The Benefits of Community Engagement Software

In today’s technology-led and “always on” society, staying connected with your customers has never been more important. This has become even more important during the Covid-19 pandemic, with the online world being the main – and often, only – means of operating for many firms.

This is where community engagement software has proved essential for many businesses, but its benefits go beyond simply staying in touch with your target audiences.

Here, we’ve taken a closer look at the benefits of community engagement software and explained more about the features and options you have with these innovative platforms.

Community engagement software explained

Verint’s Community platform is an example of what optimized community engagement software can look like. It is a product that includes a variety of digital services and a suite of modern user experience applications. It can also be used by both consumers and employees alike.

For example, Verint Community includes:

• Question and answer forums
• Discussion forums
• Blogs, wikis and media galleries
• Ideation generation through sourcing feedback and information
• Chat and messaging functions
• Activity streams, profiles and calendars
• Gamification (achievements, points, comments etc.) for using the platform
• Performance monitoring
• Extensibility and inclusion of plug-ins and additional features

These can then be deployed for use as:

• Customer support communities
• Digital marketing communities
• Private member communities
• Internal employee networks

As you can see from these examples, the community software is more than just an online engagement platform. Rather, it’s a solution that can boost your operations and ultimately your business’ performance. What is more Verint Community can also be customized and white-labeled with your business’s branding and style. You can find a full breakdown of the features on offer with Verint Community here.

What are the benefits of using community engagement software?

By investing in this software, your business could enjoy the following benefits:

• Improved and streamlined customer support

The traditional, physical customer support service within a contact center has been a stalwart of the business world but is now something that has become increasingly costly and difficult to manage – particularly during the pandemic.

However, the “always on” approach from an online engagement platform or community engagement software means it can allow consumer issues or queries to be handled remotely. Also, having online support portals can allow customers to find the solutions they need through digital self-service.

In turn, this can speed up the customer support process, making it more effective, efficient, streamlined, and, in the end, affordable.

• Better security

From a data perspective, the secure digital platforms in which information is collected and stored can be safer for your employees and customers. This is because with an online platform you rid yourself of the risk of losing or compromising physical documentation.

• Increased staff and customer engagement

With the gamification features and the conversation-starting/resolving forums available, you can keep both staff and customers engaged and increase the likelihood of them creating new and diverse content and/or producing useful data for your business.

• Faster analysis and data capture

All of the information you gather – be it data or user-generated content – can also be used for marketing analysis and planning. What’s more, this can be produced in much faster timeframes than if you were starting from scratch – which ultimately means you can also roll out any marketing or business improvement plans much quicker.

• Improved brand image

Once word gets out that your business is using these platforms and how beneficial they can be, it’s going to reflect well on potential customers and new recruits alike. Customers will be impressed by the quality of the service on offer, while prospective employees may also be drawn in by the benefits that stem from the use of your chosen community engagement software.

• Driving innovation

To build on the last point, with community engagement software and online engagement platforms like Verint Community, you can build out your setup with the newest features and smart tech. As a result, you’ll continue to show that your business is dedicated to driving innovation and development to better serve its customers and staff.

• Increased retention, sales, and profit

With a combination of the above, you can ultimately help keep your clients and employees happy, enthused, and more productive. This can then lead to increased sales, retention, and, over time, increased profitability.

Find out more about our community engagement software

If you’d like to learn more about Verint Community, speak to our team of experts today and we’ll quickly get back to you with a follow-up response.