How to Start a Customer Advisory Board

These are the five best practices for success

A well-executed Customer Advisory Board (CAB) can be a game-changer for companies looking to deepen customer relationships, gather critical insights, and drive innovation. However, creating a CAB program that stands out and delivers long-term value requires strategic planning and execution. This blog explores best practices for establishing a successful CAB, from gaining executive buy-in to fostering meaningful engagement with customers.

What is a Customer Advisory Board?

A CAB is a select group of influential customers who provide strategic guidance to a company. These advisory boards enable two-way conversations where customers share feedback, discuss industry trends, and collaborate on future innovations. A CAB should serve as a differentiator for your organization by offering high-value customers an exclusive forum to engage with company executives and peers while influencing product and service direction. Note, the term CAB and Council are synonymous and it’s important to determine which naming convention best aligns to your objectives and company.

With that definition in mind, here are the five best practices we recommend to start a CAB at your company.

1. Define Your CAB Strategy & Measurements

Before launching a CAB, it’s critical to define your strategy and how success will be measured. The most fundamental determination is what type of feedback is going to be of most value to your company and then aligning your strategy and measurements to that. According to Sean Geehan of Geehan Group, these are some key types of inputs and the measurements that align to them:

• Organizational level of impact

  • Discussion focus: securing insights around your company strategy, market alignment, and/or identifying where there may be barriers to innovation.

  • Measurement types: ability to generate sustainable and predictable growth; increase clarity and confidence on market needs; de-politicized decision-making

• Marketing Impact

  • Discussion focus: Marketing and product offering positioning

  • Measurement types: Increased clarity of marketing ROI, improved Marketing budget allocation

• Offerings

  • Discussion focus: Success of new product offerings, capability acquisitions, number of new products in development

  • Measurement types: Reduction in failed offerings developed, increase in new offering success, increase in transformational releases

CABs can also be used to secure inputs on Customer Service with inputs to help increase customer satisfaction or identify areas for cross-sell or add-ons. Lastly, CABs can delve into conversations to help improve Sales motions which will then have measurable impact on customer retention and customers who are willing to serve as references.

As you work through determining what areas of impact you’d like the CAB discussion to have for your company, you may find that you’re not at a point where a CAB can be successful. If your company isn’t ready for a full CAB, consider alternative programs like Technical Advisory Boards (TABs) or user groups that provide structured engagement with customers at different levels.

2. Secure Executive and Cross-Departmental Buy-In

Gaining internal support is crucial for a CAB’s success. The program should be housed in Customer Marketing, but should also partner with Sales, Product Development, Product Marketing, and Customer Success. Each of these stakeholder groups will contribute to the effort in a different way. Starting at the top, having the CEO and senior leadership champion a CAB is critical to getting started and budget approved. With their input and support, that demonstrates they recognize its strategic value to the organization and are willing to invest time and money to achieve those goals.

3. Identify and Recruit the Right Participants

A CAB’s effectiveness depends on who is at the table. The ideal mix includes:

• Senior decision-makers: VPs, CTOs, and innovation leaders who shape company strategy.

• Diverse representation: Different industries, regions, and use cases to capture a wide range of perspectives.

• Engaged and invested customers: Select customers who are passionate about the product and open to collaboration.

• Exclusion criteria: Avoid inviting soon-to-retire executives or over-talkative individuals who may dominate discussions.

Pro Tip: When inviting customers, emphasize the mutual benefits: access to peers, executive networking, and the ability to influence product direction. Offering perks like charitable donations on their behalf can also enhance locking in CAB members.

4. Structure Meetings for Maximum Engagement

To ensure meaningful discussions, CAB meetings should:

• Be held in hub cities: Minimize travel time and choose an accessible yet appealing location. If you’re holding a CAB with mostly US based executives, consider a location that doesn’t require a connecting flight and also is a reasonable length flight – so having a customer fly out of New York to go to an event in Los Angeles is a more significant time investment than going from Atlanta to Miami.

• Balance business and networking: Include structured sessions along with informal activities like group dinners or social events.

• Follow an optimized schedule:

  • West Coast destination: Morning arrival, lunch, half-day session, networking, next day is only a half-day session.

  • East Coast destination: Evening reception, then next day is a full-day session and a next morning or half-day session.

• Be aligned with industry events: Holding CABs adjacent to conferences reduces travel costs and enhances participation.

• Be professionally facilitated: A strong moderator prevents sales pitches and ensures equal participation.

5. Avoid these Common Pitfalls

• Do not let CABs become a complaint session: Focus on strategic issues that impact multiple customers. This is also why a professional facilitator is important.

• Ensure discussions remain customer-led: Executives should listen more than they speak so that participants feel heard and will remain engaged. It can be helpful to clarify this in a pre-briefing for those in the company who will be participating in the CAB.

• Follow up on feedback: Keep a record of discussion points and show progress in subsequent CAB meetings. If you have a CAB in the spring, you want to make sure to update CAB members at your fall session as to what’s been achieved.

• Deliver tangible outcomes: Show ROI to customers and executives, demonstrating how feedback has driven product or service improvements. This points back to the measurements that you set as part of your strategy.

A well-planned CAB enhances customer relationships, drives innovation, and provides strategic direction for your company. By focusing on clear objectives, securing executive sponsorship, selecting the right participants, and structuring CAB meetings effectively, you can build a program that delivers long-term value and measurable impact.

Start small if necessary, but remain committed—your customers and your business will reap the rewards.