A customer community is where customers gather to share ideas, advice, experiences and feelings. Customer communities allow the organization that host the community to “listen” to the groups talk about their industry, brand, products, and competitors. Customer-focused organizations create these communities to gain deep insight into their customers’ interests, decisions, and needs. Customer-focused companies listen to their customers to ensure their “voice” is represented into every major business decision.
These online communities are changing the way marketers learn from customers. When done right, these communities become an invaluable resource for testing ideas, generating feedback, and exploring customers’ mindsets. Online customer communities can help companies connect with their customers to capture marketing insights and build brand advocates.
Organizations that listen to the voice of their customer community can uncover product and service ideas, accelerate decision-making, discover new ways to out-market the competition, avoid potentially big marketing and product mistakes, and build great customer relationships along the way.