Customer Advisory Board (CAB) Participants Purchase More, Have Higher Satisfaction Rates than Non-CAB Customers
SAN DIEGO – Oct. 22, 2014 – Ignite Advisory Group, the leading consultancy in the world focused exclusively on helping companies manage and optimize their customer and partner advisory board programs, today released data compiled from over 200 advisory board consulting engagements over the last 7 years. The findings show a concrete, hard-dollar return on investment for leading B2B (business-to-business) companies that invest in establishing world-class customer and partner advisory boards, and the many benefits to the bottom line such boards deliver.
“The companies we have advised over the years regularly point to the proven business and financial benefits derived through their customer and partner advisory board programs,” said Eyal Danon, President and Founder of Ignite Advisory Group. “In the past, such ROI data has been much more qualitative or harder to put in terms of dollars and cents. However, our clients are reporting to us impressive returns on their advisory board investments.”
Findings from Ignite’s newly published research concludes:
- B2B companies that have active and successful customer advisory boards (CABs) enjoy a 9% increase in new business among CAB members starting in year two of CAB programs above non-CAB customers.
- In addition, such companies benefit from a retention rate of 95% amongst program participants.
- Customers that participate in CABs are more likely to recommend their host companies. In fact, CAB member participation in reference programs, testimonials and thought leadership efforts is 57% higher than non-CAB members.
“These percentages can translate to hundreds of millions of dollars of incremental revenues for the hosting companies, at times and business conditions when such revenue growth can be difficult to come by,” concluded Danon. “The bottom line is that ROI in customer and partner advisory boards is a proven, significant one for companies who want to increase revenue, engage with and learn from their best customers and partners and deepen and expand relationships with them.”
In addition to Ignite’s findings, other research points to the ROI of such executive customer engagements. According to recent Gallup research, a typical B2B company has an optimal relationship with fewer than one in seven of its customers… and only 29% of B2B customers are fully engaged. However, such fully engaged customers deliver a 23% premium over average customers in share of wallet, profitability, revenue, and relationship growth.
About Ignite Advisory Group
Ignite Advisory Group is the world’s leading consultancy focused exclusively on helping B2B companies engage with executives at key accounts through high-impact customer and partner advisory board programs. The firm’s comprehensive solutions include a full range of customer and partner advisory board services, from complete outsourced management, assessment and benchmarking, on-site and hosted training to program mentorship. Ignite counts Dell, Cisco, Xerox, Qualcomm, Adobe, Iron Mountain, Equifax, Oracle, Rackspace, Arbor Networks, Brocade Networks, EMC and many others as customers. For more information, visit www.igniteag.com or call 888-667-7027.
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Media Contact:
Rob Jensen
VP, Marketing
Ignite Advisory Group
rob.jensen@IgniteAG.com
