Expert Q&A: Producing effective customer advocacy with Jana Newman

Customer advocacy is one of the most powerful assets in a marketer’s toolbox. After all, it’s always better to have someone else sing your praises than to do it yourself. But finding the right customer and crafting a story that properly portrays the value of your product or service requires careful planning and forethought.

At Radix, we spend a lot of time interviewing customers for our clients and bringing their stories to life. But we don’t always see what else goes on behind the scenes. Jana Newman is a Senior Customer Advocacy Marketing Manager at world-renowned skills acceleration platform, Udemy. We asked her to talk us through the most important aspects of creating effective case studies.

Radix: I think everyone knows how powerful customer advocacy can be. But what do you think makes a really great customer success story?

Jana: There are a few things. The power of these stories is that customers want to hear how their peers have done things, not just what tools they’ve used. Stories that explicitly share the approach customers have taken and what it’s led to are really helpful for readers from an educational point of view.

In general, I think the most powerful customer stories are the ones where the customer is the hero. It’s already implied that the customer succeeded by using a platform if it’s hosted on the platform’s website. Focusing on what the customer has done and their individual success is essential.

That’s one thing I really enjoy about my job; I get to be the advocate for those customers. They’ve solved problems and seen success, but they might not think that what they’re doing is that exceptional, because it’s their job. It’s nice to take a step back and remind them that what they’ve done is impressive, and also really useful to other people.

These stories can also be a boost to someone’s career. If we can provide them with a narrative sharing the great results they’ve achieved, it helps them shine internally. But also, if they pursue a different career or job they get a snapshot in time of this transformative thing they did that’s independently validated.

Radix: With that in mind then, how do you choose the right customers for advocacy pieces? What considerations go into that?

Jana: There are a few things to bear in mind. At the most basic level, they need to have purchased our platform and seen results. In a perfect world, all customer stories would have amazing metrics to back up their success, because they can be great for helping others understand the kind of ROI they can achieve. So you need to leave enough time for the benefits to have surfaced.

Over the years, I’ve tried lots of different software solutions for customer advocacy, including tools to track your advocates and automate customer selection. But honestly, I find the best candidates are surfaced from working closely with account teams.

They talk to the customers day in, day out. They know what they’ve achieved, but they also know them as people: Will they be interested? Are they the kind of advocate you might also put on stage, for instance? Will they be able to get internal approval to participate? There’s a whole world of nuance there that software can’t see, so a lot of my day is spent connecting with account teams and getting a pulse from them.

Radix: Once it’s clear which stories you want to tell, how do you persuade those customers to take part? Do you have to incentivise participation in any way?

Jana: Different companies approach this in different ways. Sometimes, a case study or some sort of advocacy will be included as part of a contract renewal. But in my experience, the stories that stand out typically are surfaced through strong account relationships.

A lot of willingness to participate comes down to the quality of your product. If a customer is delighted with the service you’re providing and sees results, they’re usually willing to get involved, as it’s good exposure for both parties.

One thing I do is make it as clear as possible what customers are signing up for, so any concerns are addressed upfront, and it’s easy for them to agree to participate. I’ll explain that they’ll join one interview call and provide time slots they can choose from. I’ll reassure them that they’ll see all the drafts and can approve the final copy before the story goes live.

Also, if at any point they want the story taken down, they can tell us and we’ll take it down.

Part of this is just being considerate, because customers are busy, so I don’t want them to have to guess what the process involves. I want them to know exactly what’s expected and see that we’re organised and professional in our approach.

In terms of an incentive, what they get is this asset that tells the story of their success and promotes their brand, as well as them as individuals.

Radix: So, once the customer is on board, it’s time to produce the story. Are there any things that are particularly important when it comes to that part of the process?

Jana: Having the right copywriting partnership is really important for us. Working with Radix gives me peace of mind. I know that I can prep with you before the customer interview and that you’ll have done your research. And I know that you’re experts in your craft and professional interviewers.

That bit’s important. Ultimately, we’re trusting you with our customers, so knowing you’ll ask the right questions and bring an outside perspective is great. It’s perhaps easy to get tunnel vision when you’re working internally, so there’s a real benefit to the fact that you don’t work here. You can approach the story from the angle of what matters to the reader. And you’re bringing the perspective of all the other companies you work with, and what’s currently happening in the world of content.

Radix: That’s lovely to hear. Once the case study’s been produced, it’s time to get it out into the world. How do you work with customers to get stories signed off? Are there any potential pitfalls there?

A lot of this comes down to the writing as well. If the story is well written and complimentary about what the customer has done and what they’ve achieved, there’s not a lot of room for things to go awry.

Flexibility is also really important on our end. Yes, we need approvals, but we also need to make sure the customer really likes what we’re publishing. So you have to be ready to meet them where they are.

One approach that helps expedite the process is encouraging customers to be really clear on edits. Having a communal document with tracked changes and asking for specific feedback directly in the document helps a lot. If there’s a phrasing the customer isn’t comfortable with, for instance, knowing that is one thing. But knowing what they’d like to see instead removes guesswork and gets the story over the line more quickly.

Reviews from PR teams can sometimes slow approvals down. I find that having those conversations over the phone at the outset can be really beneficial to address any questions. It’s often about simple things. Sometimes people might not know how the story will be used, for example. So walking them through these details and making them comfortable can be much quicker over a phone call than through an email chain.

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