Customer Success stories or what are referred to as case studies – are a very useful marketing tool, especially for a B2B business.
A Customer success story or a case study is one of the most effective collaterals. A case study helps to tell your prospects a real-life example of how your product or service was able to solve a customer’s business challenges and help them benefit from it.
In this context, a case study is a report of the usage of a product or solution by a client organisation.
A typical case study has 4 sections:
- A brief description of the client organisation
- The business challenge faced by the client
- The solution provided
- Benefit accrued
To make sure the case study serves its purpose a couple of steps can be followed
01
Interview a customer
Most often the marketing teams resort to heavy usage of technical jargon in the case study and tend to make it very boring. A good customer success story can be crafted by meeting and interviewing a customer – Tweet that. It will not only help you understand the nuances of the customer experience, it will also help you craft the story in the language your target audience speaks & understands. Meeting with the customer will also strengthen your relationship with them.
02
Create a crisp document
While the language and the tone of the customer needs to be captured, the document needs to be crisp yet provide all the information. It is not needed to quote the customer verbatim!
03
Add a photograph
Who doesn’t like to see themselves in media? Take a high-resolution photograph of the customer if he or she is willing, this along with the quote makes the document very very authentic! It is great to have a professional photograph but taking one with your own camera or smartphone can serve the purpose equally well.
If the customer is not too keen on providing his photograph, one of the office premises is also fine. A link to the customer website or their logo on the case study helps.
04
Spell out the benefits
The clearer your articulation of the benefit statement, better will be the impact. Make it explicit if the customer is willing to oblige: what was the money earned or saved? How did your solution help the customer grow his business? Did it impact the top line or bottom line? Did it bring down the operating expense?
05
Take a sign off!
It is imperative to get a sign off on the final case study document. It is also advisable to get the customer to understand the ways in which you intend using the case study – posted on your website, as a collateral or probably even as a news release! This effort can go a long way and avoid confusions at a later point in time!
06
Consent from the customer for publishing the case study is essential!
We offer case study writing as a service, call us or write to us if you need one!
