MEASURING (AND PROVING)

YOUR COMMUNITY’S BUSINESS VALUE

Presented by David Spinks, CEO, and Carrie Melissa Jones, COO of CMX 

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

David is the Founder and CEO of CMX. After 7 years of building communities professionally, he started CMX to connect the thousands of community builders in the world who weren’t talking to one another.

David Spinks @davidspinks

Carrie is the Founding Partner and COO of CMX. A community industry veteran, she manages CMX’s internal operations and culture. She loves helping community professionals connect their work to real business operations and results.

Carrie Melissa Jones @caremjo

Tracking Business Value and Measurement of Brand Communities

ABOUT OUR RESEARCH The 2017 Community Value and Metrics Report

533total participants

66%< 200 employees

34%> 200 employees

Company Size

10% Consumer

8% Education

46% Technology

16% Professional Services

8% Non-profit

2% Manufacturing

1% Transportation

4% Finance

3% Healthcare

0% Energy & Utilities

0% Government

Industry

How many here have already figured out their community’s

measurement strategy?

Let's talk about what we are going to cover today.

Determining Business Value

2 Measurement by the Numbers

Why Measuring Matters

Immediate Next Steps

Q&A!

1

3

4

5

Tracking Business Value and Measurement of Brand Communities

DETERMINING BUSINESS VALUE

Tracking Business Value and Measurement of Brand Communities

THE SPACE MODEL: The Dimensions of Community Strategy

Tracking Business Value and Measurement of Brand Communities

Use this as a guide to define your own community value.

Tracking Business Value and Measurement of Brand Communities

1%

4%4%

18%

13%13%

23%26%

What is the single most important value that your community drives for your organization?(% of respondents)

Customer Support or Customer

Success

Product Ideation, Innovation and

Feedback

Acquisition and Advocacy

Content andProgramming

ExternalEngagement

InternalEngagement

Other I am not sure what business value our community drives

Tracking Business Value and Measurement of Brand Communities

Awesome – I've got my value locked down. What metrics should I use?

Hold up.

Tracking Business Value and Measurement of Brand Communities

Your most important business value can change over time.

Tracking Business Value and Measurement of Brand Communities

Has the above always been the most important value that community drives for your organization, or has it changed over time?(Number of respondents)

65%This has always been

the most important value

35%Our most important value

has changed

Tracking Business Value and Measurement of Brand Communities

Community naturally changes. Be careful not to waste resources and don't rush too quickly into a large measurement project.

Tracking Business Value and Measurement of Brand Communities

Here's how they might change.

% that switched to this business value(% of respondents)

% who have always had this business value(% of respondents)

Customer Support or Customer Success

85%15%

Product Ideation, Innovation & Feedback

53%47%

Acquisition & Advocacy

60%40%

Content & Programming

76%24%

External Engagement

72%28%

Internal Engagement

82%18%

MEASUREMENT BY THE NUMBERS

Tracking Business Value and Measurement of Brand Communities

The Most Popular Metrics

31%

What metrics do you measure to demonstrate your community’s business value?(Only those options available to all participants)(% of respondents)

Retention

New customers

Customer satisfaction ratings

Customer loyalty

NPS score

Customer lifetime value

Change in sales revenue

Cost savings

54%

37%

37%

28%

24%

24%

14%

Tracking Business Value and Measurement of Brand Communities

The Most IMPORTANT Metrics

8%

Among the metrics you measure to show your effect on business value, what is the most important one?(Only those options available to all participants)(% of respondents)

Retention

Change in sales revenue

Customer lifetime value

Customer loyalty

Customer satisfaction ratings

New customers

NPS score

Cost savings

14%

13%

8%

7%

6%

6%

3%

Tracking Business Value and Measurement of Brand Communities

chose retention as a metric. 54%

Tracking Business Value and Measurement of Brand Communities

The most important (but challenging) metric to measure is "change in sales revenue".

Tracking Business Value and Measurement of Brand Communities

The most popular metrics to show business impact by value.

Value Most Popular Metric

Customer Support or Customer Success # or % of answered questions (65%)

Product Ideation, Innovation and Feedback Product Ideas (60%)

Acquisition and Advocacy New user/member sign-ups (62%)

Content and Programming Number of active users/members (74%)

External Engagement Retention (20%)

Internal Engagement Retention (25%)

Tracking Business Value and Measurement of Brand Communities

“ Three of us sat in a room figuring out the equivalents to industry standards so

we could show meaningful metrics.”

- Annemarie Dooling, Racked (a Vox Media brand)

WHY MEASURING MATTERS

Tracking Business Value and Measurement of Brand Communities

of communities fail due to lack of internal resources and support.1 30%

1 “Keys to Community Readiness and Growth: How Brands Prepare for Online Communities” by CMX and Leader Networks, 2016. http://cmxhub.com/communityreadiness.

Tracking Business Value and Measurement of Brand Communities

reported that they saw "increased leadership support".

93%

said that measuring their community's value led to "increased interest from other departments".

90%

Tracking Business Value and Measurement of Brand Communities

And we found a correlation.

Tracking Business Value and Measurement of Brand Communities

And we found a correlation. The more confident a person was, the more

money their company made. Weighted Confidence vs. Revenue(% of respondents)

2.44%

2.00%

2.83%

2.42%

2.59%

2.71%

2.50% 2.50%

2.71%

3.00%

$0 - $250k

$250k - $500k

$500k - $1m

$1m - $10m

$10m - $50m

$50m - $100m

$100m - $500m

$500m - $2b$2b - $10b

Over $10b

IMMEDIATE NEXT STEPS 1.  Using the SPACE Model, determine your

community’s primary business value.

2. Get clear about your community's goal in relation to that value.

3. Using the 3-Step Community Measurement Model, decide community health metrics and content and programming metrics.

4. Begin to report regularly.

QUESTIONS?

Don't forget to grab your free copy of  "The 2017 Community Value and Metrics Report"

bit.ly/2m9RWA9