A client (or customer) success story is where you share something they’ve accomplished with your audience. At first thought, you’d expect such a story to be related to work you helped the client with. This isn’t necessarily true. You’ve heard of “guilty by association,” well, this is credit by association.
Client success stories can accomplish much:
- They’re great marketing for you but it doesn’t look brag-alicious because you’re putting the spotlight on the client and what they’ve achieved.
- They prove that you’re successfull to potential clients, proving your authority and expertise. These kind of posts show that you’re making shit happen in the real world and that you’re not just another windbag with a blog.
- When potential clients see what your clients get from working with you, it’s easier for them to imagine having that for themselves. They’re more likely to sign up with you.
What a Client Success Story Post Looks Like
There are many ways to create this kind of post. Here are a few ideas:
- Interview the client (interviews are also a post type–remember these types aren’t mutually exclusive and can often be combined). This is a great chance to use audio or video for impact and variety.
- You simply recount events leading up to something successful the client has accomplished in the form of a personal story (yet another post type).
- Your client creates a guest post on your blog. This is also a great chance for video if your client is willing and able, because of the persuasiveness of video. This sort of content is really just a gigantic testimonial.
More, Please
This is one type of post I just don’t see enough of. I don’t even write enough of these myself (and will be fixing that starting this week). There are a couple reasons for this I can think of (and maybe you can think of some, too: lemme know in the comments).
One reason is you may be afraid to write about client successes because they’re afraid the client will be upset or angry with them about it. Unless the client has specifically required you not to disclose your relationship, I can think of no rational reason for this at all. But then, do you have an understanding with your client? If not, you may feel anxious about getting that agreement.
The way I see it is this: if you were already brave enough to secure them as a client and they’re happy with you, there’s nothing more to be afraid of. It’s not like she’s suddenly going say, “You know, I think I just totally changed my mind about you. You SUCK!”
Right?
Not gonna happen.
Another reason you don’t write enough of these is that they don’t have enough client successes often enough. If you can’t bust out with a client success story on a somewhat consistent basis, that doesn’t look terribly impressive. On the other hand, if you do, then it does… especially to readers who have been with you for a month or so and are starting to seriously consider working with you. These people are scanning for anything to jump out at them which will push them over the edge or cause them to recoil.
A third reason I can think of is that you may be afraid of poaching. That a competitor will approach your client and make them an offer which your client will accept.
This is highly unlikely, and here’s why:
- Your client JUST finished saying how they’re totally in love with you and want to have your babies. You really think someone else can just come in and steal them away so easily? Not likely.
- People don’t want to act in ways which appear inconsistent with something they’ve publicly said. Your client will be very loathe to suddenly desert you for another after publicly declaring you’re the awesome, because they’ll look like a big hypocrite.
- People hate confrontation and will do almost anything to avoid it. Your client may well indeed receive an offer from a competitor, but the thought of having to tell you they’re leaving you (it really is kind of like a break-up) is too stressful. Not that you’d be an asshole or anything, but people are just funny this way.
Permission
It’s important to have a client’s permission to write about them, so make sure you have it. Most of your clients will see this favorably because we all love to be the center of attention and have our egos patted on the head and scratched behind the ears. They may even benefit from the traffic boost.
Not every client will allow themselves to be named. Don’t worry about their reasons why. Their reasons are their own and you need to respect them. Some people just don’t want to look like they had any help. For others, it has to do with confidentiality. Doesn’t matter, don’t worry about it.
What you may be able to do in this case is use their story in a way that retains their anonymity. Even this you should get permission on because you may not know what details about their story will make them identifiable to whomever it is your client’s concerned about.
Make it Happen
Alright, so now you know the how and the why of client success stories, so go make one happen! Feel free to come back here and link to it in a comment if you want to show off a little.
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[...] the 13 part series by Remarkablogger that I linked to last week – Part 2: Personal Stories, Part 3: Client Success Stories, Part 4: Vision/Stance [...]
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