{"id":4246,"date":"2014-04-25T15:04:58","date_gmt":"2014-04-25T15:04:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thepowertoprovoke.com\/the-blog\/?p=4246"},"modified":"2014-04-25T15:04:58","modified_gmt":"2014-04-25T15:04:58","slug":"reddit-case-study-the-growing-haworth-chairs-thread","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/responseblog.wpengine.com\/2014\/04\/reddit-case-study-the-growing-haworth-chairs-thread\/","title":{"rendered":"Reddit Case Study: The Growing Haworth Chairs Thread"},"content":{"rendered":"

This reddit case study post features Haworth<\/a>, who is\u00a0building an extremely informative promoted discussion thread<\/a> about the value of their high-end chairs for gamers.<\/p>\n

Contents
\n1. Thorough Beginnings
\n2. Superior Discussion Management
\n3. Taking Out The Trash<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1. Thorough Beginnings<\/h2>\n

Haworth\u2019s promoted post targeted computer gaming-related subreddits like PC Gaming, with the headline of \u201cIf you care about your gaming, you should care about your chair.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"pc<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unlike the majority of ads on reddit which drive to external websites, Haworth\u2019s ad instead drove to a discussion thread within reddit. As a result, the discussion thread rapidly grew over 5 months with questions from redditors about the value of these expensive Haworth chairs, and thorough answers from the Haworth community manager.<\/p>\n

The ad\u2019s body copy provided a strong case for the value of a Haworth chair by highlighting the chairs\u2019 superior warranty and ergonomics, and also the company\u2019s commitment to sustainability.<\/p>\n

\"2\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

2. Superior Discussion Management<\/h2>\n

As expected, redditors had further questions about the value of Haworth chairs that weren\u2019t answered in the post\u2019s original body copy.<\/p>\n

The Haworth community manager was extremely responsive to further questions from the community that weren\u2019t answered in the initial post, often providing multiple detailed paragraphs to answer a single user\u2019s inquiry.<\/p>\n

\"3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The below graphic visualizes the post\u2019s discussion thread. Each node is a comment, and comments are strung together based on what they\u2019re commenting on. Unique colors are assigned to unique users. The purple dot in the center, and the swarm of purple throughout the visualization, are comments by the Haworth account. As seen, the Haworth account responded to many comments by users, which often turned into full back-and-forth discussions being joined in by other users. (Visualization created using Kawandeep Virdee\u2019s reddit visualization tool<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

\"4\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Wisely, the Haworth account added links to all these in-depth answers to the initial post\u2019s body copy, so that redditors would immediately understand how committed Haworth has been to helping the community make intelligent purchasing decisions.<\/p>\n

\"5\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

3. Taking Out The Trash<\/h2>\n

Within the comments thread there appeared a user complaining<\/a> that they had been swindled by Haworth, in that there was temporarily a (glitched) offer on the Haworth website that offered the $1,000+ chairs for $0. The user said that Haworth should make good on this offer, even if it was a glitch. The user then email spammed executives at the company and their customer service team.<\/p>\n

In response, the Haworth account explained the situation to the thread, and then poignantly finished saying that their allegiance was to 1. respectful customers and 2. their dedicated coworkers, to both of which this unpleasant user didn\u2019t belong.<\/p>\n

\"6\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The thread was in complete favor of the Haworth account, evident by the initial unpleasant user\u2019s comment score of -120, and Haworth\u2019s response having a score of +114.<\/p>\n

This incident also then found its way onto r\/SubredditDrama<\/a>, which is a gossip community for drama within subreddits. The post noted the scammer\u2019s attempts and then the strong responses from both Haworth and the community. This post then generated even more support for Haworth, with a score of 143 points and a 78% approval rating.<\/p>\n

\"7\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"8\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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