While planning to purchase a product or service, people have always sought the advice from other people they trust or know. This is one of the reasons why companies make use of customer cases and client references. They hope these will give the prospect a little push in the right direction to go into business with them.
However, there’s much more you can achieve with customer cases…Customer case studies and client references work. As a company, you traditionally use them in different ways: as “sales collateral,” testimonials on your website/blog (even SEO) or by sending them to prospects when they ask for it. And prospects often do ask and seek references.
They’re being advised to do so as well, especially when purchasing “services” or, for instance, software solutions. After all, a buyer takes a look at different criteria before deciding if he or she should work with a certain vendor: the price, the advice of others, word-of-mouth, the distance and accessibility of the vendor, and definitely also the references.
Go beyond the “look how great we are” marketing disease: put your “readers” first and tell a story
Customer cases provide your company with greater credibility, if they are created and used correctly. Trust and credibility are more important than ever: they are the cornerstones of social media marketing, word-of-mouth etc. People have less trust in companies than before, while putting more trust in the advice given by their “”, peers,” as has been proven by thousands of studies.
Keep that in mind when creating customer case studies and using them. Don’t talk too much about your company or product. Instead, have the customer speak about his needs and the way you fulfilled them. But most of all, let him talk about his views and marketing challenges, plans and tactics because that’s what will interest others. Create a story that appeals to the visitors of your website or blog, goes beyond the traditional product-centric approach and is written with a clear goal but most of all the reader in mind.
It’s not only more interesting but also much more recognizable to whomever comes across it. Yes, you can slip in the reasons why the customer chose your product, solution or business but don’t focus on just telling that because it’s boring, it has no value for most readers and is not share worthy. Stories, remember? Furthermore, by having your customers interviewed for a case, you can look out for possible undetected needs of that customer and identify cross-selling and up-selling opportunities. In addition, by letting the interviewed customer share his story, you’re able to put him in the spotlight.
Focus on multi-channel and social
So, don’t solely ask for the customers’ experiences with your products when interviewing them for testimonials. Let them speak freely about their needs, the sector in which they work, etc. Create an effect whereby the reader thinks “Hey, I recognize that, I wonder who THEY solved it, I’m learning here.” Furthermore, think social: people will share what they like and what they deem interesting or valuable for someone else if they share at all. It’s that simple.
If you ask the customer for permission to make, for example, a white paper around a certain theme and address his vision in it, or to do an interview with the use of audio and video or write an article based on his opinion, all this content can be used for much more content – and thus interaction – than just the good old customer case or testimonial itself.
This way, a testimonial from a customer becomes a source of different forms of content in a variety of formats: video, white papers, blog posts, etc. Remember the basics of content marketing when “offering” the customer case: use the formats your “target groups” use and realize people decide when, where and how they interact with your content.
Have a multi-channel approach while realizing that people are really channel agnostic: they come across content their way, not your way.
Below are some tips to have your customer cases create more trust with its readers, be more valuable and share worthy and thus more efficient, based on what I just wrote and spiced with some more tips.
Four customer case tips to remember
Make sure, your online customer cases are put in the right place.
Most companies put their customer cases on their website, so that their visitors can find them online. This is common in these times of inbound marketing, and is even a best practice. You do have to make sure that you put the testimonials in the right place. A lot of times, they are being clustered. However, this is not necessary. Assuming that your customer cases are written like they’re supposed to (with the interviewees’ and prospect’s needs kept in mind), it speaks for itself that you place the right customer case in the particular section where the needs and the products or solutions for it can be found. The content is important, and so is the context in which you put it.
Use different channels and formats.
In this multi-channel and -media world, it’s important to spread the testimonials through channels and formats which your prospects use. So don’t only think of your website, but also make use of your newsletters, video sharing channels, blogs, printed formats, events, slide share presentations, etc. Focus especially on the content’s relevance and keep the needs and channels of your prospect in mind when placing and spreading customer cases. Note that with spreading I don’t mean broadcasting…
Make them useful for in person interactions.
Even though inbound marketing is getting more and more important, we are still selling or better: we are facilitating the buy. Testimonials are required for sales people and marketers in their face-to-face interactions with prospects. Show and teach your sales people how to use them, offer them in different formats, integrate them into PowerPoint presentations, etc. Interpret face-to-face in the broadest sense possible. Tools exist to send PowerPoint presentations through email and monitor the prospect’s interaction. Face- to- face, can also be one-to-many, for instance, when giving a presentation at an event or trade show or uploading a slideshare.
Turn your customer case into a story and tell it.
Don’t solely look at the testimonial as a reference. Turn it into a story that contains interesting and relevant information for other people and companies having similar needs, or are active in the same sector as the interviewed customer. If the story is good, it will spread, even through word-of-mouth and social media. Integrate the story into, for example, press releases as well, to make those more interesting too. By the way, there is a lot to say on the subject of writing relevant press releases as well, but let’s save that for another post.
Just remember: stories, the possibility to share them and people. Forget your business as much as you can. Offer different formats and channels while realizing your target groups are really channel and media agnostic. Oh, and don’t forget SEO and conversion either, even if the potential reader, his needs, his context and his social behavior matters most.
About J-P De Clerck
