to write a perfect customer success story //
Best Story Wins, the new Column Five podcast is for branding and marketing professionals who want to maximize their growth potential. Each episode features an interview with industry leaders about their strategies for winning the hearts and minds and building world-class brands. We spoke with Bryan Saftler (Director of Product Marketing – Communications, Media & Entertainment Industries, Databricks) for our first episode. He uses story to connect with his audience as a marketer. He also reminded us about a common mistake that marketers make when trying to connect with their audience. Saftler’s advice? Instead of telling stories about your brand, tell stories about customer success stories and weave your brand into them.
Customer stories are the most valuable thing in a B2B company. Because I could tell six different ways that my product is better from Sunday. “Who’s doing this?” is the first question someone will ask. –Bryan Saftler (Databricks Director for Product Marketing – Communications Media & Entertainment Industries)
There is an art to telling a customer success story, or case study. And there are reasons some stories are more successful than others. We’re going to break down Saftler’s tips for making sure that your customer stories are engaging and interesting.
Four Steps to Tell A Great Customer Success Story
It’s not enough to simply recite the customer’s story. You want to make it interesting and have a compelling conclusion. This is what grabs your audience’s attention and makes them believe that you can do it for them. Here are four essential elements to help you do this successfully.
1. Identify the problem of the customer.
To write a customer success story that is memorable, you must first identify the problem. It is important to identify the customer’s problems before you can offer a solution. What was their pain point? What were their problems? What were their solutions? What was the impact of this challenge on their business?
Keep in mind that you are creating the conditions for a transformational before and after to your customer success story. Your audience should understand the problem and feel empathy for them.
Example: Dropbox’s team was struggling to attract talented and creative engineers due to a competitive market for hiring. They knew they needed the right strategy in order to find the best candidates. Column Five was contacted by the team to help them distinguish themselves in their field.
2 – Explain why you were chosen by the customer
There is a reason why you are the brand to choose. Your customer likely researched the options and chose your product or service because of a specific reason. What makes you different from your competitors? What were their favorite features and benefits? What was it that made them believe you were the best choice?
This backstory may not be obvious to you. Ask the customer to tell you about their decision-making process. Which factors were they weighing when evaluating the various options? What were their criteria and priorities when choosing a solution? What was it that made you stand out?
Dropbox recognized that they had to be different in the market. Because they were confident visual storytellers and have a track record of helping B2B brands (specifically SaaS) tell their stories across all channels, they reached out to us for a compelling recruitment video.
3: Share your solution.
This is the heart and soul of your customer success story. What was your secret to saving the day? What were your steps? What creative approach did you use? What strategic thinking was involved in the solution?
Make sure to highlight the original problem your customer was facing in order for your solution to appear stronger. It is important to mention the selling points that drew your customer in the first instance. Describe the features and functions of your product. Please describe any modifications or customizations you made to make the solution unique to their needs. Please share the strategy behind your approach.
Highlight any obstacles or challenges you encountered during the process and how you overcome them. This will emphasize your expertise, problem-solving skills, and ability to collaborate–something everyone wants in a brand partner.
Example: We wanted to create excitement by telling the true story behind Dropbox. Dropbox is not just a platform where engineers share files. It’s also a place where they can make their ideas a reality and create future-oriented products that will benefit people all over the globe. We used animated animations, upbeat music and a energizing script to tell the story. This video stood out from the rest, especially when compared to other B2B brands. It was more than just a recruitment piece; it was an invitation to participate in this exciting work.
4) Highlight your business’s impact.
This is the last step in a customer success story. This is the most important part of a customer success story, and it can be also the most difficult. Your audience will love your landing if you clearly communicate the value of your solution to their business.
You should aim to quantify your results in order to show the value of your product. What were their experiences? What were their success metrics? What was the impact of your solution on their business performance? To support your claims, you should use hard numbers whenever possible.
This can be difficult as customers may go dark, or it might take longer to collect meaningful data. We are here to help. Supporting data is always worth waiting.
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Example: The recruiting video that we created for Dropbox was a huge success. It helped them reach and exceed their core goals. This included 275,000+ video views (0.20 or longer), 3,449.022 ad impressions ($8.63 CPM), a 20.48% average click-through rate, and 3,449.022 ad impressions. Even better, even though Dropbox originally contracted us to create a single video for their recruiting engineers, they were so impressed by the final result, they decided to make this theme a year-long campaign in support of their overall recruitment strategy.
How to Make Sure You Have Stories to Tell
It doesn’t matter what your brand is, no matter who you are, it can be difficult to come up with compelling stories for your audience. You can find more inspiration here to keep your feed current.
- Pay attention to the customer and what they need. Learn how empathy content marketing can connect you with your audience.
- Get creative with your ideas. You can create a month worth of content in just an hour.
- Listen to the experts. Subscribe at Best Story Wins for tips and tricks on how to win your market.
Find the right support to bring your marketing strategy to fruition. You can find the best partner by reading our tips on choosing the right agency. Or, you can reach out to us directly to become our next customer success story.
Column Five first published the post How To Write a Perfect Customer Success Story.
