How do you collect and organize customer stories?

1 Identify your goals

Before you start collecting customer stories, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve with them. Do you want to attract new leads, convert prospects, retain customers, or build loyalty? Do you want to highlight specific features, benefits, or use cases of your product or service? Do you want to target specific segments, personas, or industries? Having a clear goal will help you define the criteria and questions for selecting and interviewing your customers.

2 Find your sources

There are many ways to find customers who are willing and able to share their stories with you. You can use surveys, feedback forms, reviews, testimonials, referrals, social media, or email campaigns to invite customers to participate. You can also ask your sales, marketing, customer service, or product teams to recommend customers who have achieved success, overcome challenges, or shown loyalty with your product or service. You can also use tools like NPS (Net Promoter Score) or CSAT (Customer Satisfaction) to identify your promoters and detractors.

3 Conduct interviews

Once you have a list of potential customers, you need to reach out to them and schedule interviews. You can use phone calls, video calls, or online platforms to conduct the interviews. You should prepare a script or a guide with open-ended questions that elicit the customer's story in their own words. You should also ask for permission to record the interview and use their name, company, and photo for your story. During the interview, you should listen actively, probe deeper, and follow up with clarifying questions. You should also thank the customer for their time and feedback, and send them a follow-up email with a summary of the interview and a request for approval.

4 Write the stories

After you have collected the interviews, you need to write the stories in a compelling and concise way. You should use the customer's voice, quotes, and emotions to make the story authentic and relatable. You should also use a simple and clear structure that follows the STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) or PAR (Problem, Action, Result) formula. You should highlight the customer's problem, the solution you provided, and the outcome they achieved. You should also include a catchy headline, a subhead, and a call to action.

5 Organize the stories

Finally, you need to organize the stories in a way that makes them easy to access and use. You can use a spreadsheet, a database, a folder, or a tool like StoryChief or Storyboard to store and manage your stories. You should categorize your stories by goal, feature, benefit, use case, segment, persona, industry, or any other relevant criteria. You should also tag your stories with keywords, ratings, or statuses to help you filter and sort them. You should also update your stories regularly to keep them fresh and relevant.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?