The success of many customer evidence programs is usually measured by the number of stories produced/published. But as the saying goes, “If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it…”, was the customer story ever published?

Part of any Customer Advocacy strategy (and very often the first step into Customer Advocacy) is producing and publishing Customer Stories.

Today, the most important person selling your product or service is no longer you—it’s your customer. What’s important is customer engagement and how it benefits you, your customer, and your prospects. When it comes to customer marketing, you may have heard a few terms - Customer Advocacy, Customer Evidence, and Customer Reference. They all sound similar, and we may think we know what they are, but they are in fact quite different.

There are case studies and there are customer stories. You’d think it’s a similar concept with different names. But what if it’s not?

A question I have seen come up on many occasions: is there a particular number of customers that a B2B company needs to recruit before starting an advocacy program?

There is often a magic number used – especially among large global businesses – and that a customer advocacy program should include 35% of your customer base. However, I believe you can start on a much smaller scale.  And it’s all about ROI.

“Where shall we eat?” I asked my friend when we were at the mall. “Oh, I’ve heard there’s a restaurant close by which is excellent - my mom swears by it,” she said. So off we went to have lunch there, and true to expectations, it was very good.

Now this might seem very normal to ask our friends, relatives, and colleagues for their thoughts, recommendations and reviews of just about anything. In fact, the world over, most of us love talking about the brands that we like, love and hate, and why we feel that way: HubSpot even says that consumers discuss specific brands casually 90x per week.

You may be asking yourself if there’s more you can do to stand out from your competition. Perhaps by showcasing more effectively the benefits your products and services bring your customers in their everyday life and work. And you’d be right to keep questioning.

But have you considered the importance of creating your own Customer Evidence Program?

It all stems from the age-old wisdom that your customer’s voice is “louder“ than your own. When your customers are happy, you can’t have better advocates.

We are just back from our networking and educational experience at the Summit on Customer Engagement (SCE19). Putting a little tiredness aside from the 22-hour return trip to San Francisco and jet lag, we couldn’t wait to share a round-up of what our team took away.

Customer Evidence is a must-have for any company wanting to build trust or strengthen its market position. This explains why most already have at least a few customer stories – or case studies – published on their website. But for many companies, that’s it. The content is produced, they’re happy about it, they promote it across different platforms, and they move on.

Let’s imagine you’re in charge of your company’s Customer Evidence Program, and the end of tax year is looming. As usual, your boss asks “How did your program perform this year?” as a prelude to next year’s budget planning. Now, do you have meaningful info to answer that question?  

If you’re already running a CE Program, I’ll give you 10 seconds to respond. If you have a great answer please put it on the comments, otherwise I hope this article will spare you some headaches.

If you’re not running a program yet, please read on, you won’t regret it. And by the way, have you already contacted Melis Hamurculu, our CE expert for a free consultation?