“Whether it’s one-on-one interactions, group meet-ups, or online forums, our community thrives on meaningful connections.”

As Senior Community Manager at Gong, Molly Kipnis has hundreds of conversations with customers and revenue leaders and there’s one thing she keeps hearing loud and clear: connections matter. 

Over two and a half years in the role, Molly has developed thoughtful ways to pair Gong’s customers and revenue professional community members with others who can help inform and inspire their work. Matcha has been the game-changer that helps her save time, curate relevant matches in a scalable way, and uplevel community NPS and customer satisfaction. 

A Community Manager’s Quest

Nisha Baxi, Head of Community and Digital Customer Success, founded the Gong community more than three years ago and has built a legacy of putting the customer and audience first. Building on the foundation Nisha created, Molly makes sure to be regularly talking with customers and listening carefully to what the community wants. 

“The number one request was for folks to be able to connect with other people like them one-on-one. There was a clear need for a platform or for us to manually facilitate one on one connections between our members.”

At the same time, Molly’s colleagues in Customer Success were looking to scale product education beyond the standard Help Center or course-based Academy. They were searching for a more relatable way to give users real-world guidance on how to use the product effectively. 

“We wanted to facilitate peer learning and we really didn't have a way to do that.”

The functionality and flexibility of Matcha’s platform makes it easy to create connection  programs that address a variety of company goals - from community NPS, to product adoption, to integration support, and beyond.  

“Matcha solves the pain point of not having a way to scale that peer learning and also have folks self-serve into information and connections that interest them. Rather than me going and trying to connect all the dots between our members, I can create programs that run on their own.”

For an always-hustling community manager like Molly, Matcha’s matching algorithm and integrated user experience make life a lot simpler. Molly explains: “without Matcha, I would have to do all of that matching and coordination with my own brain and just myself, which would take a lot of time and effort.” 

Playing the Right Role in a Buyer-Led Ecosystem

The software-buying landscape has shifted dramatically in the last few years, with the rising importance and power of the end-buyer. Customers who are in the market to buy a tech solution like Gong rely on peer recommendations to find, verify, and justify the solutions they purchase. 

“Everybody is looking for opinions from other people, especially when it comes to software. It's just so noisy and it's so hard to know how to use a tool or what to do or strategies or tactics. Matcha alleviates a lot of the pressure from our team and also helps people feel more confident in their own decision making because it's coming from a trusted source, it's coming from a friend, it's coming from a peer.”

Consequently, Gong builds this customer behavior into their marketing funnel by using  Matcha to run a 1:1 connection program for revenue professionals to meet and connect. 

In fact, the company hosts both a broader revenue community as well as a niche group for women in revenue. Molly describes those groups as “another avenue for folks to make connections with people like them (or people that aren't like them) that they want to learn from. The pillar of our community is learning and growing and connecting.”

This year, Gong facilitated more than 1,400 connections with Matcha – double what they did last year. 

Scaling Education

The role of community and connection doesn’t stop at the moment of purchase.  Gong has a truly unique program designed to help new customers identify integrations and use the product more effectively.   

“When folks sign up for Gong, they become aware of all the resources where they can self-serve – and Matcha is a big part of that.”

During the sign-up flow, customers indicate which integrations they use and then can opt-in to receive matches based on others who are using Gong in the same way. 

“Everyone wants to know what everyone else’s tech stack is. Do we need this tool or can we consolidate with Gong? How are you using Salesforce with Gong? Facilitating these conversations through Matcha helps us solve a big pain point, which is helping our customers understand which integrations they should be using and how.”

The Magic of Matcha

Matcha has become more than just a software platform for Gong: “It's really become a cornerstone of what makes our community special.”

Consider the serendipitous meeting of two women: Ashley Coghill and Katrine Reddin. These two women met through Gong’s customer networking program in Matcha,developed a friendship, and went on to found Gong's Women in Revenue meetup program – a meaningful addition to the community. Even further, they continued their partnership to start a top-rated podcast.

"Matcha isn't just about numbers; it's about fostering genuine connection. From empowering our customers to enhancing our onboarding process, to sparking innovation among community members, Matcha has truly transformed the way we connect and grow together."

Everybody Wins

As any software company knows, it’s an added bonus when one tool can be leveraged by various departments, put to use in multiple ways. Molly notes that Matcha “doesn't just help me. It helps everyone at Gong who has an idea or wants to facilitate connections between our customers.”

As Gong continues to evolve, so does its partnership with Matcha.  Molly and her team keep coming up with unique ways to leverage Matcha’s powerful matching algorithm and platform flexibility. Because, with connection as a foundation of their strategy, there’s no limit to how Gong can help their customers – and reach many more. 

Learn more about Gong, The Visioneer Community, and Matcha today.