Free (and subscriber-based) communities are all the rage among direct-to-consumer businesses.
The key to separating your community from the groups that members never check is solving their problem at each stage of the customer journey.
Through this case study I’ll share how we were able to engage an Online Bible Study Community at HarperCollins Christian Publishing that provides high-LTV customers with a space to connect with like-minded users.
Project Overview
The Problem: This direct-to-consumer brand has an amazing event-based marketing funnel that supports some of their best sellers, but they don’t have away to connect the registrants for these events.
Our Solution: Create an owned online community that gives registrants a place to connect while providing a platform for the brand to talk directly to their most engaged audience members.
Breaking It Down
Building a community is no small feat, but by divvying up the work and creating a realistic timeline we were able to make it work. Our community is robust, sales-driven, and allows members to connect with leaders in the industry.
Here’s how we did it:
Step 1 – Research Competitor Communities
We identified the best things about each community, what we wished the community offered, and the communication pattern related to the content inside.
Step 2 – Set Goals and OKRs
In order to have alignment in this project, we created set goals and OKRs that we would track and optimize toward while executing this project. These goals included things like revenue within 90 & 180 days of community launch, community engagement, active vs. inactive users, and more.
Step 3 – Build a Community Outline
Next we brainstormed to create an outline of what our community should include, any promotions or free offers, education relevant to our audience, engaging content, and anything we thought would make a community appealing to our ideal audience.
Step 4 – Create a Project Timeline
Once we understood everything that we needed to create, we could divvy up the work. Team members took on some aspects while we outsourced others (like graphic creation or video production.)
Step 5 – Curate the Community
After creating all the content, we needed to transfer it into the community in a format that made sense. We created 8 mini-courses, 3 challenges, and 11 courses to help our community reach their goals.
Step 6 – Launch the Community
We launched our community and after 90 days we gained 9k new members and $5k in revenue. This was huge because our community wasn’t a Facebook Group– it required 99% of our members to create a new account.
Step 7 – Maintain the Community
From launch we’ve been maintaining this community by sharing content, releasing new courses and challenges, and hosting live events featuring industry leaders. Our revenue has been doubling each month and we’re on track to become a six-figure revenue stream for the business by end-of-year.
The Impact
This community is a huge win for the business, so far its helped to:
- Curate an Owned Community – we have over 25k members and we don’t have to compete for space on their feeds
- Engage Customers – 20% of our members are active in the community, meaning they’ve signed in and interacted within the last 30 days
- Increase Website Visits – 10k sessions from this community to landing pages and PDPs
- Increase Conversions – 5k opt-ins, 1k purchases, and $15k in revenue
Conclusion
It’s no secret that communities and groups are key to building long-term relationships with a customer base. When we focused on serving a specific audience and providing the solution to their problem, we were able to achieve impressive results for this direct-to-consumer brand.
Want community growth results like these?
Hey there! I’m Carlisle Russell, a seasoned marketing strategist with 10 years’ experience in social media marketing for e-commerce businesses. Tap here to learn more about building a profitable, predictable, and seriously engaged social media community.
