How to tell convincing customer stories with data

Author

Markus Rentsch
December 05, 2023

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Hype, trend, or buzzword? Neither. Storytelling with customer data is here to stay because it’s a powerful asset for every CS professional.

But what does that even mean? Presenting 239 slides with charts, tables, and graphics? Not at all.

Because you are not telling any but the customer's success story. Some might call it the customer journey but at the end of the day, that’s what customers came for.

You don’t tell the story for the sake of it either. You are doing it to

  • gain insights and clarity to make qualified decisions and take action

  • highlighting wins, best practices, or complex problems internally

  • build a narrative for your customer meetings (e.g. QBR)

Data storytelling is not merely a process; it's a mindset. CSMs must delve into the customer's shoes, comprehend their needs, pain points, and aspirations, and craft stories that resonate. In essence, data storytelling humanizes the data, making it relatable and actionable. It bridges the gap between raw data and customer-centric insights.

The 5 Categories of Customer Stories

If you want to make customer success stories work for you as outlined above, it’s not enough to gather a handful of superficial data like

  • product usage

  • NPS

  • tickets

On the other hand, it’s also not about putting every single number and metric together and hoping to magically get something out.

Instead, you need to peel the onion and select and collect meaningful - qualitative and quantitative data.

A full customer success story consists of the

  • Goals they want to achieve and where they started from

  • Problems they solved and the tasks they completed

  • Content and services they consumed

  • What customers did with your product

  • Results they have achieved

  • Feedback they have given

  • Interactions with you 

  • Feature requests 

While every customer’s success story is unique, each one falls into 1 of a total of 5 different categories.

1. Customer is successful without your help

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