Over the last decade, a radical shift has occurred in the way customers interact with the marketplace.The traditional mode of using defined channels of communication has given way to a broad array of connection points.Along with this shift, today’s customers have come to expect a higher degree of transparency from firms providing products upon which they rely. Companies that are unsure how to engage in the new paradigm often meet this expectation of transparency with mixed signals.As traditional channels erode, and a broader community ecosystem emerges, companies must rethink their loyalty equation by understanding how to engage in the new environment.

The new environment can drive even higher degrees of loyalty through enhanced customer involvement in many crucial aspects of an organization, including customer support, product management and engineering and marketing. Forward thinking companies realize that engaging in this new ‘web 2.0’ world requires more than just enabling new channels of communication, it requires a set of powerful tools to coordinate and manage every relevant interaction while providing intelligent feedback to all participants.Architected to enable this new paradigm, a trusted knowledge management suite can serve as a core technology that drives better interactions with your customer ecosystem by building a collaborative environment in which insights, ideas and knowledge can be shared to the benefit of all. Ultimately, this vibrant knowledge sharing leads to greater customer satisfaction and increased loyalty.

The role of the customer evolves
For decades, the support and marketing relationship between a company and its customers was well defined. Companies historically created channels of interaction that enabled customer communication with support, development and marketing. Customers used those defined channels to gain product insights, resolve exceptions and provide feedback to the company. Such a traditional method of relationship management assumed a generally passive customer and a company that was the sole source of expertise regarding its products. Customer to customer interaction was limited, with common examples being company sponsored user groups and mailing lists.

As the Internet began to evolve, the role of the customer began to fundamentally shift.With the rapid expansion of web 2.0 based technologies, today’s customer often sees the company as just one of many players in a larger ecosystem around the organization and its products.While companies often remain a dominant player in that ecosystem, they need to understand customer dynamics in this new environment in order to best serve those customers and continue to build loyalty.The formal channels of engagement still exist, but web 2.0 technologies have enabled a new, more conversational aspect of the ecosystem. The most effective way that companies can enable, and carefully guide the conversation, is to deploy community technologies, such as forums.

Forums empower the customer to build loyalty
Forums serve the obvious process of bringing together interested individuals into a common environment. Managed correctly, they can serve a company as a powerful tool to deflect many product exceptions, as well as be a major source of new ideas and best practices.As customers’ roles increase in a company’s knowledge ecosystem, however, it becomes apparent that there are certain risks that companies need to address.

Many companies have struggled with the openness of a forums system, worrying that negative comments will reflect poorly on various products and services.While there are some potential short-term repercussions of forum activity that may raise issues about the company, most customers have felt a greater sense of loyalty to companies that offer higher degree of transparency through open conversations on applications like forums.To keep a high level of trust, and therefore build loyalty, it is important to engage in a moderation process that focuses on eliminating non-constructive, or off-topic, discussions.The short-term impacts of challenging discussions have a longer-term reward in loyalty, as customers value and reward a higher degree of transparency.

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