Advocacy and the Revenue Narrative: A Case Study

Summary of White Paper #27

Don Ryan, Vice President, Technology Practice, Market Probe, demonstrates the importance of advocacy to Brand 1 business from a revenue-and profit-generating perspective. The study he presents underscores key attributes and drivers to achieve greater advocacy and differentiate Brand 1 from competitors. The analysis is based on a survey conducted in March 2011 with 375 IT decision makers, roughly half of whom are from enterprises with more than 1,000 employees. 

• All customers can be classified into four advocacy groups based on their level of brand involvement: Advocate, Allegiant, Ambivalent and Alienated.
• Segmentation Analysis shows that almost 50% across the board are Allegiant. By improving the customer experience, providers can strengthen the relationship and emotional tie and thus increase the share of wallet and solution penetration with key customers.
• Business Performance Analysis shows clear differences in retention, percentage of next year spend and recommendation rate based on advocacy segments.
• Share Analysis demonstrates how advocacy share is related to future share gains. It is possible to project the increase in average percent spend next year by increasing the proportion of advocates and proportionally reducing the number of Allegiant, Ambivalent and Alienated respondents.
• Certain perceptions are key to increasing business and spending among Advocates.

Advocacy offers the most direct linkage to explaining and measuring business performance. Market Probe’s approach to using advocacy to measure customer experience and link it to specific financial and business outcomes for a major IT vendor is just one application of a new advocacy model that is proving to be relevant across B2B and B2C sectors.