Following a study of nearly 3,000 global consumers to determine the importance customers attach to being seen as stakeholders by corporations, Gongos, Inc. is launching a new online communities service model, as announced by president & CEO Camille Nicita. The “Customer as a Stakeholder” service model facilitates a more reciprocal relationship between customers and corporations to ensure a more authentic fusion of the customer into decision making. The global study was conducted the week of July 1st in partnership with Dynata, the world’s largest first-party data platform.
Spurred by last year’s Business Roundtable Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation and as evidenced by consumers’ desire to be heard and valued by corporations, particularly during this year’s executive stay-at-home orders, this study underscores the need for online research communities to act as an avenue to drive value over a customer’s lifetime and as a customer experience touchpoint. The “Customer as a Stakeholder” service model, paired with the unique i°Communities environment, instills an imperative for creating new engagement strategies between customer and corporate stakeholders.
According to the study, 80% of U.S. consumers (66% globally) believe that providing their input via a private online community can truly make a difference in the success of the business. Added to this, 75% of U.S. consumers (68% globally) prefer that companies ask them directly for their feedback rather than gather information about them without their knowledge, e.g. transactional and social data.
However, only 46% of global consumers who participate in online research communities currently agree that being a member makes them feel like a stakeholder in the business. This points to an opportunity for corporations to treat customers as stakeholders, while truly leveraging their voice to grow the business.
“Events of 2019 and 2020 demonstrate there’s a need to elevate the role of consumer to that of stakeholder in the success and sustainability of corporations,” said Nicita. “A customer’s experience heavily weighs on the relationship built between corporations and consumers—and we believe online communities provide a powerful platform to help build that reciprocity.”
Gongos surveyed 1,000 U.S. consumers in its Consumer Village propriety online platform, and partnered with Dynata to survey another 1,655 consumers across China, India, South Korea, Brazil, Germany and the U.K. For additional findings on this study, visit gongos.com.
Gongos, Inc. is a consultative agency that places customers at the heart of business strategy. Partnering with insights, analytics, marketing, strategy, and customer experience groups, Gongos operationalizes customer centricity by helping companies both understand their customer needs and deliver on them better than anyone else. Gongos was named a Forbes “Small Giant” in 2020; ranks #44 among the largest market research organizations in the U.S.; and partners with Fortune 500 clients across multiple industries including Coca-Cola, Mars Petcare, Kellogg’s, U.S. Bank, UnitedHealthcare & General Motors. For further insight into Gongos, visit gongos.com. Gongos’ proprietary i°Communities platform was first developed in 2006.
This article originally appeared in MarTech Cube.