Vanilla Forums is open source community forum software. It provides support for developers, theme creators, and forum owners. The platform is now part of Higher Logic Vanilla.

Vanilla Forums

Vanilla Forums offers open-source community forum software. It is designed for developers, theme creators, and forum owners. Vanilla Forums is now Higher Logic Vanilla.

Higher Logic Vanilla | 4,170 followers on LinkedIn. Deliver exceptional customer experiences with community.  | Higher Logic Vanilla is a leading online community platform for B2B and B2C brands. We enhance customer experiences by combining the power of customer communities, discussions, Q&amp;A, ideation, and knowledge bases. Our platform strengthens customer relationships, increases peer-to-peer engagement, and offers self-service resources for quick issue resolution.

Software developer bij xCore

Niels D.

Solutions Consultant at Higher Logic

Patrick Kelly

Program Manager at Vanilla Forums

Kirstie Macfarlane

Demand Generation

Alexander Weihmann

Higher Logic Vanilla

Going the extra mile for a prospect or customer isn’t about doing more. It’s showing you care enough to anticipate what they really need. For buyers, the “extra mile” often means answering questions they can’t find on your website. It’s digging into the specifics like: - What makes your product uniquely suited for their challenges? - How does it solve the nuanced problems they face every day? - What sets you apart in ways that actually matter to them? This is where your online community acts as a connector. Dedicating parts of your community to specific segments creates a space for real talk—prospects learning directly from customers with similar challenges. These spaces are educational and validating. And that validation speeds up buying decisions. Pay attention to the recurring questions and curiosities you hear. Use those insights to create resources that go deep—blogs, videos, or case studies that answer the unasked but critical questions. When your prospects feel like you’ve already done the thinking for them, you’re the partner who gets it—and that’s the kind of impression that drives faster, more confident decisions. Want to speed up deals? Start by anticipating what your buyers really need. Here’s how: https://lnkd.in/e2BG8Axi

Migrating your online community? Don’t skip the soft launch. Here’s why: A soft launch is your safety net. It gives you a controlled environment to test the new platform with a smaller, engaged group before rolling it out to everyone. Who should you invite? Super users, moderators, or your most active members—they know your community best and are invested in its success, meaning you’ll get honest and informed feedback. During a soft launch, focus on areas like: - Community design: Does it feel on-brand and inviting? - Navigation: Can users easily find what they need? - Onboarding: Is the experience clear and helpful for newcomers, guiding them through the rules, purpose, and ways to participate? - Discussions: Is starting and finding conversations intuitive? - Ideation tools: Is it easy for members to share feedback and ideas? - Gamification: Is the rewards system clear, motivating and aligned with your brand? - Integrations: Are all connections to other systems—SSO, CRM, or ticketing software—working as intended? - User scenarios: Have participants test specific tasks, like posting a question, updating a profile, or reporting an issue. Be ready to act on feedback quickly. Set up a system to collect, categorize, and prioritize input. Make sure participants know what’s being addressed and when. Get the rest of our migration tips here: https://lnkd.in/gim4We6t What's worked for you during a soft launch?

Here’s a quick tutorial from Brendan Parm showing off our Automation Rules feature. It’s for all the community managers out there who are DONE with MANUALLY: ⛔ Escalating posts to moderators or support (think: unanswered questions, disruptive content, posts with negative sentiment) ⛔ Archiving outdated or irrelevant posts that clutter up space and distract members ⛔ Surfacing top-voted ideas for product review ⛔ Bumping, tagging or featuring popular posts and refreshing them when their time’s up ⛔ Bringing overlooked discussions and unanswered questions back to the top ⛔ Assigning new users to the right ranks, categories, or groups—and updating those roles and structures as they reach milestones ✅ This is just a preview of what our automation can do. With configurable triggers and actions, you’ve got a toolkit built to handle all kinds of scenarios. If you’re managing a community, this is the automation you’ve been waiting for—and it’s only getting better from here. Catch the demo video, and if there’s a feature you’d like a closer look at, let us know.

Your community’s churn rate might not mean what you think it does. Not all churn is created equal. Losing a few highly engaged members who drive most of your activity? That’s different than a handful of infrequent lurkers dropping off. The real challenge is uncovering what that churn rate actually *represents*—not just the number itself but the story behind it. The key is to segment, analyze, and stay curious. Churn can be symptomatic of different issues depending on who’s leaving. If casual members are churning, it might suggest onboarding or content relevance gaps. If it's core members, it could point to burnout, community shifts that don’t align with their interests, or lack of advanced resources or recognition opportunities. Look for patterns in when members go inactive, too—are there dips after community changes? Do new members tend to churn shortly after joining? And don’t overlook the qualitative signals like exit comments and survey feedback. These often reveal the “why” that numbers alone can’t capture. Remember, churn is only as useful as the context you give it. We get into more ways to look at churn—like how it lines up with engagement metrics, key milestones, lifecycle stages, and more—in our blog. Link in the comments.

AI is everywhere—but when it comes to community management, how does it actually help? On November 13, join us for live demos on using gen AI tools like ChatGPT to automate, personalize, and streamline the daily work that keeps your community engaged. Guiding us through is Diana Qian Morgan , a community expert with 10+ years of experience who’s managed AI-driven communities at places like DeepLearning.AI and Copy.ai . She'll share the do’s, don’ts, and unexpected insights she’s learned along the way. Link in the comments.

The Vanilla team is here at SlapFive: Customer Marketing ’s CustomerXCon! We're looking forward to diving into customer-led growth over the next two days. If you're looking to explore the potential of community in your customer marketing, swing by our table—we'd love to chat!

Still riding the energy from Day 1 at ChurnZero 's ZERO-IN 2024. Couldn’t ask for a better crew—or a better view. If you’re here, drop by our table, say hello 👋—and yes, we’ve got planters and herbs. Perfect for adding a little greenery (or flavor) to your day. P.S. Congrats to Heather Wendt who crushed her session on online community best practices earlier. If you've got questions (or just want to chat), stop on by!

What’s the best part about Gain Grow Retain ’s Demopalooza for customer success leaders? It’s like window shopping for your CS tech stack—without the usual sales dance. Catch group demos from top vendors for CSPs, LMS, and more all in one place. Thinking about Higher Logic Vanilla? We’re up Monday, October 28 at 12:40 p.m. ET. We’ve been busy adding some great new features for automation, AI, moderation, integrations, and more. Register here: https://lnkd.in/gWuzDgmC No pressure. Pop in, get the highlights, and see what’s new.

Shoutout to the newest mayor of RevCity— Brandon McBride , for snagging the key to city. Congrats on setting the bar and being innovators in community. And hey, thanks to the team at 6sense for letting us provide the key 🗝️ (and a little bit of the city itself)!

Congrats to Bluebeam on launching its new Bluebeam Community! As a leader in the AECO industry, Bluebeam has long been known for simplifying PDF markups and digital workflows. Now, with their new community, the Bluebeam team is offering even more ways for users to connect, collaborate, and find solutions. From day one, the team prioritized creating a seamless customer experience by integrating the community with core systems like their LMS, product management platform, marketing automation, and SSO. As Aily Roper , sr. manager of education services at Bluebeam, and Angela Aff , community manager at Bluebeam, jointly shared, "The out-of-the-box, self-serve configurations were easy to use—especially SSO. We manage multiple SSO instances, but the Higher Logic Vanilla team made implementation simple.” The team is particularly excited about using discussions and subcommunities to drive engagement. They’re also looking forward to leveraging automation for a smoother onboarding process and improving localization and translations to better serve their global audience. Curious to see what they’ve built? Check out the Bluebeam community here: https://lnkd.in/enMP87RF

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Vanilla Forums