| name | customer-advocacy |
| description | Customer advocacy program design - advocate identification, reference orchestration, case study pipeline, community amplification, and influence-to-revenue attribution. Use when: customer advocacy, customer reference program, case study program, advocate identification, customer marketing, peer review acceleration, G2 / Gartner Peer Insights, customer-led growth, reference architecture. |
Customer Advocacy (AMPLIFY Framework)
Design a customer advocacy program that converts happy customers into a predictable supply of references, case studies, peer reviews, and community influence - and ties advocacy activity back to pipeline. AMPLIFY replaces ad-hoc "can you do a quote?" asks with a structured advocate pipeline and an attribution model that earns the program ongoing investment.
Core Principle
Advocacy is a supply chain, not a favor. Most advocacy programs starve sales of references because they rely on relationship taps instead of a managed pipeline. AMPLIFY treats advocates like inventory: sourced, qualified, activated, replenished, and attributed.
The AMPLIFY Framework
| Letter | Stage | The Question |
|---|
| A | Advocate Identification | Who qualifies, and how is the candidate pool sourced continuously? |
| M | Motion Design | Which advocacy motions are in scope (reference, case study, review, speaker, community)? |
| P | Program Mechanics | What's the recruitment, onboarding, and reward design? |
| L | Library & Inventory | How is the advocate inventory tracked, and what's the SLA for sales requests? |
| I | Influence-to-Revenue | How is advocacy activity attributed to pipeline and revenue? |
| F | Feedback Loop | How is fatigue managed and the candidate pool replenished? |
| Y | Yield Optimization | Which motions and segments produce the highest influence per ask? |
Advocate Qualification
Not every happy customer qualifies. A useful candidate has:
| Dimension | Signal |
|---|
| Outcome proof | Quantified business result (revenue, cost, time) |
| Stakeholder fit | Named champion willing and authorized to be public |
| Brand fit | Customer logo aligns with target ICP segments |
| Reciprocity readiness | Willing to participate in ≥ 1 motion per quarter |
| Health stability | Health score green; no active risk plays |
Advocacy Motion Catalog
| Motion | Effort to Customer | Sales Influence | Marketing Influence |
|---|
| Sales reference call | 30 min | Very High | Low |
| Written case study | 2-4 hours | High | High |
| Video testimonial | 1-2 hours | Medium | Very High |
| Peer review (G2 / Gartner) | 15 min | Medium | High |
| Conference speaker | High | Medium | Very High |
| Community AMA / panel | 1 hour | Low | High |
| Quote / blurb | 10 min | Low | Medium |
Design the program so high-effort motions are reserved for top-tier advocates and entry motions (review, quote) onboard new candidates.
Reward Design
Rewards should be professional capital first, perks second.
| Reward Type | Example |
|---|
| Professional capital | Speaker slots, byline articles, customer-advisory-board seat |
| Access | Roadmap influence, early access to features, exec relationships |
| Recognition | Awards, MVP designations, named cohorts |
| Perks | Swag, gift cards, event invites |
Library & Inventory Discipline
The advocate library must answer four sales questions in under 2 minutes:
- Who can speak to outcome X?
- Who is in industry Y at size Z?
- Who has not been asked in the last N days?
- Who is currently in a risk play and must not be asked?
Influence-to-Revenue Attribution
| Attribution Lens | Definition |
|---|
| Reference-influenced deals | Opportunities that received ≥ 1 reference touch, win-rate uplift vs control |
| Asset-attributed pipeline | Pipeline tagged to a case study, video, or review |
| Advocate-sourced pipeline | Net-new logos sourced from advocate referrals |
| Renewal influence | Renewals with advocacy participation, retention uplift vs control |
Output
Save to outputs/customer-advocacy-[motion]-[YYYY-MM-DD].md
| Artifact | Description |
|---|
| Qualification Rubric | Criteria + scoring for advocate candidates |
| Motion Catalog | Named motions with effort, reward, and segment fit |
| Recruitment Funnel | Stages from candidate → advocate → active contributor |
| Reward System | Tiered rewards mapped to motion participation |
| Advocate Library Schema | Fields, SLA for sales requests, fatigue rules |
| Attribution Model | Tagging spec + uplift measurement design |
| Pipeline Dashboard | Active advocates by motion / segment, fatigue heatmap, request SLA performance |
Process
- Define qualification with a written rubric - not vibes
- Pick motions matched to current GTM needs; don't try to run all seven at once
- Design the reward system with professional capital as the lead category
- Stand up the library with disciplined fatigue and request SLAs
- Build attribution tagging before launching motions, not after
- Run yield analysis quarterly and rotate motions / segments
Tips
- Cap asks per advocate per quarter - fatigue silently destroys advocate programs
- Tier rewards so entry motions are easy to participate in
- Never ask an at-risk customer to advocate - coordinate with CS
- Sales SLA on references is the program's most visible KPI
- Case study production is a pipeline, not a one-off project
Pairs With
- customer-success - Source of qualified candidates and health gating
- community-catalyst - Hosts and amplifies advocacy motions
- enablement-forge - Produces the case study and reference assets
- demand-engine - Distributes advocacy assets across channels
