Creating a Successful Customer Advisory Board: A Step-by-Step Guide
An Ex-Google PMM's take on product marketing.
In this blog, I’ll walk you through how to create an effective Customer Advisory Board (CAB) for your company. A CAB is a crucial tool for gaining valuable insights from your top customers, helping shape your product development, and informing your sales strategies. Here’s how to get started.
What is a Customer Advisory Board?
A Customer Advisory Board is a select group of your top customers who provide you with direct feedback on industry trends, pain points, and how your product or service can evolve to meet their needs. Typically, your biggest customers will make up this board, and the CAB will meet either biannually or annually with key members of your leadership team—such as the CEO, CPO, and CRO. This direct communication ensures that your product roadmap aligns with real customer needs and market trends.
Step 1: Form an Internal Task Force (Tiger Team)
The first step in forming a CAB is to create an internal task force, also known as a Tiger Team. This team should consist of both your product and sales leaders. Involving these two departments is crucial since they will greatly benefit from the customer insights gathered from the CAB.
Product Leaders will get feedback on your product roadmap.
Sales Leaders will learn more about market opportunities and potential challenges.
Schedule weekly meetings for this Tiger Team to plan the upcoming CAB event. Align on the goals—building customer relationships and driving long-term revenue growth.
Step 2: Identify Customer Candidates
Your next task is to work with your sales leaders to identify potential candidates for the CAB. Look for a mix of high-spending customers and those with high growth potential. The goal is to have a CAB that represents both your existing revenue base and your desired future growth areas.
Aim for 10 customers: Six high-spending customers and four potential growth customers.
Ask your sales leader to create a list of 20 candidates to narrow down from.
Step 3: Send Invitations
Once you’ve identified potential candidates, it’s time to send out email invitations. Be sure to highlight the key benefits of joining the CAB:
They will have the chance to influence your product roadmap by sharing direct feedback.
They will gain access to your executive team and peers within the industry.
In your email, include a Google Form to ask two things:
Which date works best for them (offer 3 options).
What content or topics they would like to learn more about during the event.
Step 4: Plan Your CAB Event
Now comes the logistics and planning phase. The event should be structured so that it’s valuable for both you and your customers. A half-day event works well, balancing time for productive discussions without exhausting participants. Here’s a recommended schedule:
10 AM: Icebreakers and introductions.
10:15 AM: CEO shares the company vision and goals.
10:30 AM to 12 PM: Product leader presents the product roadmap followed by an open discussion about customer pain points.
12 PM to 1 PM: Lunch (a great time for customers to mingle with each other and your executive team).
1 PM to 2:30 PM: Customer roundtable discussions, facilitated by your sales leader.
2:30 PM to 3:30 PM: Account breakout sessions (one-on-one conversations between account managers and customers).
3:30 PM to 4 PM: Happy hour and networking.
Ensure you have a note-taker for each session to capture key insights from the discussions.
Step 5: Execute the Event
With your list of confirmed attendees, you’re ready to execute the event. Finalize the logistics, including:
Venue: Choose a quiet and spacious location.
Transportation: Arrange transportation or suggest options for those traveling.
Accommodations: If customers are traveling from afar, book accommodations.
Catering: Plan meals, including lunch and snacks.
Gifts: Prepare a parting gift for attendees, ensuring it aligns with your brand.
Additionally, assign speakers and note-takers for each session to ensure smooth execution and proper follow-up on insights shared during the event.
Step 6: Follow Up
Once the event is complete, it’s essential to follow up both internally and externally.
Internal Follow-up: Meet with your Tiger Team to review customer feedback. Discuss any product roadmap changes and market insights that can impact your business. Decide on the next steps to act on customer feedback.
External Follow-up: Send a thank-you note to attendees and ask for their feedback on the event. Additionally, monitor their spending over the next few months to measure the CAB’s impact on revenue.
Tracking the results, both qualitative and quantitative, will help you refine future CAB events and demonstrate value to your company’s leadership.
Conclusion
A Customer Advisory Board is an invaluable way to keep your product and marketing strategies aligned with your customers’ needs. By leveraging customer insights, you not only strengthen relationships but also drive long-term growth.
Thanks for reading! If you found this guide helpful, please leave a comment below with any questions or suggestions for future posts.
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