[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2015\/10\/21\/commerce-community-customer-engagement\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2015\/10\/21\/commerce-community-customer-engagement\/","headline":"Community commerce: Welcome to engagement-powered profits","name":"Community commerce: Welcome to engagement-powered profits","description":"Fully engaged customers represent an average 23% premium in terms of share of wallet, profitability, revenue, and relationship growth.","datePublished":"2015-10-21","dateModified":"2022-01-04","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/sameer-patel\/#Person","name":"Sameer Patel","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/sameer-patel\/","identifier":141,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/507a6420af5c6ed2d34e9ba59658a0532ba307fbfcbf6cb09ca6e11508fde637?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/507a6420af5c6ed2d34e9ba59658a0532ba307fbfcbf6cb09ca6e11508fde637?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Future of Commerce","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/logo-foc-schema-app-1.png","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/logo-foc-schema-app-1.png","width":172,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/community.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/community.jpg","height":1096,"width":2000},"url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2015\/10\/21\/commerce-community-customer-engagement\/","about":[{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/commerce\/","name":"Commerce","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Commerce","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q26643"]},{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/commerce\/commerce-general\/","name":"Commerce","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Commerce","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q26643"]},{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/customer-engagement-58\/","name":"Customer Engagement","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Customer_engagement","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q5196451"]},{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/marketing\/customer-engagement-marketing\/","name":"Customer Engagement","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Customer_engagement","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q5196451"]},"Customer Journey",{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/commerce\/e-commerce\/","name":"E-Commerce","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/E-commerce","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q484847"]},"Future of Grocery Retail",{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/commerce\/intelligent-enterprise\/","name":"Intelligent Enterprise","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Intelligent_enterprise","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q6044119"]},"Retail Trends, Data, News"],"wordCount":729,"keywords":["Commerce Trends","Digital Commerce Trends","Marketing","Social Commerce"],"articleBody":"The need for customer engagement is clear. Simply put, when you engage your customers, they buy more \u2013 making a commerce community critical to future-proofing your company.Fully engaged customers represent an average 23% premium in terms of share of wallet, profitability, revenue, and relationship growth. (Gallup)The numbers don’t lie: customers expect \u2013 and need \u2013 to feel engaged with a brand:70-90% of the buyers journey is complete prior to engaging a vendor.\u00a0(Forrester Research)45% of buyers require person-to-person contact in the buying process. (ITSMA \/ CFO)But it\u2019s striking to note that in the face of such irrefutable need, Gartner Research finds that 70% of online communities \u2013 one of the foundational means to engage and help your customers\u00ad \u2013 will fail.When you dig further into these inexplicably contradicting facts, it\u2019s not hard to see why a commerce community might struggle:Monolithic communities are software design centric and do not align with the customers perspective of their journeyThe engagement modalities for a commerce community or a support community or a product innovation community are wildly different; the community must be purpose-builtFinally, it\u2019s extremely challenging to connect community activity and hard outcomes when transactions and community are not connected \u2013 and community managers are the biggest victims as they struggle to prove strategic valueThe market clearly needs a refreshed approach to how community and commerce comes together if it’s to support every customers\u2019 unique journey.And with the coming explosion of software-defined goods, it\u2019s only going to get more intense. Intel estimates that by 2020, over 200 billion internet and software-enabled devices will be in the market. As a result, the need to assist buyers at every step of their journey is going to increase exponentially.      Customer journey mapping: The buyer’s path in a digital world                Build a net-new audience years before your product ever launches. Yep, understanding customer journey mapping and the real buyer's path can help you do that.      Why commerce needs communitySo, why does commerce need a community?Because customers want it.Mike Fauscette, GVP at IDC Research said, \u201cCompanies need a way to connect with prospects and customers in a trusted environment. Adding frictionless purchase options inside the community adds value for buyer and seller. In our 2016 Social Business Futurescape, we predict that by 2020, 30% of all purchases will be made through an online community.”Because their customer journeys vary significantly, both in transaction and emotion. If the goal of one customer\u2019s journey is to buy a simple product such as a phone charger, you need to provide them with the quickest form of validation such as user ratings, and get them to the shopping cart, pronto.If the goal of the journey is to get support for a more complex product such as a washing machine, throwing them into ratings may add anxiety and purchase uncertainty.The right purchase is more important than a fast purchase.A well-written expert blog post or even a Q&A facility baked right into the product page might be better.If the goal of the journey is to learn and share experiences with other cancer patients or diabetics in a product community, they doesn\u2019t want to be rushed into a purchase. They want to stay for a while and learn and contribute. And if they have beaten the odds, they most likely want to pay it forward.Respecting these varied journeys is the essence of meaningful and sustainable community.      Top 10 friction points in the customer journey and how to fix them                Friction points in the customer journey can lead to immediate site abandonment. Learn how to optimize the digital customer experience to improve CX and conversion.      Commerce everywhere: Creating sustainable marketplacesCarsten Thoma, former President of SAPs Customer Engagement and Commerce business said it best:\u201cEvery customer\u2019s purchase experience is different. Todays digitally connected customer expects that you serve them not only during transaction but through the entire customer journey, and on their terms. Modern e-commerce entails hand-holding the customer, from awareness to consideration to purchase and advocacy.\u201dBy rethinking the interplays between communities and commerce, we can truly begin to create sustainable marketplaces that respect how the consumer wants to engage and transact with us. Welcome to community-powered commerce.  B2B, B2C, B2B2C.Unlock growth. Drive revenue. Scale effortlessly.\u00a0Take a tour of commerce that clicks\u00a0HERE."},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"2015","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2015\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"10","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2015\/\/10\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"21","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2015\/\/10\/\/21\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Community commerce: Welcome to engagement-powered profits","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2015\/10\/21\/commerce-community-customer-engagement\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]