Customer Communities

Make community building your ultimate business growth strategy In Customer Communities: Engage and Retain Customers to Build the Future of Your Business, Nick Mehta and Robin Van Lieshout deliver an actionable playbook on how to cultivate meaningful communities that fuel quantifiable business growth. In the book, you’ll learn how to capitalize on this new growth strategy to scale your company and develop excitement around your products and your firm. The authors outline the 10 foundational Laws of Community, explaining why community development does not need to be expensive and how to integrate community in the heart of your customer journey. You’ll also find: Strategies for creating a cross functional customer engagement team Techniques for building community in places that aren’t the web or on social media Ways to bring your organization’s culture and values into your community with a human-first alignment An essential roadmap to community development for customer success, marketing, support and product teams, and other entrepreneurs, founders, and executive business leaders. Customer Communities will earn a place on the bookshelves of anyone with a stake in organizational growth and resilience.

Foreword ix Preface: Two CEOs Growing Up Lonely xi Acknowledgments xv Part I Community Is the Future of Your Business 1 Chapter 1 An Introduction to the World of Communities 3 Creating a Sense of Belonging Chapter 2 Communities as a Business Growth Strategy 9 The Only Sustainable Long-Term Differentiator Companies Have Chapter 3 How the Next Generation of Communities Drives Success 29 The New Company-Wide Strategy to Drive Net Revenue Retention Chapter 4 A Community for Customer Success, Support, Marketing, and Product Teams 41 How Every Department Can Benefit from a Next-Generation Community Part II The 10 Laws of Community Building 55 Chapter 5 Law 1: You Can Start Anytime 57 It Doesn’t Have to Be Expensive and Everyone in Your Organization Can Help Chapter 6 Law 2: You Have to Own the Platform 65 Engage Your Customers Beyond Borrowed Ground Chapter 7 Law 3: Community Should Be the Heart of the Customer Journey 75 Activate and Engage Your Customers at Scale Chapter 8 Law 4: Create Content That Educates and Inspires 95 Be the Best Thought Leader You Can Be Chapter 9 Law 5: Build on Your Advocates 109 Your Most Loyal Customers Are the Gateway to Success Chapter 10 Law 6: Everybody Owns the Customer 121 Community Is a Company-Wide Strategy, Not a Department Chapter 11 Law 7: Offline Counts More Than You Think 139 An Online Community Is Strengthened with Offline Events Chapter 12 Law 8: Tie It All Together in One Customer Hub 153 Prevent a Disjointed Customer Experience by Integrating Engagement and Content Chapter 13 Law 9: Community Should Drive Real Business Outcomes 171 Don’t Get Fooled by Vanity Metrics—Demand Real Business Metrics Chapter 14 Law 10: Bring Your Culture and Values to Your Community 183 Build with a Human-First Mindset Part III How to Get Started 195 Chapter 15 Building Blocks to Successfully Starting a Community 197 Putting Together a Strong Strategy in Five Steps Chapter 16 Common Objections and How to Overcome Them 209 Answers to Nine Common Objections Epilogue 217 References 219 Index 225