An online support community must carry out its core Q&A function well – members must receive timely answers to their questions from trusted, knowledgeable experts.
In our latest report, Driving Company Strategy Through Support Communities, we learned from leaders at Sage, Analog Devices, Sophos, Visma/Raet, and others about managing large online customer communities.
Almost all of the community managers we interviewed emphasized that a key metric for evaluating the support community’s effectiveness is the percentage of discussions with verified or accepted answers.
The level of trust that community members have in those responding to their questions drives the verified/accepted discussion metric. As a result, when the leading companies we interviewed planned their support communities, they considered this key question: Do customers trust only employees to answer their questions, or do they also trust fellow customers? The companies then worked with one of the following three self-service models, depending on how they answered that question.
Company-led model
The least common approach is a pure company-led Q&A model, where customers always expect and get a prompt response from an employee. Customer-to-customer support is not the goal.
Customer-led model
Some companies prefer a customer-led Q&A forum. In this case, only customers answer each other’s questions, while the company takes a back seat and enjoys cost savings. The customer-led forum aims to deflect tickets, but there’s no guarantee that the inquiring customer will get a fast and satisfactory response.
Hybrid model
The most popular approach is a hybrid Q&A model where customers are encouraged to answer each other’s questions. If members don’t come up with a satisfactory answer to a question within a certain period of time – often a day or two since posting – then an employee steps in.
Identifying the correct model for an online support community is the first step in working towards the benefits that a community provides – lowering support costs and churn and improving customer loyalty.
Looking for more insights on support community strategy? Read case studies on the value model for support communities in Driving Company Strategy Through Support Communities.
