Discover how creating a digital community platform can strengthen user connections and deliver real value – as non-profit organisation Elizabeth’s Smile is proving.
How important is it for your organisation to grow a strong community of users or customers? According to 88% of business leaders, building such a community is critical to their company's mission – and 85% say it has had a positive impact on their business. (Source: CMX Community Industry Trends Report 2020)
Building a community can bring major advantages for your organisation in many ways, helping you:
Create stronger connections between your organisation and your users or customers.
Stand out from the competition with a better customer experience.
Generate leads and acquire new customers.
Decrease support costs.
Drive revenue growth.
Earn referrals and create loyalty through customer advocates to grow your organisation.
How do you create a strong digital community?
Building this kind of community at scale requires the right digital technology. The most common approach today is using a pre-existing social media platform like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or LinkedIn. Facebook and LinkedIn groups are easy for users to join and use, as part of a familiar social media ecosystem that they already inhabit.
But many organisations find that these largely public platforms aren’t right for their own needs and community, requiring more functionality or privacy. In this case, your organisation can host its digital community using SaaS tools and services such as Hivebrite, Tribe.so, Circle and Mighty Networks.Â
For even more demanding circumstances, many organisations choose to build their own digital community platform – often with the help of a digital product consultancy like Elsewhen. This ensures the ultimate levels of customisation and fitness for the community’s specific needs.
A digital community platform that changes lives
Let’s look at an example of an organisation in the non-profit sector that is creating its own digital community platform, to meet its specific demanding requirements for privacy and functionality.
Every year in the UK alone, 40,000 children lose a parent to illness. Often, bereaved children also lose contact with the extended family and friends of that parent, depriving them of a potentially life-changing support network.
Elizabeth’s Smile is a new non-profit organisation dedicated to supporting children with a terminally ill parent, before and after a parent’s death. They aim to do this by creating comprehensive support systems, backed by research and informed by experts and those with personal experience.
Elsewhen has been working with Elizabeth’s Smile to help them create a new brand and digital community platform that brings together a network of family and friends to support grieving children. This involves designing onboarding processes, flexible user journeys and a scalable UI for users of all ages, abilities and family structures.
How to transform a big idea into a life-changing reality
The organisation’s core service will be the Smile Network – a digital community platform, offering social connection for children, families and friends. The idea is to ensure that a wide support network stays in place for a child after the death of a parent.
Elizabeth’s Smile launched in 2022, creating an initial rough prototype of a digital platform for users. But they had no clear brand or design identity, and no proper web presence, making it difficult for potential users or supporters to engage with the organisation.
In particular, their in-house initial version of the platform needed significant improvement. After working on the organisation’s brand and website to bring these to best-in-class standards, Elsewhen was asked to help progress the digital platform to a higher level.
Fresh perspectives and expertise to better meet user needs
The Elizabeth’s Smile team worked with Elsewhen to mutually understand and define the different audiences, ranging from users of the services, to fundraising supporters, subject experts and wider influencers.
The insights were applied to create the brand identity and the new website. The goal was to develop a brand and web presence conveying compassion and warmth, along with the professionalism and trust of an innovative non-profit organisation.
The team built on those insights to create a platform for connecting bereaved children with friends and family. It involved further product research to refine the strategic vision, and design to reimagine the experience based on user feedback.
Making community user journeys simpler and more intuitive
Improvements addressed the user feedback from Elsewhen’s interviews and workshops. The team applied best practices from leading social networks, while understanding that the Smile Network is unique in many ways – providing a private community focused on supporting a child.
The aim was to create a familiar yet innovative platform, preserving a grieving child's support network and providing a safe environment. The team prioritised accessibility, ensuring the platform suits users of all ages and abilities.Â
The approach included flexible onboarding and user journeys, accommodating diverse family structures. The team designed a scalable interface that's suitable for users from very young children to adults, avoiding the alienation of any user groups.
Building a digital community with strong foundations
With a new brand identity, website and platform Elizabeth’s Smile are equipped to continue on their mission of ensuring that every child has a childhood.Â
By providing a safe and supportive community platform, Elizabeth’s Smile can now help children stay connected with their parents' friends and family, and provide them with access to resources and opportunities that can empower them to live fulfilling lives even after the difficult loss of a parent.
