Online Brand Communities as A Services Marketing Channel: An Exploratory Study of Apple Support Community Using a Machine Learning Approach

Abstract

Online brand communities are a vital services marketing channel and relationship marketing tool. Community members share a common interest and actively engage in community activities, such as content engagement, product, experiences and ideas sharing. These online brand communities offer a range of benefits, including enhanced customer service, incentives for active members, and strengthened brand loyalty. We particularly focus on customer service aspect of online brand communities and investigate how membership types and product categories affect the resolution rate of consumer problems. Using a machine learning approach, we explore dynamic interactions among members within the Apple Support Community over a time span of one year from 2023 to 2024. We investigate the contribution from varying membership types, examine variation in consumer experiences across different product categories and discuss the implications for marketers of consumer service strategies.