New Study Reveals How Organizations Are Driving Revenue from Branded, Online Communities
San Mateo, CA (PRWEB) October 14, 2014 -- Can branded, online communities generate revenue for their organizations? According to a new study from Demand Metric and DNN, the answer is a clear “yes.” In a study of community professionals conducted in September 2014, 18% of participants report that over 30% of their organization’s revenue is influenced by their branded, online community.
Over one third of the online communities studied have over 15,000 members. How do organizations drive revenue from their branded online communities? Clues can be found in their rating of the top benefits of online communities:
1. Better understanding of customer and prospect needs
2. A more loyal customer base
3. Better customer perception of the brand
In addition to these qualitative results, the study revealed the following quantitative findings:
Community engagement: in online communities that influence 16% or more of revenue, 64% have strong community engagement; in communities that influence 15% or less of revenue, only 26% report strong engagement.
Advanced metrics: the use of intermediate or advanced metrics is related to higher community influence on revenue. In online communities that influence 16% or more of revenue, 54% use intermediate or advanced metrics; in communities that influence 15% or less of revenue, the use of intermediate or advanced metrics drops to 46%.
Executive involvement: in online communities that influence 16% or more of revenue, 69% have executive teams that are highly involved in the community; in communities that influence 15% or less of revenue, only 40% of executive teams are highly involved.
“When we embarked on this research study, we wanted to find out if branded, online communities are delivering real customer engagement benefits. Everyone seems to agree that communities are a great idea, but do they deliver more than just soft benefits? We found out that in fact, they do. Online communities are not only delivering measurable customer engagement, they’re also delivering retention, loyalty, upsell and new customers,” said Jerry Rackley, Chief Analyst at Demand Metric.
“We take it for granted that community engagement, advanced metrics and executive involvement are important to the success of branded, online communities. What’s great about the Demand Metric study are the quantifiable results that tell us just how important they are,” said Dennis Shiao, Director of Content Marketing at DNN.
The findings from this research were recently presented at Demand Metric’s virtual summit on customer engagement. To view the on-demand recording of the presentation: http://bit.ly/dnn-customer-keynote
To access the report and its findings, visit the DNN website: http://bit.ly/dnn-dm-research
About DNN
DNN provides a suite of solutions that make designing, building and managing feature-rich sites and communities fast, easy and cost-effective. The DNN Platform CMS is the foundation for over 800,000 websites worldwide and powers Evoq Content. Evoq Social, our newest solution, enables businesses to create immersive, interactive communities. Thousands of organizations like Bank of America, Aetna, True Value Hardware, Whirlpool, the National Football League (NFL), the US Department of Defense (DoD) and Sports Direct have leveraged DNN to deploy highly engaging, business-critical websites. Our rapid growth in product sales and deployments resulted in DNN being named one of the fastest growing private companies in America by Inc. Magazine in 2011 and 2012.
Get started building your online community today – call us at (650) 288-3150 or visit http://www.dnnsoftware.com
About Demand Metric
Demand Metric is a global marketing research & advisory firm serving a membership community of over 47,000 marketing professionals, CEOs, and business owners with advisory services, 100+ research & benchmarking reports, 20+ consulting methodologies, 50+ training workshops & courses, and a library of 500+ practical tools and templates. Using Demand Metric resources, members complete projects faster and with greater confidence, boosting respect for the marketing team and making it easier to justify needed resources. Our 1,200+ corporate clients range from start-ups to consulting firms to members of the Global 1000. To learn more about Demand Metric, please visit: http://www.demandmetric.com.
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Dennis Shiao, DNN, http://www.dnnsoftware.com, +1 917 903 8764, [email protected]
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