Customer Success Stories: How to Write and Where to Use Them for Maximum Impact

December 22, 2022
Contributor: Shubham Gupta

Create convincing customer success stories to boost sales, build trust with prospects and increase customer loyalty.

If you’re reading this article, it shows you are already interested in harnessing the power of social proof in your buyer journey. Customer success stories are just one type of social proof that boosts trust and credibility in your market through the power of storytelling.

Although a customer story is a persuasive piece of content, crafting them can be difficult. The story should paint an authentic picture of how your product solves customer problems and inspire current and potential customers, and at the same time, shouldn’t feel like ‘marketing’.

In this article, we explain how to write customer success stories that will boost your credibility and drive engagement with your target audience. We will also look at some of the most effective platforms to distribute your stories to have the biggest impact. 

What is a customer success story, and how does it impact ROI?

A customer success story is a narrative about how a customer used your product or service to solve a problem. It is crafted to authenticate how your offering has helped customers overcome business challenges and meet their goals.

Customer success stories are not necessarily about the money saved or revenue earned but rather a narrative describing how your offering has positively impacted customers. In a Gartner study among 13 randomly selected vendors in various analytics submarkets, only five out of 39 customer stories referenced a specific dollar amount for ROI; 87% of the stories didn’t demonstrate clear ROI[1].

When creating a success story, focus on making it valid for both prospects and existing customers. For prospects, it must provide credibility with real-life examples of how your solution works and helps businesses make an informed purchase decision. For customers, it must reinforce their decision to invest in your offering and inspire them to use your product in different ways..
Customer value team process

How to write an impactful customer success story that resonates with prospects

According to Gartner research, over 90% of case studies do not contain the necessary components to pique the target audience’s interest[2]. Emphasize writing highly persuasive customer success stories that can help prospects understand the value of your offering and give them confidence that they are making the right decision by investing in your solution.
4 effective ways to write impactful customer success stories

1. Start with your target audience in mind

Understand your target audience and the challenges they face. Then, focus on identifying potentially powerful stories that address those challenges engagingly. For example, if you’re targeting small businesses, craft stories about how your product has helped small firms grow and succeed. This will help ensure your stories are relevant and meaningful to your target audience.

Quick tips to understand your target audience:

  • Identify common goals and understand their preferences.
  • Review customer reviews, feedback and surveys to understand their concerns.
  • Talk to your sales team to better understand customers’ issues.
  • Monitor industry trends and changes to identify customer needs.

2. Create a storyline that is easy to follow

The best customer success stories have a clear and straightforward storyline with a beginning, middle and end. Start with the customer’s problem or challenge, followed by how they implemented your product or service, and the finally positive outcomes they achieved. Instead of focusing on your product’s features and specifications, highlight the customer’s journey in their own voice and the value they gained from your offering.

Quick tips to create an easy-to-follow storyline:

  • Showcase milestones the customer achieved.
  • Add customer quotes and testimonials throughout for a human touch.
  • Explain the tangible benefits of using your product or service.
  • Focus on a clear ‘before’ and ‘after’ story with your product.

3. Uncover story elements that are relatable

The most compelling customer success stories are the ones that make a personal connection with prospects. Look for relatable story elements (such as customers in the same industries or with the same job roles), and demonstrate how your solution can help solve similar problems for prospects. For example, if your customer is a marketing executive, highlight the benefits other marketers have reaped from your product. You can refer to your customers' reviews for inspiration.

Quick tips to uncover relatable story elements:

  • Identify customer stories similar to your prospects’ industry, or business size.
  • Create visuals such as graphs and charts to illustrate the results.
  • Include customer quotes that are inspiring and relatable.
  • Showcase customer videos and interviews to add a human touch.

4. Build the story around tangible results

Data is a powerful way to prove the effectiveness of your product. Feature customer success metrics such as increased sales, improved efficiency, ROI, and reduced costs to show prospects your product’s true value. Data figures will help you prove that customers achieved their desired outcomes by using your product and reinforce the message that prospects can do the same. You can even compare results with industry standards to highlight your product’s impact.

Quick tips to build data-driven success stories:

  • Include data visualizations to illustrate the results.
  • Reference industry standards and benchmarks.
  • Highlight tangible benefits such as increased ROI.
  • Share customer quotes about the impact of your solution.

Gartner Digital Markets' client success stories

At Gartner Digital Markets, we have a dedicated section for client success stories where prospects can learn more about their peers’ experience with our solutions. Here are a few of the stories:

Although they were spending all they could in paid search, monday.com needed a way to amplify its acquisition strategy beyond paid search programs. If they saw a 7% conversion rate on their paid ads, then there was still another 93% still out there in-market. That’s why they began to reach buyers with a high purchase intent through Gartner Digital Markets’ software review websites — Capterra, GetApp and Software Advice. 

Precoro claimed a profile on the Gartner Digital Markets platform to strengthen its presence and reputation in the procurement software space and expand its reach. They not only benefit from improved SERP ranking to reach buyers at the beginning of their search process, but were also able to engage buyers at the bottom of the funnel and influence their purchase decision with reviews on Capterra, GetApp, and Software Advice.

Where to use customer success stories for maximum impact

Once you have crafted your customer success stories, it is time to make the most of them. Here are some of the best places to share them for maximum impact:

1. Your website

Your website is a great place to feature customer success stories because it is where prospects go to learn more about your offerings. Make sure the stories are easily accessible on your website, and highlight essential elements such as customer quotes and data-driven results. Create dedicated, compelling landing pages for each customer story and share them on the homepage.

2. Blogs and other content

Blogs are a great way to share customer success stories in an engaging manner. In your blog posts, include customers’ experiences with your product and share relevant visuals to capture readers’ attention. You can even feature the stories in emails, newsletters and other relevant marketing materials to reach wider audiences.

3. Social media platforms

Social media is an effective way to engage with your customers and share their success stories. Post customer stories on B2B social media channels such as LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook to generate more interest and engagement. You can even share quick snippets of customer stories on Instagram and other social platforms where visual content is highly preferred. Lastly, do not forget to tag the customer in the post to show appreciation, so they can also share it with their audience.

Scale customer stories for your SaaS business with reviews

By now, you must have realized the immense potential of customer success stories to drive conversions and boost sales. Focusing on the customer’s journey and highlighting their successes, while keeping in mind data privacy and confidentiality concerns, is the recipe for a great story.

Customer success stories are just one of the types of social proof content that can drive demand, build credibility, and convince prospects to become customers. Reviews on software review websites like Capterra, GetApp, and Software Advice crank up your pipeline through the power of short, authentic customer stories.

Scale review collection and drive growth with the free review toolkit inside your Gartner Digital Markets account. Claim your profile to get started. 

Shubham Gupta

Shubham Gupta is a Content Writer at Gartner Digital Markets who ideates and creates purpose-driven content to help modern technology businesses achieve their goals. Outside of work, he enjoys reading thriller novels and Urdu poetry, as well as spending time with his dog. Connect with Shubham on LinkedIn.

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Sources

  1. Create a Cross-Functional Customer Value Team to Drive Better Customer Success Stories, Gartner
  2. 4 Mistakes That Ruin Case Studies for Tech CEOs, Gartner
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