Hi, everyone! I was wondering if anyone had any great resources about building a customer advocacy program from the ground up? Books, webinars, podcast episodes? I'm not looking to purchase any tools at this time, but I'm running up against some questions that I don't know how to answer, so I'm trying to level up my skills here.
Hi Sandra, Feel free to put the questions here too so we can help you to answer them 💕 I'll let the others share resources
Thanks, Charlotte Weiss! So my current thinking at the moment is (and I know some of this is vague) to let customers opt-in to joining the advocacy program, which comes with some perks. Perks I've been considering include a special area in our community where we have events just for them, swag, etc. I was thinking of a points-based program, but that seems like it becomes very transactional, very quickly. So building something that is affordable and doesn't take up a huge amount of employee time to create, but still gives value for the participants is challenging. When they join the program, I can also track who is being asked for what, and ensure we don't burn out our good contacts. At the same time, many advocacy actions are not very repeatable. Like, how often can someone be interviewed for a customer story, or leave a review? So if they do one non-repeatable action once, and someone else is doing higher-value actions all the time (like making referrals or acting as references), do they get the same benefits? And do I have to spend time offboarding people who left a review two years ago and haven't done a thing since? That's why I feel like I'm missing some important pieces to really pull this puzzle together.
Here are some things I’d recommend:
Talk to a handful of customers and understand if they’ve participated in these types of programs before. If so, what motivated them to participate. If not, what types of things would get them excited about joining. I used to ask these types of questions in advocacy program onboarding too in addition to asking about hobbies (this helped me see if there were any trends across my customers for swag ideas e.g. a lot of my customers at my previous company loved hiking)
2. Build some programming that keeps advocates engaged based on the customer interviews. At my last company we used to do monthly calls only open to advocacy members and they would be a combo of thought leadership and product focused. Some of the advocates really enjoyed these calls and it was a great way to deliver value to our customers (sometimes advocacy programs can feel very transactional). 3. Typically you’ll find that there will be a small percentage of your advocacy programs that will be the customers you’ll want to use for every activity (they are happy, use a lot of products, etc) for those you may want to consider a higher tier or just establishing if you do x amount of activities you get a free pass or our user conference etc. and then to your point above there will be ones who are disengaged either because there is nothing for them to participate in or they are too busy, changed roles etc. I would land on a cadence that feels good to you to check- in with members seeing if they still want to be in the program even though there hasn’t been any activities for them to complete. I also think this is why it’s important to engage them outside of just asking for activities! Probably could write a novel on this topic, especially because I’m living it right now but hopefully this helps and feel free to reach out with anymore questions/topics!
Thank you! I'd buy your book in a heartbeat! 😄
I think you'll also learn that there is more than one way to build a program. You have to build one that resonates with your customers. Are they intrinsically or extrinsic ally motivated? What are the business needs? What's your budget? Start by doing from customer interviews to get their feedback and thoughts.
Hi Sandra Grauschopf! I was right in your spot several years where we needed to build something but I didn’t have any budget for it. Story of our lives! My one suggestion is cleary define which activities you would want a client involved besides a reference call. Then - I would chat with your CS leaders and fill them in what you have decided on as those activities. I have found that once you get the CS team jazzed about it - they will start to mention clients they think would be interested. We then sent out a survey to our clients and asked them of the activities what would they be most interested in. We really led with how we can help build their personal/ professional brand. That really got our clients to perk up when they heard that we wanted to make them look good in front of their boss and peers. Once you have the survey results, notate in Salesforce what they want to be involved in (will need your Salesforce team to help with that part). I then scheduled calls with the CSMs and had them think through who within their accounts might be good advocates and as we started to use them - we ensured it was all notated in Salesforce. My biggest takeway - get the CS teams excited for it and let them know that these aren’t asks but rather opportunities! Good luck and happy to chat more!
This hasn't been updated in a while, but a lot of Leslie's resources from the early days of her CMA Soulmate Newsletter are excellent. https://cmasoulmate.substack.com/
Maria Braune Excellent advice, thank you!
Alexie Glover Oooh, that looks amazing! Thanks!
Hi Sandra Grauschopf would love to brainstorm with you, as this is my third time in 5 years building an Advocacy program from the ground up....happy to share, feel free to connect on LI and we can chat
Thanks, Karen Thomas! I'll reach out on LI! 🙂
