Power users don't have a way to give you feedback or influence the roadmap
Your top 10 users become invested stakeholders who never churn and advocate publicly for your product.
When to use
You have at least 10 engaged users who'd value a closer relationship.
Hypothesis template
If we create a [customer advisory board] with [top users], those users' retention will reach near-100% and they'll become [target] active referrers.
Method
The problem: Your best users love you but have no special relationship with you. They're treated the same as someone who signed up yesterday.
How to do it:
- Identify your 10-15 most engaged users (by usage, not revenue)
- Invite them personally: "You're one of our most active users. We'd love your input on our roadmap."
- Meet quarterly (30-min video call) to share plans and get feedback
- Give them early access to new features
- Ask for testimonials and case studies (they'll say yes)
- Publicly recognize them if they want: "Advisory board member" badge
Key insight: Advisory board members effectively never churn. The social investment of being on the board makes leaving feel like a bigger decision.
Success metrics
- •Advisory member retention rate
- •Feedback quality and volume
- •Referrals from advisory members
- •Testimonials and case studies generated
Prerequisites
- 10+ engaged users to invite
- Time for quarterly 30-minute calls
- Early access capability for new features
Common pitfalls
- •Inviting too many people (10-15 max)
- •Not actually acting on their feedback
- •Making meetings too long or frequent
- •Only inviting enterprise/paying users (include your most engaged free users too)
Source: Common B2B pattern. Advisory board members have near-100% retention and become strongest advocates.
Suggested ICE scores
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