One of the major trends in Social Media is group buying and we all heard about the usual suspects being Groupon, SocialBuy and a rising star in the Middle East, Cobone.
In the case you have been living under a rock, group buying is the process of forming a group of buyers with the intent to purchase a particular item or service at a bargain price. I am not here to talk about the success of social buying companies because this subject has already caused a lot of “digital” ink to spill.
I would like to shed light on an existing phenomenon similar to group buying, however with its own earmarks – community buying.
I am myself part of an online community of expats within the Middle East with a sizeable number of members. The main goal of this social grouping is to assist newcomers to accommodate in their new environment. But not only, (it also caters) a list of products and services is shared with the community. And this is how it works:
First Phase: the review
In this whole buying process, Word-of-Mouth (WoM) is a powerful medium, particularly during this first stage. Indeed, a discussion between the involved participants allows current owners of one of the products or a community member that used one of the services within the list, to share recommendations, comments and feedbacks. Needless to say that people trust their peers’ opinion more than they trust what companies tell them. Just a side point though, this type of WOM tends to be even stronger than a comment posted online lost in a (immensite et l anonymat du web) because some of the community members interact face-to-face. My point here is that we have a captive audience and it makes a world of difference. Well, after this rate-it or slate-it episode, we then enter into the negotiation phase.
Second Phase: the price is right
The shallow pockets of online consumers who constitute this community, and of course the always guilty economic crisis, press the former to look for cheaper offerings and competitive pricing. The idea is simple: when a threshold in term of buyers is reached for each product and service selected, an order is placed. The more people are interested, the cheaper the price. Well, you get the picture. From laptops to car rentals, to hotel offers, they have it all.
The experience is authentic and you do know that it does not take people long to lose their faith in something nowadays, especially when that something comes from a company.
This community is composed of two basic mainstays: authenticity and relationship.
If you are using Social Media to bond with your online audience, you must be aware of the importance of maintaining a genuine relationship with your readers /consumers. The thing about WOM is that it is viral in nature – people solicit feedback, share insights, update the community with their experience post-purchase. For better or for worse.
Third (and potentially lethal) Phase: Post-evaluation
It ranges from the “knock your socks off” customer experience to the disaster that sometimes starts like this: “I don’t usually write reviews, but I strongly felt this is worth informing as many people as possible”. Once more, WOM spreads like wildfire even outside the great wall of our community. If I wanted to be boring, I would tell you that no firm can offer a flawless experience to all of the customers all of the time. But, when a majority of the community experience delivery failures, the brand is blacklisted. Period. End of story.
Here is a tip: some customers will slip through that first safety net but a company without a good to great customer experience management, with a pledge to turn those who are satisfied into loyal advocates, will remain in the undesirable list. If I was to put together a top 5 list of the ingredients that makes this group buying a success, authenticity and trust would probably sit pretty squarely at the top.
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