Why multiple customer success stories?
Would you buy a product on Amazon that has only one customer recommendation? Probably not.
At first blush, you might think that an article like this about multiple customer success stories is a bit self-serving.
I’m a customer success story writer about to tell you that you need to have as many customer success stories as possible to share with prospective customers.
Trust me.
My earnest recommendation is for your benefit.
Think about it. How likely is it that you would buy a product on Amazon, or any other e-commerce website, that has no customer reviews? You probably wouldn’t.
You might feel better about buying the product if there were a few reviews. And, you’d feel a lot better if the product has many reviews.
And why is that? When you see no, or just a few, reviews you are naturally uncomfortable. You can’t touch or try out the product. So, you are relying on the user experience of actual customers.
When you see no reviews, you don’t know what to think about the product. When you see negative reviews, you know not to buy the product. When you see positive reviews, you are more likely to buy the product.
It’s simply a function of human nature.
When one of your prospects is deciding whether to work with your organization, they are in a similar position. Human nature takes over. And, their decision will be based on human nature. Sure, they could take a chance on you.
But, why leave it up to chance?
Sure, they could take a chance on you. But why leave it up to chance?
Customer Success Stories Are All About Social Proof
You can tell your prospects how great you are at solving the problems they have. And, they might believe you.
But, why not demonstrate to them that your organization has successfully solved the problem of organizations that are just like theirs?
Customer success stories are your social proof. They are your positive customer reviews.
So, Why Should You Have Multiple Customer Success Stories?
You should have multiple customer success stories because you have prospects with different types of problems.
Your goal with your case studies is to show a prospect that you can solve the specific problem that THEY are dealing with. This means that you need the ability to reach into your customer success story library and pull out the most appropriate one or two stories.
For instance, if you are an app developer and you’re courting a prospect that is in the hotel industry, you gain much less of a benefit by showing them a case study for the retail industry. Ideally, you want to have a library of stories from which you can choose the most appropriate success story.
Next Steps: Deciding on Which Stories to Invest In
How do you decide on which, and how many, stories to write?
If you have multiple product or service lines, you should have at least one success story for each one of those project lines.
If your product or service has multiple applications, you should have at least one success story for each one of those applications.
If you have customers in a wide range of industries, you should have at least one success story for each one of those industries.
You see where I’m going with this?
All you need to do is create enough stories to cover all applications. Ideally, you’ll have more than one story for each application.
Remember that it all comes down to social proof. And, you want to have the most social proof that is practical for your organization.