SaaS Customer Advocacy: Guide to Education & Success

Turn happy customers into your biggest fans with these key strategies:

1. Build a product that solves real problems
2. Make onboarding smooth
3. Provide top-notch support
4. Create a user community
5. Educate customers continuously
6. Find and nurture potential advocates
7. Set up effective advocacy programs
8. Reward advocates meaningfully
9. Track results and adjust
10. Use advocacy software to scale

Why customer advocacy matters for SaaS:

• Boosts revenue (12% more advocates = 2% more revenue)
• Costs less than traditional marketing
• Improves customer retention
• Provides valuable product feedback

With the SaaS market projected to hit $908.21 billion by 2030, focusing on customer advocacy is crucial for success. Create amazing experiences, give customers ways to engage, and watch your satisfied users become your biggest cheerleaders.

1. Basics of customer advocacy in SaaS

Main parts of customer advocacy

Customer advocacy in SaaS isn't just about happy users. It's about turning customers into your product's biggest fans. Here's what it includes:

• Stellar experiences at every touchpoint
• Spaces for users to connect
• Rewards for referrals
• Listening and acting on customer feedback

How advocacy differs from support

Support and advocacy both help customers, but advocacy takes it up a notch:

Advantages of strong advocacy programs

SaaS companies with solid advocacy programs see big wins:

1. Higher customer retention

Advocates stick around. They spend 2x more and buy more often, making them 5x more valuable than average customers.

2. Cost-effective growth

Word-of-mouth from advocates is 5x more effective at driving sales than paid ads. It's a smart way to get new users.

3. Better product development

Advocates give great feedback, helping improve features and updates.

4. Stronger brand reputation

Real user reviews build trust with potential customers.

"Prioritize customer needs and deliver solution-based help. You'll build strong relationships and turn customers into brand advocates." - Podium

To start advocacy, focus on amazing experiences, a strong user community, and smart referral programs. It's an ongoing process that needs constant effort and attention to what customers want.

2. Setting up customer advocacy

To build a strong customer advocacy program, you need to focus on creating an environment that supports your users. Here's how:

Make a customer-focused product

Start by aligning your product with what customers actually need:

• Gather and act on user feedback
• Prioritize features that solve real problems
• Update regularly based on what users tell you

Create a smooth onboarding process

A good onboarding experience is key. To improve it:

• Keep sign-up simple (fewer fields, social media logins)
• Send a welcome email with clear next steps
• Use in-app messages to guide new users

Did you know? 74% of customers might leave if onboarding is too complicated.

Provide quick, helpful support

Fast, useful support builds trust. Try these:

• Offer multiple support channels
• Create a knowledge base
• Train support staff to go the extra mile

Build a user community

A strong community helps create advocates:

• Set up a forum or discussion board
• Host user meetups (in-person or virtual)
• Share user success stories

Keep your promises

Meeting expectations is crucial:

• Be clear about what your product can (and can't) do
• Deliver updates and new features when you say you will
• Own up to mistakes and fix them fast

3. Ways to educate customers

Educating customers is crucial for creating strong SaaS product advocates. Here's how to teach users and boost their success:

Step-by-step guides and tutorials

Break down complex processes into easy-to-follow steps. Canva nails this with progress indicators in their product tour. Users know exactly where they are in the onboarding process, keeping them engaged and improving product understanding.

In-app help and tips

Offer quick, contextual help right where users need it. Kommunicate does this well with their onboarding checklist and tooltips that guide users as they explore the software.

Video guides and online classes

Some users prefer visual learning. Create short, focused videos on key features. Ahrefs takes this to the next level with their video academy, offering courses on their tool and SEO strategies. Their certification course packs in over seven hours of training videos.

Making learning fun

Who says learning can't be enjoyable? Add game-like elements to keep users engaged. HubSpot's Academy is a prime example, offering courses on marketing strategies and software mastery. Users earn badges and certificates, motivating them to keep learning.

Translating training materials

Got a global audience? Offer your content in multiple languages. It's not just nice - it's necessary.

"Nearly 63% of customers consider the level of support they receive during onboarding as an important factor in valuing a product."

This stat shows why comprehensive, accessible education matters. Your users need it, no matter where they are or what language they speak.

4. Finding and growing customer advocates

Want to turn happy customers into raving fans? Here's how to spot potential advocates and nurture them:

Spotting your superfans

Look for customers who:

• Can't stop using your product
• Give you glowing reviews
• Shout about you on social media
• Offer helpful feedback
• Fit your ideal customer profile like a glove

How to find them

1. Dig into your data

Use product analytics to find your power users. These folks often make the best advocates.

2. Keep an eye on social

Watch for customers who tag you, share their love, or engage with your content regularly.

3. Listen to feedback

Pay attention to support tickets, surveys, and reviews. The customers giving thoughtful feedback or singing your praises? They're potential goldmines.

4. Track those referrals

Who's already sending new customers your way? They're natural advocates.

Turning fans into superfans

1. Get personal

Reach out one-on-one. Show them you value their input and experience.

2. Give them the VIP treatment

Offer early access to new features or invite them to beta test. Make them feel special.

3. Build a community

Create a space where your customers can connect and share experiences. It's like a fan club for your product.

4. Shine the spotlight

Highlight customer success stories. Give credit where it's due for great feedback or ideas.

5. Help them level up

Offer advanced training to turn them into product experts. They'll love showing off their knowledge.

6. Start a referral program

Give them a reason to spread the word. Turn satisfied users into active promoters.

"Customer advocacy holds the key." - Pablo Fernandes, Product Manager and Head of Consulting Services for Customer Advocacy at Wings4U

5. Creating an advocacy program

Want to turn happy customers into brand champions? Here's how to build a killer advocacy program:

Set clear goals

Kick things off with SMART goals. For example:

• Boost referral sales 15% in 6 months
• Increase online reviews 25% this quarter
• Grow social mentions 30% year-over-year

Pick your star players

Focus on your super-fans:

• Power users who can't get enough of your product
• Customers who rave about you in surveys
• Natural-born referrers
• Feedback machines who always have something to say

Map the journey

Guide your advocates from newbie to pro:

1. Spot potential stars

2. Invite them to the VIP club

3. Show them the ropes

4. Give them missions

5. Shower them with rewards

6. Level them up

Build your program

Create a structure that works:

• Advocate tiers (think: Rising Stars, Champions, Ambassadors)
• Fun activities (reviews, referrals, case studies)
• Sweet rewards
• Tools to make advocacy easy

Launch with a bang

Get the party started:

1. Test the waters with a small group

2. Hype it up with emails

3. Host a kickoff webinar

4. Offer early-bird perks

Set some ground rules

Keep things running smooth:

• Lay out what you expect from advocates
• Set quality standards
• Create a code of conduct
• Explain how rewards work

"Advocacy programs need to be about what's in it for customers, not what's in it for program or brand leaders." - Haig Kingston, Head of Customer Success at OpenBlend

Make it a win-win. Your program should be easy and rewarding for customers to join in.

6. Types of advocacy programs

SaaS companies can boost growth through customer advocacy. Here are the most effective types:

Customer referral programs

These reward users for bringing in new customers. Dropbox's program gives 500 MB bonus storage for each friend invited. This helped Dropbox increase signups by 60% early on.

Brand ambassador programs

These turn loyal customers into active promoters. HubSpot's Champion Program:

• Uses a tiered system
• Involves champions in case studies and feedback sessions
• Offers exclusive event access and early feature releases

User groups and forums

These create spaces for users to share ideas. Salesforce's Trailblazer Community:

• Offers free, gamified learning for Salesforce skills
• Lets users earn badges and connect with peers
• Recognizes top contributors as Salesforce MVPs

Customer advisory boards

These involve customers in product planning. Tesla quickly implements customer suggestions:

"A Tesla owner suggested adding an option for the car to automatically reduce speed in school zones, and Tesla rolled out a software update with this feature within weeks."

Social media campaigns

These spread customer messages on social platforms. Apple's "Shot on iPhone" campaign:

• Encourages users to share iPhone photos on social media
• Features best submissions in various media
• Generates free user-created advertising

Customer reviews and stories

These share positive customer feedback. Slack's approach:

7. Rewarding customer advocates

Want to keep your customer advocates fired up? Here's how to reward them right:

Types of rewards

Mix it up with these reward ideas:

Make your rewards work

1. Don't buy loyalty: Rewards should say "thanks", not "please like us."

2. Give and take: Balance what you ask with what you offer.

3. Let them choose: Personalized rewards hit different.

4. Surprise them: Unexpected perks can be a game-changer.

5. Keep score: Use points to dish out rewards fairly.

Mix up your motivation

Don't put all your eggs in one basket:

• Build a community vibe
• Offer tangible perks
• Shout out top performers
• Help them level up their skills

"Your job isn't done when they sign. If you want brand fighters, you need to earn their trust. That means going above and beyond for your current customers." - Hannah Shain, Marketing Director at SmartBug Media

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8. Measuring advocacy success

Want to know if your SaaS customer advocacy program is working? You need to track the right numbers. Here's what to measure and how:

Key metrics to watch

Focus on these:

Tools for tracking

Use these to gather and crunch your data:

• Typeform or Reviewflowz: Get customer feedback
• Hootsuite or Sprout Social: Check social media buzz
• Brevo or Mailerlite: See how advocate emails perform
• ReferralCandy or Referral Factory: Track referral programs
• FiscalNote or VoterVoice: Measure policy-related advocacy

Making sense of the data

Here's how to use those numbers:

1. Know your goals: What does success look like for you?

2. Keep tabs regularly: Look at your data often to spot trends.

3. Connect to business results: Show how advocacy affects your bottom line.

4. Take action: Use what you learn to make your program better.

"I told them our advocates have a 20% higher retention rate, 95% utilization rate, 25% larger contract size, spend 10x more, and have 2x more integrations. That's powerful!" - Leslie Barrett, Director of Customer Marketing & Advocacy at Sendoso.

9. Solving common advocacy problems

Running a SaaS customer advocacy program isn't always easy. Here are some common issues and how to fix them:

Increasing advocate involvement

Low participation? Try this:

• Listen and act on customer feedback
• Give rewards they actually want
• Offer exclusive perks

Dropbox nailed it: 3900% growth in 15 months by giving 500MB extra storage per referral.

Growing the program

To scale without losing quality:

• Use software to automate tasks
• Build a team of advocates
• Create an easy platform for sharing

Showing program value

Prove ROI with these metrics:

Getting company support

Win over the bosses:

• Share success stories and data
• Get other teams involved
• Link advocacy to company goals

Maintaining quality as you grow

Keep it top-notch:

• Act on user feedback
• Check advocate content for authenticity
• Update based on performance data

Preventing advocate burnout

Keep advocates engaged:

• Mix up activities
• Recognize their efforts
• Don't overload them

"Advocacy programs need to be about what's in it for customers, not what's in it for program or brand leaders." - Haig Kingston, Head of Customer Success at OpenBlend

10. Using technology for advocacy

SaaS companies can supercharge their advocacy efforts with the right tools. Let's dive into some key software and how to make it work for you.

Advocacy software overview

Advocacy software helps you manage and boost your customer advocacy programs. These platforms let you find and engage advocates, run referral campaigns, and track how well your program is doing.

Some popular options:

• Influitive: Great for building advocate communities and running campaigns
• ReferralCandy: Focuses on referral programs, starts at $59/month
• Spitche: Offers gamification and customer data tools

Key features to look for

When shopping for advocacy software, keep an eye out for these must-have features:

Connecting your tools

For best results, link your advocacy software with other systems:

1. CRM integration

Sync up your advocacy platform with your CRM to:

• Keep customer data up-to-date
• See how referrals move through your sales pipeline
• Measure how advocates impact your bottom line

2. Support desk connection

Hook up to your help desk software to:

• Spot potential advocates among happy customers
• Quickly solve any issues advocates might have

3. Marketing automation tie-in

Link to your marketing tools to:

• Send targeted emails to advocates
• See how advocates engage across different channels

11. Examples of successful advocacy programs

SaaS company advocacy examples

Let's dive into some SaaS advocacy programs that really hit the mark:

1. Wiley's Instructor Feedback Program

Wiley, an educational publisher, knocked it out of the park:

• 2,000+ product feedback survey responses
• Supported 10+ development projects

Julie Black from Wiley said: "Advocate feedback supercharges our UX and Product teams. They're improving and creating features faster than ever."

2. Jamf Heroes

Jamf, the Apple device management folks, saw their program skyrocket:

• Customer references up 600%
• Online reviews grew 58% year-over-year

3. Cisco Global Advocacy

Cisco's program? It's massive:

• 24,000+ advocacy acts
• 478 customer advocates at Cisco Live

Cristina Melluzzi from Cisco boasted: "Our 24,000+ member program? It's now award-winning."

4. Paycor's 'The CORner'

Paycor's human capital management program crushed it:

• Engaged advocates up 52% year-over-year
• Acts of advocacy jumped 323% in 2022

5. Cvent Celebrity

Cvent's event management program delivered:

• 4,300+ social media shares
• 160+ customer referrals

Shannon Fallon from Extreme Networks gushed: "Cvent Celebrity? It's added real value to my work. I'm part of a community now."

Key takeaways from case studies

1. Build a community

Jamf Heroes and Cvent Celebrity nailed it. They created a sense of belonging. Result? Advocates who can't wait to share their experiences.

2. Embrace user-generated content

Cvent Celebrity and Cisco Global Advocacy got customers creating and sharing. Why? Because potential customers trust this stuff more than company-made content.

3. Give back to your advocates

Wiley's got it right. They involved advocates in product development. It made them feel valued and heard.

4. Track your results

All these programs had clear success metrics. It's how they knew their advocacy efforts were paying off.

5. Align with business goals

Paycor's 'The CORner' and Jamf Heroes linked advocacy to business outcomes. More customer references? Fewer support tickets? They made it happen.

12. Future of SaaS customer advocacy

New technology in advocacy

AI and machine learning are shaking up SaaS customer advocacy. These tools are making personalized experiences possible at a massive scale.

Take Salesforce's Einstein AI platform. It predicts which leads are likely to convert and customizes marketing campaigns for each person. The result? Happier, more loyal customers.

AI's not just for marketing, though. It's helping with content creation too. William Devoe from Cerebral Palsy Associations of New York State says:

"I used ChatGPT to write a press release for an advocacy coalition, which needed only minor edits before it was ready to go."

That's a huge time-saver for advocacy teams.

Changing customer needs

These days, customers want experiences tailored just for them. In fact, 90% are willing to pay more for it.

So, what are SaaS companies doing about it? They're focusing on:

1. Personalized onboarding
2. Custom product recommendations
3. Tailored support experiences

ConvertKit, an email marketing tool, is a great example. They ask new users about their goals right from the start, shaping the entire user experience.

What's next for SaaS advocacy

Looking ahead, we're likely to see:

1. More AI

AI will help create custom advocacy programs, analyze how customers behave, and handle routine tasks automatically.

2. User communities take center stage

These will become key to advocacy efforts. Just look at Slack's community. Users share integrations and work together, which drives both adoption and retention.

3. Social proof gets a boost

Social proof can increase web conversions by up to 270%. That's why SaaS companies will probably invest more in gathering and showcasing customer stories and reviews.

4. Low-code platforms rise

By 2024, these platforms are expected to account for 65% of all app development. This will make it easier for advocates to create and share content.

The SaaS market is set to hit $908.21 billion by 2030. Companies that keep up with these advocacy trends are likely to come out on top.

Conclusion

SaaS customer advocacy is crucial for growth. Here's a quick rundown of key strategies:

1. Build a product that solves real problems
2. Make onboarding easy
3. Offer great support
4. Create a user community
5. Educate customers
6. Find and nurture advocates
7. Set up advocacy programs
8. Reward advocates
9. Track your results
10. Use advocacy software

Why advocacy matters for SaaS:

• It boosts revenue (Harvard Business School found a 12% increase in advocacy can lead to 200% revenue growth)
• It's cheaper than traditional marketing
• It improves customer retention
• It provides valuable feedback

With the SaaS market set to hit $908.21 billion by 2030, companies that focus on customer advocacy will come out on top. Create amazing experiences, give customers ways to engage, and watch your satisfied users become your biggest fans.

FAQs

How to create a customer advocacy program?

Creating a customer advocacy program in SaaS isn't rocket science. Here's how:

1. Set clear goals

What do you want? More referrals? Better reviews? Define it.

2. Make customers happy

Happy customers become advocates. Nail your onboarding and keep educating them.

3. Get personal

Give customers a dedicated success manager. It's like having a friend in the company.

4. Reward loyalty

Offer perks. Maybe early access to new features or exclusive content.

5. Find your superfans

Use your product data. Who's using it the most? They're potential advocates.

6. Ask for feedback

NPS surveys can help you spot potential advocates.

Haig Kingston from OpenBlend puts it well:

"Advocacy programs need to be about what's in it for customers, not what's in it for program or brand leaders."

Take Salesforce, for example. They turned customers into advocates by giving them speaking gigs. It helped their careers and Salesforce's brand. Win-win.

As Hanna Barabakh from PayPro Global says:

"Brand advocates are like cheerleaders for your brand. They are the customers who love what you offer and are willing to sing your praises to anyone who will listen."

So, start cheering for your customers, and they might just return the favor.

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