How to Create a Customer-facing Roadmap (+ Example)
Learn how PMs and PMMs can craft a customer-facing roadmap that helps GTM teams sell, retain, and expand accounts in SaaS.
Hey BPL fam,
Customer-facing roadmaps (CFRs) may be the most misunderstood and underrated tool in the B2B SaaS playbook.
Product teams have intense debates around their internal product roadmap and how to prioritize it. But there’s surprisingly little focus on how to translate those ideas for prospects and customers to win their confidence and solicit early feedback.
At vFairs (the event tech platform I work for), one in every three enterprise prospects and customers demands a “roadmap” to justify their investments.
Anecdotally, I know of 4 in the past 12-18 months alone where we tipped large contracts in our favor (against fierce competition) by showcasing how our future roadmap aligned with customer goals.
A well-crafted customer-facing roadmap for high-ticket enterprise SaaS carries immense value, but I also see it’s underutilized.
This is primarily because it’s conflated with an internal product roadmap. I’ll clarify the difference between the two in a bit.
Also, product teams treat it as a commitment sheet for a specific customer, rather than a strategic document.
Thus, in this edition, we’ll unpack a playbook on how PMs and PMMs can collaborate to create CFRs that move the needle.
Here's what's in store:
The 3 roadmap types that are often confused with each other
What a customer-facing roadmap should (and shouldn't) include
A sample customer-facing roadmap template that helps us win deals
How to operationalize your CFR across sales and customer success
How to know a CFR is working
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Clarifying the three types of roadmaps
First, let me clear the air for folks still scratching their heads.
Product Roadmap ≠ Public Roadmap ≠ Customer-facing Roadmap.
There are three popular types of roadmaps:
Internal Roadmap: The detailed blueprint your product team uses with specific features, dependencies, and dates. I’m sure most product teams have this and attempt to abide by it.
Public Roadmap: What companies like Buffer and GitHub share openly. It's high-level, shows commitment to transparency, but lacks the strategic depth needed for enterprise sales.
Here’s an example of what this looks like.
Customer-Facing Roadmap (CFR): A strategic document tailored for prospects and customers that showcases the most prominent problem themes, outcomes, and directions the product will take in the near future.
A CFR isn’t publicly available.
It is passed on to all customers on a set cadence but only shared with high-fit prospects upon demand.
A common misconception is that a customer-facing roadmap is just a "dumbed down" version of your internal roadmap.
While the structure and content is similar, the intent is vastly different.
Your internal product roadmap serves internal alignment.
Your CFR, on the other hand, serves the customer relationship.
At vFairs, this distinction became crystal clear when, in 2021, Fortune 2000 companies started asking us not just about functionality, but about our 3-year plans for apps, security, compliance, and privacy.
In response, we would patch up a short technical feature list in the form of a spreadsheet. The problem? It didn’t tell a story.
But we learned from those hard lessons and fine-tuned our process.
“But roadmaps show strategy, not delivery.”
I know of some strong product voices who will object to the concept of CFRs.
In fact, you’ll see some of them lingering in the comments thread already.
They will vehemently argue that sharing roadmaps:
risks making premature commitments.
promotes order-taking behavior.
should be about talking about the transformative journey you’re going to take customers on, not silly feature contracts.
should be purely outcomes-driven.
Granted - a customer-facing roadmap might create expectations that may shift as market conditions change.
But I believe it’s all about how you position them.
The idea is to avoid framing them as delivery commitments.
Instead, use them as relationship-building assets, demonstrating your understanding of customer challenges and showcasing your product's strategic direction.
The CFR isn’t devoid of strategic narratives, as you’ll see shortly. In fact, it begins with that.
But my experience tells me that you won't create sufficient clarity unless you’re coupling that with some concrete specifics on what capabilities they can expect (especially the ones already in your dev pipeline). For initiatives where your specifics aren’t finalized, the general theme of problems can be highlighted.
The goal is to focus on problem themes and communicate the “sequence of priority” instead of delivery dates.
Sticking solely to “long-winding strategic narratives” and “outcome theater” won’t earn you goodwill. Stakeholders can only afford a slice of their attention spans to you. They need answers. Make it easy for them to get them.
The Power of a CFR (+ Real Results)
What can a well-crafted customer-facing roadmap do for your business?
At vFairs, we've seen concrete results:
7-10% higher win rates when the CFR is shared during the sales process.
8-10% improvement in year-over-year retention for multi-year enterprise deals after distributing CFRs.
Shortened sales cycles for enterprise deals where future vision is a key decision factor.
A strategic CFR opens doors. But what should it actually contain?
What Belongs (and Doesn't Belong) on Your CFR
Where do you source the ideas to put on a customer-facing roadmap?
The ideas primarily come from your internal product roadmap but are distilled to the ones that’ll matter most.
To learn more about how to create a product roadmap, check these resources out:
Note that product roadmaps in some companies tend to be verbose and reflect all the new epics, enhancements, re-designs/overhauls, and major/minor initiatives on the JIRA board.
However, your customer-facing roadmap isn't a feature catalog.
Here's what should be included:
✅ Problem themes with outcomes: Highlight the problems you are solving, clarifying the use case and persona. For areas further down the line, talk about the general opportunity.
✅ Visual representations: For near-term items, we add the actual mocks. For items in the long term, we show potential solutions with wireframes or GIFs where possible. This is probably the most important aspect of a CFR. People love visuals.
✅ Problem statements: Demonstrate you understand when and why a problem matters. Talking about “new template builder” without the context of why a user persona needs it makes it pointless.
✅ Broad timeframes: Think "Q2/Q3" rather than "March 15th".
✅ Differentiated perspectives: Highlight how your solution stands out from the competition.
And here's what should NOT appear:
❌ Specific dates: Nothing kills credibility faster than missed deadlines.
❌ Technical debt items: Your infrastructure cleanup isn't a selling point.
❌ Experimental features: If it’s still “a thought in the mind of an exec” and not a planned initiative, it’s best to leave it out. Sometimes, adding such promises is tempting because you feel it’ll win you the deal, but it’ll also decimate trust.
❌ Stock/no imagery: Shows you haven't thought through the solution.
❌ Competitor features that don't align with your strategy: Don't chase what doesn't fit.
How far ahead should you be projecting?
In my experience, the roadmap for the next quarter suffices, along with some honorary mentions of spectacular “jumpshots” coming later.
While the example in this newsletter spans 4 quarters, I don’t recommend projecting that far out. Our experience shows that providing concrete specificity beyond the upcoming 2 quarters introduces unnecessary risk without adding proportional value.
Which roadmap items deserve to be on the CFR?
Some criteria that I use (not an exhaustive list):
Innovative solutions to common problems
Look for new ways to solve pain points your customers regularly face.
Ex: Descript's auto-detection and deletion of video redos.New solutions to emerging challenges
Address new problems your customers are just beginning to encounter.
Ex: Hubspot's MCP server supporting the rise of AI clients.High relevance to target segments
Prioritize features that specific customer segments will find especially valuable.
Ex: Interactive EEO reports for an HR platform for HR leadership.Frequently requested capabilities
Show customers you're listening by including their most common requests.
Ex: Calendar integration with automatic Slack notifications.Technological breakthroughs
Highlight innovations that push boundaries in your industry.
Ex: Miro's AI chat interface for canvas summarization.Clear differentiators
Feature capabilities that set you apart from competitors.
Ex: Riverside's local high-quality recording before uploading.Strategic partnerships
Showcase integrations that extend your product's value.
Ex: Notion's integration with OpenAI for document analysis.
Real CFR Example
Download an example CFR deck here (this is a modified CFR from my existing company from a while back):
Should a CFR always be communicated as a slide presentation?
Not necessarily. We’ve preferred PDFs simply because they are the most familiar format for our customers. However, in the next 12-18 months, we will see a pivot towards more interactive web tools allowing filtration and natural-language querying. No-code tools will make this a lot easier to accomplish.
How much should one pack in a CFR asset?
The last thing you want is a 90-slide deck that no one reads.
Customers skim through these documents and typically remember only 2-3 key features that interest them (which they probably will follow up on).
That’s ok. But it also means you need to make the few ideas on the CFR count. This requires ruthless prioritization.
A handy rule of thumb is the 3-3-3 rule:
3 Timeframes: Segment your problem themes into three timeframes (e.g. now, next, later).
3 Themes: Talk about three themes within each timeframe segment.
3 Key Initiatives: Highlight the top 3 capabilities in each theme.
This approach keeps your total slide count under 30, which hits the sweet spot between comprehensive and digestible.
Here's how it breaks down in practice:
1 slide for vision/intro
1 slide for problem themes overview
15-20 slides for roadmap updates
1 slide for timeline recap
Let’s dive deeper.
Intro Slide: Our Product Vision
The opening slide should center around your vision statement. This is a concise, aspirational declaration of what you're working toward.
Example Vision Statement:
Clay: “Help GTM teams solve their hardest problems by making data accessible and actionable.”
Airtable: “To democratize software creation and empower anyone to build their own tools.”
Canva: “To make design simple for everyone, regardless of their expertise or background, by providing a platform that inspires and enables creativity on a global scale.
vFairs: "To empower organizations to power all their event tech from one central command and drive real business outcomes."
Focal Problem Themes
Next, organize your roadmap around key problem themes framed as problem categories. The idea is to focus more on the problem we’re solving rather than specific feature names. I also like to call out the persona we are building for:
Example Problem Themes
Examples of how these product themes can be represented:
“Reducing the time it takes for event professionals to set up an event.”
“Helping event marketers generate 40% of their registration through early-birds.”
“Virtual events have a bad rep for poor attendee networking. Let’s fix that.”
Theme Overview Slide
This section sets the tone for a specific problem theme and its initiatives.
I like to include related “customer quotes” and problems we heard based on which we greenlit these ideas.
Initiative Slides
These slides make up the majority of the deck. I’ll talk about these at length in the next section.
Recap slide with timeline
A quick slide that recaps all the problem themes and initiatives along a tentative timeline.
Unpacking the Initiative Slides
Now for the meat of your CFR - the individual initiatives/feature slides.
The structure we follow:
Problem theme reference
Action-oriented title (starts with a verb)
Short capability description
Timeframe (quarter or half-year, never specific dates) with disclaimer
Visual mockup
Example Feature Slides:
We also like to add the problem statement in the presentation notes and, where required, disclaimers on the timeline and/or visual mockup.
Recently, the product team has been creating high-fidelity visuals on Lovable. Turns out, given a visual image of our product backend, Lovable is pretty good at recreating it and then adding new features with the same design aesthetic.
Operationalizing Your CFR
Trust me when I say this: creating the CFR is the easiest part of the process.
The hardest part is putting it to work. Distribution is key.
After the CFR has been reviewed by product management, marketing, and leadership, it’s uploaded to our CRM.
At vFairs, our customer-facing roadmap lives as a document in HubSpot, allowing us to track which customers view it:
Next, a roadmap session is called where all GTM teams are invited.
The roadmap is explained to all sales and CS representatives with our key messaging points in a dedicated huddle call by the product teams. Questions about specific items are routed back to the product for clarification.
After that, the GTM teams relay these emails or set up CFR-specific meetings with long-standing customers:
Customer Success shares the CFR during quarterly business reviews with their top customers. Sometimes, clients ask for it themselves.
Sales presents it during specific prospect meetings (usually high-ticket deals).
To prevent rogue promises, we've established clear rules:
Sales can discuss items on the CFR freely.
For anything not on the CFR, they must consult with product.
Any customer commitments must be logged and approved.
This balance gives sales the tools they need while maintaining product integrity.
Updating CFRs
We refresh our CFR quarterly, but the process starts two weeks before the quarter ends:
PM reviews the internal roadmap for shareable items
PMM translates these into customer outcomes
PMs/Design creates visualizations for key items
Sales and CS provide feedback
Leadership gives final approval
This collaborative approach ensures the CFR remains accurate, compelling, and aligned with business goals.
Moreover, we have variants of the CFR asset.
We target a diverse set of personas, and some problem themes may or may not make sense to them, so we customize. Ex: A VP of Sales organizing a trade show has different needs than an HR leader leading a job fair.
How to Know Your CFR Is Working
To determine whether the CFR is actually having any impact, we track a few simple metrics:
leading metrics
aggregate views on each variant of CFR
Inspect the prospects/customers who opened the doc (and frequency)
lagging metrics
% age of new deals converted where the CFR was sent and opened
% age of renewal deals converted where CFR was sent and opened
A common problem is low views because not enough people have shared it.
Writing up a cover email template with the CFR link reps can send directly to their accounts always helps.
Couple the above with some qualitative assessments:
Inspect call recordings where the roadmap was presented. Sift through the questions asked by the customer or prospect.
Talk to your sales and CS teams and get their feedback on how influential the CFR was in their deal. You’ll always get some interesting insights.
These metrics will give you a sense of how your asset is faring and if you need to fine-tune it anywhere.
15-Minute Exercise
Want to get a quick sense of what your CFR should include?
Here's a quick exercise that will immediately surface opportunities:
Gather a group of sales and customer success reps.
Give them 100 virtual credits each.
Ask them to distribute these credits across the features/themes on your current CFR.
Identify which items get the most "investment". Learn why.
Discuss items that received little to no credits. Understand why.
Your GTM teams must be excited about pitching the roadmap to customers and prospects. They won't stand behind it if you don’t have their mental buy-in. Thus, while they may have biases, getting their input is still essential.
Final Word
A strategic customer-facing roadmap isn't just a document. It's a confidence-building tool that can impact your win rates and customer retention.
The key takeaways:
Your CFR should focus on outcomes and problem themes, not features and dates.
Visual representations are critical for building credibility.
Tailor your roadmap for different customer segments while maintaining a consistent core.
Measure the impact through both quantitative and qualitative means.
Most importantly, remember that your roadmap is telling a story about your company's future.
Make it a story that resonates with your customers' needs and aspirations, not just a list of features you plan to build.
Till next time,
Aatir
This feels less like a roadmap, more like a well-crafted features contract. Nothing wrong with that, but let’s not confuse it with a strategic roadmap built around outcomes.
A true roadmap charts the path from today’s messy middle to the outcomes we’re aiming for. That strategy should drive what gets built ... not the other way around.
Otherwise, we risk sliding into order-taking mode, serving requests instead of steering growth. Tactics should follow vision, not lead it.