Welcome back, Sia! Long time. You've asked an important question, and honestly, it's something even the most experienced community builders struggle with. Marketing and finance teams want quick ROI and it's difficult to justify without access to vanity metrics.
The good news - it's doable! Let's break it down, step-by-step:
1. Align Community and Business Goals
It's best to align your community goals with the business outcomes. Finance and marketing teams care about the KPIs like revenue growth, customer retention, lead generation, cost savings and brand loyalty. I've talked about the 3 most important KPIs for community growth, and I highly recommend reading it.
You will need to show how your community contributes to these outcomes. For example:
- Did your community help reduce support tickets? (cost saving)
- Are community members converting into customers? (revenue impact)
- Real-world product feedback from community to improve retention (customer success)
2. Track Actionable Metrics
Instead of just sharing the member count, like "our community has 1000 members", focus on what those members actually do in the community and how it aligns with business goals.
- Support deflection rate: How many support issues are solved each monthly by the community?
- Lead conversion: How many leads come from the community-driven events?
- Product insights: How many product improvements can be linked to direct community feedback?
- Customer Retention: Are community members renewing or upgrading more often?
We have discussed this in depth in our Community SPACES Model - a framework to prove community's true worth.
3. Member Stories and Testimonials
Numbers are important, but stories give numbers meaning.
When a customer says, “I chose your product because of the helpful community,” or “I stayed because of the support I got from peers,” that’s gold for both marketing and finance teams.
Collect these stories and highlight them alongside your metrics. It helps leadership connect emotionally with the community’s impact. Trust me, marketing teams love this! How do I know? I've been a marketer for over 15 years! :-)
4. Benchmark Smartly
You mentioned it’s hard to find benchmark data - and that's actually right! Many communities don't share real numbers.
Instead of chasing perfect benchmarks, focus on showing internal progress over time.
- How much has support deflection improved in the last 6 months?
- How much faster are customers finding help compared to last quarter?
- How has brand sentiment improved since you launched the community?
Internal improvement is often more convincing than external comparisons because it shows direct business impact.
5. Build ROI Story
Stories sell! Use it to your advantage. At the end of the day, finance and marketing leaders don’t just want data, they want a compelling story.
Here’s a simple structure you can use:
- Problem: Customers faced X problem (support delays, onboarding confusion, etc.)
- Solution: We built a community that solved Y.
- Result: We saw Z% improvement in customer satisfaction, cost savings, or revenue.
Keep it simple, visual if possible, and tie everything back to dollars, hours saved, or growth. Let me know if this helps. Do not hesitate to ask questions.
PS: Would love it if you visit Jatra more often.
