The Forgotten Strategy: How Customer Communities Can Drive Growth

Xina Seaton
6 days ago
2 min read

Updated: 3 days ago

Most companies treat their customer community like a support archive or a side project.

But here’s the reality: your community is one of the most powerful growth engines you’re not using.

I’ve built award-winning communities that didn’t just engage customers, they saved millions, increased adoption, and fueled advocacy. One of my favorites is the The Blue Prism community which is featured in The 7 Pillars of Customer Success, page 262. It drove over £560K savings per year via support deflection, all through peer-to-peer help, scalable content, and strategic customer engagement.

Here’s the kicker: most customers only know you digitally. And community is how they meet you, learn from you, and grow with you.

If you’re not investing here, you’re missing a massive lever for retention, satisfaction, and expansion.

Why Most Communities Fall Flat

Companies often launch communities without asking two critical questions:

What do my customers actually need from this space?
How do they want to consume it?
- They assume customers want long-form documentation when they prefer short, searchable videos.
- They blast announcements but ignore peer-led Q&A.
- They wait for everything to be “perfect” before launching—and nothing ever gets out the door.

Stop over-engineering. Start building.

What To Do: Turn Community Into a Growth Engine

Start With Customer Goals, Not Internal Hype.

Ask: Why would a customer come here?

Is it for education, content, support, connection, validation?

Then: How do they want that delivered

Live sessions? Short videos? Discussions?

Build the experience around them, not your org chart.

Launch Fast, Learn Faster. Don’t wait for perfection.

Build a simple editorial calendar. Publish once a month. Try a live event like a “Watch Me Build” where your SME walks through real use cases in real time.

Minimal prep. Maximum value.

Then repurpose everything:

Turn that webinar into an on-demand asset
Clip highlights for LinkedIn
Add segments to onboarding flows
Answer FAQs in real-time

3. Think CX First, Support Second. Yes, community reduces support tickets.

But real impact happens when community becomes a strategic CX layer:

Integrate it into onboarding and adoption flows
Surface customer-created best practices
Run ABM campaigns through it
Drive advocacy, upsell, and retention through peer influence

Community isn't just a content channel. It's your digital trust platform.

Quick Win: Start This Week

Audit your existing community:

Do you have visibility into who’s engaging, how often, and with what content?
What’s driving the most value today?
Where and how are your customers already getting value?
Where are the gaps?

Key Takeaways

Communities can dramatically reduce support costs through peer-led knowledge sharing.
Digital-first customers need value in the format they prefer, build around that.
A strong customer community drives adoption, advocacy, and long-term growth when aligned to the full customer journey.