Atkins Nutritionals
Atkins Nutritionals worked with Powered to launch a highly-interactive community site that encourages interaction between members, creates an open dialogue with nutrition experts, and helps consumers find the right nutrition products to help them meet their weight-loss needs.
The Challenge for Atkins
Up until the beginning of 2008, Atkins had supplied a simple forum solution that allowed some interaction between Atkins loyalists, but engagement was low. Without the brand really engaging in the community, users were left cold and would actually find other places on the web to commune.
As a result, Atkins launched an ambitious strategy to provide an open community for free (all of their competitors charged for online community access at the time) with expert content, including a blog by their VP of Nutrition.
The goals for this community were:
- Position Atkins as a leader in dedication to healthy living by offering members free online tools
- Audience acquisition & opt-in to Atkins.com database, but continue to focus on engaging members once they had opted-in
- Create a variety of ways for users to interact with the community
- Allow members to create an "identity" for themselves
- Focus on member satisfaction, which will lead to brand preference
Atkins and Powered started out by targeting current opt-ins to the Atkins newsletter and prospects who had indicated that they were interested in learning more about Atkins and how to get started with the plan.
The Community Program
Built, The Atkins Community online community features were built on the Powered Social Marketing Platform in addition to the existing forums . . .
- Community where visitors access advice, tools, resources & support from other members
- Places for members to rate/review Atkins products, chart progress & interact with a licensed nutritionist
- Professional, easy-to-navigate content including courses, notebooks, checklists, and videos)
- Encourage "Atkins Advocates" to reach out to new members and answer questions
The Results
The impact of this richer community sent registered members skyrocketing and engagement with the brand with other users was impressive.
- Explosive growth in the number of registrations since the launch of the community in late 2008. Registrations for the first year of the community quadrupled by over 400% when compared to the same time period the year prior.
- Over 600K registered members since the inception of the community.
- Impressive retention numbers. 19% of members that registered in 2008 returned to the community in 2009.
- Strong results across all major KPIs in 2009. Registrations for the community increased by 97% in 2009 when compared to 2008.
