Which Costs and Revenues are Involved in Running a Corporate Co-creation Community?
The major costs of online communities, irrespective of the NPD phase, are related to employee costs and platform costs. Additionally, money may be spent on promotion, like advertising or user rewards. Community managers indicate that promotion costs are negligible compared to the employee and platform costs. A number of types of revenues, or value returns, have been identified. First, improvements or ideas for new products represent a major value return. In the concept and use phase, this is achieved by implementing suggestions and responding to needs communicated by users. In the development phase, this is achieved by sharing best practices for new designs. In the test phase, this is achieved by fixing bugs or usability aspects. Second, community is an important instrument for communicating with customers. The company can create understanding among users by explaining why some approaches have been chosen. By engaging their employees, companies appear to be able to increase customer lo
