: What we got right(ish)

● Defining OUR engagement action(s)

● Brand tone and authenticity

● Community of peers/practitioners

Biggerplate: Lessons Learned

● Define your engagement actions● Accept the realities

○ Rule #1 - You’re not as interesting as you think○ Users Give vs Take○ User life cycles

● Engage the engaged● Test and learn quick/cheap

Sustaining Member Participation

Member Stages - ‘Promoters’ are Key

Need to convert members into ‘Promoters’

New Members Participants Active Members Promoters >> >> >>

Keys for Continued Engagement

❏ Members are drawn to incentives - both intrinsic and extrinsic

❏ Refer a friend program

❏ Don’t be afraid to block troublemakers

❏ Gamification

Biggerplate: Lessons Learned

● Content drives community (yours and theirs)● Hero the customer● Get to know your promoters/advocates● Public praise and recognition● Showcase their expertise, not yours

Tips for Meaningful Engagement

Your members are people too, right?

❏ Remember that members are the lifeblood of your community.

❏ See what motivates them, if things are becoming stagnate, change

things up.

❏ Follow up and respond to their questions

You’re in the Driver’s Seat

❏ Ask good questions

❏ Give them plenty of opportunities

❏ A sense of fulfillment goes a long way

❏ Emphasize the value and importance of the community

Biggerplate: What we got wrong

● Cost of “yes” and the need to please

● Designing/building for very small segments

● Understanding advocates, evangelists, ambassadors, etc...

Biggerplate: What we got right(ish)● Membership ethos

● Connecting up others

● A crusade/cause mindset

● Consistency in tone/personality

● Offline activities

○ Biggerplate Unplugged (practitioner conference)

○ Brunch Club (customer forums)

Biggerplate: Lessons Learned

● Go to the jungle● It’s not all about you

○ Connect others, and get out of the way○ Not all engagement is on your turf

● What’s the cause/crusade you share?● Balance: Customer is not always right/telling truth!

Measuring Engagement

Many Ways to Measure, What’s Effective?

❏ Response rates on surveys

❏ Engagement rating

❏ Number of responses to a post

❏ Amount of new members joining

❏ Quality of responses and member input

Biggerplate: What we got wrong

● Vanity metrics● Lost in our own measurement● Linking ‘likes’ to business value● Not reviewing and adapting

(Measurement engagement is where we’re trying to improve the most)

Biggerplate: What we got right(ish)

● A meaningful Profit/ metric linked to purpose

● Annual Industry Survey

● Qualitative “measurement” - open ended questions

Biggerplate: Lessons Learned● Beware of vanity metrics● Find the metrics that matter● Own your niche, and provide the benchmarks● Routines and rhythms for review● Link to something commercial:

e.g. Buy our elearning with code QUESTIONPRO and save 50%(see… we’re learning)

Deeper Insights Achieved

We Want Insights, Yes We Do!

❏ Communities with high engagement, experience shorter field times and more cost effective research - 10x faster, and 4x cheaper.

❏ More engaged community get a higher number of responses to both surveys and other modules like Topics/Posts and Ideation. This leads to more ideas and more insights harvested.

❏ Results from a higher number members each time, means your results are distributed and diverse. Reduces bias.

Biggerplate: Lessons Learned

● Sense and respond○ Community = radar○ Community can validate/invalidate ideas/initiatives○ You must be in the right places to listen, with the means to

respond● Community insights have value

○ For your team/business○ For others who need it (BB

● Find the cause/crusade within your community○ Be the leader and connector

questionpro.com/communities

@questionpro

communities@questionpro.comDan Fleetwood

dan.fleetwood@questionpro.com

Liam Hughesliam@biggerplate.com