Social Influencer Series | Brian Oblinger, VP Customer Experience & Global Community Leader
My first day at Khoros was day one of “Boot Camp Charlie” at our HQ in Austin, Texas. Boot camp is a right of passage for all Vista Equity Partners portfolio companies. That very first day, an inspirational case study was shared about the Alteryx Community and that was the first I had heard of the great work being done by Brian Oblinger and his community team.
I met Brian later when he launched the Community strategy for one of our Khoros Customers in Boston, DataRobot and I was blown away by his vision and thought leadership. Today, Brian has his own extremely successful consultancy business and Podcast (In Before The Lock).
He is a veteran VP of Customer Experience and Global Community. He has deployed some of the world’s most engaging and successful Community platforms. He believes in driving shared value between organizations and their customers to increase engagement, satisfaction, and retention. He accomplishes those goals by using an analytical approach to understand customer behavior and leverages cutting-edge technologies and business strategies to drive results.
And that is where Community comes in. I caught up recently with Brian and here’s a snapshot of what he had to say:
You are outspoken about how important CX is going to be going forward in the new world. How does COVID-19 impact that?
I’ll start by saying that companies should always be thinking about and improving the end-to-end experience they provide to their prospects, customers, partners and employees - not just during difficult times. Companies that were competing on experience before COVID-19 are best positioned to retain existing customers and acquire new ones as we get back on our feet and money begins flowing again.
One of the things that we saw during the Great Recession and we can expect again this time around is that being "good enough” isn't good enough. Customers will be more mindful of how they spend their money and the emotional component of feeling good about parting ways with scarce dollars gets magnified significantly as a contributing factor to purchase decisions. So, it’s critical that companies to scrutinize every touchpoint, every UI, and every interaction they have with customers.
The only thing more expensive than investing in CX is not investing in it. I’ve worked in the data science space for a number of years now where we tracked the ROI of all of the investments we made, and I promise that you won't be disappointed if you hire the right people and make it a priority across the business. Transformations of this order are never easy, but they are necessary. Those that fail to do so will lose out to competitors delivering a better experience.
You were part of the team that built one of the most successful and engaging Communities @ Alteryx? What was the secret sauce? What is the key to a successful community?
I’m always quick to point out that it truly was a team effort. I was fortunate to work alongside some of the most amazing people in the world there. They deserve all of the credit.
In this case, the secret to success is knowing that there isn’t really a secret. Internally, the things that make communities successful are the same things that make most business initiatives successful: clearly communicating a vision, gaining buy-in from C-level executives, making it clear that these initiatives are critical to the success of the business, enlisting the help of stakeholders across the company, and ultimately delivering real progress and value that move the needle on business metrics. It also helps to hire and listen to people that have been deeply rooted in this world for many years and can give you the map of how to get there.
The approach that I use to build communities is to deeply understand the audience, figure out what they need to be successful, and deliver it in a way that is better, cheaper, and faster than whatever they were doing before. This takes real discipline because you have to let go of whatever notions you may have about what people need and how they need it. If you ask someone what they want, they will tell you. The key is listening and then translating it into reasonable deliverables.
Give the people what they want. If you do that, you’re going to sell a bunch of whatever product or service you offer.
What are the top-3 things you'd advise a company launching a community to do?
1. Hire experienced community professionals - Often times the thought is to skimp in this area and hope that you can add them later. If you are not willing to invest at this level now, you may not be ready to invest at all
2. Deeply understand your audience - Is it big enough to have a vibrant community? What kinds of value can you add to their lives/careers? Can you do it better/cheaper/faster than the status quo?
3. Don’t put too much stock into lists of the top 3 things you should do - from people that don’t have an intimate understanding of your customers and business . Following best practices alone can probably get you 75% of the way there, but there is a magic that happens when you tailor your community specifically to the needs of your audience and consistently deliver an amazing experience that binds them to you in ways no other business initiative can.
What are some of your favorite communities and why?
Over the years I’ve been part of hundreds and I’ve always loved enthusiast and people-based communities. There is a spirit there that can’t be faked or taken for granted. When people are discussing things they are truly passionate about, there’s nothing more real. It’s what we should all aspire to create in some way even if we’re building B2B or other types of communities. To name a few:
What trends are you seeing in CX? What does the future look like in a COVID-19 world? (community, care or other CX)
The world is going to change in profound ways. Quarantine and mandatory work from home policies will have lasting impacts on how companies think about serving their customers. At the same time, some companies are laying off customer-facing staff. All of this adds up to a renewed focus on delivering support, solutions, and success efficiently at scale via apps, websites, and social networks. We’ve been talking about “Digital Transformation” for many years, and the realities of what that means are now hitting a lot of companies hard.
I can’t see the future to tell you what it will look like, but my belief is that now is the time to kick your CX efforts into high gear to avoid being left behind as customer expectations change. A dollar spent on these efforts today likely equate to several dollars saved, generated, or retained tomorrow.
Speed Round:
Celebratory Cocktail? Whiskey Sour
Proudest Accomplishment? Seeing my team succeed
Go To Social Channel? Twitter
Advice for Community Manager? Build your business acumen, quickly
Inspirational #hashtag? #StayHome
About the interviewer:
Mark Keaney is a Husband, Dad, Coach, Mentor and Leader. With over 20 years of experience in the media industry and a wild ride in the world of tech start-up & social - Mark is helping brands deliver world class CX at Khoros, where he is the Vice President of Sales for North America. His mantra is - Brand Globally. Market Locally.
email: markkeaney8@gmail.com or twitter: @markkeaney2pt0
