In recent years the real shift for businesses who want to remain successful is how they deal with the change that the internet has brought to their customer community.
The online world has changed what businesses need to do to maintain relationships with their customers as well as the expectations customers have of how, when and where businesses they deal with fit into their daily lives.
There is a real difference between an online community and a social network. Communities work together to support one another and solve problems. Social networks are as the name suggests, just networks of businesses and customers.
A successful community involves customers and convinces them that there is a real benefit in participating e.g. as early as 2008 Starbucks recognised the importance of the online connection with their customers and crowd-sourced idea and product innovation through their online community portal Mystarbucksidea where they asked customers to share ideas with them on ‘what would make your Starbucks experience perfect’?
Another great example of this is Dell’s ideastorm – launched in 2007 Dell has received thousands of customer contributions and ideas for their products – customers are part of the solutions they want to buy.
At Enhance we have developed a number of unique strategies for delivering tailored online communities for businesses. It is this approach that sets us and can set you apart. We spend the time to understand your needs and your customers’ needs and then we work in partnership with you to deliver a solution which allows you to work within a community with your customers and solve real customer needs.
Talk to us today and we’ll help you set your company apart by understanding the advantages of online customer communities that really work.
