Welcome to the fourth post of our ongoing blog series exploring the diverse partner platforms we collaborate with for our clients! Previous posts in this series cover a range of topics including best practices, intriguing product features, and authentic stories of data migrations. You can find the most recent edition here discussing Base.ai!

Today we’d like to chat about Champion, a Customer Marketing Platform (CMP) or Reference Management Software (RMS) or Customer Advocacy Platform (CAP) relatively new to the advocacy market. If you’re curious how Champion’s offerings, packed with features, can benefit you in practical, everyday ways, let’s take a look together!

—-Tracking Job Changes

We’ve all encountered this in our careers- you’ve got a product that someone in sales has requested a reference for, and you know just who to pursue to fulfill the request. You go to reach out to your customer advocate… only to find they have left the organization.

Among participants in a customer advocacy program, it is essential for us to track information such as this, as it ensures continuity in the relationships we’ve built, identifies new advocacy opportunities based on participants' evolving roles or companies, helps in effective resource allocation by targeting influential advocates, and provides valuable data for evaluating the program's impact on participants' career progression and overall business outcomes, ultimately contributing to the long-term success of the advocacy program.

Champion’s website states “past users are 3x more likely to buy familiar tools after joining a new company. Yet, Champion customers indicate 20-40% of a B2B organization’s customer contacts are out of date.” Ideally, the tools we use to manage our programs will use automation to address this problem, and this is one such example.

This job-change tracker, a feature recently announced called “Champion Follow,” tracks identified key customer contacts and provides real-time notifications when they leave or change jobs. Without going too deeply into the technical aspects of how this works, this feature is powered by their Champion Identification AI.

—-Real-Time ROI Tracking & Sales Metrics

Champion offers the incorporatiion of real-time ROI calculations into an advocacy program. The ability to input items like Annual Contract Value (ACV), Total Users, Net Promoter Score (NPS), Estimated Opportunities per Year, and Win Rate can help program managers to get a precise, dynamic view of an advocacy program's performance.

By leveraging these metrics, an experienced advocacy manager or consultant can accurately forecast the financial impact of a customer advocacy and/or marketing program, identify high-value opportunities, and fine-tune strategies for maximum effectiveness.

Referential is a firm believer in using data!

—-Designed with Users in Mind

Jeff Reekers, Champion CEO & Co-Founder states that he believes where CRMs leave off, his platform picks up.

Champion boasts a feature  called “Interaction Management,” or the ability to track every act of advocacy, --  these may be defined differently by program administrators and advocates alike -- measuring the revenue impact of an advocacy interaction.

Ultimately, by tracking these metrics, individual advocates’ contributions to the bottom line and  the most effective advocates who drive the highest value can be identified.

—-Partnerships and Integrations

If you missed this news, in May, Champion announced a partnership with Gainsight: On the one hand, Gainsight could enhance its customer success software with Champion’s advocacy tools, enabling real-time ROI measurements and further NPS tracking.

And on the other hand, by partnering with Gainsight, Champion will expand its overall reach by accessing businesses focused on customer success and will benefit from Gainsight’s deep customer insights.

—-Looking Ahead

At Referential, as with all platforms, we’re really excited about what the future holds with Champion. If your organization is considering investing in a Customer Marketing Platform (CMP )or Reference Management Software (RMS) or a Customer Advocacy Platform (CAP), but feels unsure about the specific features, requirements, or the right questions to ask, Referential is here to help!

As an agency with extensive experience, we understand the complexities and nuances of these tools because we work with them on a daily basis across a variety of industries and company sizes. Our platform-agnostic approach ensures that we provide unbiased guidance tailored to your unique needs, helping you make informed decisions that best support your customer advocacy initiatives. Reach out to hello@referentialinc.com, today, for a free 30-minute consultation with industry professionals with expertise navigating the CMP /RMS /CAP landscape! 

Stay tuned for the next in our Partner Platform Overview series, where we dive into SlapFive!