8 Best Tools for Customer Advisory Boards: Essential Platforms for B2B Product & GTM Teams

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Most B2B product and go-to-market teams know the challenge: you’re pouring resources into customer advisory boards, but your processes, engagement, and insights just aren’t scaling. Maybe you’re jumping between spreadsheets and emails—or trying to wrangle feedback across siloed platforms—and it’s holding back your strategic growth. In today’s hyper-competitive market, successful CAB programs are a game-changer, unlocking actionable feedback, deepening customer relationships, and fueling better products. But without the right CAB software or customer advisory platforms, even the best initiatives can stall.

That’s why we’ve done the heavy lifting and curated a list of the 8 best tools for customer advisory boards. These B2B feedback tools stand out for their robust features, flexibility, security, and real-world impact. Whether you’re launching your first CAB or leveling up your executive engagement, each tool on this list was evaluated for usability, scalability, and proven results. Ready to discover your next essential platform? Let’s dive in.

What Are Customer Advisory Boards?

Customer advisory boards (CABs) are carefully curated groups of influential customers who meet regularly with an organization’s leadership and product teams. Their primary goal is to provide actionable feedback, industry insights, and partnership ideas that can help shape the company’s product roadmap and go-to-market (GTM) strategies. By actively engaging these advisory groups, businesses gain candid perspectives that can’t be captured through standard surveys or data analysis, making CABs an invaluable asset, particularly for B2B companies where customer input can significantly impact long-term success.

Customer advisory boards typically involve senior decision-makers from client organizations, ensuring that board discussions remain at a strategic level. Their collaboration not only strengthens customer relationships but also aligns a business’s offerings and roadmap with real-world needs.

How Do Customer Advisory Boards Work?

CABs function as a structured forum for two-way communication between a company and its most valuable customers. Meetings may occur in person or virtually, and the cadence can range from quarterly to bi-annual, depending on the organization’s needs. A typical customer advisory meeting features facilitated discussions, targeted feedback sessions, and hands-on workshops addressing specific challenges or upcoming initiatives.

Leveraging CAB software or dedicated customer advisory platforms is essential for organizing meetings, managing communications, and collecting meaningful feedback. B2B feedback tools also play a vital supporting role, offering analytics and engagement tracking that help companies measure the impact of the advisory board’s recommendations. The success of a CAB relies on clarity of objectives, structured agendas, and ongoing follow-up to ensure insights are translated into tangible change.

Benefits of Customer Advisory Boards

Customer advisory boards deliver a host of strategic advantages for B2B product and GTM teams. First, they provide an early-warning system for shifts in the market or evolving customer needs, helping companies stay ahead of the competition. Direct feedback from strategic customers allows organizations to validate their product strategy, prioritize new features, and refine GTM campaigns—reducing guesswork and increasing ROI.

Additionally, fostering relationships through CABs enhances customer loyalty and advocacy. When key customers are included in strategic conversations, their engagement grows, and they become more invested in your company’s success. This collaborative approach often leads to more robust customer references, testimonials, and even peer-to-peer networking—valuable assets for scaling your B2B business. For related insights on optimizing client engagement, review our guide to email marketing B2B lead generation.

Key Features to Look for in CAB Software and Platforms

Choosing the right CAB software or customer advisory platforms is crucial for maximizing the value of your advisory board initiatives. Look for solutions that streamline meeting management, facilitate secure communications, and simplify the collection and analysis of customer feedback. Essential features include customizable agendas, virtual collaboration tools, integrated analytics, and support for post-meeting follow-up. User-friendly interfaces and strong security controls are a must, especially given the sensitive, high-impact nature of CAB discussions.

Additionally, integration with other B2B feedback tools—such as CRM systems and marketing automation—can further enhance the relevance and effectiveness of your CABs. Selecting the right technology stack ensures your advisory board operates smoothly and delivers maximum strategic impact for your product and GTM teams.

Top Tools Powering Effective Customer Advisory Boards

After reviewing dozens of platforms, these tools stood out for their ability to supercharge customer advisory boards for B2B product and GTM teams. Whether you’re tracking feedback, facilitating networking, or managing CAB logistics, each solution brings a unique edge—think deep analytics, seamless integrations, or expert facilitation. With the right CAB software or customer advisory platform, your team can meaningfully engage top customers, capture valuable insights, and turn advisory board feedback into a competitive advantage. Below, you’ll find our curated selection of the best tools built for modern B2B feedback programs.

Khoros is an award-winning, AI-powered community platform tailored to help brands forge deeper connections with customers across digital touchpoints. Designed for modern customer advisory boards (CABs) and B2B feedback initiatives, Khoros empowers teams to drive engagement, collaboration, and ideation in a centralized, user-friendly environment. Its capabilities include a customizable design, robust SEO optimization, reliable performance, mobile compatibility, and flexible gamification features—all accessible from a web-based interface.

Khoros is especially valuable for B2B product managers, go-to-market teams, and organizations looking to create high-impact customer advisory platforms. Companies focused on digital-first customer experiences and structured feedback will appreciate its accessible design, rich APIs, and commitment to high uptime. The tool’s strengths lie in its flexible interface, mobile support, and adaptability for diverse advisory board needs, although premium pricing and feature rollout pace may be considerations for some buyers.

Pros:
Khoros shines with its approachable user interface and high degree of customization, letting teams craft tailored spaces for CAB discussions, ideation, and engagement. Mobile compatibility ensures members can participate anywhere, and its SEO optimization assists organizations in maximizing the discoverability and reach of their advisory board content. Flexible gamification features and strong accessibility support further encourage participation and inclusivity, making Khoros stand out among customer advisory platforms.

Cons:
On the downside, Khoros has been noted for its relatively slow pace in launching new features, which can be frustrating for rapidly evolving B2B teams seeking cutting-edge tools. Users have also reported challenges around advanced customization and occasional issues with the Professional Services team. The premium subscription model means pricing is on the higher end, and with no free plan or trial available, companies may face a higher barrier to entry. High staff turnover has also been mentioned, which could impact long-term partnership consistency.

Higher Logic Vanilla is a robust community platform designed specifically for managing large-scale enterprise communities, making it a strong contender among customer advisory platforms. Building on its legacy since 2006, Vanilla has evolved from simple forums to a comprehensive solution that delivers deep permissioning, advanced moderation, and detailed analytics—essentials for successful customer advisory boards. As a fully web-based solution, Vanilla’s standout strengths are its peer-to-peer features, event hosting, and enterprise-grade scalability, ensuring it can grow alongside any B2B company’s advisory initiatives.

Vanilla is ideal for enterprise B2B product and GTM teams seeking secure, organized engagement with their customer advisory boards, and for leaders who value granular control over user permissions and analytics. The platform’s easy-to-use interface, networking capabilities, and resource sharing make it particularly well-suited as a specialized CAB software option for large organizations demanding high customization and visibility.

Pros:
Vanilla stands out for its strong analytics suite, offering granular insights that help CAB managers better understand participation and engagement trends. The platform’s deep permissioning capabilities allow for precise role-based access, which is crucial for sensitive B2B feedback tools and maintaining secure discussions. Its user-friendly setup and scalable infrastructure are praised by users looking for long-term, adaptable solutions for their customer advisory boards.

Cons:
Despite its strengths, Vanilla sometimes faces bugs with new feature releases, which can disrupt the experience for administrators and members. Some standard features, such as digests and blog/article functionality, are missing, requiring workarounds or external solutions. Additionally, a few users have noted design inconsistencies and that certain features may not be as polished as those found in other community or CAB software platforms. Pricing is subscription-based, but specific costs aren’t made public, and there is no free plan or trial available.

The Verint Community Platform stands out as a secure, highly customizable environment for customer advisory boards and engaged B2B communities. Designed for advanced use cases, Verint puts powerful tools like custom APIs, native blogs, articles, and flexible page creation at your fingertips. Its robust feature set ensures organizations can tailor the experience for their CAB software needs, while its enterprise-grade security—SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, and HIPAA compliance—makes it a top choice for industries with strict data requirements. Verint offers broad integration options, including support for Okta, SailPoint, and multi-factor authentication, all through a web-based platform.

This customer advisory platform is best suited for B2B product and GTM teams requiring a secure, flexible community to gather structured feedback and foster strategic engagement. For organizations interested in aligning their community strategy with B2B content benchmarks, Verint’s customization power makes it a solid option among B2B feedback tools.

Pros:
Verint Community Platform’s key strengths include deep customization—down to the APIs—for building unique customer advisory experiences, plus an impressive array of features (content types, custom pages, integrations). The platform boasts a strong reputation for security, ensuring that sensitive CAB discussions remain protected. The support community helps admins and users alike maximize benefits, while its integration options make adopting Verint into existing tech stacks straightforward for most organizations.

Cons:
Some users note that the UI feels outdated or lacks intuitive design elements, making administration more complex than necessary. The platform’s broad feature set can make setup and daily management cumbersome, especially for smaller teams or less technical users. Occasional slow loading times have also been reported, which may impact user experience during high-traffic periods.

Verint Community Platform runs on a subscription model, though specific pricing details are not publicly listed. The lack of a free plan or free trial can make initial evaluation more challenging, but the platform’s capabilities may well justify the investment for the right use case.

Insided is an enterprise community platform designed to streamline customer engagement for B2B teams, making it a powerful solution for those running customer advisory boards. Known for its user-friendly drag-and-drop interface and competitive pricing, Insided provides a robust toolkit covering forums, knowledge bases, ideation modules, gamification, and event management—all essential features for driving continuous feedback and collaboration within customer advisory platforms.

Insided’s key strengths include a wide range of out-of-the box features like product updates, newsletters, group management, and a unique phrasing tool to refine communication. It’s especially well-suited for product and go-to-market (GTM) teams looking for CAB software that’s easy to deploy without heavy reliance on IT or third-party consultants. Its comprehensive moderation console, embeddable widgets, APIs, and pre-built automations empower B2B companies to manage and scale customer advisory boards efficiently, enhancing their ability to gather actionable product feedback.

Pros:
One of Insided’s biggest draws is its emphasis on usability: the drag-and-drop interface removes friction for both administrators and participants, making community and advisory board management smooth and intuitive. The platform includes robust moderation tools for ensuring a high-quality, professional environment, while pre-built automations and APIs dramatically cut down on manual work. Distinctive features like the phrasing tool and embeddable widgets help companies maintain consistent, on-brand messaging and easily extend community interactions into other digital touchpoints.

Cons:
While Insided boasts an array of features suitable for B2B feedback tools, it does not offer a free plan or free trial, which could be a barrier for teams seeking to test the platform before making a commitment. Pricing details aren’t publicly specified, requiring direct engagement with their sales team to understand costs, which may slow down decision-making for some organizations. However, the subscription model is positioned as competitive, appealing to businesses that want robust CAB capabilities without premium enterprise pricing. Additionally, the platform is web-based and doesn’t currently offer dedicated mobile or desktop clients.

Salesforce Community Cloud is an integrated solution within the broader Salesforce CRM platform, helping businesses manage customer interactions and foster robust communities. This CAB software offers excellent integration with other Salesforce products, making it especially valuable for organizations already invested in the Salesforce ecosystem. Community Cloud stands out for features like customer interaction management, customer support, sales and marketing tools, and enterprise-grade security.

This platform is ideal for B2B companies and GTM teams that need a secure, centralized customer advisory board platform integrated with their CRM. It’s particularly effective for those looking to leverage their existing Salesforce customer base for feedback and engagement, serving as both a B2B feedback tool and a community hub.

Pros:
Salesforce Community Cloud’s main strengths are its tight integration within the Salesforce ecosystem and its high-security standards, making it a reliable option for organizations with strict data protection requirements. The ability to tap into your existing CRM data gives you a unified view of customer interactions, streamlining the coordination of customer advisory boards and nurturing more meaningful engagement.

Cons:
The platform’s major drawbacks include limited customization options and less robust analytics compared to specialized customer advisory platforms. Organizations may find the user experience somewhat dated, with slow loading times and a basic knowledge base. SEO capabilities are also lacking, and the analytics and reporting features might not fully meet the needs of advanced B2B product teams exploring in-depth feedback. Pricing operates on a subscription model, but the starting cost is not publicly specified, and there is no free plan or trial available. Web access is supported, but missing mobile or desktop options could be limiting for some teams.

Ignite Advisory Group is a premier consultancy dedicated to helping B2B organizations launch and optimize impactful Customer Advisory Board (CAB) and Partner Advisory Board programs. Rather than a traditional CAB software platform, Ignite offers hands-on program design, advanced facilitation, and ongoing mentorship rooted in a rigorously tested methodology developed over hundreds of engagements. Their end-to-end services aim to build deeper executive relationships, uncover strategic customer insights, and drive tangible business growth for B2B teams.

Key features include bespoke CAB methodology, a 4-stage process, outsourced program management, audits for process optimization, and executive-level facilitation. Ignite Advisory Group is ideal for B2B companies seeking expert guidance on customer advisory boards, especially those targeting complex enterprise accounts or looking for strategic feedback to influence product and go-to-market strategies. The consultancy stands out for its proven results, robust client testimonials, and ability to deliver measurable ROI through sophisticated customer engagement and strategy consulting.

Pros:
With Ignite, companies gain access to unparalleled expertise in running CAB programs, ensuring best practices from day one. Their comprehensive services cover everything from original board design to detailed process audits and executive facilitation—making them a trusted partner for B2B product and GTM teams that want actionable, strategic customer input. Businesses appreciate their proprietary process and strong track record for driving real business impact.

Cons:
While Ignite Advisory Group provides a unique value proposition among customer advisory platforms, it’s worth noting that they are not a CAB software provider—their consultancy approach may not fit every budget or need. Pricing is opaque and determined on a consultation basis, which can make it challenging for smaller businesses or those seeking a simple B2B feedback tool to justify the investment. Because services are highly personalized, there’s no free trial or free plan available.

Available entirely via the web and direct client engagement, Ignite Advisory Group is best suited for organizations willing to invest in expert-led customer advisory board initiatives rather than adopting self-serve software.

Apollo.io is a powerful sales intelligence and engagement platform that’s making waves among customer marketing teams focused on customer advisory boards (CABs). With a strong emphasis on product feedback, Apollo.io enables B2B companies to identify and engage their top customers for strategic insights that directly inform product direction and go-to-market plans. It’s used by organizations with millions of users, providing a vast pool of potential CAB members and allowing for deeper, more diverse feedback than many traditional platforms.

Key capabilities include comprehensive sales intelligence, robust customer marketing tools, and implied support for CAB management and product feedback collection. Apollo.io shines for B2B teams who want to leverage customer advisory platforms not just for quarterly meetings, but as a continuous feedback channel. Staying updated on Product research trends can help teams maximize the platform’s effectiveness. It operates on the web and follows a subscription pricing model (with pricing details available upon request).

Pros:
Apollo.io stands out with its strong product feedback focus, making it easier for companies to iterate and improve their offerings based on real customer input. The platform’s massive user base enables organizations to tap into varied perspectives and identify key strategic partners for their customer advisory boards. Its engagement tools help maintain active communication, making sure customers feel valued and heard.

Cons:
However, managing such a broad audience can be a double-edged sword: identifying the right CAB advocates among millions of users is not always straightforward and can be time-consuming. Building an effective CAB via Apollo.io typically requires solid internal collaboration across marketing, product, and sales teams to ensure the right voices are represented and engaged. Additionally, there’s no free plan or trial, so potential users must commit to a subscription to get started.

Chili Piper stands out as a customer-centric platform, especially recognized for its focus on deepening relationships with a select group of customers. Known for its “be helpful” mantra, Chili Piper’s approach to customer advisory boards centers around organically identifying and nurturing advocates within a smaller, highly engaged customer base. This method is particularly effective for B2B teams looking for CAB software that emphasizes genuine connection and meaningful conversations over sheer volume.

Key capabilities include robust customer marketing, advocacy management, and advisory board facilitation—all accessed via a user-friendly web interface. Chili Piper is best suited for organizations with a manageable customer portfolio that want to build a close-knit community of advisors, ensuring a high level of engagement and actionable feedback. Its CAB model supports long-term relationships and advocacy-driven growth, making it a great fit for teams focused on cultivating champions among their users.

If your goal is to turn customers into advisors, Chili Piper offers a powerful model based on advocacy-driven growth and close customer engagement.

Pros:
Chili Piper’s strengths lie in its organic approach to advocate identification and its commitment to fostering deeper, one-on-one customer relationships. For B2B product and GTM teams with smaller customer volumes, this allows for tailored experiences and more effective engagement in customer advisory boards. The platform’s focus on relationship building rather than mass feedback means that insights are often more nuanced and actionable.

Cons:
However, this relationship-driven model may not scale effectively for enterprises dealing with millions of users or those seeking broad, quantitative product feedback. Larger organizations or those hoping to manage expansive customer advisory platforms might find Chili Piper less suited to their needs, especially if their strategic objectives place heavy emphasis on collecting high-volume feedback over relationship depth.

Chili Piper operates on a subscription model, but pricing details aren’t specified, and there is currently no free plan or trial available. As a web-based platform, it delivers streamlined access and is designed for teams that prioritize connection and advocacy within their CAB strategy.

How to Choose the Right Customer Advisory Board Tool

Choosing the right tools for your customer advisory boards can feel like a high-stakes decision. After all, you’re entrusting these platforms with facilitating critical conversations and capturing valuable insights from your most important customers. But don’t let the pressure paralyze you. By focusing on a few key areas, you can confidently select the CAB software or customer advisory platforms that best fit your needs.

First, think about the scale of your CAB program. Are you managing a small, intimate group of executive advisors, or do you envision a larger, more dynamic community? Some platforms excel at fostering deep relationships within smaller groups, while others are built for managing large-scale interactions. Consider the level of customization you need. Do you want a plug-and-play solution, or do you need the flexibility to tailor every aspect of the CAB experience? Also, how important are integrations with your existing tech stack? A seamless connection with your CRM or marketing automation tools can significantly streamline workflows and enhance the value of your CAB program.

Finally, don’t overlook the importance of security and compliance, especially when dealing with sensitive customer data. Ensure that any B2B feedback tools you consider meet your organization’s security requirements and industry regulations. By carefully evaluating these factors, you can confidently choose the right customer advisory platforms to unlock the full potential of your CAB program.

Conclusion

Effectively leveraging customer advisory boards is essential for B2B product and GTM teams aiming to stay ahead in a competitive landscape. The right CAB software and customer advisory platforms can transform how you gather and implement B2B feedback, turning valuable insights into actionable strategies. By carefully selecting tools that streamline communication, enhance engagement, and provide robust analytics, you can maximize the impact of your CAB program.

Looking ahead, the trend is toward more integrated and AI-powered customer advisory platforms that offer deeper insights and more personalized experiences. As technology evolves, these tools will become even more critical for fostering strong customer relationships and driving strategic decision-making.

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