Getting started with customer advocacy (CA) is no easy task. Many customer success professionals carry out ad hoc customer advocacy activities to address immediate needs but lack a more strategic approach.
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Understand the strategic benefits and process for building a formal customer advocacy program. To be successful, you must reposition CA as a strategic growth initiative and continually link any CA efforts back to growth.
With the assessment tool and steps outlined in the storyboard, you will be able to understand the gaps and pain points, where and how to improve your efforts, and how to establish program requirements.
Align on pilot goals, key milestones, and program elements using the template and storyboard to effectively communicate with stakeholders and gain executive buy-in for your customer advocacy pilot.
Customer advocacy puts the customer at the center of everything your organization does. By cultivating a deep understanding of customer needs and how they define value and by delivering positive experiences throughout the customer journey, organizations inspire and empower customers to become evangelists for their brands or products. Both the client and solution provider enjoy satisfying and ongoing business outcomes as a result.
Focusing on customer advocacy is critical for software solutions providers. Business-to-business (B2B) buyers are increasingly looking to their peers and third-party resources to arm themselves with information on solutions they feel they can trust before they choose to engage with solution providers. Your satisfied customers are now your most trusted and powerful resource.
Customer advocacy helps build strong relationships with your customers, nurtures brand advocacy, gives your marketing messaging credibility, and differentiates your company from the competition; it’s critical to driving revenue growth. Companies that develop mature advocacy programs can increase Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) by 16% (Wharton Business School, 2009), increase customer retention by 35% (Deloitte, 2011), and give themselves a strong competitive advantage in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
Emily Wright
Senior Research Analyst, Advisory
SoftwareReviews
Ad hoc customer advocacy (CA) efforts and reference programs, while still useful, are not enough to drive growth. Providers increase their chance for success by assessing if they face the following challenges:
Building a strong customer advocacy program must be a high priority for customer service/success leaders in today’s highly competitive software markets.
Getting started with customer advocacy is no easy task. Many customer success professionals carry out ad hoc customer advocacy activities to address immediate needs but lack a more strategic approach. What separates them from success are several nagging obstacles:
This blueprint will help leaders of customer advocacy programs get started with developing a formalized pilot program that will demonstrate the value of customer advocacy and lay a strong foundation to justify rollout. Through SoftwareReviews’ approach, customer advocacy leaders will:
“Customer advocacy is the act of putting customer needs first and working to deliver solution-based assistance through your products and services." – Testimonial Hero, 2021
Customer advocacy is designed to keep customers loyal through customer engagement and advocacy marketing campaigns. Successful customer advocacy leaders experience decreased churn while increasing return on investment (ROI) through retention, acquisition, and cost savings.
Businesses that implement customer advocacy throughout their organizations find new ways of supporting customers, provide additional customer value, and ensure their brands stand unique among the competition.
Customer advocacy has evolved into being a valued company asset versus a simple referral program – success requires an organization-wide customer-first mindset and the recognition that customer advocacy is a strategic growth initiative necessary to succeed in today’s competitive market.
Acquiring a new customer can cost five times more than retaining an existing customer (Huify, 2018).
Increasing customer retention by 5% can increase profits by 25% to 95% (Bain & Company, cited in Harvard Business Review, 2014).
Don’t overlook the value of customer advocacy to retention! Despite the common knowledge that it’s far easier and cheaper to sell to an existing customer than to sell to a new prospect, most companies fail to leverage their customer advocacy programs and continue to put pressure on Marketing to focus their budgets on customer acquisition.
Forty-five percent of businesses rank online reviews as a top source of information for selecting software during this (top of funnel) stage, followed closely by recommendations and referrals at 42%. These sources are topped only by company websites at 54% (Clutch, 2020).
With referrals coming from customer advocates to prospects via your lead gen engine and through seller talk tracks, customer advocacy is central to sales, marketing, and customer experience success.
✓ Advocates can help your new customers learn your solution and ensure higher adoption and satisfaction.
✓ Advocates can provide valuable, honest feedback on new updates and features.
“A customer advocacy program is not just a fancy buzz word or a marketing tool that’s nice to have. It’s a core discipline that every major brand needs to integrate into their overall marketing, sales and customer success strategies if they expect to survive in this trust economy. Customer advocacy arguably is the common asset that runs throughout all marketing, sales and customer success activities regardless of the stage of the buyer’s journey and ties it all together.” – RO Innovation, 2017
Advocacy happens when customers recommend your product. Our research shows that the biggest drivers of likeliness to recommend and acts of customer advocacy are the positive experiences customers have with vendors and their products, not product features or cost savings. Customers want to feel that:
Note that anything above 0.5 indicates a strong driver of satisfaction.
Source: SoftwareReviews buyer reviews (based on 82,560 unique reviews).
True customer satisfaction comes from helping customers innovate, enhancing their performance, inspiring them to continually improve, and being reliable, respectful, trustworthy, and conscious of their time. These true drivers of satisfaction should be considered in your customer advocacy and retention efforts. The experience customers have with your product and brand is what will differentiate your brand from competitors, drive advocacy, and ultimately, power business growth. Talk to a SoftwareReviews advisor to learn how users rate your product on these satisfaction drivers in the SoftwareReviews Emotional Footprint Report.
Marketing, customer success, and sales teams experiencing any one of the above challenges must consider getting started with a more formalized customer advocacy program.
12% of people believe when a company says they put customers first. (Source: HubSpot, 2019)
Brands struggle to follow through on brand promises, and a mismatch between expectations and lived experience emerges. Customer advocacy can help close this gap and help companies live up to their customer-first messaging.
42% of companies don’t conduct any customer surveys or collect feedback. (Source: HubSpot, 2019)
Too many companies are not truly listening to their customers. Companies that don’t collect feedback aren’t going to know what to change to improve customer satisfaction. Customer advocacy will orient companies around their customer and create a reliable feedback loop that informs product and service enhancements.
“84% of B2B decision makers start the buying process with a referral.” (Source: Influitive, Gainsight & Pendo, 2020)
“46% of B2B buyers rely on customer references for information before purchasing.” (Source: RO Innovation, 2017)
“91% of B2B purchasers’ buying decisions are influenced by word-of-mouth recommendations.” (Source: ReferralRock, 2022)
“76% of individuals admit that they’re more likely to trust content shared by ‘normal’ people than content shared by brands.” (Source: TrustPilot, 2020)
By ignoring the importance of customer advocacy, companies and brands are risking stagnation and missing out on opportunities to gain competitive advantage and achieve growth.
1 BUILD
Build the business case
Identify your key stakeholders, steering committee, and working team, understand key customer advocacy principles, and note success barriers and ways to overcome them as your first steps.
2 DEVELOP
Develop your advocacy requirements
Assess your current customer advocacy maturity, identify gaps in your current efforts, and develop your ideal advocate profile.
3 WIN
Win executive approval and implement pilot
Determine goals and success metrics for the pilot, establish a timeline and key project milestones, create advocate communication materials, and finally gain executive buy-in and implement the pilot.
SoftwareReviews Insight
Building and implementing a customer advocacy pilot will help lay the foundation for a full program and demonstrate to executives and key stakeholders the impact on revenue, retention, and CLV that can be achieved through coordinated and well-planned customer advocacy efforts.
"Advocacy is the currency for business and the fuel for explosive growth. Successful marketing executives who understand this make advocacy programs an essential part of their go-to-market strategy. They also know that advocacy isn't something you simply 'turn on': ... ultimately, it's about making human connections and building relationships that have enduring value for everyone involved."
- Dan Cote, Influitive, Dec. 2021
Genesys' Goal
Provide sales team with compelling customer reviews, quotes, stories, videos, and references.
Approach to Advocacy
Advocate Impact on Sales
According to Influitive (2021), the impacts were:
Phase Steps |
1. Build the business case
|
2. Develop your advocacy requirements
|
3. Create implementation plan and pitch CA pilot
|
---|---|---|---|
Phase Outcomes |
|
|
|
Customer advocacy is a critical strategic growth initiative
Customer advocacy (CA) has evolved into being a highly valued company asset as opposed to a simple referral program, but not everyone in the organization sees it that way. Customer success leaders must reposition their CA program around growth instead of focusing solely on retention and communicate this to key stakeholders. The recognition that customer advocacy is a strategic growth initiative is necessary to succeed in today’s competitive market.
Get key stakeholders on board early – especially Sales!
Work to bring the CEO and the head of Sales on your side early. Sales is the gatekeeper – they need to open the door to customers to turn them into advocates. Clearly reposition CA for growth and communicate that to the CEO and head of Sales; wider buy-in will follow.
Identify the highest priority segment for generating acts of advocacy
By focusing on the highest priority segment, you accomplish a number of things: generating growth in a critical customer segment, proving the value of customer advocacy to key stakeholders (especially Sales), and setting a strong foundation for customer advocacy to build upon and expand the program out to other segments.
Always link your CA efforts back to retention and growth
By clearly demonstrating the impact that customer advocacy has on not only retention but also overall growth, marketers will gain buy-in from key stakeholders, secure funding for a full CA program, and gain the resources needed to expand customer advocacy efforts.
Focus on providing value to advocates
Many organizations take a transactional approach to customer advocacy, focusing on what their advocates can do for them. To truly succeed with CA, focus on providing your advocates with value first and put them in the spotlight.
Make building genuine relationships with your advocates the cornerstone of your CA program
"57% of small businesses say that having a relationship with their consumers is the primary driver of repeat business" (Factory360).
Build the Business Case
Call #1: Identify key stakeholders. Map out motivations and anticipate any concerns or objections. Determine steering committee and working team. Plan next call – 1 week.
Call #2: Discuss concepts and benefits of customer advocacy as they apply to organizational goals. Plan next call – 1 week.
Call #3: Discuss barriers to success, risks, and risk mitigation tactics. Plan next call – 1 week.
Call #4: Finalize CA goals, opportunities, and risks and develop business case. Plan next call – 2 weeks.
Develop Your Advocacy Requirements
Call #5: Review the SoftwareReviews CA Maturity Assessment Tool. Assess your current level of customer advocacy maturity. Plan next call – 1 week.
Call #6: Review gaps and pains in current CA efforts. Discuss tactics and possible CA pilot program goals. Begin adding tasks to action plan. Plan next call – 2 weeks.
Call #7: Discuss ideal advocate profile and target segments. Plan next call – 2 weeks.
Call #8: Validate and finalize ideal advocate profile. Plan next call – 1 week.
Win Executive Approval and Implement Pilot
Call #9: Discuss CA pilot scope. Discuss performance metrics and KPIs. Plan next call – 3 days.
Call #10: Determine timeline and key milestones. Plan next call –2 weeks.
Call #11: Develop advocate communication materials. Plan next call – 3 days.
Call #12: Review final business case and coach on executive presentation. Plan next call – 1 week.
A Guided Implementation (GI) is series of calls with a SoftwareReviews Advisory analyst to help implement our best practices in your organization. For guidance on marketing applications, we can arrange a discussion with an Info-Tech analyst. Your engagement managers will work with you to schedule analyst calls.
Pre-Workshop | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Post-Workshop | |
Activities | Identify Stakeholders & CA Pilot Team | Build the Business Case | Assess Current CA Efforts | Develop Advocacy Goals & Ideal Advocate Profile | Develop Project Timelines, Materials, and Exec Presentation | Next Steps and Wrap-Up (offsite) | Pitch CA Pilot |
0.1 Identify key stakeholders to involve in customer advocacy pilot and workshop; understand their motivations and anticipate possible concerns. | 1.1 Review key CA concepts and identify benefits of CA for the organization. 1.2 Outline barriers to success, risks, and risk mitigation tactics. |
2.1 Assess your customer advocacy maturity using the SoftwareReviews CA Maturity Assessment Tool. 2.2 Identify gaps/pains in current CA efforts. 2.3 Prioritize gaps from diagnostic and any other critical pain points. |
3.1 Identify and document the ideal advocate profile and target customer segment for pilot. 3.2 Determine goal(s) and success metrics for program pilot. |
4.1 Develop pilot timelines and key milestones. 4.2 Outline materials needed and possible messaging. 4.3 Build the executive buy-in presentation. |
5.1 Complete in-progress deliverables from the previous four days. | 6.1 Present to executive team and stakeholders. 6.2 Gain executive buy-in and key stakeholder approval. 6.3 Execute CA pilot. |
|
Deliverables |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Contact your account representative for more information.
workshops@infotech.com
1-888-670-8889
Phase 1
Build the Business Case
Phase 2
Develop Your Advocacy Requirements
Phase 3
Win Executive Approval and Implement Pilot
Steps
1.1 Identify your key stakeholders, steering committee, and working team
1.2 Understand the concepts and benefits of customer advocacy as they apply to your organization
1.3 Outline barriers to success, risks, and risk mitigation tactics
Phase Outcome
Total duration: 2.5-8.0 hours
Objective
Identify, document, and finalize your key stakeholders to know who to involve and how to get them onboard by truly understanding the forces of influence.
Output
Participants
MarTech
None
Tools
1.1.1 Identify Stakeholders
(60-120 min.)
Identify
Using the guidance on slide 28, identify all stakeholders who would be involved or impacted by your customer advocacy pilot by entering names and titles into columns A and B on slide 27 "Stakeholder List Worksheet."
Document
Document as much information about each stakeholder as possible in columns C, D, E, and F into the table on slide 27.
1.1.2 Select Steering Committee & Working Team
(60-90 min.)
Select
Using the guidance on slides 28 and 29 and the information collected in the table on slide 27, identify the stakeholders that are steering committee members, functional workstream leads, or operations; document in column G on slide 27.
Document
Open the Executive Presentation Template to slides 5 and 6 and document your final steering committee and working team selections. Be sure to note the Executive Sponsor and Program Manager on slide 5.
Tips & Reminders
Consult Info-Tech's Manage Stakeholder Relations blueprint for additional guidance on identifying and managing stakeholders, or contact one of our analysts for more personalized assistance and guidance.
*Possible Roles |
Executive Sponsor |
Program Manager |
Workstream Lead |
Functional Lead |
Steering Committee |
Operations |
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Name | Position | Decision Involvement (Driver / Approver / Contributor / Informe |
Direct Benefit? (Yes / No) |
Motivation | Concerns | *Role in Customer Advocacy Pilot | |
E.g. Jane Doe | VP, Customer Success | A | N |
|
|
Workstream Lead | |
What to consider when identifying stakeholders required for CA:
Customer advocacy should be done as a part of a cross-functional company initiative. When identifying stakeholders, consider:
Key Roles Supporting an Effective Customer Advocacy Pilot | |
Executive Sponsor |
|
Program Manager |
|
Functional / Workstream Leads |
|
Steering Committee |
|
Operations |
|
Consider the skills and knowledge required for planning and executing a customer advocacy pilot.
Workstream leads should have strong project management and collaboration skills and deep understanding of both product and customers (persona, journeys, satisfaction, etc.).
Required Skills | Suggested Functions |
|
|
Total duration: 2.0-4.0 hours
Objective
Understand customer advocacy and what benefits you seek from your customer advocacy program, and get set up to best communicate them to executives and decision makers.
Output
Participants
MarTech
None
Tools
1.2.1 Discuss Key Concepts
(60-120 min.)
Envision
Schedule a visioning session with key stakeholders and share the Get Started With Customer Advocacy Executive Brief (slides 3-23 in this deck).
Discuss how key customer advocacy concepts can apply to your organization and how CA can contribute to organizational growth.
Document
Determine the top benefits sought from the customer advocacy program pilot and record them on slides 4 and 12 in the Executive Presentation Template.
Finalize
Work with the Executive Sponsor to finalize the "Message from the CMO" on slide 4 in the Executive Presentation Template.
Tips & Reminders
Keep in mind that while we're starting off broadly, the pilot for your customer advocacy program should be narrow and focused in scope.
Total duration: 2.0-8.0 hours
Objective
Anticipate threats to pilot success; identify barriers to success, any possible risks, and what can be done to reduce the chances of a negative pilot outcome.
Output
Participants
MarTech
None
Tools
1.3.1 Brainstorm Barriers to Success & Possible Risks
(60-120 min.)
Identify
Using slide 7 of the Executive Presentation Template, brainstorm any barriers to success that may exist and risks to the customer advocacy program pilot success. Consider the people, processes, and technology that may be required.
Document
Document all information on slide 7 of the Executive Presentation Template.
1.3.2 Develop Risk Mitigation Tactics
(60-300 min.)
Develop
Brainstorm different ways to address any of the identified barriers to success and reduce any risks. Consider the people, processes, and technology that may be required.
Document
Document all risk mitigation tactics on slide 7 of the Executive Presentation Template.
Tips & Reminders
There are several types of risk to explore. Consider the following when brainstorming possible risks:
Steps
2.1 Assess your customer advocacy maturity
2.2 Identify and document gaps and pain points
2.3 Develop your ideal advocate profile
Phase Outcome
Total duration: 2.0-8.0 hours
Objective
Use the Customer Advocacy Maturity Assessment Tool to understand your organization's current level of customer advocacy maturity and what to prioritize in the program pilot.
Output
Participants
MarTech
None
Tools
2.1.1 Diagnose Current Customer Advocacy Maturity
(60-120 min.)
Diagnose
Begin on tab 1 of the Customer Advocacy Maturity Assessment Tool and read all instructions.
Navigate to tab 2. Considering the current state of customer advocacy efforts, answer the diagnostic questions in the Diagnostic tab of the Customer Advocacy Maturity Assessment Tool.
After completing the questions, you will receive a diagnostic result on tab 3 that will identify areas of strength and weakness and make high-level recommendations for your customer advocacy program pilot.
2.1.2 Discuss Results
(60-300 min.)
Discuss
Schedule a call to discuss your customer advocacy maturity diagnostic results with a SoftwareReviews Advisor.
Prioritize the recommendations from the diagnostic, noting which will be included in the program pilot and which require funding and resources to advance.
Transfer
Transfer results into slides 8 and 11 of the Executive Presentation Template.
Tips & Reminders
Complete the diagnostic with a handful of key stakeholders identified in the previous phase. This will help provide a more balanced and accurate assessment of your organization’s current level of customer advocacy maturity.
Total duration: 2.5-8.0 hours
Objective
Understand the current pain points within key customer-related processes and within any current customer advocacy efforts taking place.
Output
Participants
MarTech
None
Tools
2.2.1 Identify Pain Points
(60-120 min.)
Identify
Identify and list current pain points being experienced around customer advocacy efforts and processes around sales, marketing, customer success, and product feedback.
Add any gaps identified in the diagnostic to the list.
Transfer
Transfer key information into slide 9 of Executive Presentation Template.
2.2.2 Prioritize Pain Points
(60-300 min.)
Prioritize
Indicate which pains are the most important and that a customer advocacy program could help improve.
Schedule a call to discuss the outputs of this step with a SoftwareReviews Advisor.
Document
Document priorities on slide 9 of Executive Presentation Template.
Tips & Reminders
Customer advocacy won't solve for everything; it's important to be clear about what pain points can and can't be addressed through a customer advocacy program.
Total duration: 3.0-9.0 hours
Objective
Develop an ideal advocate persona profile that can be used to identify potential advocates, guide campaign messaging, and facilitate advocate engagement.
Output
Participants
MarTech
May require the use of:
Tools
2.3.1 Brainstorm Session Around Ideal Advocate Persona
(60-150 min.)
Brainstorm
Lead the team to prioritize an initial, single, most important persona and to collaborate to complete the template.
Choose your ideal advocate for the pilot based on your most important audience. Start with firmographics like company size, industry, and geography.
Next, consider satisfaction levels and behavioral attributes, such as renewals, engagement, usage, and satisfaction scores.
Identify motivations and possible incentives for advocate activities.
Document
Use slide 10 of the Executive Presentation Template to complete this exercise.
2.3.2 Review and Refine Advocate Persona
(60-300 min.)
Review & Refine
Place the Executive Presentation Template in a shared drive for team collaboration. Encourage the team to share persona knowledge within the shared drive version.
Hold any necessary follow-up sessions to further refine persona.
Validate
Interview advocates that best represent your ideal advocate profile on their type of preferred involvement with your company, their role and needs when it comes to your solution, ways they'd be willing to advocate, and rewards sought.
Confirm
Incorporate feedback and inputs into slide 10 of the Executive Presentation Template. Ensure everyone agrees on persona developed.
Tips & Reminders
Demographics | Firmographics | Satisfaction & Needs/Value Sought | Behavior | Motivation |
Role - user, decision-maker, etc. | Company size: # of employees | Satisfaction score | Purchase frequency & repeat purchases (renewals), upgrades | Career building/promotion |
Department | Company size: revenue | NPS score | Usage | Collaboration with peers |
Geography | CLV score | Engagement (e.g. email opens, response, meetings) | Educate others | |
Industry | Value delivered (outcomes, occasions used, etc.) | Social media interaction, posts | Influence (on product, service) | |
Tenure as client | Benefits sought | |||
Account size ($) | Minimal and resolved service tickets, escalations | |||
1. When identifying potential advocates, choose based on your most important audience/segments. | 2. Ensure you're selecting those with the highest satisfaction, NPS, and CLV scores. | 3. When identifying potential advocates, choose based on high engagement and interaction, regular renewals, and high usage. | 4. Knowing motivations will determine the type of acts of advocacy they would be most willing to perform and incentives for participating in the program. |
Steps
3.1 Determine pilot goals and success metrics
3.2 Establish timeline and create advocate communication materials
3.3 Gain executive buy-in and implement pilot
Phase Outcome
Total duration: 2.0-4.0 hours
Objective
Set goals and determine the scope for the customer advocacy program pilot.
Output
Participants
MarTech
May require to use, set up, or install platforms like:
Tools
3.1.1 Establish Pilot Goals
(60-120 min.)
Set
Organize a meeting with department heads and review organizational and individual department goals.
Using the Venn diagram on slide 39 in this deck, identify customer advocacy goals that align with business goals. Select the highest priority goal for the pilot.
Check that the goal aligns with benefits sought or addresses pain points identified in the previous phase.
Document
Document the goals on slides 9 and 16 of the Executive Presentation Template.
3.1.2 Establish Pilot Success Metrics
(60-120 min.)
Decide
Decide how you will measure the success of your program pilot using slide 40 in this document.
Document
Document metrics on slide 16 of the Executive Presentation Template.
Tips & Reminders
List possible customer advocacy goals, identifying areas of overlap with organizational goals by taking the following steps:
Organizational Goals | Shared Goals | Customer Advocacy Goals |
---|---|---|
Example | Example: Gain customer references to help advance sales and improve win rates | Example: Develop pool of customer references |
[insert goal] | [insert goal] | Example: Gather customer feedback |
[insert goal] | [insert goal] | [insert goal] |
[insert goal] | [insert goal] | [insert goal] |
This table provides a starting point for measuring the success of your customer advocacy pilot depending on the goals you've set.
This list is by no means exhaustive; the metrics here can be used, or new metrics that would better capture success measurement can be created and tracked.
Metric |
---|
Revenue influenced by reference calls ($ / % increase) |
# of reference calls resulting in closed-won opportunities |
# of quotes collected |
% of community growth YoY |
# of pieces of product feedback collected |
# of acts of advocacy |
% membership growth |
% product usage amongst community members |
# of social shares, clicks |
CSAT score for community members |
% of registered qualified leads |
# of leads registered |
# of member sign-ups |
# of net-new referenceable customers |
% growth rate of products used by members |
% engagement rate |
# of published third-party reviews |
% increase in fulfilled RFPs |
When selecting metrics, remember:
When choosing metrics for your customer advocacy pilot, be sure to align them to your specific goals. If possible, try to connect your advocacy efforts back to retention, growth, or revenue.
Do not choose too many metrics; one per goal should suffice.
Ensure that you can track the metrics you select to measure - the data is available and measuring won't be overly manual or time-consuming.
Total duration: 2.5-8.0 hours
Objective
Outline who will be involved in what roles and capacities and what tasks and activities need to completed.
Output
Participants
MarTech
None
Tools
3.2.1 Establish Timeline & Milestones
(30-60 min.)
List & Assign
List all key tasks, phases, and milestones on slides 13, 14, and 15 in the Executive Presentation Template.
Include any activities that help close gaps or address pain points from slide 9 in the Executive Presentation Template.
Assign workstream leads on slide 15 in the Executive Presentation Template.
Finalize all tasks and activities with working team.
3.2.2 Design & Build Advocate Program Materials
(180-300 min.)
Decide
Determine materials needed to recruit advocates and explain the program to advocate candidates.
Determine the types of acts of advocacy you are looking for.
Determine incentives/rewards that will be provided to advocates, such as access to new products or services.
Build
Build out all communication materials.
Obtain incentives.
Tips & Reminders
Total duration: 2.5-8.0 hours
Objective
Successfully implement the customer advocacy pilot program and communicate results to gain approval for full-fledged program.
Output
Participants
MarTech
May require the use of:
Tools
3.3.1 Complete & Deliver Executive Presentation
(60-120 min.)
Present
Finalize the Executive Presentation.
Hold stakeholder meeting and introduce the program pilot.
3.3.2 Gain Executive Buy-in
(60-300 min.)
Pitch
Present the final results of the customer advocacy pilot using the Executive Presentation Template and gain approval.
3.3.3 Implement the Customer Advocacy Program Pilot
(30-60 min.)
Launch
Launch the customer advocacy program pilot. Follow the timelines and activities outlined in the Executive Presentation Template. Track/document all advocate outreach, activity, and progress against success metrics.
Communicate
Establish a regular cadence to communicate with steering committee, stakeholders. Use the Executive Presentation Template to present progress and resolve roadblocks if/as they arise.
Tips & Reminders
If you would like additional support, contact us and we'll make sure you get the professional expertise you need.
Contact your account representative for more information.
info@softwarereviews.com
1-888-670-8889
Measure and Manage the Customer Satisfaction Metrics That Matter the Most
Understand what truly keeps your customer satisfied. Measure what matters to improve customer experience and increase satisfaction and advocacy.
Develop the Right Message to Engage Buyers
Sixty percent of marketers find it hard to produce high-quality content consistently. SaaS marketers have an even more difficult job due to the technical nature of content production.
Create a Buyer Persona and Journey
Get deeper buyer understanding and achieve product-market fit, with easier access to market and sales.
"15 Award-Winning Customer Advocacy Success Stories." Influitive, 2021. Accessed 8 June 2023.
"Advocacy Marketing." Influitive, June 2016. Accessed 26 Oct. 2021.
Andrews, Marcus. "42% of Companies Don’t Listen to their Customers. Yikes." HubSpot, June 2019. Accessed 2 Nov. 2021.
"Before you leap! Webcast." Point of Reference, Sept. 2019. Accessed 4 Nov. 2021.
"Brand Loyalty: 5 Interesting Statistics." Factory360, Jan. 2016. Accessed 2 Nov. 2021.
Brenner, Michael. "The Data Driven Guide to Customer Advocacy." Marketing Insider Group, Sept. 2021. Accessed 3 Feb. 2022.
Carroll, Brian. "Why Customer Advocacy Should Be at the Heart of Your Marketing." Marketing Insider Group, Sept. 2017. Accessed 3 Feb. 2022.
Cote, Dan. "Advocacy Blooms and Business Booms When Customers and Employees Engage." Influitive, Dec. 2021. Accessed 3 Feb. 2022.
"Customer Success Strategy Guide." ON24, Jan. 2021. Accessed 2 Nov. 2021.
Dalao, Kat. "Customer Advocacy: The Revenue-Driving Secret Weapon." ReferralRock, June 2017. Accessed 7 Dec. 2021.
Frichou, Flora. "Your guide to customer advocacy: What is it, and why is it important?" TrustPilot, Jan. 2020. Accessed 26 Oct. 2021.
Gallo, Amy. "The Value of Keeping the Right Customers." Harvard Business Review, Oct. 2014. Accessed 10 March 2022.
Huhn, Jessica. "61 B2B Referral Marketing Statistics and Quotes." ReferralRock, March 2022. Accessed 10 March 2022.
Kemper, Grayson. "B2B Buying Process: How Businesses Purchase B2B Services and Software." Clutch, Feb. 2020. Accessed 6 Jan. 2022.
Kettner, Kyle. "The Evolution of Ambassador Marketing." BrandChamp.io, Oct. 2018. Accessed 2 Nov. 2021.
Landis, Taylor. "Customer Retention Marketing vs. Customer Acquisition Marketing." OutboundEngine, April 2022. Accessed 23 April 2022.
Miels, Emily. "What is customer advocacy? Definition and strategies." Zendesk Blog, June 2021. Accessed 27 Oct. 2021.
Mohammad, Qasim. "The 5 Biggest Obstacles to Implementing a Successful B2B Customer Advocacy Program." HubSpot, June 2018. Accessed 6 Jan. 2022.
Murphy, Brandon. "Brand Advocacy and Social Media - 2009 GMA Conference." Deloitte, Dec. 2009. Accessed 8 June 2023.
Patel, Neil. "Why SaaS Brand Advocacy is More Important than Ever in 2021." Neil Patel, Feb. 2021. Accessed 4 Nov. 2021.
Pieri, Carl. "The Plain-English Guide to Customer Advocacy." HubSpot, Apr. 2020. Accessed 27 Oct. 2021.
Schmitt, Philipp; Skiera, Bernd; Van den Bulte, Christophe. "Referral Programs and Customer Value." Wharton Journal of Marketing, Jan. 2011. Accessed 8 June 2023.
"The Complete Guide to Customer Advocacy." Gray Group International, 2020. Accessed 15 Oct. 2021.
"The Customer-powered Enterprise: Playbook." Influitive, Gainsight & Pendo. 2020. Accessed 26 Oct. 2021.
"The Winning Case for a Customer Advocacy Solution." RO Innovation, 2017. Accessed 26 Oct. 2021.
Tidey, Will. "Acquisition vs. Retention: The Importance of Customer Lifetime Value." Huify, Feb. 2018. Accessed 10 Mar. 2022.
"What a Brand Advocate Is and Why Your Company Needs One." RockContent, Jan. 2021. Accessed 7 Feb. 2022.
"What is Customer Advocacy? A Definition and Strategies to Implement It." Testimonial Hero, Oct. 2021. Accessed 26 Jan. 2022.