Here at Six Circles, we love all things online community related – and that includes juicy new stats from the world of online community building.

For us, it’s all about learning from the industry data – and sharing our findings with you, our valued community.

That’s why, today, we’re going to be taking a look at 6 lessons we can learn from some of this year’s online community statistics.

1. 76% of online users take part in online communities

With less than a quarter of online users not participating in some form of online community, this statistic highlights just how important online communities are today.

From public Reddit groups to brand-led forums, blogs and vlogs, it seems that internet users just can’t resist getting involved in the online world beyond traditional social media platforms.

From a learning point of view, this stat serves to reaffirm the growing relevance and influence of online communities with respect to their end users.

Whether it’s finding answers to pain points on a forum or simply identifying like-minded people and feeling part of something, nurturing an online community can go a long way towards putting your brand on the map.

But that’s not all – establishing an active and engaged community online can help you build brand authority, authenticity and trust among your customers.

2. 66% of brands credit their online community for helping to retain customers

Every business needs new revenue to promote growth, but there’s a lot to be said for servicing your existing customers, too.

Generating new customers is reported to cost up to five times more than retaining existing ones, yet many brands still put more time, effort and money into the former.

However, even with rising costs for customer retention and ever-changing consumer expectations, the takeaway here is that focusing on growing customer loyalty could pay off in the long run.

Obviously, there are different ways you can do this. As this online community statistic proves, though, cultivating an active and engaged group of online followers could be a highly effective strategy.

With consumers actively participating through brand-led groups, you can tap into their likes, dislikes and pain points. This can make it easier to continually service them and make them feel valued.

Valued customers will naturally feel more loyal to your brand, keeping them coming back time and time again.

3. 27% of customers say online communities influence their purchase decisions

Even in today’s largely online world, the power of recommendation has a strong part to play in consumer decision-making.

In fact, the above online community statistic shows that a third of customers use online communities to help them make decisions on whether to buy a particular product or service.

These user-generated reviews, advice and recommendations are considered to give a more genuine and honest assessment of products. As a result, they can have a big influence on how trustworthy a customer believes particular brands and their offerings to be.

With this in mind, take the time to be an active participant in your community so you can gain insight into what consumers think about your products or services.

Having an active role within your community can help you to respond to negative and positive feedback and learn more about what your customers actually want and expect from you.

4. Almost half of users say that the importance of their online communities grow over time 

With users reportedly spending an average of 415 minutes online everyday, it’s perhaps little surprise that online communities have become an integral way of communicating, on both a personal and commercial level.

As a result, many of the communities that people participate in form an important part of their daily social lives. Naturally, over time, they become more embedded and gain greater importance.

For brands, this long-term increased importance offers the perfect opportunity to engage consumers in an aim to increase customer retention and revenue.

5. 66% of users say their primary reason for online community engagement is connecting with like-minded people

As human beings, we like to feel a sense of belonging and seek to form genuine and meaningful relationships with our peers. In the real world, this can be challenging, but online we can pick and choose who we hang out with and where.

This creates the potential to seek out and connect with people with similar interests, giving consumers more control over who they interact with.

As a brand with an online community, this desire to connect with like-minded people can give you a clear indication of who your target audience is and what interests them.

You can then tailor and moderate the content within your online community to make sure it appeals to your members of your audience and others like them. In the long run, this will entice users to keep coming back and interacting within your online community platform.

6. 90% of brands have used suggestions from their community to improve products or services

Online communities aren’t just about providing a place for your users to congregate and socialise. They can also provide the perfect platform for members to express their views around products and services, which you can use to your advantage.

In fact, for 90% of communities, this has led to brands using community member suggestions to inform improvements to their services and products.

By tapping into consumer feedback via your online community, you can discover a goldmine of constructive and practical ideas for product and service refinement.

You can allow feedback to come through organically or, if you want to focus on a particular product improvement, open up the floor to your users via your online community. This could be an Ask Me Anything session, a customer survey or an open forum thread.

Whether you’re just starting your online community or looking to expand it further, there are lessons to be learned from these online community statistics. They can help you to attract, engage and nurture your audience members to create a thriving community that positively benefits them and your brand.

Do you need a little help getting your online community off the ground? No problem. Get in touch with Six Circles today and discover how our engagement platform can help you build a strong foundation for your online community.