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As VP for Marketing & Communications at a large membership organization I selected a community software platform, I’ve worked as a product manager for an online community platform, I’ve personally launched three online communities, and now I’m doing more and more work with organizations to help them select online community software that match their business requirements.
Here’s my no-spin, no-hype analysis on the most important features to look for in an online community software package. There are many other things to take into consideration, but these will get you started.
Top 10 features to look for in an online community platform
- Data synchronization between your Customer Relationship Management (or equivalent) database and the community platform. At a minimum, it should support a one-way transfer of member data from the CRM package to the community platform.
- Single sign-on to the organization’s main website, because nothing stifles engagement quite like being logged into a members-only section of the website and being asked again for your username and password when clicking over to the online community. Logging in is the single largest barrier to engagement. You MUST help your members bypass the login screen.
- E-mail notifications sent on a schedule determined by the end user. The community manager may have the ability to set the defaults for their frequency, but the end user should be able to set notifications to arrive on a schedule they prefer.
- Resource directory, file upload/download, or document sharing. Most organizations I’ve worked with view resource sharing as the core benefit of their online community, and it’s a noble thought. But the simpler the resources feature, the better off you’ll be, because experience shows that users don’t often share files.
- Discussion forums or groups. Although most organizations launch online communities with the hope that members will share sample documents, they usually don’t. If your experience is like most others, the primary way that you’ll get engagement from your community members is through discussion groups. Look for a simple discussions interface that makes it not just easy, but enticing, to reply to posts and start new discussions. Interfaces that can aggregate all of “my recent discussions” or “most recent discussions” in a single screen are best-of-breed.
- Auto-login e-mail notification links. From experience, we know that most users interact with online communities when they receive e-mail notifications. Login failure crushes engagement metrics, but you can virtually eliminate this challenge by choosing an online community platform with an e-mail notification auto-login feature. You might also hear vendors call this something like “link tokening” or “gatekeeper” features.
- Mobile friendly pages. If it hasn’t already, mobile internet traffic is poised to overtake desktop internet traffic in the very near future (as of July 2013). Some vendors tout native apps, but mobile friendly pages are far more effective in reaching the broadest possible swath of your users. Ask if the mobile friendly pages play nicely with the auto-login email links.
- Messaging engine. There are two cases where a more sophisticated feature is the better choice, and this is one of them. Look for products that allow community administrators to send messages to certain segments of users, merge in member or community data, and have messages sent automatically when triggered by a member’s activity or at certain time-based intervals.
- Reports. This is the second instance in which you want to give preference to sophisticated features. Virtually all vendors have some level of reporting, but some of the best out there can tell you things like which users (not just how many, but the specific people who) have taken a specific action during a timeframe you define. Precious few online community platforms offer an abstract query tool, but if you find one that also satisfies your other requirements, give it serious consideration. Also look for web analytics (either native or Google Analytics compatible) and report automation (e.g. having a daily report of everyone who logged in for the first time e-mailed to you).
- Design flexibility. Look for platforms that allow the community manager to configure the layout of the home page, interior pages, menus, banner advertising, and other content. More advanced users may want the ability to override the Cascading Style Sheet, embed custom code into widgets or blocks, and configure the content of error pages (e.g. access denied, page not found, etc.).
Did I miss anything? What would you replace?
Good post, Ben, I think you did a good job of not being to narrow while still getting into the weeds.
When we’re talking engagement in online communities, it comes down to two types of features – features that provide value (discussions, resource libraries, wikis, etc.) and features that drive ongoing engagement (e.i. bring people back to the community to participate). These engagement features are things like an email engine, personalized notifications, and gamification features.
The features on your list fall into these categories. While specific feature requirements vary by organization type and strategy, it is important that organization have a balance of these two types of features in their platform.
The only two areas that I would add to this basic list are revenue generation features, like events, eCommerce, and sponsor management, and the ability for a community member to participate in a discussion by receiving and replying to a thread delivered to their email inbox, like a listserv integrated with their discussion forums (this offers a significant boost in participation).
Thanks, Josh. If forced to keep this list to 10, what items would you remove from it to make room for these other features?