Learn how to define your community's business value, define the metrics that matter, and take concrete next steps in your measurement journey.

1. MEASURING (AND PROVING)
YOUR COMMUNITY’S BUSINESS VALUE
Presented by David Spinks, CEO, and Carrie Melissa Jones, COO of CMX

2. ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
David is the Founder and CEO of CMX. After 7 years
of building communities professionally, he started
CMX to connect the thousands of community
builders in the world who weren’t talking to one
another.
David Spinks
@davidspinks
Carrie is the Founding Partner and COO of CMX. A
community industry veteran, she manages CMX’s
internal operations and culture. She loves helping
community professionals connect their work to real
business operations and results.
Carrie Melissa Jones
@caremjo

3. Tracking Business Value and Measurement of Brand Communities
ABOUT OUR RESEARCH
The 2017 Community Value and Metrics Report
533total participants
66%
< 200 employees
34%
> 200 employees
Company Size
10% Consumer
8% Education
46% Technology
16% Professional Services
8% Non-profit
2% Manufacturing
1% Transportation
4% Finance
3% Healthcare
0% Energy & Utilities
0% Government
Industry

4. How many here have already
figured out their community’s
measurement strategy?

5. Let's talk about what we are
going to cover today.

6. Determining Business Value
2 Measurement by the Numbers
Why Measuring Matters
Immediate Next Steps
Q&A!
1
3
4
5

7. Tracking Business Value and Measurement of Brand Communities
DETERMINING
BUSINESS VALUE

8. Tracking Business Value and Measurement of Brand Communities
THE SPACE MODEL:
The Dimensions of Community Strategy

9. Tracking Business Value and Measurement of Brand Communities
Use this as a
guide to define
your own
community value.

10. Tracking Business Value and Measurement of Brand Communities
1%
4%4%
18%
13%13%
23%
26%
What is the single most important value that your community drives for your organization?
(% of respondents)
Customer Support
or Customer
Success
Product Ideation,
Innovation and
Feedback
Acquisition and
Advocacy
Content and
Programming
External
Engagement
Internal
Engagement
Other I am not sure what
business value our
community drives

11. Tracking Business Value and Measurement of Brand Communities
Awesome – I've got my value locked down.
What metrics should I use?

12. Hold up.

13. Tracking Business Value and Measurement of Brand Communities
Your most important business value
can change over time.

14. Tracking Business Value and Measurement of Brand Communities
Has the above always been the most important value that community drives
for your organization, or has it changed over time?
(Number of respondents)
65%
This has always been
the most important value
35%
Our most important value
has changed

15. Tracking Business Value and Measurement of Brand Communities
Community naturally changes.
Be careful not to waste resources and don't rush too
quickly into a large measurement project.

16. Tracking Business Value and Measurement of Brand Communities
Here's how they
might change.
% that switched to this business value
(% of respondents)
% who have always had this business value
(% of respondents)
Customer Support or Customer Success
85%15%
Product Ideation, Innovation & Feedback
53%47%
Acquisition & Advocacy
60%40%
Content & Programming
76%24%
External Engagement
72%28%
Internal Engagement
82%18%

17. MEASUREMENT BY
THE NUMBERS

18. Tracking Business Value and Measurement of Brand Communities
The Most Popular Metrics
31%
What metrics do you measure to demonstrate your community’s business value?
(Only those options available to all participants)
(% of respondents)
Retention
New customers
Customer satisfaction ratings
Customer loyalty
NPS score
Customer lifetime value
Change in sales revenue
Cost savings
54%
37%
37%
28%
24%
24%
14%

19. Tracking Business Value and Measurement of Brand Communities
The Most IMPORTANT Metrics
8%
Among the metrics you measure to show your effect on business value, what is the most important one?
(Only those options available to all participants)
(% of respondents)
Retention
Change in sales revenue
Customer lifetime value
Customer loyalty
Customer satisfaction ratings
New customers
NPS score
Cost savings
14%
13%
8%
7%
6%
6%
3%

20. Tracking Business Value and Measurement of Brand Communities
chose retention as a metric.54%

21. Tracking Business Value and Measurement of Brand Communities
The most important (but challenging)
metric to measure is
"change in sales revenue".

22. Tracking Business Value and Measurement of Brand Communities
The most popular metrics to show
business impact by value.
Value Most Popular Metric
Customer Support or Customer Success # or % of answered questions (65%)
Product Ideation, Innovation and Feedback Product Ideas (60%)
Acquisition and Advocacy New user/member sign-ups (62%)
Content and Programming Number of active users/members (74%)
External Engagement Retention (20%)
Internal Engagement Retention (25%)

23. Tracking Business Value and Measurement of Brand Communities
“Three of us sat in a room figuring out
the equivalents to industry standards so
we could show meaningful metrics.”
- Annemarie Dooling, Racked (a Vox Media brand)

24. WHY MEASURING
MATTERS

25. Tracking Business Value and Measurement of Brand Communities
of communities fail due to lack of
internal resources and support.130%
1 “Keys to Community Readiness and Growth: How Brands Prepare
for Online Communities” by CMX and Leader Networks, 2016.
http://cmxhub.com/communityreadiness.

26. Tracking Business Value and Measurement of Brand Communities
reported that they saw "increased
leadership support".
93%
said that measuring their community's
value led to "increased interest from
other departments".
90%

27. Tracking Business Value and Measurement of Brand Communities
And we found a correlation.

28. Tracking Business Value and Measurement of Brand Communities
And we found a correlation.
The more confident a person was, the more
money their company made.
Weighted Confidence vs. Revenue
(% of respondents)
2.44%
2.00%
2.83%
2.42%
2.59%
2.71%
2.50% 2.50%
2.71%
3.00%
$0 - $250k
$250k - $500k
$500k - $1m
$1m - $10m
$10m - $50m
$50m - $100m
$100m - $500m
$500m - $2b
$2b - $10b
Over $10b

29. IMMEDIATE NEXT STEPS
1. Using the SPACE Model, determine your
community’s primary business value.
2. Get clear about your community's goal in
relation to that value.
3. Using the 3-Step Community Measurement
Model, decide community health metrics and
content and programming metrics.
4. Begin to report regularly.

30. QUESTIONS?
Don't forget to grab your free copy of
"The 2017 Community Value and Metrics Report"
bit.ly/2m9RWA9