Advocacy is not demanded. It is earned.
A customer advocate speaks positively, shares results, accepts referrals, participates in cases, helps other users, offers feedback, and contributes to communities. None of this can be demanded. All of it can be earned.
The book calls advocacy the highest form of the customer relationship. It is the form that produces the lowest churn, the highest expansion, and the most new business. The customer who is an advocate is the customer who is most likely to stay, most likely to buy more, and most likely to bring their peers.
Advocacy is rare. Most customers are satisfied. Some are loyal. A small number are advocates. The vendors who build advocacy build it deliberately, over years, through a sequence of small actions that compound.
The advocacy ladder
The advocacy ladder has 5 rungs. The customer climbs the ladder through a sequence of experiences. The climb is not forced. The climb is a function of the value the customer experiences, and the relationship the customer has with the vendor.
The first rung is satisfaction. The customer's experience met expectations. The customer is not unhappy. The customer is also not engaged. Satisfaction is the floor, not the goal.
The second rung is loyalty. The customer has a preference for the vendor over alternatives. The customer is willing to renew, willing to expand, willing to recommend. Loyalty is the goal of the renewal program. Most customers stop at loyalty, and most vendors are happy with loyalty.
The third rung is participation. The customer is engaging with the vendor beyond the contract. The customer is attending events, joining user groups, providing feedback, participating in beta programs. Participation is a function of the customer's interest in the product, and the vendor's ability to make participation valuable.
The fourth rung is promotion. The customer is actively promoting the vendor to their network. The customer is making organic referrals, speaking at events, writing case studies, posting on social media. Promotion is what most vendors try to incentivize. Promotion is what most incentive programs destroy.
The fifth rung is advocacy. The customer is associating their own reputation with the vendor. The customer's peers know the customer is a customer. The customer defends the vendor in industry conversations. The customer contributes to the vendor's product roadmap. The customer is a partner, not a customer. Advocacy is rare, and it is the rung that produces the most value.
What moves the customer up the ladder
Three things move the customer up the ladder.
The first is value. The customer has to experience value that exceeds expectations. The value is not a feature. The value is a business outcome. The customer has to be able to articulate the value, in their own language, to their own leadership. The value is the foundation of every subsequent rung.
The second is relationship. The customer has to have a relationship with a specific person inside the vendor organization. The relationship is not the salesperson. The relationship is not the support agent. The relationship is a specific person, with a specific name, with a specific meeting cadence, whose job is to make the customer successful. The relationship is what makes the customer feel like a partner, not a number.
The third is community. The customer has to be connected to other customers. The community is not a forum. The community is a series of events, user groups, advisory boards, and peer conversations. The community is what makes the customer feel like part of a movement, not a contract.
The three things are not independent. The value is what makes the relationship meaningful. The relationship is what makes the community feel personal. The community is what makes the value feel shared. The vendors who do all three build advocacy. The vendors who do one or two build loyalty, and stop there.
The advocacy program
The advocacy program is the formal structure that supports the ladder. The program is opt-in, with clear terms, and a clear progression. The program has four elements.
The first element is the advisory board. A small group of customers, usually 8 to 12, who meet quarterly with the vendor's leadership. The advisory board provides feedback on the product, the strategy, and the market. The advisory board members become the most engaged customers in the portfolio.
The second element is the user community. A series of events, online and in-person, where customers meet, share, and learn. The user community is not a sales event. The user community is a peer event, with the vendor as a participant, not a presenter.
The third element is the case study program. A formal structure for producing case studies, with opt-in, clear terms, and clear approval. The case study is co-authored with the customer. The case study is the customer's story, told in the customer's language, with the customer's metrics. The case study is not a vendor brochure.
The fourth element is the advocate recognition. A public acknowledgment of the customers who have climbed the ladder. The recognition is not an award. The recognition is a feature in the vendor's annual report, a speaking slot at the vendor's user conference, or a seat on a new advisory board. The recognition is what makes the climb feel valuable, not transactional.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a customer advocate and a customer reference?
A reference is a customer who has agreed to be contacted by prospects. An advocate is a customer who actively promotes the vendor to their network without being asked. References are formal. Advocates are organic. The vendors who build references build a database. The vendors who build advocates build a movement.
How do you measure advocacy?
Three metrics: the Net Promoter Score (NPS), the number of unsolicited mentions in customer conversations, and the number of customers who participate in advocacy activities (advisory board, case study, speaking event). The three metrics together produce the advocacy score. The score is reviewed quarterly, with the same cadence as the value dashboard.
What is the most common advocacy mistake?
Incentivizing advocacy. The vendor offers discounts, gifts, or recognition in exchange for advocacy. The incentive transforms the advocacy into a transaction. The advocate who is motivated by the incentive is not an advocate. The advocate is a paid promoter. The advocacy is destroyed, and the program becomes a cost center.
How long does it take to build advocacy?
Years, not months. Advocacy is the result of consistent value delivery, consistent relationship, and consistent community. The vendors who build advocacy in 6 months are building a false advocacy, which collapses when the incentives stop. The vendors who build advocacy in 3 to 5 years are building a real advocacy, which compounds.
What is the ROI of advocacy?
The customer who is an advocate has a churn rate 5 times lower than the average customer, an expansion rate 3 times higher, and a referral rate 10 times higher. The lifetime value of an advocate is 10 to 20 times the lifetime value of a satisfied customer. The vendors who invest in advocacy get a return that is impossible to replicate with sales and marketing spend.
Conclusion
Advocacy is the highest form of the customer relationship. It is not demanded. It is earned. The advocacy ladder has 5 rungs: satisfaction, loyalty, participation, promotion, advocacy. The three things that move the customer up the ladder are value, relationship, and community. The advocacy program is the formal structure that supports the ladder. The vendors who build advocacy build a movement. The vendors who build a movement grow accounts 30% per year with a 5% churn rate, for years.
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About the author: Reginaldo Osnildo is a journalist, professor, and author of works on sales, technology, and communication strategies. His work connects academic research, practical business experience, and storytelling to deliver clear, didactic, and applicable knowledge.
Photo by SpotOn POS on Pexels.
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