SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwired - Sep 10, 2014) - Get Satisfaction, the leader in online community platforms, today released the results of a large-scale market survey of business views on online customer communities. The survey shows that a clear majority of businesses recognize the benefits of the customer community model in building brand trust, improving support and reducing costs, as well as in enhancing marketing efforts and generating new product ideas. These views extend even to companies that have not yet implemented online communities.
The survey, Community Trends in 2014 , received more than 800 responses from professionals in support, marketing, and product teams in across both large enterprises and small and midsize businesses (SMBs).
View and share the graphical e-book outlining the top highlights at http://bit.ly/13TrendsReport .
To download a copy of the full survey report, visit http://bit.ly/market-report-2014-PR .
Key survey results include:
- The market for online customer communities is a high priority. More than 60% of respondents have deployed a community in the past 2 years; of those without a community, 25% plan to deploy one in the next year.
- Companies said their online communities deliver improved customer support at lower cost. 77% say that community is a key component to their customer support. 49% said community has been a cost-savings for their support operations -- as much as 10-25% annually.
- The benefits of customer communities extend to marketing and sales. More than 60% of respondents that have created customer communities use them to create more engaging websites and differentiate their brands. 74% use their communities to drive organic search traffic. 50% plan to use their communities finding up-sell opportunities.
- User-generated content is recognized as more credible than any other. 62% of all the survey respondents agree that user-generated content has more credibility in supporting brand trust than content created by employees.
- The most advanced companies are using their communities to generate product ideas and test new products. 72% of respondents that have deployed communities are using them to get feedback on how existing products are used. 67% use their communities to collect ideas for new products or features from customers, and 46% rely on them for feedback on prototypes or beta products.
"This survey shows customer communities are delivering impressive business benefits," said Rahul Sachdev, CEO of Get Satisfaction. "The findings point to the support ROI, marketing effectiveness, and product innovation benefits that online communities offer. Communities delivery a very fast time-to-value -- they can be up and running in as little as a day, and at a very reasonable cost."
About the Survey More than 800 professionals in support, marketing, and product teams responded to the Get Satisfaction community trends market survey during July and August. Respondents came from companies large and small, and across a variety of industries including B2B technology, consumer goods, education, and finance.
About Get Satisfaction Based in San Francisco, Get Satisfaction provides an online community platform connecting companies with customers to foster relationships that unlock new value for both sides. Companies of all sizes and industries -- from Intuit, Kellogg's and P&G to Sonos, HootSuite and SugarCRM -- rely on Get Satisfaction to deliver online communities that modernize customer support, accelerate sales, differentiate their brand and inspire new innovations. Get Satisfaction's community platform offers the fastest time to value for companies ready to embrace the way today's customers want to engage. To learn more, visit https://getsatisfaction.com/corp/ .
Press Contact Julia A. Glenister JAGWIRE Group (415) 459-3688 jag@jagwiregroup.com
