Beta & Bubbles, Trusted’s beta launch event, was an event where leaders and practitioners gathered to explore how trust, advocacy, and customer relationships are influencing modern growth strategies. The event highlighted the growing importance of trust-led growth and how platforms like Trusted are helping organizations make trust measurable and actionable.

Customer advocacy doesn’t change overnight, but 2026 marks a clear inflection point. As AI normalizes, platforms mature, and credibility matters more than polish, advocacy is shifting from activity to influence—becoming easier to use, explain, and trust across the business.

In early 2025, we published our perspective on the shifts we believed would redefine customer advocacy—from stronger measurement and deeper GTM alignment to the growing role of community and storytelling. With a year of execution behind us, those predictions largely held true, but the pace and depth of change exceeded expectations. Advocacy teams are now being measured on pipeline influence, retention, and expansion, personalization has become table stakes, and community has emerged as a long-term strategic investment rather than a programmatic feature. This retrospective looks at what we got right, where our thinking has evolved, and what advocacy leaders should be preparing for as AI-driven orchestration accelerates into 2026.

To better understand the approach of SlapFive and strengthen Referential’s ability to advise clients on connected advocacy ecosystems, earning a Workato Level One Certification was a priority.

When launching a customer advocacy program, many teams struggle with limited tools, unclear strategies, and competing priorities. A global tax compliance company overcame these hurdles by partnering with Referential for expert platform selection, Salesforce integration, and long-term strategic support. The result: a scalable advocacy program aligned with business goals and designed to drive measurable impact.

Managing customer advocacy recruitment at scale often means juggling spreadsheets, account executives, and repetitive emails. By structuring data for Zapier automation, you can cut hours of manual work while keeping outreach accurate, personalized, and impactful.

At CustomerXCon 2024, Cisco Meraki’s former Director of Global Customer Marketing shared how a small team leveraged external support to successfully launch a major advocacy project—proving that the right partner can drive both strategic direction and scalable results.

Avalara’s customer advocacy journey shows how the right support can turn a strong vision into a scalable, high-impact program. Senior Customer Advocacy Manager Anna Whiting shares how partnering with Referential helped Avalara select the right platform, drive internal alignment, and bring their advocacy strategy to life.

Customer advocacy programs are powerful growth drivers—but to secure leadership buy-in, you need more than just enthusiasm. In this blog, you can expect to learn which metrics will resonate with leadership and how to use them to justify your program’s value.

In 2025, expect increased emphasis on data-backed metrics to justify program value, the blending of advocacy and marketing roles, and the rise of personalized outreach powered by AI. Community-building initiatives, enhanced employee advocacy, and innovative formats like video storytelling will redefine how businesses engage advocates. These trends highlight advocacy as a business-critical strategy that fosters deeper connections, drives growth, and extends customer lifespans.

Jennifer Doyon, a Principal at Referential, shares insights from her 15 years in customer advocacy. In this Q&A, she discusses the key considerations when selecting a Reference Management System (RMS) or Customer Advocacy Platform (CAP), and how Referential helps clients justify their advocacy program budgets, optimize platform performance, and implement best practices.

In this insightful Q&A, a seasoned customer advocacy consultant with over eleven years of experience shares best practices for managing process documentation and data in customer reference programs. The discussion covers essential data points to prioritize, strategies for ensuring consistency and accuracy, and the importance of continuous process improvement. The consultant also highlights how critical it is to adapt documentation to an organization’s unique needs and goals while keeping it dynamic and accessible to the team.