Reference customer

A reference customer is an existing client that a vendor nominates to speak with analysts about their experience, whose feedback is then incorporated into an evaluation.

The analyst conducts the conversation directly. In several methodologies customer feedback carries formal scoring weight, and firms commonly reserve the right to contact references without the vendor present.

Reference customer vs. case study

A case study is a marketing artifact the vendor controls and approves. A reference conversation is conducted by the analyst, unscripted, and not shown to the vendor.

What vendors may not do

Firms restrict contact with references during an evaluation. Forrester, for example, treats vendor attempts to speak with references about their responses — or to have them revise responses after an interview — as a methodology violation that can cost the vendor part or all of its review process.

Why it matters

This is the one input to an evaluation that a vendor selects but cannot script, which makes it the closest thing in the process to an audit.

Selecting references is therefore a positioning decision rather than a relationship one. The customers who like you most are not necessarily the ones who can describe what you do in the terms the evaluation is scoring.

Related: Vendor questionnaire · Forrester Wave · Everest Group PEAK Matrix

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