Build credibility by bringing your work to life
Looking for smart ways to build credibility for your product or solution with customer evidence? Below is a simple process to help you execute a successful interview that captures the customer voice while gathering quotes and testimonials that bring a real-world perspective to the work.
Prepare your interview
After researching to learn more about your customer, craft personalized questions to drive an effective interview that focuses on the customer’s story and how your product helped them reach their goals. Approach the intake interview as a discussion to avoid single-word answers or simple information you could have found online. Make sure your questions are specific enough to prompt a unique response. This will ultimately relate your customer’s story to the impact your business had and instill natural credibility.
Get a second opinion
Once your intake questions are drafted, get buy-off from your team leader and/or client. Your team can help add extra questions or fill in any gaps. This ensures that you don’t have to return to the customer to get missing pieces and will collect the right kind of feedback to benefit your business or product. Getting fresh eyes on interview questions can contribute to an effective interview with the customer.
During your interview
Ask the customer for permission to record the interview—either audio or video. This will save time and effort when you are looking back for a certain quote or clarification. If possible, have someone on the call lead the interview and another person take notes. Ask follow-up questions during the call. Staying engaged during your interviews helps you make the most of your time with the customer and ensures you’re focused on getting what you need out of the interview. You can always deviate from the script to let the conversation flow naturally if you receive new information from your customer. This can bring new insights and helps the interview feel less like an interrogation.
Share an interview recap
Sharing a quick summary recap of your interview can help you quickly consume the most important parts of the interview later. This helps you see what themes and patterns are arising from the interviews.
Finalize your customer evidence report
Once all your interviews are complete and you’ve created summary recap slides, you can now review your collective information and analyze the main messages. Synthesize all your insights, quotes, and testimonials into a consumable report that showcases the main points and takeaway messages for easy integration into materials.
These evidence pieces are wildly valuable because this is an opportunity to prove your business’s impact and drive the credibility that lies within your narrative. The final step to this process is finding ways to integrate these new-found testimonials in your existing and future materials like website content, datasheets, podcasts, and other marketing materials. Share the goodness you’ve put together so that other team members can optimize their work and use a real customer voice that will bring the work to life. Evidence drives credibility. When you can point directly to how and why your business is making waves, it scales your credibility to a whole new level of identity and trust for your customers.
Next Post
