customer case history

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Grow » marketing, 7 steps to writing a compelling customer case study.

A case study helps you build trust with potential clients by showing how your product or service works.

A case study shares how a customer overcame a problem using your product or service. An effective case study can build customer loyalty, create social proof, and increase sales. Here are seven steps to writing a customer case study.

[Read more: 2023 Digital Marketing Trends for Businesses to Try ]

Use a template

Learning how to write an effective case study takes time, so if you’re new to this process, you may want to use a template. You can choose different templates based on your industry or depending on the type of case study you want to write.

For example, you’ll structure a marketing case study differently than a product-specific one. Take some time to determine the goal for your case study before choosing a template.

Choose an engaging headline

Your headline is one of the most important elements of your case study. You want it to include all the relevant information while still capturing the attention of your prospects and customers.

The headline should state the customer's name and reference the results achieved by using your product or service. That way, even if someone doesn't read the entire case study, they'll understand the general overview. It’s a good idea to come up with five to 10 sample headlines and then pick the best one.

Your headline also provides a good opportunity to target specific SEO keywords. Look for a high-volume keyword that is easy to rank for to include in your headline.

Make it easy to read

Formatting is one of the most important elements of a good case study. No matter how interesting your case study is, no one will want to read it if it’s a giant wall of text. Your case study should be easy to skim and include lots of headers, images, and bulleted lists.

Correct formatting makes it easier for readers to find the most valuable elements of your case study. Make sure to include a summary that ties everything together for the reader.

Once you’ve completed your case study, you want to get it in front of as many people as possible.

Tell a story

Storytelling will set your case study apart from other businesses in your industry. Your case study should focus on the customer and their journey while using your product or service.

Paint a clear picture of your client’s problem and what their life was like before they found your company. What was the process that led them to your product or service? Then, use data to demonstrate the transformation that took place for your client.

[Read more: How to Use Storytelling as a Leadership Tool ]

Include quotes from your client

You should include relevant quotes from your client throughout your case study, especially when describing the results. Using your client’s words to describe how your product helped them will make the case study more credible.

However, it’s important to make this process as easy as possible for your client. Give them the option to do an interview over the phone or Zoom, and make sure it doesn’t last longer than 20 minutes.

Be as upfront as possible about where the case study will be published and how publication can benefit your client. When you're done, send a draft to the client for their approval before finalizing your case study.

Include a CTA

Make sure to include at least a passive call-to-action (CTA) at the end of your case study. Give interested readers an easy way to learn more about your products or services and how they can work with you.

Promote your case study

Once you’ve completed your case study, you want to get it in front of as many people as possible. You can download it as a PDF and use it as a lead generator on your website.

You can also share snippets from your case study across your social media profiles. And be sure to give the case study to prospective clients to help them understand how your solution works.

[Read more: Social Media Marketing Tools for Business ]

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How to write customer success stories examples + template.

Learn to craft compelling customer success stories with our guide. Includes practical examples and a free template to help you showcase your business impact.

Customer success stories give potential customers a unique perspective when deciding to buy a particular product or service. Therefore companies with strong customer advocacy programs have a 35% higher retention rate.

As a result, it’s now a common practice for marketing teams to ask customers to share their real-life experiences and positive results with their products or services.

In the following text, you will learn how to write customer stories and how to reuse them on your website.

Success stories benefits

Before we dive into sharing some practical examples, let’s cover the basics first.

Customer success stories open the doors to a plethora of benefits, including:

Driving conversions : customer success stories are one of the most important bottom-of-funnel types of content that have the potential to influence your customer’s purchasing decisions significantly. It’s because this type of content showcases the value and tangible benefits of your service/product.

Engage and educate prospects : educating potential customers through content created is essential, especially when discussing complicated and/or expensive services/products. In this case, success stories will serve as engaging content that will educate prospects about your product’s capabilities, features, and benefits; and help you build trust.

Fuel marketing and sales efforts : in addition to their initial creation (their written form), customer success stories can be repurposed across various channels to maximize their impact. By repurposing, they can be used for versatile marketing campaigns , for the sales team to create and use sales collateral, used as part of the website elements (as social proof ), and across social media platforms. This way, regardless of the channel your prospects use, you can effectively reach and engage them with compelling narratives highlighting the real-world benefits of your service/product.

The anatomy of a success story

Now that you’re aware of the benefits, it’s time we decompose the seven key elements that every success story is made of.

1. Introduction

A great introduction is an essential element in such an important type of content. Make sure you keep your intro short and engaging because you don’t want to lose the attention of the people that came as far as reading your success stories.

In this part – you can introduce the company that you’re writing the case study for and share the company name, industry, where the headquarters are, and its size.

2. Challenge – Before your solution

The second part of every customer success story is sharing your customer’s story before they find your solution. Connect to the audience reading and focus on describing all the pain points they had and what was lacking (structure, workflow, etc.).

Pro tip: besides using customer’s quotes, make sure you also paraphrase what your actual customer said and use similar copy so that you can “speak” the language of the potential customers that read these stories. Make them feel like you truly understand them and can relate to the problems/challenges they are facing.

3. Results – After your solution

Now that you have your intro and discussed the problems your customers used to have – it’s time you focus on the “life after your solution.” This is the section where you get to “prove” the true value of implementing your product or service. Besides the quotes, the most impactful way to influence people to read would be to make the story data-driven. Ensure you pull customer success metrics showcasing increased sales, reduced time and resources, improved efficiency, and reduced costs. Showcasing this data will help you reinforce the message that prospects can do the same thing.

Pro tip: make sure you also reflect these stats in the header copy.

Additional Elements – Quotes + Visuals + CTA

These three elements are the “cherry on top” when creating your case study.

When placed prominently, the testimonials can not only influence the reader but also provide the reader with a “visual break” from reading all that text.

Visuals because, again, not every prospect has the time and/or patience to read through everything. So ideally, make sure you create and include data visualizations to illustrate the results. In this way, prospects can understand your product/service impact within a few seconds.

The CTA Button , though positioned last, is of equal importance as any other element. A compelling call to action is essential for every success story, as it urges prospects to progress to the next stage of the funnel. After consuming the content, it is crucial to direct their actions accordingly.

Would you like them to kick off a trial, schedule a demo, or participate in a webinar? Ensure a prominent placement of the CTA button, guiding prospects seamlessly toward the next step in your sales funnel.

The process of creating a success story

Now, we’re moving on to the most important part – the how. This section will cover the process of writing success stories that drive growth.

So without further due, let’s dive into the six-step process!

Step 1: Identify ideal customers for a success story

The first and crucial step is identifying the right customers for your success story.

Here’s a bullet list that will help you identify these customers:

are aligned with all the customer research personas you have done in the past

are aligned with the audience you want to target (they faced the same challenges in the past)

have been your customer for a long time

are brand advocates and are recommending you to others

have spent a fair amount of money on your product/service

have achieved significant results/benefits using your product/service;

and lastly, are willing to share their story

Step 2: Write interview questions

The next step is composing the interview questions. Think these questions through because asking the right question will literally determine how effectively you can shape your customer success stories.

Here are some questions that will serve as guidance:

What made you choose our product/service over other available options?

What challenges were you facing before using our solution?

How has our product/service helped you overcome those challenges?

Can you provide any metrics or data that demonstrate the impact of our offering on your business?

How would you describe the level of support and assistance you received from our team during the onboarding process?

Have any specific features or aspects of our product/service made a significant difference for your business?

Can you share any unique use cases or innovative ways you have applied our product/service to achieve your goals?

How has our product/service influenced or improved your relationship with your own customers?

Have you recommended our product/service to others, and if so, what feedback have you received from them?

How would you describe your overall experience with our company?

Remember that these are basic questions that will help you “get the ball rolling.” Take these up with your team, and make them more relevant according to your product/service, industry, and target audience.

Ensure you capture the journey from their initial encounter with your product/service (the product awareness and discovery stages) to how and why they decided to purchase your product.

Step 3: Reach out to customers to ask for a success story

The third crucial step involves contacting customers professionally yet friendly to establish a genuine and trustworthy connection. Given that these individuals are already your valued customers, it’s essential to encourage them to share their experiences and insights openly.

Here’s how to do that:

Personalize the e-mail – address the customer by name and create that bond we’ve already mentioned

Explain the purpose – explain why you’re reaching out and why you want to feature their success story (in order to inspire others)

Offer support and assistance – offer to help with the interview questions/process and make sure you provide any additional guidance.

On top of these steps, here’s a sample e-mail you could customize and send to customers for this purpose:

Subject: Share Your Success Story and Inspire Others!

Dear [Customer’s Name], We hope this email finds you well. At [Your Company], we have been overjoyed witnessing your remarkable achievements since embracing our [product/service]. Your success story has not only inspired us profoundly, but we firmly believe it has the power to motivate countless others to embark on a similar path to success. We would be honored if you could spare some time for a brief interview to capture your journey and experiences with [your company]. Your insights can help us demonstrate the real value we provide to our customers. To make the process seamless, we have thoughtfully prepared a set of interview questions that won’t take more than 15 minutes to answer. However, we are also open to any preferences or ideas you may have, and we’d be more than delighted to accommodate them. Thank you for considering our request. Looking forward to hearing from you. Best regards, [Your Name] [Your Title/Position] [Your Company]

Step 4: Write the success story – 5 Tips on How to write a success story

In step four, we will provide you with five practical tips on writing an engaging customer success story that will captivate your audience and showcase the value your product or service brings to your customers.

Follow these guidelines to create a powerful and persuasive customer success story:

1. Highlight relatable problems

One of the best ways to instantly connect with your prospects is by highlighting your customer’s initial challenges before they find your solution. This will create empathy, resonate with your potential readers, and make them feel you truly understand them.

2. Focus on the customer’s journey

Take your readers on a journey with your customer, from the initial problem they encountered to the discovery of your solution. Narrate the steps they took in their decision-making process, and emphasize how they found your product/service as the answer to their needs. Including specific milestones and turning points adds depth and authenticity to the story.

3. Build the story around data-driven results

Within the process of writing your customer stories, make sure you also back up the narrative with concrete and measurable outcomes achieved by your customers. These types of data points showcase tangible results and add credibility to how effective is your offer/product/service.

4. Use concise, clear language to tell a story

This tip is simple but equally important – maintain a clear and straightforward writing style. Steer clear of jargon or overly technical terms that might confuse the reader. This is the type of content that every website visitor should be able to understand easily and “digest,” and it is of utmost importance that they can grasp its message effortlessly.

5. Write the story using a standard outline

As a last step, we want to suggest you organize the success story in the usual way your readers expect to see it. Have a clear introduction, a body filled in with the customer’s journey, and a conclusion that showcases your product’s impact. Throw in the visuals + quotes + call-to-action, and you’ll have an engaging and persuasive narrative that leaves a lasting impression on potential customers.

By presenting your customer success story in this well-structured manner, you’ll effectively highlight the benefits of your product or service, build trust with your audience, and ultimately drive more conversions and business growth.

Step 5: Share customer success stories

Writing a case study is a super valuable marketing activity for your business, particularly for engaging website visitors.

However, why stop there?

Take it to the next level by repurposing and distributing your case studies across various channels. By doing so, you can magnify the impact they have and reach a broader audience, ultimately boosting your brand’s visibility and driving even greater results.

Here’s how:

Turn quotes and visuals into social media graphics

Among the first things you could do is repurpose your case studies for the social media channels. Create visually appealing graphics either by re-using quotes or some stats or maybe even benefits from certain features, and share them across your social media platforms to attract more leads.

Pro tip: you could also re-target certain website visitors (like those visiting your pricing page), with visual ads from your success stories that showcase the impact of implementing your product or service. This will give them the additional “push” they need to make a purchase.

Send Your customer story to your email list

Another thing to do is forward your success stories to your e-mail subscribers. Providing your subscribers with social proof will help you straighten your relationship and attract more prospects.

Add customer quotes to press releases

Lastly, you could also incorporate powerful customer quotes into press releases to gain media attention and showcase your company’s value.

Bonus step: Ask for video testimonials

If you want to take your customer success stories to the next level, you could also request a video testimonial from your customers. This type of content is authentic and will help you build trust among your leads. However, remember you might need a certain type of reward or incentive to persuade your customers to put in the effort.

12 Unique approaches to gathering and presenting customer success Stories for Your Website

In the quest to craft compelling customer success stories for your website, we’ve gathered insights from 12 industry experts, ranging from heads of marketing to CEOs. Their creative strategies span from the importance of timing to the use of hard data to lend credibility to success stories. Dive into these unique perspectives to enhance your approach to customer storytelling.

1. Timing: The key to customer feedback

At Freetour.com, we’ve always understood the power of customer success stories and testimonials. We tried asking for stories via thank-you email or motivating them with discount codes. Yet, none of these methods really hit the mark.  The game changer was timing: we found out that travelers are most likely to share their feedback on the same day they had a free tour and then again in seven days, likely when their journey ends. This strategy allowed us to capture their experiences fresh and then reflect on their overall journey after a week.  It works because it keeps the trip at the forefront of their minds, and the delayed second request adds another touchpoint. Regardless of your industry, consider the optimal time to ask for feedback from your clients to double or even triple your effectiveness. Alexandra Dubakova , Head of Marketing, Freetour.com

2. Detailed conversation: Do the work for them

You start at the beginning with a conversation. What was going on in your customer’s life before they bought from you or worked with you? What wasn’t working? You should know some details since they are your customer, but you’ll want to dig deeper. For example, if you’re a wellness practitioner and your customer could barely walk a block to pick up the mail, share how they felt. What were their exact limitations?  Then share how your product or service “fixed” their problem, but keep the story from your customer’s perspective, not yours. And finally, share how their life changed after working with you. You can get these details in a quick phone call, but take notes to make sure you get everything. Then ask if you can use this information in a customer success story.  Instead of asking your customer to put it in writing, you draft the story and send it to them for approval. You take the work out of it for the customer, and you have a great success story to showcase your brand. Susan Regier , Copywriter, Brand Storyteller, Marketing Strategist, Speaker, and Internet Marketing Expert, Vantage One Writing

3. Thank-you baskets: A personal approach

We adopted a personal and surprising approach to gathering impactful customer success stories. Instead of a simple request, we send some clients a thank-you basket filled with snacks and tokens of appreciation. We include a heartfelt handwritten letter alongside the treats acknowledging their contribution to our mutual success. In the letter, we subtly incorporate talking points about their journey and the results achieved. This nudges them towards providing a testimonial that’s data-driven as well as emotionally resonant. This method proved successful when a client returned the favor, surprising us with a detailed success story after launching their new website, perfectly mirroring our approach! Kevin Hall , Marketing Operations, Webserv

4. Spotlight challenge: Engaging customers creatively

At our company, we believe in celebrating our customers’ success stories with an innovative approach. To source a captivating tale, we embark on a delightful adventure by organizing a “Customer Spotlight Challenge.”  We invite our customers to share their experiences through engaging videos, heartwarming anecdotes, or striking visuals, and provide incentives if necessary. This allows us to showcase their achievements and the value they gain from our service. Following this, our talented team of writers craft an interesting narrative, carefully weaving in their triumphs, challenges, and how our solution transformed their business.  By infusing creativity into this process, we bring forth authentic and captivating stories that inspire and resonate with our website visitors. Harry Morton , Founder, Lower Street

5. Interactive surveys: Capturing detailed insights

A creative way to ask for a customer success story is by creating an interactive survey or questionnaire that prompts clients to share their experiences. At Stratosphere, a customized survey was developed that included specific questions about our client’s challenges, the solutions we provided, and the measurable results they achieved. The survey was made engaging and easy to complete, ensuring that it captured interesting and detailed insights. In a recent example, one of our clients was convinced to share their success story on our website by emphasizing the benefits and visibility their business would gain. They were assured of professionally written content, prominent brand exposure, and promotion on our social media channels. This approach successfully obtained their consent, enhancing our website’s credibility and attracting new clients. Casey Preston , CRO and Founder, Stratosphere

6. Before and after: A dramatic contrast

At our company, we employed a “before and after” approach. It was like staging a captivating transformation scene in a play, but this was real life. We began by detailing the initial online reputation woes of the client, weaving a relatable narrative that was sometimes riddled with online missteps or unfortunate public gaffes.  Then, we painted a picture of the revitalized digital persona we helped create. This dramatic contrast, effectively displayed on our website, wasn’t just appealing; it felt like an authentic journey.  I recall a client, a small business owner, who went from nearly shutting down due to negative online reviews to flourishing with a five-star rating. Sharing her story using this “before and after” style resonated deeply with our site visitors, showing them that change was indeed possible. Alexandru Contes , Co-Founder, ReviewGrower

7. Authentic experiences: Offer more than validation

Customer quotes in press releases don’t merely offer validation; they allow our audience to resonate with authentic experiences. I remember when we launched the “Healthy Bites” campaign for a local organic café.  We included a vibrant quote from a loyal customer, “Healthy Bites revolutionized my lunch breaks; it’s health and taste in one plate.” It was eye-catching and formed an emotional connection with potential customers.  That press release quickly morphed into a heartwarming success story on our website, with readers relating to the customer’s journey. This perfectly illustrates how customer quotes bring life and color to our narratives, transforming them into relatable stories. Josh “Snow” Elizetxe , Founder, Customer Feedback

8. Video interviews: Capturing enthusiasm and passion

One creative approach is conducting a video interview with the customer and visually appealing showcase their story. We recently implemented this approach with one of our clients at Click Intelligence. We reached out to them and explained our intention to feature their success story on our website.  Instead of a traditional written testimonial, we suggested conducting a video interview where they could share their experience and the results they achieved with our services. During the interview, we focused on capturing not just their words but also their enthusiasm and passion.  We asked open-ended questions to allow them to delve into the details and share specific examples of how our services made a difference in their business. We also incorporated visuals and graphics to enhance the storytelling. Simon Brisk , Director, Click Intelligence Ltd

9. Interview style: Relaxed chat for success stories

I like to ask for and write a customer success story creatively by using an interview style. It feels like a relaxed chat, which helps the customer open up. I start with simple questions like, “What challenge were you facing before you used our product?”  Then, I dive deeper, asking, “How did our product help solve that problem?” or “Can you share a specific instance where our product made a difference?” I keep it conversational and let them share their experience in their own words.  Ultimately, I turn this interview into a story that sounds human and relatable. It’s like you’re sitting down with a friend, hearing how our product helped them. It’s a simple yet powerful way to tell a success story. Irina Poddubnaia , CEO and Founder, TrackMage

10. Affiliate program: Gathering stories for free

For CoinLedger’s website, we came up with a unique approach. By creating an affiliate program, we engaged webmasters and influencers. They knew from experience that personal case studies resonate with audiences.  So, they eagerly took to YouTube videos, podcasts, and blogs to recount their personal journeys with CoinLedger. As a result, we got dozens of engaging customer success stories for free. This strategy not only helped others earn but also enhanced our brand image with real-life success stories. Indeed, a mutual triumph. David Kemmerer , Co-Founder and CEO, CoinLedger

11. Three-step approach: Charm, narrative, humor

Here’s a creative approach that’ll have customers lining up to share their experiences faster than a penguin sliding down an icy slope. Step 1: Sweet-talk your customers like Shakespeare wooing Juliet. Ask them for their tale of triumph with a dash of charm and genuine curiosity. Step 2: Whip up a captivating narrative that makes readers fist-pump in delight. Think, “Harry Potter meets real-life business heroes.” Keep it engaging and sprinkle on juicy data points like, “Our client, Acme Corp, skyrocketed their sales by 200% in just three months!” Step 3: Add a pinch of humor to keep things light and delightful. Think of it as sprinkling fairy dust on your words! For example, take our client, BigMouth Burgers. They went from burger rookies to patty-slinging champions, gaining a cult following faster than their fries could get cold! So, go forth, dear publisher, and spin those customer success stories into gold! Let the magic begin. Himanshu Sharma , CEO and Founder, Academy of Digital Marketing

12. Hard data: Lending credibility to success stories

In the role of a digital marketing agency owner, the best way to shape interesting customer success stories has been through the lens of hard data, lending credibility to the narrative. A technique that has been used with success is starting the conversation by asking the client, “Could you share an instance when our services transformed a metric you care about?” It’s crucial to give clients the freedom to choose the parameter, as it adds authenticity to the story.  For instance, with a long-standing client, a local bakery, this very question was asked. They responded enthusiastically about how a targeted social-media campaign skyrocketed their weekend footfall by 35%. Their success story was built around this data, highlighting how the strategies improved numbers on a screen and brought more lively chatter and the enticing aroma of fresh bakes to their storefront every weekend. Joe Troyer , CEO and Growth Advisor, Digital Triggers

10 Customer success stories examples

Example #1 – slack’s website + dedicated page.

For starters, we can take Slack’s example and draw inspiration from their website , where they repurpose a customer success story to showcase their tool’s impact on a customer’s team’s communication. On top of re-using their success stories, they also have a dedicated pag e for them.

Example #2 – Stripe

Our second example is Stripe – their customer success specialists did an amazing job in creating a super impactful and easy-to-read layout. In the screenshot, you can notice the elements of every compelling customer success story.

Example #3 – Airtable

Yet another great example comes from the B2B industry – the company and software Airtable . What we could take from their customer stories is the way they emphasize the quotes from their customers.

Example #4 – Semrush

Our next example comes from one of the pioneers in the marketing software industry – Semrush. In this case, we won’t go into how their success stories are written or structured – but we’ll have a look at their client’s company landing page and, more specifically, the copy on it. Have a look at how impactful their header is.

Example #5 – Writer

The fifth example is yet another AI tool called Writer.

In the screenshot itself, we can see a great example of how to re-use your customer’s experience with your product or service and share it across the menu of your website too. As we mentioned, this content is crucial in the purchase-decision process, so the more prominently you place it, the bigger chances it’s gonna be read (and influence your readers).

On top of this, you can also see that their “ customers ” landing page is right there in the navigation, which makes the discovery process even easier for the readers.

Example #6 – Salesforce

Our next customer success story example comes from Salesforce .

A lesson we can learn from how they create their case studies is the way they structure them. Notice how for every header section they write, they also add a visual element to it to make the content easier to read.

Example #7 – Miro

In this example, we will break free from the traditional format of a customer success story and share one done in a video format.t with you.

Example #8 – Adobe

The next example comes from a pioneer in the industry and a powerful tool – Adobe.

Their customer stories are a combination of a great story, and visually outstanding customer quotes, showcasing the main client’s problem but also prominently showcasing their product’s features and benefits in a way that other prospects understand the impact.

Example #9 – Lenovo

This example comes from a company in the e-commerce industry, and in the screenshot below, you can see how you, too, can sort your customer stories in case you’re selling versatile products or services across different industries and regions.

Example #10 – Google

The last example is from a mogul we all know in the B2B industry – Google .

We’ve placed this example as a statement that every company can benefit and feel the impact of creating customer success stories, no matter how big or small.

Free customer success story template

Slowly we’re coming to the end of our guide, so in order to simplify things even more, we are sharing a customer success story template.

This template contains the structure of each success story + bullet points of what you need to write in each section.

Company Information

In this section, you need to gather and share information about the customer’s company, such as:

Company Name:

Company size:

Contact Information

Problems/Challenges

Under this second section, you need to have information such as:

Describe the problems the customer was facing before using your product/service.

Highlight the pain points they encountered that needed a resolution.

Explain how these challenges were influencing their business and business workflow, day-to-day tasks, and even overall workflow.

Next up is describing how your product helps solve these issues they face. Here’s a quick overview of what to include:

Present the product or service offered to the customer.

Describe how the solution addressed their specific problems.

Emphasize the key features or benefits that proved most effective.

Collect and showcase important data points

As the last element of the template is placing a quote, here’s what to pay attention to:

Include a powerful and inspiring quote from the customer, expressing their satisfaction with the results achieved.

Ensure the quote reinforces the value they gained from using your product or service.

The quote should be concise yet impactful, capturing the essence of their success story.

Conclusion – What makes strong customer success stories?

Customer success stories are a powerful tool that can significantly impact a business’s success. By showcasing real experiences and positive outcomes, these stories build trust, credibility, and emotional connections with potential customers . The importance of writing compelling success stories lies in their ability to demonstrate the value and effectiveness of your product or service.

Displaying these stories on your website provides compelling social proof influencing purchasing decisions and increasing sales.

We hope with this guide, we inspired you and made it easier for you to start writing your customer success stories, embrace their potential to engage, and convert leads into loyal customers, elevate your brand, and drive long-term success in the market.

FAQ about success stories

Answer frequently asked questions such as:

The common success story structure for different types of businesses is an introduction, challenges, and solutions.

The key elements of a success story are the introduction, the challenges the business had, the solution it adopted, and the results obtained.

However you choose to write or structure your success story, make sure you write it by thinking of your potential audience. Write it in a way to attract their attention and help them make an informed decision (purchase your product).

You can use customer success stories on your website as part of your social media strategy, share them with your e-mail subscribers, and make them part of PR campaigns.

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CEO of EmbedSocial 

Nikola Bojkov is the CEO of EmbedSocial, an entrepreneur who turns problems into products. With over a decade of hands-on experience with social media APIs, he guides EmbedSocial in its role as a technical partner for both SMEs and large agencies, maximizing the impact of their user-generated content. EmbedSocial has offices in Skopje, Tokyo and Lisbon with over 250,000 users.

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• How to Craft Your First Customer Case Study

How to Craft Your First Customer Case Study self.__wrap_n=self.__wrap_n||(self.CSS&&CSS.supports("text-wrap","balance")?1:2);self.__wrap_b=(e,n,t)=>{t=t||document.querySelector(`[data-br="${e}"]`);let r=t.parentElement,o=f=>t.style.maxWidth=f+"px";t.style.maxWidth="";let c=r.clientWidth,a=r.clientHeight,s=c/2-.25,i=c+.5,p;if(c){for(o(s),s=Math.max(t.scrollWidth,s);s+1 {self.__wrap_b(0,+t.dataset.brr,t)})).observe(r):process.env.NODE_ENV==="development"&&console.warn("The browser you are using does not support the ResizeObserver API. Please consider add polyfill for this API to avoid potential layout shifts or upgrade your browser. Read more: https://github.com/shuding/react-wrap-balancer#browser-support-information"))};self.__wrap_n!=1&&self.__wrap_b("undefined",1)

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So you have an early cohort of happy customers, and you’d like to share their successes with leads and prospects to help attract and close new business.

Now what? We’ve compiled some new and updated tips on B2B business case studies, particularly for developer-led B2B startups, on how to create a case study that accomplishes all your goals.

A well-crafted case study can help show engineering teams why they should use your product, while also showing non-technical stakeholders how their business will benefit.

Distilling a customer’s experience into one brief document can seem challenging, but you can streamline the process with a simple framework. Let’s discuss how to write a great case study that clearly communicates the value your company provides.

Smartsheet covers real-world value to its customers in its case studies.

The Value of Case Studies for Early-Stage Companies

In B2B marketing, case studies are essential to provide social proof. You’re getting a customer (ideally a high-profile one) to say publicly, “Yes, your product solved a problem for us!” For startups, demonstrating that successful organizations are willing to invest in your product is key.

But what makes case studies doubly useful for early-stage companies is that they offer a roadmap for your prospects.

If you’re building a solution with a novel approach or in a completely new space , it can be hard to communicate exactly how your solution is valuable. Case studies provide context and details about how other teams are using your product. The context helps prospects understand specifically how your solution will impact their team.

For startups, while you may start from a humble case study brief, the goal is to create a case study that shows both the business value and the technical context of your product.

Planning Your Case Study

For additional insights into the case study process, we got some additional insights from Joel Klettke of CaseStuddyBuddy , which we’ve added to this section. Before you get customers involved, you need to be clear on your goals for the piece(s) you’re planning to create, and (ideally) how you plan to leverage the story you capture.

You want the stories you tell to be intentional, relatable, and persuasive, which means going in with a clear picture of what details will hit hardest for your leads and prospects. Here are some important case study questions to consider before even talking to your customers:

For example:

• What markets or areas are you trying to target? Maybe you can feature stories from a specific vertical (such as fintech or e-commerce) or functional group (such as DevOps or product management) to which your company wants to sell.
• What personas or roles are you trying to reach? Your target personas should inform the level of detail and what you emphasize in the stories. Who are the decision-makers you need to persuade? Are you targeting executives at earlier-stage companies who have purchasing power, or mid-senior engineers at more-mature firms who might have to create a business case for your product? You’ll likely want to consider your ideal persona when choosing people to interview so that leads can see themselves in your story.
• What objections would your sales team most love to be able to counter with a story? You may be able to make those objections—and how the customer overcame them—obvious in the story in such a way that it inspires others to act.
• What questions or hesitations are you bumping into that a story could help illustrate? Similar to the above, you can have your interview subject list the hesitations they had, verbatim, and how they no longer have any such concerns as a happy customer.
• What outcomes are your leads seeking? Focusing on valuable, desired outcomes that appeal to your target audience will appeal to them and may influence a buying decision.
• What aspects of your offering could you clarify through a story? It’s important to remember that you don’t always get to choose your first touchpoint with your prospects. Understanding that your next case study could be the first contact a prospect has with you will help you decide where to spend your bandwidth on details and explanations within the piece. Of course, when you use them properly, case studies can be much more than purely marketing content.

PagerDuty offers case studies in a variety of formats, including written, video, and blog.

Choosing Your Formats

In terms of the format(s), you might think you can only use a B2B case study one way: As a write-up on your website or a PDF you send to potential customers as part of your standard content marketing work. Not the case.

You can use case studies in ads, nurture sequences, RFPs, landing pages, cold outreach, live sales presentations, and more—but not if you only tell the story one way, in one place. Instead, consider the needs of the different channels and audiences.

It’s important to think through every way you can use a case study as part of your larger marketing strategy, to drive lead generation at the top of your funnel and win more deals at the bottom.

For example, could you produce:

• One-sheets: A brief version for cold outreach or post-call follow-up?
• Audiograms: For use on social media (particularly on LinkedIn or Twitter, as applicable) or in ads to let prospects hear those glowing words from your customers themselves?
• Slides: A persuasive slide in your next sales deck that reinforces your product’s value?
• Blog: A Q&A-style blog post that reads like an interview with a prominent person in your space?
• Quotes: An eye-catching pull quote for your company’s homepage from a high-profile customer?
• Talking points: A relevant anecdote to mention on podcasts you may be recording or appearing on?
• PR pitches: And potentially as your company matures, a PR pitch to trade outlets that cover topics relevant to your customers?

Consider the different formats you plan to use for your next customer story and make sure you get everything you need from your initial conversations with your busy customers: The long-form case study story to feature on your website, the quick-hit sound byte for your social media channels, the executive summary containing all the success metrics and value you delivered for your sales team’s next deck, and all the rest.

Getting Customer Buy-In

It’d be nice if every customer spontaneously put up their hand and volunteered to take part in a case study, but in reality, you’re going to have to ask them to take part.

Don’t panic. The key is to set expectations and give them a sense of control.

Clearly Set Expectations for Customers

When you make the ask, be clear about why you’re asking them (specifically) and what parts of the relationship you’re hoping they will speak to. A clear ask helps them feel comfortable and prepared in terms of what they’ll be asked to discuss.

Then, lay out what’s involved from a high level, for example: “The entire process involves a short interview on Zoom, with a chance for you to review the draft before it goes live. It should take no more than 45 – 60 minutes of your time.”

If you can, send an example of what the final product will look like—even if it isn’t your own. Examples help customers visualize a nice, polished asset and take the mystery out of the end product.

Clearly Set Expectations for Your Own Team

It’s probably a good idea to calibrate your team’s expectations as well. Unless you specifically added a clause in the sales contract that requires this particular customer to provide testimonials (which some companies put on the table as a bargaining chip during the sales process), case study participation is optional.

Customers not bound by contractual obligations may decline to participate, potentially because they’re too busy, or because they may be having issues they’d prefer to resolve first. Put yourself in the best possible position to secure case studies. Work with your customer success team to find customers who are happy, successful, and not under time pressure to deliver other projects of their own.

It’s also a good idea to keep in mind that customers at larger companies may need approval from their PR experts, marketing team, or legal department before finalizing case studies. In such cases, you may be in for a considerable wait. One that is, sadly, out of your control.

Give Customers a Sense of Control

Always let your clients know that they’ll have a chance to review a draft and request changes. You can let them know you’ll be happy to make any changes or revisions they request to make the process fast and simple.

Essentially, the better you communicate your process, the ‘why,’ and the final deliverable, the more likely you are to get a “yes!” Here’s a full blog from CaseStudyBuddy that focuses on how to get your customers to agree to case studies.

Sanity ensures that success metrics are front-and-center in its case studies.

B2B Case Study Interview Questions

Who is my ideal interview target.

Your case study should reflect the perspective of your buyer — if you’re selling to VPEs , aim to interview the VPE. Depending on the size of the team and who is using your product, you might need to find a balance between someone who is high-level enough to understand the business value that your product brings, but technical and in-the-weeds enough to know how the product is being used day to day.

It’s OK to interview more than one person, but more viewpoints can be hard to wrangle, and for right now we’re aiming for simple and effective, so stick to no more than two to three interviewees.

10 Critical Case Study Interview Questions (and One Helpful Bonus Question)

Your case study interview should be a conversation, not an interrogation. Prepared questions help you hit all the important points, but before every case study interview, review these template questions and customize them for the particular use case.

Here are the most important case study interview questions to use when interviewing customers for case studies. (Obviously, you should adapt the questions to be most relevant to your company and its audience, and over time, you may want to incorporate them into a case study questionnaire template for repeat use.)

• What is your role/what does your company do?
• What did [process] look like at your company before? What were the biggest pain points you experienced?
• What was the breaking point where you decided to look for a solution?
• How did you find out about [our product]?
• What was the first moment where you realized that [our product] was a unique solution to your problem?
• What does [process] look like at your company now?
• What other software/apps/tools do you use as part of your [process] workflow?
• Are there any quantifiable metrics that you use to measure the impact of [our product]? Can you share any of those numbers?
• What has your team been doing with the time/budget/etc they save?
• What’s one thing you’d want someone who is considering using [our product] to know?

One question that isn’t on the list that you should always ask at least once: “Can you tell me more about that?” An interviewee might gloss over a detail that they find mundane, but which will be critically interesting to your prospects. For technical products, such details often end up being related to their tech stack and the other tools they’re using, and can often help you tell a stronger story about how your product delivers value. Always dig deeper.

As a logistical note, consider recording your case study interviews. Frantic note-taking to capture every word distracts you from staying in the moment and being able to ask meaningful follow-up questions. Just remember to get their approval to record the call before you start the conversation since there are laws in place, such as California’s “eavesdropping” statute , that require all parties to consent to recording in advance.

An Effective B2B Case Study Template

Once you have your customer’s story, you’ll need to transform it into a format that has a strong narrative and is easy to skim. This is the case study framework template that I’ve found most effective for creating concise, impactful case studies quickly. Grab a copy of the template here .

Now you’ve identified and organized your key points and quotes, it’s time to write! Your goal is to craft a cohesive story around the customer’s buying journey and product use. Writing case studies doesn’t need to be an overly long project. Keep it as short as you can without losing the overall context of the use case.

A Note on Success Metrics

As we mentioned earlier, one of the key questions to ask customers is about quantifiable improvements they’ve seen as a result of using your company’s products. While not every customer may have hard numbers on hand to share in the moment as you’re interviewing them, metrics are a key part of making your success stories impactful.

Be prepared for the possibility that your interview subjects might not have the success metrics you’re looking for during your conversation. Keep a few possible alternative metrics in mind you might ask them about that pertain to your product’s value proposition (such as revenue generated, hours saved, number of incidents reduced, improved SLA performance, or whichever metrics are relevant to you). If your subjects are open to double-checking on certain metrics to provide later, it’s a good idea to include placeholder success metrics in your case study draft for customers to fill in or update later.

A Note on Formatting

In terms of formatting, it’s also a good idea to break up your case study into subsections with clearly-marked headers. Subsections and subheaders make your case studies easier to read, easier to skim, and easier to index on search engines for SEO purposes. You can also visually break up all your text with customer quotes, product images, and if you have the resources, an infographic or two that depicts the value your product provides.

It’s also a good idea to consider adding a clear CTA (call to action) within your case studies, such as to read other, similar content you’ve created for similar use cases or similar verticals. Adding a CTA with links to additional, relevant content can encourage your prospects to “binge” on your content and learn more about your product while you have their attention.

A Note on Quotes

Customer quotes are at the heart of a good case study. But people don’t always speak in crisp, clean sentences that lend themselves to sound-bytes. Lightly editing quotes to be clear and usable out of the context of the conversation is an important step.

However, when cleaning up your quotes, be careful not to sanitize them too much. You’ll quickly find that they all start sounding robotic and fabricated. If your final quotes read like carbon copies of your messaging framework , you’ve gone too far.

Ship It and Celebrate!

Get the thumbs-up.

Unless you particularly enjoy speaking with angry communications managers and lawyers, always give your case study subject the chance to review the final version before it goes live.

Two things to do to keep the review process quick and easy:

• Minimize editing rounds: Review limbo is usually where case studies get stuck, so minimize the back-and-forth as much as possible. It’s a good idea to send a PDF of the final mockup along with a Google Doc for editing, as having the “final” visual helps push stakeholders to give feedback.
• Set a hard publish deadline: Saying, “We’re planning to publish on MM/DD, please let me know if you have any edits by MM/DD” can drive a quicker turnaround in a way that open-ended requests can’t.

Distribute Your Case Study

Completing your first case study is something worth celebrating, but your work isn’t done. Publish it to your website, share it with your team and other customers, and promote your new case study to your target audience based on the formats you evaluated previously.

We dive deeper into how to leverage user stories effectively in another article, which you can read here!

Case Study Examples

So now you know some important tips on how to write a B2B case study. To help you get a better sense of what the final product should look like, we asked Joel to share some of his favorite examples of customer stories for SaaS companies and developer tools. Here are some examples of great case studies to consider:

For examples of some real-world B2B, developer-focused case studies, check out these:

• LaunchDarkly follows our case study framework for clear, easy-to-parse user stories
• SmartSheet also uses customer quotes to frame user stories and highlights specific use cases.
• PagerDuty offers a variety of formats for customer case study content, including full written articles, blogs, and video
• Snyk offers compact case studies packed with customer quotes and visuals to be easily skimmable
• Sanity.io offers beautiful case studies broken up into easily consumable subheadings with plenty of embedded visuals
• Radar uses a somewhat minimalist customer case study template that leads with success metrics and tells a before-and-after story by highlighting “the problem” and “the solution”
• Tailscale weaves in-depth stories that cover each customer’s vertical and unique business challenges to properly frame the problem, and how it provided a valuable solution
• Mux , being a video platform, adds both a video and a written component to each of its in-depth case studies

Here are some additional videos walking through best practices for case studies provided by Joel:

• Integrate.io - A walk-through of a case study for this SaaS company covering content layout and how easy your case study is to skim
• Rainforest QA - An additional walk-through of a case study covering the importance of customer quotes and success metrics

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Customer Story

• Written By Gregg Rosenzweig
• Updated: November 8, 2023

We’re here to help you choose the most appropriate content types to fulfill your content strategy. In this series, we’re breaking down the most popular content types to their most basic fundamentals — simple definitions, clarity on formats, and plenty of examples — so you can start with a solid foundation.

What is a customer story?

A customer story is an engaging article integrating testimonial quotes from a happy client or customer praising the work completed together. (*To be used only with expressed permission.)

Different types of customer stories include…

Various ways of presenting client testimonials, customer interviews, use cases, or case studies by detailing the story of a problem/solution given a collaboration of sorts.

Many customer stories might follow the standard “Challenges. Solutions. Results.” format.

The long and short of it

Lengths vary given the customer or client’s willingness (and availability). But generally speaking, the amount of praise they’re willing to give ultimately informs the length of the story.

A general guide to customer story length:

• Short Form (250 words):  A testimonial quote or a quote couched in a contextual statement.
• Standard (500 words):  A longer testimonial quote (or quote excerpts) couched in a longer contextual statement.
• Long Form (1,000+ words):  A longer-form article broken into sections that gives further insight into a problem and solution solved by the company for the customer or client.

What can a customer story do for a business?

Whether it’s a five-star review on Amazon or Yelp, having the people who’ve used your business sing your praises is always good. A customer story (with positive insight) offers credibility and immediate relevance to a business as they shine a light on a collaboration that worked — yielding positive upticks in sales and/or benefits from a specific relationship.

Businesses that benefit from customer stories…

Anyone can benefit from a customer story that showers a business with praise. Especially when the customer story is strategically placed on a company site or social channels as content… and as a way of getting the word out to new prospects who can envision their own relationship.

Popular use cases to consider…

When our team decided to build a section dedicated to Customer Stories on the ClearVoice website, many satisfied clients, fortunately, came out of the woodwork to offer time up for interviews. The section is now a highly trafficked adjunct connecting to our home page.

Here’s what generally goes into a customer story:

• Testimonial quotes:  From CEOs, CMOs, and other C-suite executives invested in the success of a relationship. The quickest and simplest ask is for a single quote.
• Case studies:  A more traditional approach, case studies often break down into sections how a problem was identified, tackled, and solved by the company posting it — with permission from the client or customer. Quotes from both sides can be used.
• Stakeholder interviews:  More Q & A-focused with the company asking questions of a key client stakeholder, who talks about the experience and results from the working relationship.

Customer story examples – short form

Customer story examples – standard form

Customer story examples – long form

Understanding content quality in examples

Our team has rated content type examples in three degrees of quality ( Good, Better, Best ) to help you better gauge resources needed for your content plan. In general, the degrees of content quality correspond to our three content levels ( General, Qualified, Expert ) based on the criteria below. Please consider there are multiple variables that could determine the cost, completion time, or content level for any content piece with a perceived degree of quality.

More content types with examples:

• What Is an Article?
• What Is an Ebook?
• What Is a White Paper?
• What Is Email Content?
• What Is a Product Description?
• What Is an Infographic?
• What Is a Presentation?
• What Is a Motion Graphic?
• What Is an Animated Video?

Need help creating customer stories for your business? Our expert writers can handle everything for you, from interviewing customers and gathering testimonials to crafting an engaging story. Talk to a content specialist today to get started.

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How to Use Customer Case Studies to make more B2B sales: 6 essential places to put them

Customer case studies are a great way to help instill trust and faith in the minds of your prospects. Because of today's advertisement saturation, B2B buyers tend to mistrust companies on principle.

That's why you're starting to see more customer testimonial videos in advertising than ever before. But a common misconception is that customer case studies are only relevant for BOFU (Bottom of the Funnel) prospects, which means that the lead is highly qualified and ready to make a purchase decision.

Today we'll break down how to use testimonials across the entire buyer's journey.

What is the Buyer's Journey?

The buyer's journey is a detailed map of how the customer goes from discovering your company to making a purchase decision. A lot of businesses like to use the model of the buyer's journey as it is more complete than your typical sales funnel. That's because it starts long before the buyer is even aware of your business.

( Image Source )

The buyer's journey is a six-step process from beginning to end. Let's go through each stage of the buyer's journey so that we can have a better understanding of how customer case studies can fit in.

Step 1: Awareness

At the beginning of the awareness stage, the buyer has certain pain points and acknowledges that they need to take action. They start searching for companies which focus on addressing those specific issues.

When a company is trying to attract potential customers in the awareness stage, they are designing content that is typically industry focused and looks at the big picture.

The ultimate goal of the first step is for the customer to gain awareness of your product through one of your marketing channels, such as social media, sponsorships, PR, or advertising efforts.

Step 2: Interest

In the interest stage, the buyer starts shopping around for a good or service that will help them alleviate their pain point.

At this point in the cycle, marketing materials should focus on solutions and customer education. This is all done in an attempt to catch the eye of the buyer while they're shopping around.

Targeted advertising and SEO help a company to achieve success in this time period.

Step 3: Consideration

In the consideration phase, the buyer begins to evaluate specific products and reaches out to sales representatives. This is the first stage in which contact takes place between the customer and business.  

Marketing efforts for potential customers in the third stage of the buyer's cycle should focus on data, demos, videos, trials, and competitor comparison information.

This is the point in which most people implement case studies, but, as we will point out later, it is not the only place where a company can effectively use them.

Step 4: Purchase

This is where the customer commits to a company and justifies the reasoning behind their purchase. Many would argue that step four is the most important leg of the buyer's journey and it is the ultimate goal of all B2B marketing campaigns.

Companies achieve a purchase decision through strong marketing. Content aimed at buyers in this stage of the journey should be all about validation of their purchase decision.

This is also the stage where implementation and onboarding take place, along with live training, webinars, kick-off meetings, and the review of user guides.

Step 5: Post-Purchase

Post-purchase, the buyer is actively using the good or service and deciding whether or not they like it.  

In this stage, it becomes important to nurture these customers through continuous educational content. One way to help retain their business at this level is to offer loyalty programs.

Make sure that you're checking in with the customer often. This can be done with a phone call or even email outreach such as a newsletter. It's important to make your customers feel safe and supported in order to retain their loyalty.

Step 6: Re-Purchase/Upsell

In the final stage of the buyer's journey, the customer either purchases the product again or considers an upsell scenario to expand their use. This could also be the stage in which they abandon the service.

Marketing efforts for customers in the final leg of the buyer's journey should be focused on resolving issues and making sure that they are happy. Look for opportunities to upsell and try to receive referrals.

Case Studies in the Awareness Phase

In this first stage of the buyer's journey, the customer is aware of their pain points. This is the first logical place in which customer case studies can make an impact.

Video testimonials and case studies need to be shorter and more high level in the awareness phase. They need to be paced faster and should be optimized for people who don't fully understand what the offer is yet.

The testifying customer should take some time to explain the product in these awareness testimonials. This stage is all about understanding the assumptions about your industry and product while taking steps to familiarize customers with its effectiveness.

In the awareness phase, you can't assume that a viewer has a strong understanding of what your product does, nor do they know its benefits. That's why you have to lead with some background information so that the viewer will come to understand what your product does and why it is relevant.

Once you've produced your video testimonials for awareness-level customers, you should market them along your social media, targeted specifically at the main demographic.

Facebook and Google employ algorithms that have become so advanced, they will pinpoint individuals who could have a need for your service based on their interests along with search and browsing history.

Make sure that you're hitting on the most common pain points that your customers face and show how they were overcome.

Your case study might be the deciding factor that moves someone from the awareness phase into interest.

One effective example of this in the consumer space comes from a fitness program called DDP Yoga . A former paratrooper with the U.S. Army filmed a case study video wherein he went from being overweight and walking with crutches to losing over 100 pounds and walking unassisted.  

Customers who are looking for ways to lose weight could stumble upon this case study and be blown away by the results, thus moving them along into the interest phase. At a high level, the same concept works in the case of B2B prospects. Showcase an ability to alleviate the pain points of a business and they will show an interest in your company.

Case Studies in the Interest Phase

You should always make sure that you have case studies throughout your website as well as on all of your social media pages as pinned posts. That is done to capture the attention of potential customers in the interest phase who are starting to look at your product. You can also include case studies in your knowledge base page wherever appropriate.

You'll want to make sure that when buyers follow your marketing and advertising, they can easily find your case studies. If done correctly, you could make customer case studies the "face" of your company.

Another great place to include these videos could be to include them in cold emails that are being sent from the sales department or in any responses to requests for information.

It's important to always make sure that your sales team is aware of the video case studies you have and where they can be found. They also need to understand how and where they should be sending them out.

It sounds simple, but many sales reps don't know that these video case studies exist.  This can be one of the most valuable tools in the sales rep arsenal, so make sure that you are arming your sales team with information on how to utilize these video studies.

Case Studies in the Consideration Phase

The consideration phase is what people assume to be the most common place for case studies and testimonial videos.

When speaking with a prospective buyer who is in the consideration phase, it can be helpful to send along customer case studies to aid in their decision.

This is the stage in which you can let your videos be a bit longer and more involved. At this point, you have the attention of the prospective buyer and they are hungry for more information. You can also create several versions of the same case study to fit in different places throughout the buyer's journey. These videos don't have to be one size fits all .

The beauty of a case study is that you're letting a former customer do the selling for you. Once the video has been seen by the prospect, it's a good idea to reference back to it throughout the sales process.

Sales reps can consistently point out what worked and didn't work for those people in the video and use them as proof that the service does work.

Case Studies in the Purchase Phase

Some people might assume that once a purchase has been made there is no longer a need to include customer case studies into the new client's journey.

However, in the purchase phase, it is possible to use customer case studies as a way to validate the buyer's purchase decision. Prior to the purchase decision, they can be used as a final tipping point to help close a customer who is on the fence.

Make sure that you're sending these videos along with any onboarding information that the customer is receiving. You should also reference the testimonial videos in kickoff meetings. It is a great way to open up talks about expectations and what needs to be done in order to get similar results.

Case Studies in the Post Purchase Phase

Following a purchase, when the customer is using your product or service, you can still send case study videos as a way to enhance or help with any support inquiries.

Use the testifying customers as shining examples. This is helpful in the event that your new customer is not having great results right off the bat. You can easily point to your case studies and try to figure out what is different about the present scenario.

You should also be including regular case studies in any newsletters that you send out along with any email correspondence. One idea is to have your sales representatives link to case study videos in the signature of their emails.

Case Studies in the Re-Purchase Phase

Case studies can have a great impact on a customer's willingness to re-purchase a product or be upsold. Show case study videos to any customers who are thinking about leaving. Upselling can be a lucrative sales opportunity for your business so it's important to take advantage of this.

Showcase the stories of people who have purchased an upgraded service in additional case studies. This can help illustrate the effectiveness of the various levels of your business.

Consider filming a case study series which follows some of your customers as they go through the various tiers.

Conclusion : Where can you use

Case studies are a powerful tool that should be a major part of your marketing, sales efforts, and web presence, both on your own site and along social media platforms. Failure to include customer testimonials for your product or service places you at a marked disadvantage and gives up a potential means by which to build trust with your audience.

Utilize the power of customer case study videos and testimonial videos throughout the buyer's journey to maximize their effectiveness and create a comforting environment to promote future sales.

Close deals faster with video testimonials for all key buyer personas .

40 testimonial questions to ask your customers, 7 ways to generate more leads with customer testimonials, with examples, the power of student testimonials: why they matter & how to use them, the 10 best video marketing tools (2023), asking for customer references: the do's and don'ts of getting feedback, harness the power of social proof in your marketing strategy.

We combine authentic and professional video and written testimonials with a strategic approach to help you close trust gaps and close more deals, faster.

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March 14, 2024

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How to get information on past Microsoft Support case numbers

Want to know more about the notes your Microsoft Support agent took? Need to track down a case number? No worries! It's easy. All you need is your device.

1 .  Go to  https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/contact/virtual-agent/?flowId=smc-contactus&partnerId=smc&referrer=support.microsoft.com . Type in "Talk to an agent".

2.  Select the category that this case is about. If you want to track down a support number for a Windows matter, you would select "Windows".

3. (optional for some)  If you selected "Windows" or "Xbox", you will be directed to a Windows Advisor or a Xbox Gamer. These people unfortunately do not have access to your case notes (or the case number). Enter your name and email, and in the details pane, type (or copy and paste) the below text.

Hello, thanks for being here. I need my question to be routed to a Microsoft Agent.

The system will route your question automatically, just click on "Connect to a Microsoft Advocate" or something similar.

4.  Your case will go to a support professional. When they are assigned to your case, simply ask for a case number if you would like that. As a courtesy to them, you should provide a date range, to make their work easier. If you are looking for case notes, give them the case number and the agent will provide details.

I hope that this guide was helpful for you.

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11 Key Customer Service Metrics + 4 Real Example Reports

Customer service is a highly measurable activity, and the support software you use inevitably gives you access to a ton of customer service metrics.

Call volume, chat times, resolution rates, interaction counts, and myriad other numbers are more easily recorded and measured today than ever before.

But having access to that data is only the first step. The bigger challenge is deciding what data matters, how to report that data to your leadership, and what context is needed to help the rest of the company understand the impact your work is having on the business (and your customers).

In this post, we're going to simplify that challenge by giving you 11 meaningful customer service metrics, a process for choosing the right metrics for your team and company, and some example customer service reports shared with us by other support leaders.

Prefer to watch a video instead? Check out this 30-minute webinar on the essentials of customer reporting:

11 meaningful customer service metrics

Customer service metrics can be easily measured at the level of the individual support request and then aggregated to report on overall team and individual customer service agent performance.

Many companies use different metrics that report at the case level, individual agent level, and team level to get a holistic understanding of the organization's performance. By correlating customer service metrics at different levels, your management team can better grasp leading indicators for performance and make meaningful changes to your support strategy.

Case-level metrics

Case-level metrics are an excellent way to generate customer service reports that you can use to manage your hiring, staffing, and even product strategies. Use information about topic, time created, and location to help your team understand where and why you are most busy.

Volume based on topic, for instance, shows where your customers are having the most trouble. If you see that 25% of your cases by topic are account questions, it may mean that you need to rework your documentation around that part of your product or maybe even make product changes.

When correlated with other customer support metrics, case-level metrics can also help pinpoint critical areas of opportunity. For instance, correlating cases by topic and customer satisfaction can indicate areas of your product or support experience that delight your customers less than others.

If all of your conversations related to your billing page have a lower CSAT, it may mean you need to either improve your strategy of response or change the billing page itself.

1. Cases by time created

Review the volume of new conversations created in any given time frame. This metric can help you identify times when your customers are most active and help you better set staffing levels to match demand.

If you notice that you have an increasing number of conversations coming in overnight, it may be time to consider staffing additional team members during that time. Of course, companies can best use this metric when correlated with agent capacity.

If you do not have enough volume coming in overnight to reach agent capacity, you may be able to wait a bit before hiring new folks. After all, unless you have other work that needs to be done (such as documentation or operational tasks), you don’t want to staff a role and not have enough to keep them busy.

2. Cases by topic

If you use tags or custom fields to label conversations, you can quickly spot changes in volume that might indicate a problem in your product or the effectiveness of an improvement you’ve already made. For example, has that new redesign reduced questions about updating a password?

Customer service reports by topic, especially around case volume, also give an excellent view into how your team's volume is trending. You may see that conversations around a topic grow or decrease over time.

Use that data and compare it with actions you have taken within your support strategy to understand the efficacy of your changes. If the volume is growing, it may be that the work you've done isn't as impactful as you thought.

3. Cases by location

Understand where you have the most customers needing help so you can support them appropriately, or perhaps consider adding options like localization or support in other time zones.

Speaking the same language is essential: 72.4% of consumers said they would be more likely to buy a product with information in their language. Language is also a comfort — when you can understand which language most of your customers are speaking or where they are coming from, you can provide an even better experience.

Different countries may also have cultural differences that affect how they perceive your support . By knowing which countries are reaching out most often, you may cater better to specific populations.

Individual agent metrics

Customer service metrics at the agent level are a great way to understand how individual performances contribute to the larger team's productivity. Understanding how each team member contributes and benchmarking performance are critical steps for coaching toward growth.

Beyond that, individual agent metrics often correlate up to team level metrics. Companies can also attribute average handle time and time to first response to individual team members.

Consider which types of behaviors you are trying to incentivize and encourage within your team, then use customer service reporting to get a handle on it.

4. Resolved cases

How many conversations did this person close in a given period? Averages aren't always illuminating, but trends over time can reveal top performers and those who may need some more help.

This metric can also help inform how far along in the onboarding process someone has come. As you integrate new team members and they learn more about your product and processes, you can safely expect this number to go up. If you notice stagnation or the number of resolved cases going down, it may indicate that the individual needs more help or training.

The same can be said for seasoned members of your team. While a drop in resolved cases can be a sign of burnout or a team member not being as well-informed on certain product functionality, it may also indicate other shifts in your support volume.

For instance, tickets might be becoming increasingly complex and require more effort to resolve, thus taking up more time and keeping your agents from working through as many tickets.

5. Customer interactions

A team member can be doing an excellent job while showing fewer than average resolved cases. Measuring individual interactions helps compare workload and working style.

You may have some team members who can power through hundreds of tickets a day, whereas others max out at thirty. Consider the types of conversations that each team member handles and the depth they put into their troubleshooting or discovery before responding.

For instance, if the team member who responds to thirty tickets a day often responds to tricky technical issues or has an extremely high first contact resolution rate, it makes sense that they would also handle fewer tickets.

With information like this, instead of shifting the volume higher for the person who responds to fewer tickets, you can assign each person the types of tickets they are best equipped to handle. That may mean putting the lower-volume person explicitly on technical tickets and the higher-volume individual on low-hanging fruit.

Cater to your team's strengths, and your customers will be happier for it.

Write Support Emails Your Customers Will Love

Stay on top of your emails and answer more support tickets faster and easier.

6. Customer satisfaction

When customers rate their support experience, they may also be rating the product or service, so any individual rating isn't necessarily meaningful. Looking at longer-term rating averages for individuals and across the team is more helpful in spotting champions or those needing to improve.

You can also track customer satisfaction over time or as it correlates to product releases, bug improvements, or exciting announcements. This metric is handy when linked to the "cases by topic" customer service metric noted above. Looking at these two metrics together can give you information about if:

Agents are well-informed enough to answer questions about specific product areas or new features.

Certain product areas are frustrating your customers or causing problems.

Documentation around features is lacking.

New announcements and changes aren't sitting well with customers or users.

Your company needs to improve its product marketing or announcement methodology.

Support agents don't have the necessary vocabulary to explain to customers the "why" behind changes or features.

Use the reactions in your CSAT as they correlate to topics to inform your strategy and areas of improvement moving forward.

Recommended Reading

Customer Satisfaction: What It Is and 6 Ways to Boost It

7. average handle time.

For individuals, having a low average handle time can reflect their comfort and skill with the work, meaning they get through cases quickly. Be careful to review it in the context of the type and complexity of the tickets.

Similarly, be wary of incentivizing average handle time too heavily. If you are encouraged to respond quickly to boost this customer service metric, you may find that your agents start to slack on the quality of their responses. It's easy to be fast if you aren't worried about whether your answer is 100% correct.

Average handle time is best when managers relate it to topics rather than to individual agents. Doing so will help inform your team's leadership if specific topics or areas take longer to answer questions about.

For instance, you might expect the subject of "bugs" to have a slower average handle time than "getting started" types of questions.

Team-level metrics

To manage anything well, you need to have metrics around it. While both agent- and contact-level metrics are valuable, team-level metrics are the foundation of meaningful growth.

Use the more granular metrics to understand your opportunities, then use customer service reports around your team-level metrics to see how the changes in your strategy are working.

Team-level metrics are most valuable when viewed over time. These metrics will best suit teams looking for a gradual improvement or exploring how significant outages or new announcements affect them. However, you shouldn't expect drastic changes week over week with these types of metrics.

8. Time to first response

How soon after a customer requests your help do they get an initial reply? Does it take longer for escalated tickets to get a response than run-of-the-mill product questions? Customer expectations for response time will vary from channel to channel, so it's worth splitting your metrics out by channel, too.

This metric usually serves as a leading indicator for customer satisfaction. This means if you begin to lower this number, you will start to notice your CSAT gradually rising. After all, customers don't want to wait long for responses and are generally delighted when a reply arrives more quickly than expected.

For that reason, some companies choose to flip the strategy of responding to the oldest tickets first. For specific questions or low-hanging fruit, your company may consider responding to the newest questions first, just to see how it affects your relationship with customers or your CSAT.

However, be careful experimenting with all types of inquiries when considering time to first response: Some types of conversations, like bugs or account/billing issues, require more adherence to the traditional strategy to treat every customer fairly.

Email Response Times: Benchmarks and Tips for Support

9. interactions per resolution.

Generally, the fewer interactions it takes to resolve a conversation, the happier customers will be. If that number is rising, it can be an indicator of product or service issues or a shift in the type of customer you are helping.

Instead of looking at this metric on a short-term basis, understand whether it has gradually increased or decreased over time. Similarly, consider segmenting out different topics to see if the number of interactions per resolution is higher for some than others. It may make sense that technical conversations require more interactions to resolve than basic product questions.

A few ways you can lower this metric if you notice it's starting to climb:

Retrain employees on the topics where you notice this metric is the highest.

Implement or improve your saved replies.

Update internal and external documentation to provide additional resources for team members.

Identify areas of the product that create additional complexity within the context of customer service.

Ask customers for additional information in your automated responder that acknowledges receipt of their conversation.

Trigger automated routing based on specific "keywords" to ensure that the ticket gets to the best team member as quickly as possible.

Time To Resolution: What It Is, Why It Matters, and How to Reduce It

10. average handle time.

Handle time reflects how long a conversation is open before your team takes follow-up action. Long gaps might mean opportunities to improve processes, training, or tooling to get that answer back more quickly.

This is another customer service metric that is most effective when segmented. While it's excellent to understand how long your team is taking overall , it's more beneficial to understand if individual topics take longer than others.

Tracking this at an individual level can also be helpful for understanding the health of your team members. While it can be concerning to see average handle time starting to rise for a specific team member, use it as a jumping-off point for conversation rather than accusations.

Rising average handle time can certainly mean dwindling focus, but it’s just as likely to be a leading indicator for burnout or job dissatisfaction.

11. Customer contact rate

This measures the percentage of your active customers who request help in a given month. Improved self-service options, bug fixes, clear product descriptions, and product design can all help reduce that rate as you grow.

You should look for that perfect "hockey stick" growth when it comes to this metric — meaning that it rises gradually before leveling out. While you don't want customers to stop contacting you entirely, at a certain point, the work you are doing with your ticket deflection should level out the growth.

Segment out your customer service reports to understand where most of the contacts are happening, and you'll have a clear map of what you can improve.

If you notice that conversations around your account page grow more rapidly than other topics, for example, you may have a case with your product team to improve the page, or you may just need to write more detailed documentation.

Use the metrics at your fingertips to create a road map around what you can impact, and implement service strategies to make meaningful changes.

19 Actionable Help Desk Metrics for Customer Support Teams

How to measure and report on the right metrics.

As a customer service leader, you have access to most of the numbers above — and probably a ton more. The challenge is deciding which to report on, who to report it to, and how it should be presented.

To figure out the most important metrics for your team, consider these three questions:

Why is measuring a specific metric important?

The point of your customer service team is (I hope!) not to generate nice-looking graphs and reports. It’s to provide great service to your customers. Metrics are just a more measurable proxy for the real outcome.

For example, Kristin Aardsma is head of support for Basecamp, a company that considers their great service and fast response times to be product features. For Aardsma’s team, the combination of first-response time and customer satisfaction is a meaningful way to tell if they are staying on track.

Another example: During the high growth days of Mailchimp, Bill Bounds’ single most important job was hiring enough new staff to maintain support quality. In his words, “We were so focused on growth and getting enough people in that my primary concern was really on, ‘Hey, we’re not done hiring yet.’” So Bounds’ primary metrics were trends of volume per agent and customer satisfaction level.

When you are clear about why you are reporting, you can decide more easily what you should measure and report on and — equally important — what not to measure and report on.

Who are you reporting to?

Understanding your audience is critical to communication in all forms. What matters most to your frontline support team might not make any sense to your CEO who doesn’t have that ground-level perspective.

What you show and how you explain it might differ considerably depending on who you are reporting to. At Campaign Monitor, customer service reporting is done at three levels, and the contents of those reports are slightly different each time:

Individual agents are emailed daily reports on their personal activity and their team’s activity.

A monthly report is shared on the internal wiki with the whole company. These reports remove some of the individual agent details but add some long-term perspective.

The highest level of reporting is presented on a couple of slides to the senior management team with some written comments to explain the trends on display.

As a global and distributed company, that’s a great way to make sure everyone is up-to-date.

Alternatively, SurveyGizmo’s team is all in one building. The director of customer service presents the weekly reports in person to the support team, and there is an open discussion that senior managers are invited to attend. Physical proximity means that their whole team gets the full context and can ask for clarity easily.

Make sure to determine who you are reporting to and what they care most about. That will help direct you to the right measures.

What outcome do you want to see?

“What gets measured gets managed,” said Peter Drucker, America’s father of management philosophy.

It’s an appealingly concise piece of wisdom: You will effect change on those things you pay attention to. But as unemployed phrenologists will attest, something that is measurable is not necessarily meaningful .

“There can be too much emphasis on fluff numbers in support,” says Help Scout’s Justin Seymour. “The team likes to know what our goals are, what types of conversations we’re having, and how we’re moving the needle month to month.”

The customer service leader is in the best position to understand where the biggest opportunities are for the company. For Bounds at Mailchimp, he needed to quantify his need for more support staff, so he focused his reports on telling that story clearly and accurately.

Campaign Monitor, meanwhile, is a product company at its core, and identifying ways to improve the customer experience through a better product is a big focus of customer service reporting.

Your management team can’t have the perspective you can as the customer lead, so you need to lead them honestly and efficiently to a greater understanding of what action needs to be taken — and you can do that through consistent, clear reporting.

How To Make the Most of Your Customer Support Data

The qualities of a perfect customer service metric.

Ultimately, the metrics you choose to report should meet all of the following criteria:

Meaningful — They should tie back to something your company wants to achieve. For example, when your goal is highly responsive support, time to first response is an ideal metric. Resolution time may not matter.

Moveable — You should measure things on which your team can have impact. If you find that something you’re measuring doesn't matter, you have the freedom to drop that metric.

Authentic — Your reports must tell a true story. It’s possible to use real numbers to send a misleading message. Be honest even when it hurts.

Contextualized — Numbers in isolation can be stripped of meaning, so provide them in context.

Consistent — The trends over time are usually more important than specific data, and looking back over a quarter or a year can give you some fantastic insights and encouragement.

Building an impactful customer service report

When creating reports, follow these guidelines to make sure your reports are truly impactful:

Focus on trends — The direction of change usually matters most. Having an 80% customer satisfaction rate may not sound great, but a month-on-month increase from 70% to 80% is excellent news.

Direct limited attention to anomalies and changes — Your leaders are busy people, and they have a limited amount of attention to give you. Make sure it’s easy for them to understand what your reports mean. Consider providing an overall summary. For example: “We received 20% fewer questions about exporting this month, so the reworking we did in the app saved us 12 hours of support time already!”

Look for correlations that tell a bigger story — Looking at individual metrics is useful, but understanding the connections between them is where the real insight can come.

Combining metrics can also help you identify deeper issues. For example:

“When our email time to first response goes above four hours, we see consistent dips in customer satisfaction.”

“Answering billing questions takes us three times the average ticket length.”

Below is an example from my experience at Campaign Monitor. Our reporting tool could tell us when tickets arrived and how long customers were waiting for a first reply, but it couldn’t show us how many tickets were waiting for us to respond to at any given time.

By exporting data from our help desk and combining it with a week’s worth of manual measurements, we could produce a single chart that showed the correlation between larger queues and higher waiting times.

Our support team reviewed this chart, which stimulated a discussion about the stress and impact of a large queue of waiting tickets. Davida, our Head of Support, worked with her team to split our main queue into smaller, more manageable chunks. That change created a significant decrease in response times without adding any new resources or changing the volume of tickets.

Step-By-Step Guide: Measuring Customer Service ROI

4 customer service report examples.

Whether you’re building out your first customer service reports or you’ve been producing reports for years, there is always an opportunity to make those reports more effective at driving improvements in your business.

Consider the four example customer service reports below — each from a real customer service team — to brainstorm some new ideas for your own reports.

Note: The format and structure of these reports are real, but we’ve obscured the actual numbers.

1. Help Scout

The Customers team at Help Scout meets weekly to discuss general team business. We believe reports are best evaluated as part of a conversation, not a simple list of metrics. Individual goals are discussed in weekly one-on-ones with a player’s coach.

The head of support presents the team’s goals once a month during the company leadership meeting. In Help Scout’s quarterly company-wide Town Hall meetings, the head of support presents a slide or two refreshing the company on team goals, the progress we’ve made, and any upcoming changes and hiring plans.

When evaluating a reporting goal, we aim to define four things for the team:

Why do we care about this?

How are we currently doing?

What are the limitations of this metric?

A simple summary of the main takeaway we want the team to know

A few notes:

While we rely on our own reporting tools , our internal support reporting focuses on the narrative these metrics tell.

We use reports to keep a quantitative eye on our goals, but we never treat these numbers as "hit at all costs." An overly rigid focus on quotas can often backfire and lower quality and team motivation.

Volume of data should always be taken into account, and different timeframes may be useful to examine different metrics. For example, we may evaluate the team happiness score once a month but individual happiness scores looking back six months.

Monitor and benchmark your support

Help Scout’s reports are an easy way to track productivity and set expectations for every metric in your customer conversations.

2. Shinesty

"Here at Shinesty , all stakeholders share reports from their department in what we call our Q4 post mortem," says Antonio King, Director of Experience. "We build reports and list findings within the information/data we’re sharing. Additionally, we share insights to gain feedback or to deploy another set of eyes."

King came on as Support Leader in 2016. Since then, Shinesty has begun looking at self-service statistics to identify any service gaps, as well as looking at more high-level metrics.

Shinesty looks at the following self-service metrics:

content views

top articles

bounce rate (Google Analytics)

sessions (Google Analytics)

searches (Google Analytics)

pages/session (Google Analytics)

missing articles/content gaps

feedback ratings

deflections

handling time per deflection

Contextual explanations are included in the reports directly to frame the report with an overall story.

Data comparisons to previous periods help add meaning to the graphs.

"My primary purpose in reporting is to show that we’re doing a consistently good job — and that there are no red flags to be aware of," says Vuk Lau, Director of Client Support at Celtra . "I share my reports monthly in a Google Doc with our Sales and Service executives — and with my team."

Lau makes these reports available for everyone in the company to view, and he also produces more detailed reports, including hourly and daily distribution, client comments, and CSAT metrics, quarterly and annually.

The support volume is broken down by region, team, and tier.

Individual agent performance is also tracked.

The label breakdown helps identify the major sources of incoming support requests.

At Jayride , the team stays on top of reports by touching base daily, weekly, and monthly. Reports are posted in a Google Sheet so each team can track their own progress.

Aaron Lewin, Head of Customer Service, says they hold a daily 10-minute meeting with management and department heads where they talk about “what we did yesterday, what we're doing today, roadblocks, and wins. At the end of standup we also review the overall company targets (Passengers travelled, Booking Unit Profitability). All team members are encouraged to attend and listen."

Levin meets weekly with the head of operations to discuss his personal reports. Then, each month, each team showcases their progress to the entire company. These reports include conversions, resolution time, and support unit costs.

The support team has conversion targets that are tracked separately for pre-booking and post-booking interactions.

What metrics will you report on next month?

Customer service metrics matter. What you choose to report on and how you report it can make a real difference in the level of service you provide.

Don’t waste your valuable time compiling reports that provoke no questions and generate no action. Bill Bounds said it beautifully: “Metrics only tell you where to look for the story; they don’t tell you the story itself.”

Pick the right metrics and use them to tell a compelling story about how your customer service team is contributing to your company’s goals.

Like what you see? Share with a friend.

Mathew patterson.

After running a support team for years, Mat joined the marketing team at Help Scout, where we make excellent customer service achievable for companies of all sizes. Connect with him on Twitter and LinkedIn .

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• Companies should begin with off-the-shelf systems for high-value use cases, such as boosting the accuracy of chat channels. Then they should move on to use cases that can offer new products and services to high-value customers, helping them throughout their customer journeys.
• But be aware that generative AI has been shown to produce the occasional inaccuracy and could unintentionally reveal proprietary information and customer data, so human oversight will likely continue to be required in advanced use cases.
• Sooner rather than later, generative AI will transform the customer care function itself—and even, possibly, the company business model. Be ready.

Subscribe to our Artificial Intelligence E-Alert.

Generative AI

/ article, how generative ai is already transforming customer service.

By  Simon Bamberger ,  Nicholas Clark ,  Sukand Ramachandran , and  Veronika Sokolova

Key Takeaways

Open AI launched ChatGPT less than a year ago, and already companies in every industry are exploring how generative AI can augment the capabilities of their customer care centers.

The large language models (LLMs) upon which ChatGPT and other text-based generative AI applications are built give these apps the power to respond to prompts with human-like text and voice, answering complex questions with seeming ease. The general public has quickly begun testing generative AI’s capabilities, and the technology is rapidly gaining acceptance, lauded for the variety and nature of the responses it provides.

This makes it a natural for customer service operations; indeed, we estimate that the technology, once implemented at scale, could increase productivity by 30% to 50%—or more. And according to a 2022 BCG survey of global customer service leaders, 95% expect their customers to be served by an AI bot at some point in their customer service interactions within the next three years.

Yet questions and challenges remain. LLM-based chatbots are trained on data that may contain intrinsic biases and can generate inaccuracies, a real problem in corporate contexts when an occasional error can result in significant costs to a company’s bottom line and reputation. This explains, in part, why all the current full-scale deployments of generative AI in a customer service setting have some level of human oversight or provide noncritical services, such as offering vacation ideas on travel websites.

But that will change, and soon. Companies looking to incorporate this powerful new technology into their customer care functions need to determine which use cases will deliver the most value and the steps to take to set themselves up for success while avoiding pitfalls. Here, we analyze both the promise and the challenges of generative AI and offer a path forward for companies eager to advance their customer service functions.

The Promise

The contact center—the hub of most customer service operations—has come a long way in the past couple of decades. Tools such as interactive voice response (IVR), agent assist, robotic process automation, and chatbots have already made customer service agents more productive. These technologies have not triggered a significant decline in the number of agents at most contact centers, largely because, as their old tasks were automated, contact center workers took on new roles and responsibilities, such as educating customers on how to use digital services.

But LLMs have the power to significantly expand what can be automated, performing critical customer service tasks that are far beyond the capacities of earlier technologies. These models are trained on vast amounts of data and can recognize, classify, and create sophisticated text and speech with speed and precision.

Driven by a host of enablers—new AI algorithms, increases in computing power, and cheaper cloud-computing infrastructure—emerging AI-powered customer care applications will be able to provide answers and solutions to customers faster and in a much more human-like manner. And when the data on which they are trained is adjusted, these algorithms can be fine-tuned to better suit specific industry and company needs.

Companies are already putting LLMs to work in their customer care centers. For example, this year Octopus Energy, a global specialist in sustainable energy, added generative AI capabilities to its customer service platform to help teams draft rich and thorough email responses more quickly than was previously possible. According to the company, emails drafted by the AI application achieved 18% higher customer happiness scores compared with email responses generated by humans alone. The application already responds to a third of all customer inquiry emails, creating capacity for agents to support more complex, high-growth products like electric vehicles and home electricity generation.

The Path to Maturity

Over time—and likely quite quickly—generative AI will become more and more embedded in the customer service function. (See Exhibit 1.)

It will soon reach stage 3 of the journey we outline, driving predominantly reactive use cases that will continue to include humans in the loop. It will be able to resolve increasingly complex customer queries. This capability, along with the ability to interact with customers just like a human agent in both tone of voice and responsiveness, will continue to improve the customer experience.

At stage 4, AI will be able to assist customers with most of their queries. Businesses will transition from reacting to queries to proactively solving problems, thereby improving the customer experience even more. AI-enabled assistants will reach out directly to customers, offering preventive solutions to common problems rather than responding to queries after the problem occurs. Traditional AI and predictive analytics will decide on the prompts and the messages to deliver to the customer while generative AI will deliver those prompts and messages in a nonintrusive, human-like, and personalized manner. As confidence in AI-enabled customer contact grows and trained actions become more accurate and bias-free, it will require far less human oversight.

Eventually, at stage 5, AI-enabled support will be available for virtually every user journey. Generative AI could support service bots customized to the specific needs of individual customers, acting as a personal assistant that fully understands customers’ relationship with the company, anticipating their needs and concerns, and interacting with other systems elsewhere in the company to develop a full picture of the customer life cycle.

Companies have yet to proceed through all of these stages, but many are already imagining how a fully AI-enabled customer care center might work.

Overcoming the Challenges

Despite its promise, generative AI has several well-known limitations.

Among the most significant are the occasional factual inaccuracies they might provide. This is a particular danger in the context of customer care, where answers to customers’ questions, offered with a high degree of confidence, might be wrong. Moreover, LLM-based applications can incorporate biases inherent in the data on which the foundational model was trained and in the fine-tuning of models based on specific contexts; such biases could lead to unfair treatment of certain customers. A further risk: the technology could reveal proprietary information and intellectual property or inappropriate customer data.

Currently, the most effective strategy for minimizing these risks is to keep human agents in the loop, checking the content produced by AI before it reaches the customer. Whether to do so will likely depend on the type of customer interaction. Some interactions could be carried out by LLMs independently; other, high-value, premium services will likely require direct human oversight. Some companies are trying to reduce the risk of error by building hybrid tools that use a mix of LLMs and more traditional AI and automation technology to combine the precision of traditional tools with the human-like intimacy of LLMs.

As customer-service applications based on generative AI become more mature, companies will gain confidence in their performance, reducing the need for human oversight and allowing customers to interact with them directly. This will depend on the relevance, quality, and security of the training data; the ability to eliminate inaccuracies and bias; and the specific use case to which the AI is applied. Only when companies have fully understood and managed the risks and limitations of each use case should they move to the next level. They must also work carefully to ensure that as the technology develops, it maintains the “human touch” and capacity for empathy needed to be effective in the customer care context, regardless of the maturity level attained. Finally, they will soon have to understand the implications of their customers’ own increasing AI maturity . (See the sidebar, “Rise of the [Negotiation] Machines.”)

Rise of the (Negotiation) Machines

Decisions, decisions.

In light of generative AI’s benefits, companies are moving to incorporate the technology into customer care at unprecedented speed, despite its risks and challenges.

But how to proceed? That is the critical question. Should companies buy an industry-specific ready-to-use solution or a system from one of the major tech companies offering platforms that incorporate LLM capabilities? Or should they invest time and resources in fine-tuning their own model?

To find the answers to these questions, companies should start now with some relatively simple but high-value use cases that will allow them to test the technology and learn what works and what doesn’t from technical, functional, and business perspectives. Exhibit 2 lays out the variety of use cases across the typical customer service journey—from initial customer contact to final response and resolution—that will likely be augmented by generative AI.

That’s the approach JetBlue has taken. The US-based airline has partnered with ASAPP, a technology vendor, to implement a packaged generative AI–enabled solution to drive the automation and augmentation of its chat channel, helping its contact center provide customer service. As a result, the contact center has been able to save an average of 280 seconds per chat—which yields a total of 73,000 hours of agent time saved in a single quarter and means that agents have more time to serve customers with complex problems.

Meanwhile, a North American technology company is progressively deploying a generative AI “sidekick” that helps customers and support engineers complete technical support requests, gain access to product information, and automate routine tasks. The initial version of the tool will provide support on the relatively simple requests that make up about 30% of total support tickets, such as how-to guides and basic product configuration information. As the technology matures, the company hopes to expand the range of use cases to cover more complex requests such as fault finding and fixing.

The decision to buy either an off-the-shelf customer-service application based on generative AI and use it without fine-tuning or a foundational LLM and fine-tune it based on an individual organization’s data depends on the complexity of the use case and the industry context.

For general-purpose, nonspecific use cases, fine-tuning is unnecessary; it’s a complex task that doesn’t always ensure greater accuracy and usually requires a major investment in time, money, and technical expertise.

At present, the most suitable approach includes building a customer-facing application based on a combination of traditional AI, such as machine-learning systems, LLMs, and prompt engineering. This final element involves developing and optimizing the information and constraints provided to LLMs to improve the accuracy of the answers—defining company-specific keywords within the prompt itself, for example. This process allows companies to achieve better levels of control, moderation, and personalization.

But in highly regulated industries and in those with heightened data security requirements such as financial services and defense —and generally for more complex and personalized use cases—fine-tuning of existing models will become a more popular option to ensure faster response times to more complex customer requests with greater control of the output.

The recent rapid advances in generative AI are already transforming the ways in which companies manage their critical customer service functions. Now, companies must anticipate how the technology’s considerable capabilities could even more profoundly disrupt their business models.

We predict that today’s large customer service functions—which now typically interact with customers separately from the rest of the business—will become nimble, data-driven organizations that work closely with the rest of the business to create truly differentiating customer experiences. As generative AI systems learn more about a company’s products, operations, and customers, they will likely be able to predict customer behavior and reach out to customers in anticipation of their needs and desires.

As generative AI advances, it may also learn to use such information to reach deeper into other aspects of the business, such as production and resource planning and even working directly with suppliers.

Whatever happens, it will happen fast. Are you ready?

The authors thank Juan Martin Maglione, Marcus Wittig, and Stuart McCann for their contributions to this article.

Managing Director & Partner

Los Angeles

Partner and Associate Director, Service and Support Operations

Managing Director & Senior Partner

Project Leader

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