How many customers should be in a customer council?

A customer council should be kept small and manageable to facilitate genuine discussion. The ideal size is typically between 8 and 15 customers. Any larger and the format breaks down into a webinar where only a few people speak, defeating the purpose of deep, interactive feedback.

Can my customer council be virtual?

Absolutely. Virtual council meetings are now the standard, as they significantly reduce the cost and scheduling complexity for both you and your customers. They allow you to bring together strategic users from across the globe. However, consider hosting one in-person meeting per year, perhaps aligned with your annual conference, to build much stronger personal relationships.

How do you recruit for a customer council vs. a community?

Recruitment strategies are fundamentally different. For an online community, recruitment should be broad, automated and open to all customers. You can add links in your product, email signatures and onboarding sequences. The goal is scale. For a customer council, recruitment must be a targeted, personal invitation from a senior leader at your company. Customers are nominated by account managers or executives based on a specific profile, and the invitation should convey the strategic importance of their participation.

Customer Council vs. Online Community: Which to Build?

Should you build an exclusive customer council or a scalable online community? A strategic guide to help B2B SaaS leaders choose the right model.

Published: 2 June 2026
Topics: customer council, online community, customer marketing, customer feedback, b2b saas, community strategy

A customer council is a small, curated group of strategic customers used for deep, qualitative feedback, while an online community is a large, scalable platform for broad peer-to-peer support and engagement. They are fundamentally different tools designed to solve different business problems, and choosing the right one first is critical for your customer marketing strategy.

You have a choice. Depth or breadth. A scalpel or a net. Choosing the wrong tool for customer engagement doesn't just waste resources; it actively harms your product strategy. It leads to biased roadmaps or a support queue that never shrinks.

By Francisco Opazo · Reviewed by the Led by Community editorial team

Defining the Terms: Two Different Tools for Different Jobs

Let's be precise. These terms are not interchangeable. Confusing them is a common and costly mistake. One is a focus group. The other is a network.

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Read the full piece on Led by Community (free account, 3 reads a day)