When we brought together two distinct customer ecosystems — one built around learning, the other around support — we saw more than just a logistical challenge. We saw an opportunity to create a unified customer community that empowers users to find answers, but also to connect, learn, and grow together. We wanted to give them a voice in their community.
As Director of Customer Education & Community, I set out to do exactly that: Design a shared space where customers across product lines could feel part of something bigger. Here’s how we turned that vision into reality in under five months.
Unifying experiences across products
Each of our legacy platforms brought value. The learning management system (LMS) drove strong product adoption by helping customers get certified, which also reduced low-level support requests. On the other side, the community forum made it easy to scale customer success by sharing product updates, answering questions, and surfacing best practices quickly.
The “but” was that they operated in silos. And, at the same time, our customers had more in common than the tools they used. Regardless of product line, they’re focused on retaining and growing their own customers. Their roles, goals, and challenges overlapped. What they need isn’t just how-to content; they need connection, inspiration, and insights from peers facing the same realities.
By bringing these platforms together, we saw the potential to build something powerful; a single destination for education and engagement. A space where knowledge didn’t just flow from us to them, but between them — peer to peer, product to practice.
Breaking the SSO comfort zone
In the old platforms, customers could access resources using the same login credentials they used for our products, thanks to single sign-on (SSO). That seamless experience was something customers valued.
Unfortunately, the new unified platform couldn’t support multiple SSO protocols — and, without a centralized identity provider, customers had to create new community profiles from scratch. It was a trade-off; there always are. We knew this would add some initial friction, and limit our ability to revoke access automatically after churn. To mitigate the risk, we committed to quarterly audits and focused on creating a member experience so valuable and welcoming that the extra login step would feel worth it.
From consumption to contribution
In the old world, success looked different for each platform. The LMS focused on certification, ensuring every account had a trained admin and a group of certified practitioners. The community platform, however, focused on support at scale, pushing out content and answering quick questions.
This time, we flipped the script. We wanted to pull value from customers, not just push it. Our goal was to create a community where the content was customer-led — where members posted their own insights, asked meaningful questions, and learned from each other. The result? We, as a company, could listen, learn and respond based on what our customers were seeing on the front lines.
We still post roadmap updates and release notes. We still offer self-paced courses. But the heart of this new community? It’s built on the voices of its members.
Choosing the right platform and phasing the rollout
It’s always fun to go shopping! But, in the end, it comes down to what tool will help achieve the identified goals best. We chose a platform that offered the most intuitive member experience. I was already part of another community on that same platform, and had seen firsthand how engaging it could be. That sense of value and belonging is what we sought to create for our customers.
As we prepared for launch, we migrated relevant content with a focus on quality and long-term sustainability:
- From the LMS, we brought over course content, auditing and retiring outdated content — anything misaligned with current product functionality, outdated industry practices, or too low-value to warrant maintenance.
- From the old community, we moved “how to” content into our knowledge base, which remains our single source of truth for product information.
We took a phased rollout approach. Identifying the minimal viable or “MVP” needed to balance launching quickly and ensure adequate support for new members. An important decision we made was to start with one product line’s customers first. This allowed us to work out any kinks and refine the member experience. For example, we tested the process of transferring engagement points from the legacy community — ensuring our top advocates didn’t lose their hard-earned recognition. We also validated the performance of new courses and member activation automations along the way.
Then we welcomed the second group of customers, making sure to prepare the initial members for an expanded audience. We encouraged them to take advantage of direct messaging to connect, reminding them they might spot a familiar face, and that this was a chance to grow their professional network organically. Now, we’re …
Designing for activation, not just attendance
Getting members to join was only part of the plan. The real challenge was activating them — to get them contributing, not just lurking.
A multi-step Member Activation Flow guides new members from passive to active, gradually, but with purpose.
Early wins and clear momentum
We’re still in the early chapters of this journey, but the signs are encouraging:
- 10% of key contacts have created profiles
- 13% of members visit daily (60% monthly)
- Member-generated content now accounts for 25% of weekly posts
- 10% of members have already leveled up in our point system
- 38% of members have enrolled in a course or RSVP’d to a live event
The better part? We’re seeing real conversations happen. Customers offer advice, share templates, and even challenge each other in thoughtful ways. It’s no longer just us, the company, broadcasting into a void. It’s a living, breathing space, and it’s theirs as much as ours.
What we’re building
Unifying a community isn’t just about migrating content or consolidating tools. It’s about shifting the culture — from business-led to customer-led. That doesn’t happen overnight, and it certainly doesn’t happen without intention.
With a clear objective, the right platform, an aligned activation strategy, and an unwavering focus on peer value, it’s possible to build a customer community that feels less like a support portal and more like a movement.
Recurring revenue is a rhythm, not one note. It’s a commitment to continuous improvement and innovation, led by the customers you’ve got. So they meet their goals, and you meet yours.
Learn how Totango can help your business put revenue on repeat.
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