Reflection Two

In chapters 5 through 8 of Groundswell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff, we learn the importance of talking with, listening to, and energizing the groundswell.  Li and Bernoff also provide us with helpful advice on how to successfully use a variety of tactics to tap into the groundswell to market our brands.  These chapters include a lot of very helpful advice, but I am going to focus on 3 main points from this chapter that I think are the most important in marketing our brands today.


First, we need to make an effort to listen to and energize the groundswell.  Li and Bernoff state that one way we can listen to the groundswell by setting up a private community.  As mentioned in my post last week,  Zox is one company which set up private communities for their customers.  Harley Davidson is a second brand that has created a community specifically for customers, the Harley Owners Group.  Membership is reserved for Harley owners and riders and includes many benefits including access to the members-only website, H.O.G. merchandise, and admittance to exclusive rallies and events, to name a few.  These private communities are a place for us to listen to our customers in a 'mini-groundswell' while connecting with and energizing our most loyal customers.

Second, Li and Bernoff explain the value in energizing the groundswell by encouraging our promoters to market our brand through word of mouth.  In the digital age, trust comes from the ground level, so word of mouth is very important in marketing our brands.  One way to build connections with our promoters is through ratings and reviews.  Including a ratings and reviews system has many benefits from increasing purchases to providing feedback to your company on their products and services.  According to Li and Bernoff, 96% of customers use online reviews to help make purchases (p. 138) while 62% of online North American consumers trust ratings and reviews (p. 132).

Amazon is one company which utilizes ratings and reviews for their products.  Not only can customers view the total star-rating for a product, but they can also view star-ratings by feature or ratings from certain customer groups.  For example, take a look at the rating breakdown for a JanSport Right Pack Laptop Backpack.

In addition to Amazon's rating feature, they have introduced the ability for customers to ask and answer questions regarding the product.  This feature takes the ratings and review feature one step further and allows customers to directly ask questions they have prior to purchasing the product in question.

Finally,  implementing support forums is one tactic to help the groundswell support itself.  According to Li and Bernoff, an average customer support call costs an organization 6 to 7 dollars while a technical support call costs between 10 to 20 dollars.  In addition, customer support lines can be incredibly frustrating for customers.  Community support forums are one option we can consider to reduce the volume of support calls while still ensuring customer's questions are answered.  PlayStation is one company that has implemented community support forums for their products. 

I personally use the support forums anytime I have a technical issue.  As a result, I personally have never had to pick up a phone and actually call for technical support.  The ability to ask questions on the community support forum saves PlayStation money on support calls and saves customers the frustration of having to deal with customer support lines.

Do you know of any other brands who have used one of these strategies? Were they successful? Share your thoughts below!

Zox Communities

If you were asked to identify the single most important aspect when trying to tap into the groundswell, what would you say?  Personally, I would argue relationships!  Relationships are a key component in energizing the groundswell about our products and services.  According to Li and Bernoff there are three techniques to build relationships and energize our customers using the groundswell:

1. Utilize ratings and reviews
2. Create a community
3. Energizing existing communities. 

The company we are going to look at today, Zox, created online communities related to their brand to energize their customers.

Zox is an accessory company started by the Kuipers brothers several years ago.  Zox makes limited-edition wristbands, clothing, and backpacks.  If there is anything the "bros" do better than producing one-of-a-kind accessories, it is marketing their brand on social media and creating communities to energize their customers.  Zox markets their products across a variety of platforms including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.  However, we know that simply posting to these platforms is not enough.  Brands must use these platforms to build relationships with their customers and engage the groundswell.

Brandon, Jason, and Jordan Kuipers- Creators of Zox

One strategy that Zox has used to energize their customers is by creating a community built around the love of the collectible straps.  This program is called Zox VIP.  Built into this program are rewards, a referral system, access to the Zox VIP community, and invitations to Zox meet-ups.  While each of these features has their own benefits, we are just going to focus on their use of communities to energize customers.

The Zox VIP community is a closed group on Facebook with over 7,300 members.  Zox VIP is a place where "Zoxers" can share their love of the products and connect with each other and the Kuipers.  Zox energizes the VIP customers by sharing information not yet available to non-VIP customers, hosting special giveaways and swaps, soliciting ideas for new products, and running a live stream where Zoxers can participate in a real-time Q+A and discussion. 

Energizing our customers has huge benefits for our brand.  For Zox, energizing their customers through the VIP community helps build relationships between themselves as owners and their customers, increases customer excitement and loyalty, creates brand enthusiasts who will market Zox through word-of-mouth, and increases their return on investment.  However, we also know that the benefits of building communities within the groundswell cannot come without some risk!  Once the groundswell begins to talk about your brand, what they say is out of your control.   On the VIP page, Zox has encountered some of the risks that come with building an online community, including a large number of complaints or negative posts regarding their brand and products.  In addition, there has been an overwhelming growth of the community, leaving the brothers struggling to keep up with the increased demands.

Cultivating our communities is the same as cultivating any other relationship, it requires time, patience, and constant adjustment to continue its good health and growth.  Zox is finding themselves in a place where their customer base has expanded and their online communities have followed close behind.  In turn, they must adjust their approach and consider expanding their marketing and brand monitoring.  To maintain a strong and positive online presence and community, we must always be adjusting our strategies, continuing to listen to the groundswell, and embracing our brand enthusiasts.

What do you think?  Has Zox used online communities effectively? How can they make adjustments to ensure their communities continue to grow in a positive way?