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Let your customers do your marketing: A practical guide to ...
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Case studies can range from a one-sentence testimonial scribbled down in a sales call that the team gets permission to share only in private sales collateral, to a fully produced video like the ones linked above. Both can be useful. “This can be as simple as a statistic or one-liner to include in outbound emails, a slide in a sales deck, or on a landing page (see a few examples if you scroll down here), or as complex as a more in-depth written case study.” Tactically speaking, here’s how we brought two types of “case studies” to life at Stripe:
Use customer testimonials whenever and wherever you can — but always when launching a new product, feature, or service. Testimonials are arguably the most powerful tool in your sales and marketing kit. They can be added to outbound sales emails, in sales collateral, on your website, in investor pitch decks, in a PR kit for media — the opportunities are endless. “This could be as simple as a quote we drafted for customer approval based on their feedback or as complex as writing up an in-depth case study, creating a testimonial video, or pitching a feature story and lining up media interviews with the customer.” Select customers that support your business and campaign goals
The menu of possible case studies and testimonials “Both can be useful.” Start small and check in with sales (or whoever regularly speaks with customers) to see how customer testimonials help them close deals. Based on the themes, values, and use cases you want to highlight, what do you already have that can be quickly packaged up and shared? This can be as simple as a statistic or one-liner to include in outbound emails, a slide in a sales deck, or on a landing page (see a few examples if you scroll down here), or as complex as a more in-depth written case study.
Case studies can range from a one-sentence testimonial scribbled down in a sales call that the team gets permission to share only in private sales collateral, to a fully produced video like the ones linked above. Both can be useful. “Start small and check in with sales (or whoever regularly speaks with customers) to see how customer testimonials help them close deals.” Tactically speaking, here’s how we brought two types of “case studies” to life at Stripe:
It’s no secret that case studies and customer testimonials can be wildly effective at piquing top-of-funnel interest and converting new customers. After all, what could be more convincing than hearing about how life-changing your product or service is directly from an actual customer? “I also wanted to explain what I mean by the “menu of possible case studies,” ranging from low lift to in-depth effort.” This post will cover:
For our Connect launch, we found three customers who immediately fit our launch requirements. To communicate the specific themes we identified, we created in-depth video case studies with Kickstarter (international), Lyft (Instant Payouts), and Squarespace (supply-side benefits, focusing on the store owners). Fun fact: we filmed the Kickstarter video one day before the Squarespace video. There was a snowstorm in NYC on the day of the Kickstarter video (hence the snowball fight scene), and it was 60’s and sunny when we got to Squarespace the next day! “When this happens, you can aim high and identify a “dream” customer.” The most difficult balance to strike is finding referenceable, large customers that will bring in others, while ensuring the customers are using the product as deeply as we would like. At Stripe, we often did a mix of the two. We chose some bigger logos and worked with them closely to make sure they got the most out of the product, and some smaller logos that had killer use cases we wanted others to emulate.
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