Podcast: Case Studies to Build Trust and Sales
How do you make the most of a customer’s success story? What if you can’t name a customer? How do new FTC rules affect case studies?
Get answers to these questions and others on a 25-minute podcast where RainToday.com interviewed Casey Hibbard, "Using Case Studies to Build Trust and Facilitate Sales."
- Ways to use your customer case studies
- How many and how often to create case studies
- What makes a successful case study
- What if you can’t name customers?
- Examples of professional services firms using case studies successfully
- Why you shouldn’t make people register to access cases
- How to ease customer permissions and approvals
- What the new FTC rules mean for endorsements
Listen here. It’s only available to non-members of RainToday.com until Feb. 24.
What’s Better – Customer Feedback or Vendor Success Stories?
As buyers, we need help making decisions. There are just too many options.
My last post revealed my own decision anxiety, multiplied when there are no customer reviews or success stories for me to rely on.
From personal experience, reviews help us make decisions faster and feel more confident about them.
But what’s the difference between customer feedback a la Amazon or eBay compared to vendor-produced case studies and success stories? And how can companies benefit from both?
Customer Reviews
Smart companies today ask you for your feedback. They email you after a purchase requesting that you follow a link and "rate and review" the product or service.
- Feedback is raw, real, unpolished information right from customers.
- Customers are free to share their negative experiences.
- Any grammar errors or typos are still there, adding to the authenticity.
- It’s free-form, so customers talk about what is important to them, usually without any prompting questions.
- As a short review, it only takes a few minutes.
- There may be a shortage of free-form reviews on higher-end solutions (i.e. $1 million ERP software implementation).
- That content isn’t leveraged beyond showing up on review sites.
- Cheap or free for vendors.
Vendor Case Studies & Success Stories
Case studies and success stories, produced by the vendor company, formally capture a customer’s experience.
- Vendors reach out to their most successful customers, so no negative stories.
- Prospective customers see them as more slick or "commercial" than raw feedback.
- Customers agree to share their story formally and publicly.
- Formal interviews draw out specific aspects of the customer’s experience.
- The story format engages readers in a different way, taking the audience through challenge, solution and resolution – allowing prospects to better see themselves in those stories.
- Results are measured – to the extent possible.
- Once approved, the content can be used in various formats – press releases, stand-alone testimonials, award applications, etc.
- Takes more money and time.
In today’s buying climate, you need these customer experiences to help buyers. What do you choose?
Both. Ideally, your prospective customers can find free-form feedback on the web AND review more formalized, comprehensive, measurable stories about customer experiences.
Customers today benefit from both. The first provides more AUTHENTICITY and the second much-desired DETAIL – both critical pieces of a buying decision.
In fact, make both a part of your marketing plan:
- Give happy customers links to online feedback sites.
- Approach those same happy customers about documenting their stories more extensively in print, audio or video.
- Send prospects to sites with customer feedback (hopefully it’s good!) and to stories on your website.
Regardless of what mix you choose, always ensure that you give prospects access to other customers’ experiences. You can help them get past indecision.
What’s your take? What do prospects gain from free-form feedback versus vendor stories?
Customer Successes – Help Buyers Decide FASTER
All week, I’ve been mulling over a few purchase decisions – comparing specs, prices and especially reading online reviews from other buyers that have gone before me.
Not the impulsive type, my research was going well until one of the purchases on my list hit a wall – NO customer reviews or success stories.
If you’re like me, you’ve grown very accustomed to having real feedback from other buyers on anything from a $10 book to a $20,000 car. A lot is riding on each purchase: a big investment of time in the first case and a chunk of change and safety for the latter.
We’ve come to rely on these "Citizen Marketers" (coined by Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba) as our compass for making decisions. Without it, we can feel lost in the woods.
So what’s really going on when a buyer can’t get her hands on other customer experiences?
We make decisions more slowly – or not at all
This week I’m investigating new video cameras and hotels for a spring vacation. Sites like Amazon.com, TripAdvisor, and stories/testimonials on actual websites of hotels and bed and breakfasts have all pushed me closer to buying.
With that rich information, I am MUCH closer to making a decision.
Yet for a business product I’m considering, no such customer feedback is available. So instead, I put off that decision for now.
We buy less confidently
What’s really behind it? I’m just not confident enough in the business product to move ahead. Maybe it’s a fabulous product, but I’m going to need more than the company’s sales copy to help me decide.
I don’t think I’m alone. Buyers today are very accustomed to having that level of information to support their purchases.
Think about it. Are your buyers hesitating without customer feedback? What can you do to change that?
Whether it’s suggesting happy customers post on review sites or capturing the details in case studies or success stories, HELP prospective customers buy faster and more confidently.
And now, I have a few purchases to make…
What was the last significant purchase you made, and how influential was real customer feedback?
Next week: The differences between review sites and vendor-produced case studies and success stories.
(New) Storytelling Power in PowerPoint?
PowerPoint gets a really bad rap. It seems indispensible in business presentations, yet it can be so darn boring.
That’s because most presenters do it the same way – a virtual storm of bullet points with a few photos slid in.
But maybe there’s help – and hope – in PowerPoint 2010.
In her recent blog post, Paula Tesch of Duarte shows us the new cinematic capabilities of PowerPoint 2010. Duarte Design’s Five Rules for Presentations gives practical presentation tips – and does so using the new PowerPoint.
Pretty impressive! It’s hard to believe this is PowerPoint.
I still wonder how difficult it is to use the tool to create something so dynamic. But I’m excited about its storytelling possibilities.
5 Hottest Ways to Use Customer Stories in ‘10
Ever walked through the living room when someone else is watching TV (on your way somewhere else), and just had to stop right there and watch?
I’d be willing to bet it was a compelling story that drew you in (if it wasn’t some sultry hamburger ad).
Humans have always told stories and it’s still the best currency for communication.
If anything, we rely on stories more than ever to be seen or heard in a sea of messages.
What’s changed are the media we use.
So what’s hot now in sharing customer success stories and case studies?
Here are my 5 predictions for the hottest ways to use your stories in ‘10. Drop a comment on your top ways.
1. Blogs
An estimated 77% of active web users read blogs. They’ve proven to be powerful drivers of search engine traffic.
Even better, those following your blog are interested in your particular topic, giving you the perfect target audience.
Share your best customer stories on your blog – either in full or linked back to the full story on your website.
Focus on the customer’s experience and path to success, not just tooting your own horn.
And finally, be sure to get the customer’s permission before you publish anything with their name on it.
2. Twitter
Enticing Twitter content gets fresh eyeballs on your blog or website. A decent percentage of my own web traffic comes from Twitter.
Customer stories are among the more interesting pieces of content you can share.
Mention a compelling customer story and link back to it on your blog or website.
Several of my clients regularly Tweet their customer stories, proving to be a source of new traffic to their sites.
Be sure to give it a compelling headline, and keep the Tweet short to encourage Retweeting.
Remember to follow what has become Twitter protocol of sharing more helpful links/Tweets than self-promotional ones.
3. Video
Video continues its hot streak.
Consider capturing short versions of your customer success stories and comments on video, or use video technology that allows viewers to navigate to chapter marks.
Some surveys indicate two-thirds still prefer written stories, but if possible, have multiple ways that your audience can consume your stories.
Then post the videos on your website, blog, YouTube (the third largest search engine) and other sites like Viddler.
Check out more video tips here.
4. Sales Conversations
Sure, you may have your video and written stories nicely displayed everywhere.
But you don’t really know whether those powerful stories have reached the right prospects.
Make sure those hot prospects know your best customer successes. Encourage sales reps to tell them in sales conversations.
To that end, communicate clearly and often to reps where your customer case studies and success stories reside on your website or intranet.
Discuss those stories in sales meetings.
Do everything you can to ensure that when a rep talks with a prospect, she knows just the perfect story to mention in conversation.
5. Awards
I’m big on awards these days – after seeing some Fortune 500 companies jump at the chance to tell their stories for awards opportunities.
Why? We all like to be recognized for our efforts. Your customers are no different.
If they’re doing cool, best practices things, and your solution helps with that, find relevant awards programs and ask their permission to submit them.
You might be surprised how on board they get for an awards submission when they might not publish their story as a case study.
If your customer wins, their story gets natural publicity through the awards process.
Also, once you have all the juicy details, ask if you can make that public on your website.
What are your predictions for the hottest ways to use customer case studies and success stories right now?
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