Why a Customer Advisory Board Might Not Be the Best Idea

·Oct 10, 2025 10:57 PM·

I posted about one of my favorite topics today, which I'm lovingly subtitling as "how to tell your boss that a Customer Advisory Board is a bad idea." Imo, if you've ever had to run or participate in a poorly executed CAB, you know exactly what I'm talking about. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/emilyecoleman_customer-advisory-boards-cabs-are-the-programs-activity-7382451912060837889-oTh3

13 comments

· Sorted by Oldest

Alexie Glover
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Needs to be required reading for literally everyone. I don't know what is in the water over the last 4 months but everyone wants a CAB.
Chris Dalton
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Great post. Running a CAB is the bane of my existence. Everyone has an opinion about how to run it, yet no one wants to take ownership
😆2
4
Emily Coleman
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Chris Dalton THIS
Ciana Abdollahian
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I laughed out loud as soon as I saw the title - this is way too real for me. Leadership: we need a CAB Me: why do we need a CAB? Them: we need product feedback Me: what are we planning to do with the feedback? Them: nothing, roadmap is already locked in Me: why do we need a CAB?
🤣6
Ciana Abdollahian
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I feel like this is the start of a CAB support group
💯1
Emily Coleman
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Honestly, it feels like a rite of passage to go through and it's so painful. It's such a high visibility project and it seems to always leave customer marketers holding the bag because it's under resourced and scoped
Heather Quitos
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Thank you for writing this, Emily! I feel the CAB sentiments are starting to pick back up and I have spent a couple years with a stick trying to push back against it for all the reasons you noted 🤣
Irene Yam
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Thank you, Emily, for bringing this conversation forward — it’s one our industry truly needs. I'm going to respond to your LinkedIn post, and my favorite conversation starter is.. “CABs can be a huge value add, especially in growing relationships with strategic accounts. But they aren't a panacea, and it's better to not do a CAB at all than do one poorly.”
Sunny Manivannan
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Natalia Rybicka FYI
Natalia Rybicka
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Such a hot topic! Alexie Glover & I are discussing on putting together a content piece on this. If you have any hot tips and want to be quoted, give me a shout!
Emily Coleman
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Heather Quitos I suspect that it's a program that feels very visible to leadership and has become kind of a defacto way to get access to higher-ups at customer accounts. Unfortunately, in practice, if the relationships do not exist at that level already, recruiting for a CAB is incredibly difficult and it doesn't result in getting the people you actually want in the CAB. So, you end up getting folks who are willing, but that doesn't mean that they can provide the insights you're looking for.
💯3
Emily Coleman
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Natalia Rybicka happy to help with a quote or insight on this.
Natalia Rybicka
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great - will be in touch!

Alexie Glover
·
·
Needs to be required reading for literally everyone. I don't know what is in the water over the last 4 months but everyone wants a CAB.
Chris Dalton
·
·
Great post. Running a CAB is the bane of my existence. Everyone has an opinion about how to run it, yet no one wants to take ownership
😆2
4
Emily Coleman
·
·
Chris Dalton THIS
Ciana Abdollahian
·
·
I laughed out loud as soon as I saw the title - this is way too real for me. Leadership: we need a CAB Me: why do we need a CAB? Them: we need product feedback Me: what are we planning to do with the feedback? Them: nothing, roadmap is already locked in Me: why do we need a CAB?
🤣6
Ciana Abdollahian
·
·
I feel like this is the start of a CAB support group
💯1
Emily Coleman
·
·
Honestly, it feels like a rite of passage to go through and it's so painful. It's such a high visibility project and it seems to always leave customer marketers holding the bag because it's under resourced and scoped
Heather Quitos
·
·
Thank you for writing this, Emily! I feel the CAB sentiments are starting to pick back up and I have spent a couple years with a stick trying to push back against it for all the reasons you noted 🤣
Irene Yam
·
·
Thank you, Emily, for bringing this conversation forward — it’s one our industry truly needs. I'm going to respond to your LinkedIn post, and my favorite conversation starter is.. “CABs can be a huge value add, especially in growing relationships with strategic accounts. But they aren't a panacea, and it's better to not do a CAB at all than do one poorly.”
Sunny Manivannan
·
·
Natalia Rybicka FYI
Natalia Rybicka
·
·
Such a hot topic! Alexie Glover & I are discussing on putting together a content piece on this. If you have any hot tips and want to be quoted, give me a shout!
Emily Coleman
·
·
Heather Quitos I suspect that it's a program that feels very visible to leadership and has become kind of a defacto way to get access to higher-ups at customer accounts. Unfortunately, in practice, if the relationships do not exist at that level already, recruiting for a CAB is incredibly difficult and it doesn't result in getting the people you actually want in the CAB. So, you end up getting folks who are willing, but that doesn't mean that they can provide the insights you're looking for.
💯3
Emily Coleman
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·
Natalia Rybicka happy to help with a quote or insight on this.
Natalia Rybicka
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·
great - will be in touch!