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Community Software Buyer's Guide
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Community Software uses tools and methodologies to create platforms that help businesses manage all work programs from one location and also give easy access to all employees. It provides a great community experience to millions of people all over the world.
» What is Community Software?
Also known as Social software, Collaboration Software or Groupware, Community Software helps in building valuable online communities on a digital collaboration platform where users can team up on projects, share knowledge, give ideas and drive innovations leading to a boost in productivity.
» What Features Should a Community Software Have?
Best Community Software have transcended the physical barriers and built community-powered robust platforms where interactive communication and information sharing takes place in ways like never before. Let delve into some features that a Community Software must-have for your online community-
› Activated Advocates
Loyal customers and members can improve participation and enrich user experience. Your Community Software should provide scope for creating virtual hangouts for people to share knowledge and innovative ideas, start discussions and even seek out experts in their field. These forums can be private, semi-private or even open to the public, as per user’s convenience.
› Relevant Content
Content is the king. Your customers visit and re-visit your site in the hope of getting engaging and valuable content. To drive maximum engagement of your online community, the community software should create content which is a stimulating mix of articles, Blogs, Post tags/Labels, eBooks, Case Studies, Q&A, Surveys, Social Media Feeds, Customer Interviews, Customer Videos, Community Newsletter and Media Libraries.
› Mobile friendly App
One of the best features is having a mobile app which provides customer service for support and advice, 24/7. For enhanced user experience, introduce an app as per your customer’s needs and demands.
› Compatible
Today, people access social media platforms and online community sites through various devices. While they use mobile phones in the mornings during a commute, it is laptops/desktops during the day time and tablets/mobiles at night. Your community software should be compatible with all devices to offer your online community the flexibility to read, search and share ideas from any device.
› Gamification
You need to feed customer’s interest and motivate them towards building your online community. Gamification is the best tool to satisfy incentive-hungry members by rewarding them with freebies/discounts/badges and more. This way they actively contribute, share and help increase engagement, leading to a more active community.
› Robust Security System
Within your online community, you should have a foolproof security system that allows interactions strictly between the members only. Every aspect right from accessing the content to making connections to attending events and accessing modules should have well-defined privacy options and safety guidelines.
› Rich User-profiles
People love to present themselves in a profile that showcases their best personality traits. Community Software should provide your users with rich user profiles with a high level of customization. Single sign-on or SSO is a tool which helps one see the user-profile with a single step login. Such a profile will include details like name, social profile, photo, organization name, designation, email, contact details, DOB, gender and areas of interest.
A profile integrated with social media is a great way to create rich user profiles.
› Advanced Analytics
The online community software should provide advanced custom reports to track down the most popular searches. It should tell which notification receives an immediate response, which gamification is drawing better results, topics that are most shared and most commented-this analytics will provide a top-down insight into trends and customer’s preferences.
» What are the Benefits of Community Software?
› Helps manage your community:
Community Software helps your brand connect with your customers to create dynamic human networks. It provides an online community platform with blogs, discussion forums, Q&A, reviews, ideas, surveys, knowledge base and gamification to your customers. This, in turn, transforms all inputs of search, evaluation, purchase, and support-interactions into valuable learning experiences which can be constructively used to boost your brand value.
› Acquire New Customers:
Online community software has become a hotspot for finding and instantly adding value to prospects by hosting conversations in your community. With innovative features, you can even add relevant content to each domain of the customer journey. Studies have shown that mature communities draw 70 percent of traffic from search engines, on an average.
› Pocket Friendly:
Community platform software helps reduce service costs. According to the latest reports, by 2022, almost 85 percent of all customer interactions will be self-service based. The online community provides a trusted and self-guided knowledge base where customers can find answers for themselves. Support is also provided for customers, by customers (peer-to-peer help) in an interactive environment.
› Collaborative ideas from community:
Many times, customers who know your brand best generate creative ideas. The community software platform provides an ideal ground to crowdsource new product ideas and service improvements from its customers.
› Customer Retention
Online communities build customers for life. These interactive communities establish a faithful clan that creates loyalty for old and new members alike. Research has shown that such platforms increase customer retention by 25 percent.
» Questions to ask a vendor when buying best Community Software
1. Will your community software facilitate the easy creation of threads, posts, and discussion boards?
2. Does the software allow forming different online groups/forums for varying topics? Is there a limit to the number of such groups I can create?
3. Can I assign tags and categories to manage the group members in a better way?
4. Will the software allow me to craft and edit policies with respect to the addition and removal of members in and out of a group?
5. Is the process of creating member profiles easy?
6. Does the software facilitate monitoring and managing the community members’ profiles?
7. Does this solution have adequate space, say a directory-like structure, to store vital information about all the members? Will this information be stored online or locally on my network?
8. Is the member directory/list printable?
9. Can I define user roles and permissions to restrict access to specific files?
10. Does the software send notifications about important developments, resolution of issues, events, etc.?
11. Does the software include functionality to create, track and manage web content?
12. Will this solution help manage my brand consistency?
13. Does the solution offer any tactics to improve user engagement?
14. Does the system aid in the ideation process in any manner?
15. Is the software capable of providing knowledge base management?
16. Does it provide social media integration?
17. How user-friendly is your product interface?
18. Can this product be integrated with other existing applications we use?
19. How flexible is your community solution to adapt to my future needs?
20. Do you offer customization?
21. Will the software generate important metrics and analytics?
22. What type of reports will it produce?
23. What security standards do you follow?
24. What is the deployment process?
25. What is the average training period?
26. Which services are included in the ongoing support?
27. Will it cost extra for maintenance and upgrades?
» What is the cost of Community Software?
The cost of Community Software is dependent on monthly or annual usage tiers. This means it depends upon the size of your community, you pay less in the beginning and pay more as your community grows larger. You have to identify your requirements and pick the one that suits your needs best.
Another factor that decides the cost is how custom-made you want the platform to be. Most platforms come with identical features, but some innovative features can be added at an extra cost. Some software like Vanilla is reasonably priced, whereas a platform like Lithium, designed for bigger companies, is a little expensive.
Security is also an important factor that influences the cost. You pay more if data security is important for you.
Depending on these factors, the cost can range from $800 to $20,000 per year. Some open-source community platforms like phpBB can even be installed for free but require maintenance of servers, software, and database from your end.
If you are just starting at a small scale, you can try free packages and then upgrade to higher-quality paid software as you grow bigger.
Most Community Software companies offer a free trial period. You can sign up for one to see if it suits your needs. You can always add functionalities and additional features later if the need arises.
» Conclusion
Community Software builds the best community for your brand. It creates a seamless digital experience for your customers. It uses the power of connection on an interactive social platform and helps you foster a healthy relationship with your customers, resulting in an increase in sales, reduced costs and leading-edge innovation.