Under Advisement: Customer Advisory Boards Keep Your Finger On Customers’ Pulse

Send Page To a Friend

Does your business launch new products, or enhance existing products, based solely on the thoughts, opinions, and ideas of your product development and marketing teams?  While these talented, intelligent people may be very good at their jobs, they are typically not the primary users of your business’ products or services.  Consequently, their ideas are may be more theoretical rather than based on reality. 

However, reality is as close as your customers.  All you need to do is ask them.  Many companies survey their customers on a periodic basis, and this provides them with an overview of customer opinion.  However, if you really want to create and enhance products and services with your top customers in mind, you may want to take the time to create a Customer Advisory Board (CAB). 

What exactly is a Customer Advisory Board?

CABs may take on any number of shapes, sizes, and roles, depending on the business, its product or service, and the nature of its customer base.  For example, I am currently on my second term as a member of the CAB for Constant Contact®, a web-based email marketing application service.  The members are a cross-section of about a dozen people in small businesses who are regular users of Constant Contact’s product as a means of connecting with their own customers.  We meet as a group a couple of times per year, and the company has set up a chat room for our use, so that we can bounce ideas around via the web.

On the other hand, years ago, I was a director at Thomson & Thomson, a global trademark research firm, where the vast majority of our customers were attorneys.  Most of these individuals could not make the commitment to a formal term of advising our company, so we took the approach of periodically hosting luncheons in major cities, and inviting top-tier clients in those cities for a two-hour discussion of their product needs, or a demonstration of new products or services that we planned to launch. 

But CABs should not be limited to large and mid-sized businesses.  Every business that has customers should consider creating some sort of Customer Advisory Board.

What does a Customer Advisory Board Do?

My primary roles as part of Constant Contact’s CAB are to participate in conference calls concerning product enhancements and new product development, as well as to conduct online usability testing for the prototypes of these enhancements and new products.  Along with the other board members, I provide my honest feedback and suggestions.  We are encouraged to think out of the box for things that would help us in our email marketing efforts.

Whereas, with the periodic regional meetings that my former employer hosted, it was beneficial not only to have the customers speak with us, but to interact with each other.  We were able to get a bird’s-eye view, and firm understanding of how customers used our products, the circumstances where they worked versus where they fell short, and whether the new products we were developing were actually going to fly.  Customers tend to be quite forthcoming and candid when among their peers.

What are the benefits of a Customer Advisory Board?

Quite simply, CABs keep the business’ finger on the pulse of the customer.  “We must continuously remember that we are poor surrogates for a customer,” says Constant Contact CEO Gail Goodman. “We will drift from our focus without customer input.”  Product Manager Nicole Mace says that Constant Contact has made “a long-term commitment to its CAB, as it has had a huge impact on product development and the direction of new products.” 

From the customer view, I can say that it is very satisfying to see a business solicit feedback and suggestions from it clients, and then actually put those suggestions into play.  And this is where the rubber meets the road.  Businesses such as Constant Contact and Thomson & Thomson get deserved credit for creating and utilizing CABs.  However, few things will turn customers off more than having a business solicit their input, and then ignore it.  Part of the price businesses pay to reap the benefits of a CAB is the responsibility to acknowledge use of the feedback, and, when necessary, explain why some suggestions can not be realized.

In many businesses, a single vocal and influential customer can cause products to be created, enhanced, or dropped.  However, the lone loud voice does not always speak for the benefit of the entire customer base.  For this reason, a Customer Advisory Board serves as a sounding board for such suggestions, to ensure that they serve the needs of many.  By giving customers access to your business’ new ideas, as well as to other customers who use the same products, you are planting seeds of customer loyalty that will bloom for years to come.

- Charles Dennis

Copyright © 2006 knowledgence associates
Send mail to: webmaster@knowledgence.com