Chapter five of Delivering Effective Social Customer Service talks about peer-to-peer support. Carolyn Blunt and Martin Hill-Wilson discuss how communities work and the benefits of these communities. These online communities have been used for over 20 years. Some communities have matured into a main point for engagement. Team members receive valuable insight from communities.
Blunt and Hill-Wilson also talk about the 90/9/1 rule. These three numbers show the three main forms of participating in an online community. 90 percent of the users are considered lurkers. While these people read and observe, they do not contribute to the community. Nine percent of users occasionally contribute. Finally, one percent of users participate frequently. This one percent is responsible for most of the content in a community.
I was very surprised to learn about the 90/9/1 rule. There are online communities, such as forums, that would consider me to be a lurker. On the other hand, the one percent that posts most of the content was a shock. However, there are times where these people may post just to get attention and turns a conversation into an argument.
With online communities, there are bound to be benefits. Michael Maoz, a Gartner distinguished analyst vice president, observed four communities in action for one year. He found that on average, over 40 percent of customers resolve their issues in the community. This resulted in a 15 percent reduction of service cases. Finally, the average return on investment was 100 percent within 15 months.
Maoz's findings did not really surprise me. When people can solve their issues in the community, it saves them time and they do not have to wait for a professional to help them. It is common for people to share questions in an online community, where others who have experienced the same thing can give their input.
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