Creating Community: An Interview with Communispace’s Siobhan Dullea

As buyers continue to tune out traditional marketing efforts and spend more and more time online, marketers are being called on to overhaul their approach to connecting with customers and prospects. Online communities are emerging as a powerful new way to make those connections, and ITSMA recently sat down with Siobhan Dullea, vice president of Community Consulting at Communispace Corporation, a company that builds and runs private online customer communities, to get the inside story on how BtoB firms can leverage this new approach.

ITSMA: Over the last couple of years, weve seen a huge number of companies look to build more interactive relationships with customers. What are the advantages to cultivating these relationships online rather than in person?

Dullea: Face-to-face meetings are obviously tremendously powerful, but they’re limited by time and numbers. Now, if you could have a room full of 300 customers just down the hall from you and you could pop in there anytime you wanted to ask them questions, get advice, or even just be a fly on the wall, at all times you would have a bird’s eye view on what customers want. There would be no more second guessing about what new products or services customers want, or what people think about your competition, or where and how to attract new customers. The people in the community would tell you directly and with insightful color commentary. That’s what an online community can give you: continuous customer feedback, seven days a week, 24 hours a day.

ITSMA: The idea of being a “fly on the wall” is intriguing. Tell us more about that.

Dullea: Members of online communities aren’t bound by the sponsoring company’s agenda in the same way that customers at an event would be. They’re free to talk about anything they’d like, both with the sponsoring company and with each other. How members talk to each other about how an issue or product can be incredibly revealing, and so is how customers influence one another. Within 24 hours of launching one BtoB community, there were 11 different dialogue topics under way, and only four of those had been seeded by the community facilitators. The rest were created by customers around issues they care about. Fifty people had already added brainstorming ideas, and over 70 people had answered surveys.

Some of the best lessons come from hearing customers talk about those things that annoy, disappoint, or outrage them. We encourage people to give the good, bad, and ugly. This gives the sponsoring company valuable insights into what’s really on customers’ minds, not just insight into the issues they think are important to their customers.

ITSMA: There are clearly numerous benefits for the sponsoring companies, but what makes participation in a branded online community attractive to the customer members?

Dullea: Different people are motivated by different things. Some people like the sense of empowerment that comes with having a voice; others appreciate the opportunity to discuss interesting topics with people who have similar interests, roles, or responsibilities. Sometimes sponsoring companies do offer tangible incentives to encourage participation. We’ve found that when you ask people to help you figure out a particular problem because you value their advice—versus asking for general input or feedback—they will go to extraordinary lengths to help you. We’ve also observed that when customers feel like part of an exclusive, valued club of advisors, they will work harder on your behalf.

ITSMA: I can imagine that some companies are more successful than others at building relationships through these communities. Is there a defining trait that contributes to their success?

Dullea: There are two defining traits. One, companies view their communities as an ongoing, strategic marketing operation, not a campaign or research project. The second is that they view people in the community like company insiders and advisors. They tell community members how the company is using their ideas. They share their candid perspectives on the industry. They are open, friendly, and respectful. If you treat people like advisors, they will not only help you for very little compensation, they will become your advocates with other customers and prospects. Reciprocity rules.

ITSMA: We tend to hear about more of these types of initiatives in the BtoC space than in the BtoB world. Why do you think BtoC companies are leading the charge here?

Dullea: I think that BtoB companies have long felt that they have data about their customers and the market, and many rely exclusively on data. But given today’s competitive pressures, BtoB companies are recognizing that the data is no longer enough.

We have one BtoB technology client that is realizing a big increase in customer loyalty and advocacy thanks to its community initiative. They’re asking their customers for input on everything from the user interface on the Web to the shipping process, and then they’re acting on that input, which is essential to demonstrating that you listen to your customers and value their input.

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