“ One of my favorite, favorite goals is making our community the engine behind our product previews.
So we have this program where we select customers to test features early on, and then they give feedback, they shape the roadmap, and it aligns directly with our business goals, right? We wanna have faster innovation, stronger customer retention, and just better market fit overall.
And so that's my favorite thing. You really see how the community is super passionate about testing our new features. 'Cause these are things they've asked for, and how they really help shape things.
And a lot of times, when the feature or the product is released, the community members themselves will promote it within the community. So then we get also kind of like little marketers or little sellers within the community for a new product and an upsell.“
From this episode, you'll know:
👉 How community goals bridge business needs with member value.
👉 Turning community members into testers, feedback loops, and advocates.
👉 How to improve retention and reduce feature misfires.
👉 The key to internal collaboration.
👉 How teams benefit in measurable ways from strong community ties.
Choose the best platform to listen to this episode:
Connect with Avital and Yurii here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/avital-knoller-205784112/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/yurii-lazaruk-community-consultant/
🔗 From Community Chaos to Strategic Alignment: How Avital Turns Conversations Into Business Growth
“Community isn’t just a support function. It’s the connective tissue of your entire business.”
— Avital, community and collaboration strategist
I’ve had hundreds of conversations about community, but this one felt different. Sitting down with Avital felt less like an interview and more like finally connecting with someone who just gets it—the messy, beautiful, often misunderstood reality of what it means to build and lead communities that actually move the business forward.
She dropped gems from the very beginning.
“A business community isn’t just where users consume—it’s where they contribute. And that contribution accelerates everything else.”
I nodded so hard my headphones nearly flew off 😁
🚀 A Community Goal Is a Business Goal
One of the biggest “aha” moments in our conversation was how Avital framed community goals. Not as warm and fuzzy intentions or vanity metrics, but as shared outcomes that serve both members and the business.
“It’s a two-way street. What do they get, and what does the business get?”
That reframing stuck with me. It turns abstract “engagement” into something measurable, strategic, and aligned. One of her favorite examples? Letting community members preview upcoming features. They don’t just give feedback—they shape the roadmap. And when those features go live?
“The community members themselves promote it. We end up with little marketers inside the community.”
That’s community ROI you can feel.
🔁 The Community Feedback Loop That Saves Time and Money
We talked about a mutual friend, Tim McDonald, and how community feedback once helped his team avoid building a feature no one really wanted. Avital had a similar story. She showed how community members testing new features early led to smarter decisions, faster iterations, and better customer retention.
It’s not just about building with your community—it’s about building smarter.
“You spend a little more time now so that you don’t waste a ton of time later. That’s the win.”
🧭 Translators, Not Just Builders
We dove into what it really takes to do this work. Spoiler: it’s not just being a great host or content creator.
“The best community builders are renaissance minds. Curious. Adaptable. Fluent in many languages—from product to marketing to legal.”
Avital sees community professionals as translators. We connect the dots between departments. We help sales see value in threads. We help product teams reprioritize based on what users are actually asking for.
“It’s subtle, but it changes everything you touch.”
We joked that maybe “community” should be a language option on LinkedIn. I’d add “Sales” and “CS” to the list, too.
📊 Metrics, Screenshots & Micro-Stories
Of course, we talked about measurement. Because it’s one thing to say “community drives value,” but another to prove it.
Avital takes a hybrid approach: KPIs, OKRs, and screenshots.
“If a PM texts me and says, ‘Thanks, now I understand what to build’—that’s impact. I’ll screenshot it.”
Sometimes, a Slack message or a community quote says more than a spreadsheet. But it’s all about framing the story in the language your stakeholders understand.
“Nobody wakes up thinking about community except us. So we need to advocate for ourselves.”
🙋 Help Me Help You
My favorite part? Her amplifier mindset.
“I’m not here to demand. I’m here to make your job easier.”
She doesn’t push raw feedback to PMs—she curates it. She doesn’t just tell Support what to do—she shows them how engaging in the community reduces tickets. She even launched a program called “Community Service” to help support engineers learn from the community before going into the field.
“I always ask: what’s already on your plate—and how can the community help move it forward?”
That right there? That’s how you get buy-in.
🧪 Starting Small: The MVC Approach
If you’re struggling to prove ROI, Avital has a simple, powerful first step:
“Start by identifying who your community is already helping. And how.”
You don’t need a 50-slide strategy deck. You need a Minimum Viable Community (MVC) mindset. Find the bright spots. Tell the story. Add one quote, one screenshot, one simple metric—and start building your case.
“It’s not about building a perfect dashboard. It’s about proving value with what you already have.”
✨ Final Thoughts
Avital reminded me what great community leadership looks like: grounded, strategic, empathetic, and wildly cross-functional.
Community isn’t a department. It’s a function that amplifies every other function. And when you connect community goals with business goals, you don’t just serve users better—you help your company grow smarter, faster, and with a whole lot more heart.
“When you align with the right teams, community becomes indispensable. Not a brand moment—a business strategy.”
👋 Want to connect with Avital?
Find her on LinkedIn—her favorite platform and her second home.
🎧 And if you want to hear the full conversation, listen to this episode of The Community ROI Podcast.
Let’s keep building.
Let’s keep translating.
Let’s keep proving the ROI—one conversation at a time 🚀
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