If you're wondering where the punchline went, I tip my hat to you, customer marketing comrade. However, if you get it, if youโve been there like I have - well, maybe not in an actual bar with your CMO - and struggled to translate all the ways engaged customers bring enormous value to the business, then this post is for you.
Unlike our allies in sales and, to a growing extent, customer success, who live and die by steadfast report-ready metrics like value of new deals closed, retention and up-sell, we often hold a big bucket of advocacy goodness that requires more finessing, more translating to land well in an ROI conversation. Itโs not that we arenโt driving lots of value; itโs that we arenโt reporting in a way that maximizes the visibility of that value. And, sometimes, we arenโt reporting value at all.
๐๐ง๐ค๐ข ๐ฝ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ช๐ข๐๐จ ๐ฟ๐ค๐ฌ๐ฃ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐ผ๐ฌ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ฃ๐ฃ๐๐ง
One of our most beloved and long-time clients won an award last month in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the companyโs core customer centricity mission. Well done, You. We love it when our clients step into the spotlight. In this case, however, the accolade didnโt come easy.
It wasnโt long ago - one quarter, give or take - that her entire customer marketing portfolio was represented as single case study metric on the executiveโs quarterly report. Missing the case study target would result in a dreaded ๐น๐๐ โ๐๐ ๐๐๐ฆ๐๐๐ค ๐ป๐ ๐จ๐ icon for the reporting timeframe. All the work, all the customer engagement, that big bucket of advocate goodness, boiled down to a single unflattering metric.
Missing a target sucks. No doubt. But, whatโs interesting here is the advocacy team was consistently delivering real, measurable, business-critical value across a complex portfolio of customer engagement programs - ranging from, yes, those pesky case studies, but also including an entire spectrum of references, online reviews, and formal customer advocacy. That Big Red Thumbs Down didnโt tell the full story and it set us on a journey to redefine how and what we reported.
๐๐๐ ๐ฟ๐๐จ๐ฉ๐๐ฃ๐๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ: ๐๐๐ฅ๐ค๐ง๐ฉ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ค๐ง๐ข ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ช๐ฃ๐๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ
It took time, and readying systems, and even the occasional cell phone calculator, but the numbers were all there. They always were. Tucked into spreadsheets, and reference tools, and advocacy platforms, the value was ours to surface. Once we had the numbers, we had to find the right format, the right language to tell the story in a way that would cast a long shadow over Big Red. We looked at what we could report and settled on what we should report based on what we understood to be most valuable to the business and leadership.
The metrics we went with were:
๐ฅ ๐๐ฆ๐ธ ๐๐ถ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ช๐ค ๐ญ๐ฐ๐จ๐ฐ๐ด: ๐๐ฐ๐ต๐ข๐ญ ๐ฏ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ง๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐จ๐ฐ๐ด ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ท๐ช๐ด๐ถ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฆ๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ค๐ต
๐ฅ ๐๐ฏ๐ง๐ญ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ: ๐๐ฐ๐ต๐ข๐ญ ๐ท๐ข๐ญ๐ถ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ข ๐ค๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ
๐ฅ ๐๐ณ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฏ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด: ๐๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ข ๐ณ๐ข๐ธ ๐ฏ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ-๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ-๐บ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐จ๐ฆ
๐ฅ ๐๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ค๐ข๐ด๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ถ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ
๐ฅ ๐๐ฐ๐ต๐ข๐ญ ๐ฏ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ค๐ข๐ด๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ถ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฃ๐ณ๐ข๐ณ๐บ
๐ฅ ๐๐ข๐ด๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ถ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ค๐ข๐ด๐ค๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ: ๐๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐จ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ด๐ฆ
๐ฅ ๐๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ค๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ท๐ฐ๐ค๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ณ๐ข๐ธ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ-๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ-๐บ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ ๐จ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐จ๐ฆ
๐ฅ ๐๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ท๐ฐ๐ค๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐จ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ
๐ฅ ๐๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ด ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต
๐ฅ ๐๐ฆ๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ค๐ด
๐ฅ ๐๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ท๐ช๐ฆ๐ธ๐ด ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ
Taking this laundry list of metrics and jigsawing it onto a single slide wasnโt easy. Many initial iterations werenโt pretty. But, in the end, we got there. And, it is a thing of beauty. All that gorgeous value, showcased in one place. (๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ข, ๐๐โ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ผ๐๐๐ ๐ป๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐๐๐!)
We set out to deliver a collection of value tied together to tell a compelling story in a way that mattered to the people to whom the metrics matter most. By taking a step back to explore all the ways her programs were generating value and translating that into the right language and best format, the incredible work she does every day is now part of the conversation. She is part of the conversation. ย
The full scope of why customer advocacy in all its various forms matters and how profoundly it is impacting the business is more clear now. That Big Red Thumbs Down replaced by a hard-earned achievement award that validates what she/we knew all along: Customer engagement isnโt a one trick pony; We need to approach it with the same level of strategy and bottom-line accountability as any other business initiative. ๐ ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ ๐๐๐๐๐ช๐จ๐ ๐๐ฉโ๐จ ๐๐๐๐ซ๐ฎ ๐ค๐ฃ ๐จ๐ค๐๐ฉ ๐จ๐ ๐๐ก๐ก๐จ ๐๐ค๐๐จ๐ฃโ๐ฉ ๐ข๐๐๐ฃ ๐๐ฉโ๐จ ๐ก๐๐๐๐ฉ ๐ค๐ฃ ๐ข๐๐๐จ๐ช๐ง๐๐๐ก๐ ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐๐๐ฉ.
Take a look at what you are reporting and how you are presenting your metrics. Does it paint an accurate picture of meaningful ROI? Have you found the right numbers? Are you speaking in terms your leaders care about? Does the format help tell a story? If not, Big Red - and a CMO in a bar - might be waiting for you.
โ
