Retailers are “tired of fighting with algorithms” to reach their community of passionate customers.
This is what Lush posted when they left social media a few months ago. They joined Glossier, H&M, Sephora and more who are rethinking how dependent they've become on social media and are now building their own community platforms.
But why community platforms? What goals do these help them achieve?
And should you be doing the same?
We’ve spotted 3 main reasons why brands are building community platforms:
Low reach on social media and poor email engagement means marketers are finding it harder to keep in touch with customers.
Retailers spent years and countless resources building their audience on social media. Over the past 2 years however, organic reach has been dropping significantly:
To make up for this loss, brands are significantly upping their ad spend.
Email, the other big DTC channel, also shows real engagement problems:
Email and social media will remain essential communication channels for any brand. But they’re no longer the most secure and future-proof channels to stay connected with top customers.
Brands need to develop new ways to access their best customers. Winners will be those that own the spaces their communities occupy.
Modern buyers, especially younger generations, no longer want ads, email blasts, or coupons from their favourite brands.
Brands are rethinking how they're treating best customers and if they're creating an experience worth coming back for.
With customers looking for unique experiences, brands need the freedom and tools to create tailor-made experiences.
Social media doesn't provide custom and branded features. Today, brands are testing these in physical stores through community-events (classes, workshops...), or doing this at scale on the platforms they own.
Once you're delighting top customers in a place you own, you can focus on ways to leverage their brand love and maximize their impact on sales.
A review or the right UGC can boost product page conversion by 15%. Brands have a real challenge in maximizing the impact of their loyal customers, well beyond repeat purchases.
This means loyalty programs need to revamped: the goal is not only to build loyalty, but to transform loyal customers into brand advocates.
Gymshark, LuluLemon, Sephora and others are turning their loyalty programs into systems that incentivize and reward customer advocacy at scale.
Since traditional loyalty programs aren't built with advocacy in mind, and social media doesn't allow to do this effectively (not linked to the CRM, no custom advocacy features), they are relying on advocacy or community platforms.
The strongest brands will be those who create a system that incentivizes loyal customers to go beyond repeat buying and become advocates of the brand.
One trend for 2020 and beyond we’re following closely is brands upgrading their existing loyalty programs to next generation advocacy & community programs!
You’re all read up on the 3 reasons retailers are launching community platforms.
If these echo your community goals and you want to hear from our team of community experts, book your 1on1 session or reach out to hanne@tokywoky.com