Design and Launch a Customer Advisory Board Program
Market ResearchintermediateClaude 3.5 Sonnet or GPT-4o. Claude excels at structured frameworks and operational workflows, while GPT-4o handles the strategic positioning and member selection logic equally well. Both produce clear, actionable output. For this use case, Claude's strength in creating detailed operating procedures gives it a slight edge.
When to Use This Prompt
Use this prompt when you're building a customer advisory board from scratch or redesigning an existing program that feels disconnected from business outcomes. It's especially valuable when you need to justify the program's ROI to leadership or when your team is drowning in ad-hoc customer feedback with no clear system for turning insights into decisions.
The Prompt
You are a strategic marketing advisor helping design a Customer Advisory Board (CAB) program. Your goal is to create a structured, actionable plan that reduces operational friction while delivering genuine market insights that inform product and go-to-market strategy.
## Program Objectives
Define what success looks like for this CAB. We need:
- 3-5 specific business outcomes (e.g., "Validate product roadmap priorities," "Identify emerging customer pain points," "Build advocate relationships for case studies and references")
- How insights will flow into product, marketing, and sales decisions
- How you'll measure CAB impact on revenue or pipeline
## Member Selection Framework
Create a structured approach to recruit the right members:
- Define ideal member profile: company size, industry, use case, tenure, influence level
- Identify 2-3 recruitment channels (existing customers, industry networks, referrals)
- Create a simple scorecard to evaluate candidates (5-7 criteria)
- Recommend initial cohort size and composition
## Program Structure
Design a lightweight operating model:
- Meeting cadence (quarterly, bi-annual, or annual)
- Session format (in-person summit, virtual roundtables, asynchronous feedback)
- Duration of commitment (1-3 years)
- Member benefits and incentives (exclusive access, product input, recognition)
- Clear agenda template for each session
## Operational Workflow
Map how insights become action:
- Who owns the program (single DRI)
- How feedback is collected, synthesized, and documented
- Which teams receive insights and in what format
- Timeline for sharing findings back to members
- How you'll track which insights drove decisions
## Risk Mitigation
Address common CAB pitfalls:
- How you'll prevent the program from becoming a complaint forum
- Confidentiality and NDA requirements
- How you'll balance transparency with competitive sensitivity
- Plan for member churn and refreshment
Provide a 90-day launch roadmap with key milestones and owners.
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Tips for Best Results
- 1.Specify your target customer profile upfront (ACV, industry, role level). Vague member selection leads to misaligned feedback and wasted time.
- 2.Define the single DRI (directly responsible individual) for the program. Without clear ownership, CAB becomes another orphaned initiative that generates insights no one acts on.
- 3.Build in a feedback loop that shows members their input drove decisions. This closes the loop and ensures members stay engaged rather than feeling like their time was wasted.
- 4.Start with 10-12 members, not 20+. Smaller cohorts are easier to manage, produce higher-quality insights, and reduce operational overhead that kills momentum.
Example Output
## Customer Advisory Board Program Plan
### Program Objectives
1. **Validate product roadmap** – Ensure top 3 planned features address real customer priorities
2. **Identify emerging use cases** – Discover adjacent markets or expansion opportunities
3. **Build reference relationships** – Develop 8-10 advocates for case studies, testimonials, and sales enablement
4. **Reduce churn risk** – Early warning system for at-risk accounts and feature gaps
5. **Inform pricing strategy** – Test willingness to pay for new offerings
**Success Metrics:** Product roadmap adjusted based on CAB input within 2 quarters; 3+ case studies published; 2+ sales deals accelerated through CAB introductions; NPS lift of 10+ points among CAB members.
### Member Selection Framework
**Ideal Profile:**
- Annual contract value: $50K–$500K
- Tenure: 18+ months (established users)
- Industry: 2-3 target verticals (e.g., SaaS, fintech, healthcare)
- Role: VP/Director level with budget influence
- Engagement: Actively using 3+ product modules
**Recruitment Channels:**
- Top 50 customers by ACV and engagement score
- Industry analyst recommendations
- Customer success team referrals
**Evaluation Scorecard:**
- Product usage depth (1-5)
- Willingness to provide feedback (1-5)
- Influence within their organization (1-5)
- Geographic/industry diversity (yes/no)
- Referenceable (yes/no)
**Cohort:** 10-12 members, representing 4-5 industries, mix of new and mature customers.
### Program Structure
**Cadence:** Two in-person summits annually (spring and fall) + quarterly 30-min virtual check-ins
**Format:** Day-long summit with keynote, breakout sessions, product demos, and networking
**Commitment:** 2-year initial term with annual renewal
**Member Benefits:** Free premium tier access, early product access, executive briefings, annual gift
**Agenda Template:**
- Welcome and strategy update (30 min)
- Breakout: Product roadmap feedback (60 min)
- Breakout: Industry trends and use cases (60 min)
- Product demo and Q&A (45 min)
- Networking dinner
### Operational Workflow
**DRI:** VP of Product Marketing
**Feedback Collection:** Post-summit survey + quarterly async feedback form
**Synthesis:** Monthly sync with product, sales, and marketing leads
**Output Format:** One-page insights brief shared with leadership within 2 weeks of summit
**Feedback Loop:** Share decisions made based on CAB input in next summit
### Risk Mitigation
- **Complaint forum prevention:** Structured agenda with clear topics; frame as strategic partnership
- **Confidentiality:** Standard NDA; no competitive intelligence sharing
- **Transparency:** Share what we can; explain what we can't and why
- **Churn plan:** Refresh 2-3 members annually; maintain waitlist of candidates
### 90-Day Launch Roadmap
**Month 1:** Finalize member list, send invitations, secure venue
**Month 2:** Confirm RSVPs, develop summit agenda, brief internal stakeholders
**Month 3:** Host inaugural summit, collect feedback, synthesize insights, schedule follow-up meetings
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