How to build customer communities

As consumers, we instinctively sense product and service experiences at a gut-feel level. Within minutes, we can gauge whether a company is telling the truth, trying to evade, or scam us. We've developed a low tolerance for poor service - calls that aren't returned; e-mails that aren't acknowledged; rudeness; unnecessarily complex transactions; people who don't seem to care; interactions that should be easy, but aren't.

When companies do what they say they’ll do on a consistent basis, then we’re generally pleased and become loyal to that brand. When we’re not satisfied, we often start complaining, and ultimately stop buying.
 
Social media changed the game forever by giving us a voice (a.k.a. power, influence, clout) we never had. While the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) maintains an active Bureau of Consumer Protection, a bunch of other grassroots online sites emerged including complaints.com, pissedconsumer.com, iripoff.com, consumeraffairs.com and the influential consumerist.com.

Now when we're ticked off, we can immediately voice our dissatisfaction and get it spotlighted. People around the world are tuned-in and pass the word, triggering a "many-to many" conversation.

Take, for example, the recent "United Breaks Guitars" online video phenomenon, where one mistreated customer virtually turned the entire world against United for its poor handling of his damaged property. Or Whole Foods CEO John Mackey, who deeply offended a huge percentage of the chain’s progressive demographics and triggered a nationwide boycott when he railed against healthcare reform in a Wall Street Journal editorial.

Companies and organizations need to remember that a great brand is built when it dedicates itself to creating a product and service experience that consistently meets the needs of people who consume that service or product. The companies that try hard to listen and learn - and improve all the time – build the loyal followings. The ones that don’t fall by the wayside, are marginalized or die. 

Listen to your customers and seek out their opinions on a regular basis. There are lots of ways to do this. Private, online, paid community platforms like Communispace encourage ongoing conversations. You can build relationships online for free with CrowdVine, Ning, Elgg and Joomla (some will be easier to set up and use than others). Discussion boards pre-date the Web, but are still an important (and often overlooked) tool in community building. Yahoo Groups and Google Groups are two of the most popular discussion forum platforms, and the original USENET/LISTSERV is still going strong. There’s also some open source discussion forum software you can customize to meet precise look-and-feel branding needs.

Use these tools to probe ideas, ask for feedback, debate and continually improve. Incorporate customer feedback into your offerings and they’ll know you appreciate their input.
 

If you don’t want your company to end up on consumerist.com or pissedconsumer.com, remember to:

·         Build two-way relationships with your customers. People have relationships with people.

·         Create an authentic persona for your company; give it a personality; make it human; share some behind-the-curtains perspective. Blogs are one of the best ways to nurture & sustain this kind of voice.

·         Don’t avoid online problems, deal with negative online comments and emerging issues immediately. You don’t have to agree all the time, but you’ve got to listen. Share your perspective and be willing to entertain a different viewpoint. You may reach a logger-head where neither party will budge; that’s okay; just don’t be autocratic. It’s the genuine attempt & transparency that matters in social media.

·         Make it easy for your customers to talk to you. Visualize those aggravating instances where your specific question as a consumer is answered with a generic email response, over and over again. Don’t do this. Be personal, be prompt.

When companies behave this way, they’re fulfilling the textbook definition of “living the brand promise.” Doing it right means beginning a conversation that never ends.