“What Came First, the Data or the Customer Advocacy Program?”
“Spoiler alert – it’s the data!”
As Advocacy Consultants a lot of our time is spent reaching out to and learning about customers, either via email, phone, at events or through the internal support and sales teams associated with a customer. Each time we make a connection, we find out new information; customer insights that need to be added to our reference management systems (RMS) to ensure the most up-to-date details are available to use.
Of course, over time, this information can become old and incorrect, or gaps may appear, but inaccurate data is of little use to its users! It is extremely important that your records are checked regularly for overall completeness, accuracy and consistency to ensure data integrity. Protecting the validity of data increases the stability, searchability, performance and trustworthiness of your RMS, whether you’re using a formal database like RO Innovation or ReferenceEdge, or a spreadsheet / smartsheet.
Let’s look at some of the key areas of advocacy information that need regular cross-checking to ensure advocacy program data is accurate and ready to use for recruitment, fulfillment and delivery of metrics:
Accounts
Ensure records are complete with all relevant account information: Look for missing data that can be researched and entered to round out records, like region, company size, company description, industry, use case. If you use RO Innovation for your RMS consider leveraging the Record Review tool, or if you’re using ReferenceEdge the Profile Update Minder, to automate the collection of updated account details.
Revalidate referenceability of active advocates: Take the opportunity to check that records marked as active advocates are still valid customers, using the same solutions and services. Make sure active advocates are tagged as searchable and have at least one active reference participation type listed to ensure they are considered for appropriate opportunities. These simple status checks will ensure that active advocates are easy to identify and match to incoming reference requests.
Review inactive advocates: Are inactive or on-hold customers still in that status now, or have they re-engaged recently? Was that status only temporary due to an upgrade, new deployment or a particularly busy seasonal period? You might find that these customers are now ready to support you again.
Action plans are in place for customers that have been paused: Do all paused companies have a next action step planned/scheduled? It’s good practice to pause advocates in the RMS when their customer satisfaction dips and they’re not the best references, but don’t forget about these customers! There is often potential for them to return as even stronger advocates after their issues have been resolved. Whenever you pause an account, it’s a best practice to simultaneously schedule periodic check-ins on the account to review its referenceability.
Action plans are in place for customers that are being recruited: Do all the recruiting companies/contacts have an active recruitment plan in motion? Recruitment is most effective when done at a regular cadence. Always be sure to schedule the next action step for recruitment outreach, and to leverage your RMS to automate reminders, or a calendaring tool to at least set reminders.
Contacts:
Ensure contact records are accurate and complete: The accuracy of details here is so important; check their name, job title, email addresses and phone numbers – direct and mobile. This enables you to engage confidently with customers about the advocacy program and in a more meaningful way -- there’s nothing more impersonal than spelling a contact’s name incorrectly!
Validate referenceability of contacts: Research/load LinkedIn URLs for advocates so they can be tracked for job or company changes or reached out to via LinkedIn groups. If a contact has moved on from a company, you can use the opportunity to identify a new nomination to recruit into the program and replace the contact.
Products
Product details are complete and up to date: Are the products associated with your customer record up to date? Have they upgraded to a newer version or purchased anything recently? How many users do they have? How long have they been using a particular product? What products are they no longer using?
Improve quality of product usage data: You need as much detail as possible around solutions used, as the accuracy of this data is key for both sales and marketing fulfillment searches. Sourcing this information does vary from company to company, but if it isn’t held in the central CRM, then don’t forget about Customer Success, Support, Consulting, Product and Product Marketing teams as they may be able to offer insight to customer usage, use cases and license renewals etc.
Content
Review asset library for out-dated content: Assets are a high priority for most companies but an annual assessment of which ones are still current and those that need archiving should be undertaken.
Review accuracy of details: Do you need to update any details within older pieces of collateral? Check the customer contact mentioned in the asset is still with the company, and that their job title is correct. Are they using new solutions that could be added to the story to enhance it? Does the latest version of the story use current corporate branding? When appropriate, collaborate with customers to update story details; this can be an impactful way to demonstrate customer-centricity and show a genuine interest in the unique experiences of your customers. The touch point can help nurture stronger relationships with advocates and make them feel more engaged and invested in the program.
Personas
Building – and maintaining – detailed records: Be sure to include in-depth insights into customers’ experiences, motivations, likes and dislikes as this information is essential to pinpointing the most appropriate candidates for reference requests. Are there additional customer details that you can track in your RMS to facilitate fulfillment and learn more about your company’s advocate personas? Be sure to establish a formal process for entering any new data into your RMS, educate your team on the process, and include important fields in your data integrity cross-checks.
Remember, all this hard work makes future day-to-day working so much easier. Searches in your RMS will return the best results, enabling users to get on with their outreach confidently, and provide metrics that truly reflect the status of your program.
If you have questions about how to plan and enact a data maintenance initiative for your RMS, please contact us.
