Essential Buyer Questions

:: Why it matters

There are two main considerations when it comes to AI: 1) How much of the personal relationship inherent in customer advocacy is handled by agents, and 2) how does the company ensure data security. AI is evolving, but it does have limitations and has the potential to undermine carefully cultivated customer relationships. Take time to understand the vendor's philosophy on this topic. There is quite a bit of personally identifiable information (PII) in advocate data. Many AI vendors are putting less emphasis on safety in favor of first-to-market glory. Data breaches can be incredibly damaging to customer relationships.

:: Why it matters

This is top-of-mind for all software vendors. Deploying technology is half the equation. Changing behavior requires organizational support, awareness, education and incentive. Ask how the solution helps with user re-programming, and what change management support the vendor provides. Technology without change management does not lead to adoption.

:: Why it matters

Many companies start with a smattering of advocate contact information stored in a variety of places. However, a critical mass of advocate accounts and contacts are needed before they launch a customer advocacy program. There are a variety of ways to accelerate the building of the database. Find out how the solution supports this need, and also what best practices the provider offers.

:: Why it matters

This is so essential for the program’s credibility, to sustaining leadership support, and to getting the budget needed to stand up a truly impactful program. Ask what the solution offers in terms of reporting, and dashboards. Ask the provider how they can help you correlate program activity with top company growth imperatives, because ultimately, this is how you get on the C-suite’s radar.

:: Why it matters

You can never have enough advocate customers. People change jobs. Customers churn.

Customers generally don't volunteer their advocacy, but there are signals. The first to know are the relationship managers, such as CSMs and account executives. Many programs proactively run campaigns directly to customers to fill segment deficiencies in the database. What's important is that your solution have multiple options, including AI, because every channel must be available to ensure that stakeholders find what they need, with minimal effort, and quickly.

:: Why it matters

Advocate data decays fast. Referenceability changes. Customers move on. Every week, something in your database drifts out of date. If users can’t trust what they find, they stop searching. Adoption collapses.

Keeping data current can’t be a once-a-year cleanup. It has to be continuous. Updates should be built into workflows, shared across teams, and supported by automation so no one person carries the load.

Because the real asset isn’t the platform. It’s the accuracy of the data inside it. And when AI delivers answers, those answers should be grounded in verified truth—not stale records. Clean data in. Reliable insight out.

:: Why it matters

CMA programs are typically understaffed. A program is often asked to manage events, advisory boards, customer content, customer communities and support all advocate requests. More and more staff is needed, or there must be AI and standard automation to handle the tactical, manual, time-consuming aspects of the program. A robust solution will address the most tactical processes and free you, the program manager, to focus on higher value, strategic activities. That’s how a program scales.

:: Why it matters

Each company is different. Whether you’re looking for a more efficient way to provide “white glove” service, or need a way to scale without adding significant head count (i.e., remove the “middleman”), an advocacy solution should provide options and offer efficiencies in sync with your preferences.

:: Why it matters

There are many considerations related to content such as case studies, customer videos, press releases and anything else sales, marketing, or demand gen needs. You should be able to store source files anywhere you like. Regardless of whether a user has an advocacy app license or not, they should still be able to access the content. There should be a solid search page, and an easy way to share content with outsiders, such as prospects. You should be able to correlate the use of customer content to closed sales opportunities, and which content is making the biggest impact so you can create more of it.

:: Why it matters

Data-driven marketing organizations must have data analysis-friendly technology. To provide the stats required, the data must be easily accessed, there must be powerful reporting (and dashboard) tools, and there must be expertise around those tools. You should expect a set of pre-built reports and dashboards, but you should have the capability to modify reports, and create bespoke reports. It’s reasonable to expect guidance from the vendor when creating new reports. But you should not be solely dependent on the vendor when it comes to creating reports. That just means the data schema is too complex (or outdated) for anyone but a SQL query programmer to accomplish.

You should be able to schedule the running of recurring reports and delivery to specific users via email. This capability will save you hours of time responding to ad hoc report requests from managers and executives. You want to be able to set it and forget it.

:: Why it matters

Dashboards are not only useful to a program manager, but they’re also useful to Sales users competing in a contest (think leader boards), and to executives who want to keep an eye on the program’s performance. Dashboard chart options should be robust, and visibility of those charts should be front and center for the intended audiences. They shouldn’t have to go looking for information, it should find them.

:: Why it matters

The main promise of a reference management system is efficiency, time savings. The application should have a way to save time in finding the best matching advocate customers, and customer content relative to an opportunity (in the case of Sales). This can be done in a variety of ways. Evaluate how a vendor has chosen to accomplish this goal and how realistic their approach is to achieving the end goal. Don’t fall for demo candy.
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Users should have the ability to filter and perform keyword searches to find what they’re looking for. In fact, using filters and keywords should be possible in a single search. And initiating a search should be possible from Slack, Teams or AI prompts.

Pay close attention to how search works during the demos. If any features feel too fluffy or the details are glossed over, do additional due diligence to ensure they’re practical, and truly add value.

:: Why it matters

Find out not only how the vendor provides training to end-users and administrators of their solution, but how much training time is needed for administrators in particular. If a significant amount of time is needed that may be an indication of system complexities, workarounds and other convoluted processes required to make common system changes. You will live with these complications. Ask the vendor’s references how they find the administration to be and how much they must rely on the vendor because of the complexity.

:: Why it matters

Many companies offer their Salesforce CRM users in different countries the option of changing the UI language. This is done to remove adoption barriers. Ask if the vendor’s application can be localized, in what languages, who does it, and if there is an extra cost.

:: Why it matters

Advocacy management systems notify users as part of various processes (e.g., confirmations, reminders, etc.). Ask how notifications are delivered both inside Salesforce CRM (i.e., in-app), and outside (e.g., Slack, Teams). Also find out if, and if so, whether notifications may be customized, and by whom. If vendor assistance is needed, are there any costs for the customization?

:: Why it matters

A good solution provider will not rest on its laurels. It will continue to evolve to adapt to the needs of forward thinking customer advocate programs. Ask about the frequency of updates, get a sense of what has been added in the last year and why. The reason you purchase a 3rd party application is because, in theory, the provider will be more focused on your needs and add “crowd-sourced” features you may never have thought of, that make you better.

:: Why it matters

The cyber world is rife with hackers. GDPR violations comes with steep penalties. You want to know that your data is hosted in a world-class environment where all the necessary industry standard certifications are maintained.

:: Why it matters

Software applications are a reflection of a company's accrued domain expertise, and a collection of capabilities that come from the company's customer base. The longer an application has been refined and augmented, more mature the application. If managed thoughtfully, an application should be full of best practices that apply to most buyers. During demos, look for functionality that doesn't seem to reflect the real CMA world. If there's no true search functionality, problem. If the reporting is "hard-coded" and inflexible, problem.

:: Why it matters

If Salesforce is your system of record, then your customer advocacy system ought to make use of as much of that data as possible. It’s a best practice. However, if you don’t have complete confidence in the quality of advocate-related data, then your customer advocacy system should have a viable plan B.

:: Why it matters

There is great synergy to be had when your customer advocacy system can work seamlessly with customer success, community, and enterprise marketing applications such as Eloqua, Marketo and Pardot. Customer success data concerning NPS or health scores should be leveraged by your customer advocacy solution. Understand how the  solution fits into the ecosystem and if there are costs associated with integration.

:: Why it matters

You know how pictures of cars in ads always add the caveat that while the base price is X, the model shown in the ad is X plus a lot of extras? Some software vendors do the same thing. They show the souped up model with all the add-ons. You don’t want to stake your budget on the base model then later find out that those add-ons you liked in the demo will add 20%, 30% or more to the purchase price. So be diligent about clarifying what is included in the price quoted. Ask a vendor’s references if there were any cost surprises after contract signing..

:: Why it matters

Look for a method that ensures a smooth transition between stages, and also get an understanding of how much time is required from you and your technical resources. This will help you set expectations with leadership. In addition, a well-designed application won’t require as much effort as one that requires a lot of manual steps to pull off. This is also a great question to ask a vendor’s customer references.

:: Why it matters

This is a potential source of additional cost, hassle and lost time. A well-designed (i.e., meets current market need) solution will put you in the driver’s seat when it comes to configuring how the system works. When the answer is, “We’ll need to do that for you,” you’ve got a bottleneck. That work may also come with a price tag (“We can customize that, like in the demo, for $####.”).

:: Why it matters

This is where many vendors generate a lot of additional income. Make sure you have a clear understanding of startup and ongoing services and their costs. No one, especially executives, likes budget surprises.