9 Essential Elements of a Customer Success Story

When’s the last time you made a major purchase without doing at least some research? Chances are, you never have.

Whether it’s business or our personal lives, we all feel better spending money when there’s proof the purchase in question will solve our problem or fulfill desires. This is is why customer success stories are so important.

Customer success stories (also known as case studies) showcase real-life examples of how your customers benefited from your product or service. Whether you’re a B2B or B2C business, these tangible examples help potential customers envision themselves experiencing the same reward thanks to you. Because remember, customers don’t buy drills. They buy precision and efficiency.

It’s your job to show them how your product or service provides the solutions they need.

businessman makign an online purchase — A successful case study makes the business being represented look good, your business look good, and a potential customer want to look that good. In short — it highlights why your business offers to solution your potential customer needs.

9 Essential Elements of a Customer Success Story

The best presentation for your customer success stories my differ from another business. But generally speaking, the best customer success stories contain these essential elements.

1. Headline

As with any piece of content marketing, the headline is one of the most important elements. It is the first instance when a lead decides to keep reading or look elsewhere.

You want the headline to:

Clearly define the story you’re sharing
Engage the reader
Highlight your benefit

Yes, this is a tall order. But, you’re going to want to take the time to get it right. Generally, this time is best spent at the end of the process. We recommend having a ‘working headline’ as a place holder, but then looking at and re-evaluating your headline once you’re done with the rest of your success story.

It may even be that you tweak your headline after you’ve published the piece. If customers and prospects provide helpful feedback about what did and did not resonate with them — listen. That information is gold! And there’s nothing that says your headline is written in stone.

What if you’ve printed the story? This can definitely make changes more difficult and expensive. You’ll need to weigh the pros and cons of future investments. But, at least take the time to consider how the headline could have been better before you went to print. This can help set you up for more success the next time around.

2. Brief Synopsis

Most folks aren’t going to read your case study. Sorry. But it’s the truth. As with all pieces of content marketing, the vast majority of folks will simply skim your piece.

In order to reach the most number of people possible — and hopefully convince some skimmers to become readers — you want the average visitor to be able to know what your story is about in a matter of moments.

We aim to make our synopsis 2 - 3 sentences at most.

Fourth more, we headers throughout the piece to create a clear outline.

3. Customer Profile & Challenge

The goal of the customer profile is to highlight who you served in a way that allows leads to envision themselves. This doesn’t mean writing a novel about your customer. Rather, you may include some or all of the following information:

Name — Sharing who the customer is helps lend validity to your case study. It’s a detail we strongly recommend.

Size of Company
Location of Company
Industry
Challenge the Company Faced

online testimonial — A name an a face inheriantly lend more credibility to any testimonial because it reinforces that the postive things being said were said by a person and more made up.

4. Testimonial & Profile Picture

A testimonial is another element of a case study that we strongly recommend. It’s a huge trust factor for potential clients. And by pairing a profile picture with the testimonial, you reinforce that your business is working with real people — just like the visitors reading your case study.

5. Key Stats

These key stats are the quick takeaways of precisely how your product or service benefited the customer in question. Each detail should be bite-sized. It might include, but are not limited to:

Increase in Sales

Lead Growth

Jump in Online Visitors

Reduction in Overhead Costs

Improved Processes

6. The Goal

You always want to define the goal of the project in question. What did your customer want to accomplish by purchasing your product or service?

7. The Solution

Define how your product or service helped them. We like to do this with a short synopsis that highlights the different elements of your product or service. And then break it down into a more detailed explanation for those who want additional details.

8. The Result

In many ways, the result will feel like you’re resharing the key stats you already shared. It is. And that’s okay.

The idea is to reinforce the benefits your customer enjoyed.

9. CTA

Always end your case study with a CTA. This could be a direct call to purchase. However, it’s more likely to be an invitation to reach out and start a conversation. Even with the details and trust a case study can build, most prospects will want to talk to you before they pull the trigger.

Attract More Leads with Success Stories

Need help creating engaging customer success stories that attract leads and increase sales. Our creative team is well-versed in helping you approach happy customers, identify key data to gather, and craft a case study that encourages conversions.

Let’s talk about how case studies could be an essential part of your content marketing strategy.