Many of the world's best known companies are committed to using
online communities to provide ongoing dialogue with customers on
their needs, motivations and opinions. Online communities enable
companies to respond faster to changing market dynamics and
customer demands through instant access and timely feedback. We
create bespoke online communities for clients that are managed and
moderated by our experienced consulting team.
Our approach differs from that of traditional research agencies,
in that our focus is often on innovation and problem solving.
In line with our co-creation focus, we use online communities to
work with customers to deliver context rich insights, and also
directly solve our clients business issues. We go further than
merely reporting findings, instead identifying implementable
actions and strategies.
We know what comes out of online communities is only good as
what goes in - which is why we place a high degree of value on the
initial scoping and set-up phase. Our online communities are a
management tool, not just a research tool thus enabling far greater
scope for creativity and exploration of ideas.
An online community can be used for a range of reasons, or a
single business need. In all cases, success of the community starts
with having a clear purpose which is shared with the community
members.
Insights
The most 'traditional' use of an online community is to get
closer to the customer through the power of conversations. We don't
run large quantitative panels, where customers merely respond to
surveys - instead we engage community members in a range of
activities to truly understand how they think, feel and act.
Insights communities provide constant access to customers, ensuring
that the customer view can always be represented in business
decisions.
Innovation
Using online communities, we work with clients and customers
from need identification, through to ideation, development,
prioritisation, refinement and testing. This provides significant
advantages over traditional approaches in that we can work with the
same group of stakeholders over time to bring new products and
services to market. Their are considerable efficiencies gained in
collaborating with a group of customer advocates who are committed
to finding the right solution for their needs, and the
company's.
Strategy
We don't just listen to customer and other stakeholders using
online communities, we can challenge them to help us and our
clients work out what the future should look like. This means
directly inviting them contribute to the strategy development
process, thus ensuring we capture multidimensional perspectives on
big business issues.
Our communities are:
- underpinned by world's best practice technology and thinking
from Promise Communities
- invitation only, and built for purpose
- managed, moderated and analysed by experienced consultants
- populated by the people who matter to our clients
- readily accessed by clients so they can see and participate in
the action
- highly engaged and motivated to contribute
- constantly working on a range of activities used to derive the
best insights
We don't:
- Treat communities as panels and bombard them with surveys
- Hand over the technology and leave our clients to do the
work
- Create communities just as alternative to focus groups
- Build marketing communities to promote brands