Empowering Creators to Build a Community for Creators – The Story of ConvertKit

Convertkit

Bettermode helped us create a user-friendly brand community with familiar design elements and customize it to serve the various needs of our customers.

Haley Chamberlain
Content & Community, ConvertKit
Haley Chamberlain
Summary

Story snapshot

An overview of how the ConvertKit team used features such as Spaces, Collections, SSO, and Leaderboard to build a thriving customer community.

About 

Convertkit

Leading cloud-based email marketing software for creators founded in 2013 with over 61 team members across 50 cities, designed to help creators earn a living online. The ConvertKit Headquarters is in Boise, USA

Community Goals

Create an online community for creators driven by creators. Support and help creators by sharing useful content resources. Empower customers so they can get answers to questions about the product, best practices, marketing, and more.

Approach

Launch a community for creators signed up with ConvertKit using the Bettermode Platform. Structure the community using Topics and Groups. Connect creators and share high-quality content resources to help them and host challenges to educate them.

Results

Within 12 months from the date of launch, the community is now thriving with more than 44,000 creators. There are close to 7,000 answers in the community and the creators are benefiting from the incremental value generated from the community

ConvertKit is the leading email marketing software for online creators – the authors, makers, podcasters, photographers, YouTubers, teachers, artists, and other creators earning from online channels. There are tens of thousands of paying customers collectively sending more than one billion emails each month.

ConvertKit’s solutions are the primary driver of creators’ business since email remains the most important tool for building an audience and making a living online.

ConvertKit is a community-driven company, so the manifestation of an online community for creators was only natural. Hence, the creator community was launched in 2020 with the Bettermode Platform. This community dedicated to creators is powered by creators.

ConvertKit community

The community membership is free and available to anyone who registers with ConvertKit (including the free plan). This is set up via Single Sign-On (SSO) so the members can use their existing credentials for the ConvertKit app.

Topics such as Feature Updates, Creator Stories, and Inspiration are used to categorize the content. These topics keep customers updated, motivate them, generate social proof, and celebrate their success.

There is also a dedicated Help Forum where the members can get answers to their questions from peers, product experts, and the ConvertKit team. Apart from that, ConvertKit also collects product feedback via a dedicated section.

Help forum within ConvertKit community

Groups act as sub-communities and drive intimate discussions based on shared passions. For instance, there are Groups dedicated to YouTubers, Writers, and Podcasters. There are even Mastermind groups to help creators succeed alongside peers in small group settings.

In terms of post types, the ConvertKit community makes use of Q&A, discussions, short updates, and articles. The article post type is specifically used to share resources. Various workshops and podcasts are also shared in the community to educate creators.

The Reputation app is used for gamification by awarding scores to members for their community contributions and activities. A leaderboard system is used to inspire the creators.

The other key apps used in the community are Virtual Currency, SEO Boost, Moderation, and Amplitude Analytics.

The creator community has become a powerful asset for ConvertKit by integrating and driving value across the entire customer life cycle.

Creators discover community, engage with peers, learn and get help. As they become successful and improve knowledge, the members give back to the community by helping others.

With a community-driven model focused on helping and educating creators at every stage of their journey, ConvertKit has set a compelling example for the brands looking to empower their community.