Insight Communities

Why Communities Matter

Insight communities are one of the most powerful ways to get closer to your audience – offering a richer understanding of their behaviours, experiences, and opinions.

They’re versatile too, with applications including:

• Voice of the Customer (VoC) programmes
• Customer journey mapping
• Concept and innovation screening
• Advertising effectiveness

The Challenges

Running a community is not without its hurdles. From our experience, two stand out:

1. Sustaining long-term participant engagement
Churn often happens when:

• Interest in the topic area fades.
• Interaction with the community feels limited.
• Participants doubt their feedback is valued or acted on.
• Surveys/discussions are too long, too frequent, or poorly designed.
• The community lacks a compelling brand or proposition.

2. Driving internal business value
Communities require investment – time, budget, and resource. If outputs don’t clearly exceed these costs, they risk being dismissed as “nice to have” rather than vital business assets. Demonstrating clear ROI is key.

Creating True Engagement

The best communities make participants feel like agents of change. They know:

• Their voice is heard.
• Their input is valued.
• Their feedback leads to real outcomes.

In practice, this means:

• Designing a varied and engaging mix of activities.
• Setting clear rules around activity length and contact frequency.
• Closing the loop with a feedback plan that shows action taken.
• Making interactions as visual, interactive, and human as possible.

The Payoff

When done well, communities deliver a constant stream of rich, actionable insight – while building stronger relationships with the very people who matter most to your business. Participants feel valued, businesses see ROI, and decisions are made with confidence.

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