Customer communities are no longer passive forums. In 2026, they function as measurable CX infrastructure – reducing support costs, strengthening retention, accelerating feedback loops, and scaling advocacy.
Enterprise leaders searching for customer community use cases want practical answers:
- How do online communities improve CX?
- Can communities reduce support tickets?
- What does community-led product feedback look like in practice?
- Are brand advocacy programs measurable?
Below are five real-world examples showing how organisations used community platforms to improve customer experience outcomes.
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Use Case 1: HP Deflects Support Tickets Through Peer-to-Peer Support By Khoros
How Do Peer-to-Peer Support Communities Improve CX?
Short answer: They reduce support costs while increasing resolution speed and customer trust.
The Problem
HP faced rising support demand across its global customer base. Traditional support channels were expensive and difficult to scale.
Customers increasingly preferred self-service and peer solutions.
The Customer Community Solution
HP leveraged Khoros to power its online support community, enabling customers to:
- Ask and answer technical questions
- Search an extensive knowledge base
- Engage with superusers and moderators
- Access verified solutions quickly
The community created a scalable peer-to-peer support ecosystem.
The CX Outcome
According to Khoros, HP’s community:
- Generated millions of visits annually
- Enabled a significant percentage of customers to find answers without opening support tickets
- Reduced cost-to-serve while maintaining satisfaction
This is a clear example of how peer-to-peer support communities improve CX by combining speed, trust, and operational efficiency.
Use Case 2: Phillips Uses Salesforce to Turn Customer Feedback Into Product Innovation
How Does Community-Led Product Feedback Improve CX?
Short answer: It shortens feedback cycles and improves product-market alignment.
The Problem
Philips needed a more structured way to capture and act on customer and partner feedback across markets.
Feedback mechanisms were fragmented across email, surveys, and account reviews.
Philips has commented
“We want to connect sales, service, marketing, and anyone that’s customer-facing with Salesforce so we can share best practices and pockets of excellence”
The Customer Community Solution
Using Salesforce Experience Cloud, Philips built a digital ecosystem where customers and partners could:
- Share product feedback
- Collaborate on best practices
- Access resources and updates
- Engage directly within a structured environment
The platform integrated with Salesforce CRM, ensuring feedback flowed directly into internal systems.
The CX Outcome
Philips improved collaboration across its ecosystem and strengthened customer engagement through a more connected digital experience.
This use case shows how community-led product feedback improves CX by aligning customer voice with operational systems.
Use Case 3: ASAE Utilizes Higher Logic’s ‘Collaborate’ to Build a Scalable Brand Advocacy Program
How Do Brand Advocacy Programs Improve Customer Experience?
Short answer: They deepen loyalty and encourage peer-driven engagement.
The Problem
ASAE wanted to strengthen member engagement and create a more connected professional network.
Traditional communication channels limited peer interaction and long-term participation.
The Customer Community Solution
ASAE implemented Higher Logic to power its member community, enabling:
- Peer networking
- Resource sharing
- Knowledge collaboration
- Structured engagement opportunities
The community environment fostered consistent interaction among members.
Wanda Little-Coffey, MBA, CAE – Senior Director at ASAE says:
“Collaborate is an important part of how we create the environment for members where we’re engaging them as deeply as we can.”
The CX Outcome
According to Higher Logic, ASAE saw increased member engagement and stronger participation across its digital ecosystem.
This demonstrates how structured community environments support brand advocacy programs and long-term engagement.
Use Case 4: Exit Five Built a Thriving Marketing Community on Circle
How do Customer Communities Allow B2B Marketers to Thrive?
Short Answer: By giving the marketer continuous insights into what their customers really want to see, learn and discuss – allowing them to build and nurture relationships.
The Problem
Exit Five started as a side project, and founder, David Gerhardt, was creating his own community where users could have access to behind-the-scenes content and discussions. The issue became scaling the setup, and with scattered platforms and tools in play, managing them became difficult.
The Customer Community Solution
Exit Five implemented Circle to centralise its disparate discussion boards, content, records and analytics. With Circle, the founder was able to move everything into a single branded experience.
“We get the content and community tools Facebook or Slack never had, and now our paywalls and member access all run in the same place.”
The CX Outcome:
Members converse, collaborate, share ideas and even organise in person meetups – with more than 30 happening this year. Users are able to easily flick between subgroups, geo-based chapters and direct messages.
The platform has now become a trusted resources for marketers worldwide.
Use Case 5: Atlassian Made Social Engagement Scalable With Sprout Social
How Does Social Community Engagement Improve CX?
Short answer: It transforms social conversations into structured insight that strengthens customer relationships and responsiveness.
The Problem
As Atlassian’s global customer base expanded, managing conversations across multiple social platforms became increasingly complex.
Challenges included:
- Fragmented engagement across channels
- Limited visibility into customer sentiment
- Difficulty scaling responses consistently
- Missed opportunities to leverage user-generated conversations
Without unified oversight, social engagement risked becoming reactive rather than strategic.
The Community-Led Solution
Atlassian implemented Sprout Social to centralise and scale its social engagement strategy.
According to Sprout Social’s customer story, Atlassian used the platform to:
- Consolidate social conversations into one unified dashboard
- Improve response workflows across teams
- Surface customer sentiment trends
- Enhance visibility into audience engagement
By structuring social conversations, Atlassian effectively extended its customer community beyond traditional forum environments and into broader digital spaces.
The CX Outcome
Sprout Social reports that Atlassian improved team efficiency and gained deeper insight into customer conversations by centralising engagement management.
This demonstrates how user-generated social content improves customer experience when it is captured systematically and analysed for insight
In 2026, social platforms are increasingly part of the customer community ecosystem. When managed strategically, they become a scalable source of feedback, advocacy, and trust.
Community-Led Growth Is Operational, Not Experimental
The most effective community-led growth strategies connect:
- Peer-to-peer support
- Structured feedback loops
- Advocacy programs
- Unified engagement
- User-generated content
When integrated with CRM, support, and digital engagement systems, communities measurably improve customer retention, reduce support costs, and strengthen brand loyalty.
The strategic question for CX leaders is not whether communities improve CX.
It is which use case will deliver measurable impact first.
Interested to learn more about scaling your CX communities in 2026? Read our ultimate guide.
