A customer success story can be one of the most valuable pieces of content for showcasing the quality and effectiveness of the products or services that you provide. A well written story serves as effective marketing collateral for your company to promote its triumphs.
Success is not always measured in financial terms. Some organisations are measured by the quality or effectiveness of the services they deliver to their consumers.
A real success story can only be told if the supplier and the consumer are genuinely better off because they have a mutually beneficial relationship. If the story is good enough, why not tell the world?
Building trust in your brand
You can talk about your own products or services until the cows come home, but your subjective take isn’t half as powerful as a real, honest customer experience. If previous customers trust you, you’re seen as a much safer option to new prospective customers.
A happy customer is an advocate for your business – they will talk about you. They will recommend you and they will ensure they promote you – if they really trust you.
Customer stories lower your prospects’ information cost
Giving prospects access to authentic customer case studies can save them countless hours or days spent doing reference calls, looking at competitors’ offerings, or searching for online testimonials. Genuine customer stories speed up the evaluation and increase the likelihood you’ll win the sale.
Customer stories evoke empathy from buyers
Buyers want to know that other people just like them have seen an ROI with your solution. An anonymous review or traditional case study doesn’t always allow prospective buyers to walk in the shoes of an actual customer in the same way as first-hand accounts do.
A prominent US University study showed that when we listen to someone tell a story, our brainwaves actually adjust themselves to match the pattern of the storyteller. First-person narratives of how a customer’s life was positively impacted by their decision to engage with your company will resonate more than any other content type.
Customer stories help build up your relationships with vocal brand advocates
Featuring customers in success stories helps them develop and extend their professional brand. You’re enabling them to educate their peers and share their thought leadership. This will make them want to advocate for you even more strongly in the future, and make them more loyal in the long run. It’s a win-win for your brand and for the customer.
The more, the better
The more user-generated content you share, the more fresh product-specific information there is to boost your search rankings – and give customers valuable insights that encourage conversion. Add just one review to your page and you could see a 10% lift in sales. Add 100 and you’re looking at a 37% hike. Forrester data showed that only 34% of salespeople consistently use success stories and examples. So, what’s that mean for you? Incorporating success stories is a surefire way to give yourself a competitive edge.
Customer success stories also play an important role in building your business’ internal brand. After all, you couldn’t have a success story without your employees so why not use the opportunity provided by the achievement to recognize the people who played a vital part in the story. Celebrating a customer success story internally is a simple way to acknowledge the completion of a good job while inspiring your staff to look for other opportunities to go above and beyond to serve a customer.
When making a significant business purchase, we look for stories and opinions shared by our professional network of peers and actual customers. We want specific examples from others like us, who have gone through similar situations to assure us that we are making a sound and informed purchase decision.