2023 Customer Marketing and Advocacy Programs: The Crystal Ball Says…
The Referential Team offers some insights into the trends we observed in customer marketing in 2022, and what we feel this may portend in 2023, read on for our insights.
By: The Referential Team
All of us here at Referential would like to wish you a Happy 2023!
And, given that the year has just begun, we think it’s a fun opportunity to offer some insights into the trends we observed in customer marketing in 2022, and what we feel this may portend in 2023!
With this in mind, we asked our team members to provide their POVs and look into their crystal balls to see what may lie ahead.
Is customer advocacy going to expand its impact cross-departmentally?
“In 2023, there will be increased adoption of a customer-led growth (CLG) strategy vs. product-led or sales-led. Putting customers at the center of a company’s growth strategy absolutely involves the whole organization across sales, services, customer success, marketing, and leadership. Introducing customer advocacy just after the sale provides the customer with a path to success. The more the new customers are involved – in product feedback, experience feedback, connecting with other customers, etc. – the more invested they become. Nurturing customers throughout the lifecycle impacts recurring revenue, increases customer satisfaction, and positively impacts the growth of the business via referrals.”
- Jen Doyon, Principal
Will Sales and Marketing alignment be a higher priority?
“Yes, absolutely. For example, one of my clients is working harder to close the gap and disconnect between the two departments. Historically, there has always been a lack of knowledge sharing between the two, as they both have different agendas, and at times work in silos. Sales reps are forever working hard to close deals, meeting with customers and unfortunately a lot of the time, they just don't have the bandwidth to interact regularly with their Marketing teams. Marketing wants to hear about which customers are the greatest advocates – sharing the best stories and benefits – and are enthused by creating various pieces of marketing collateral. Moving forward my client will be capitalizing on having the two departments working in sync and connecting more regularly to share the 'happy customers'.”
-Natasha Owen, Advocacy Consultant
Will advocacy programs prioritize participation from employees and / or partners at an increased rate?
“We have seen this push with one client; for over a year now they have been struggling with nominations, so we brainstormed ways to motivate and engage CSMs, Professional Services, Support and others – using incentives, recognition, etc. – and it has made a huge difference. We have gone from a trickle to a steady flow of nominations coming in. We are cultivating a sense of pride that comes with seeing their name on the leaderboard for nominations. The program will flounder if there is no buy-in from the wider group of employees.”
-Kristian Gallego, Advocacy Consultant
How important is a certification in customer marketing and advocacy?
“With the unstable job market, many folks are justifiably looking to bolster their resumes, and earning credentials in the customer marketing and advocacy field is a good way to do it. I personally recommend the Institute of Certified Customer Advocacy Professionals (ICCAP.Expert) examinations as an independent body that has assessed >100 programs to ascertain the best practices, versus other courses that have a completion certificate that implies a certification without independent assessment. Referential offers training (referentialinc.com/training) to support the ICCAP levels.”
-Helen Feber, Managing Partner
What role will integrations play when advocacy programs choose an RMS?
“The role of integrations will keep growing and will be key to running an effective customer advocacy program. We’re working with one client who has developed a robust mobile app that includes an advocate community with chat and meet features, and the captured customer information from the mobile app is automatically populated in the RMS.”
-Regina Dawkins, Senior Advocacy Consultant
Jen Doyon adds: “A trend we are seeing is the requirement for fewer standalone applications within an organization, or a preference for proprietary-only applications, due to security concerns in today’s B2B companies.”
EGR, or the Earned Growth Rate, measures company success by returning customers’ growth and new business secured from their referrals. What role will this play in 2023 and beyond?
“EGR has been formulated by Fred Reichheld of Bain & Co. and will most likely be embraced by all the companies that have utilized NPS as a measure of success. EGR is more exacting and less likely to be manipulated, but it’s harder to monitor and customer advocacy programs will most likely be held responsible for tracking the referrals from advocates. This means in 2023, programs will need to get out in front of EGR and implement processes for gathering advocate referrals and tracking the conversion into net new customers. It won’t be easy and will need resources allocated to it.”
-Helen Feber, Managing Partner
…and there you have it!
Keep your eye on the Referential blog in the months ahead, as we plan on re-visiting these topics to see just how much magic our collective crystal ball holds.
Do you agree or disagree with any of the above questions and comments? We’d love to head your thoughts!
