I’m a huge fan of customer success stories having built them on EuroVPS and GrowthMentor.

What used to stress me out was deciding what questions to ask.

If you’re in the “what questions should I ask my customers” phase, Ill be sharing my “go-to” questions for creating compelling customer success stories (that actually convert).

Here are my favorite customer success story interview questions

Feel free to swipe them!

🏁

Tell us about what you are currently working on

Why ask this question:

  • It’s easier to “break the ice” and start answering the questions if the first one’s about them, which is why I like starting with this question. Ask the question that will lead to the easiest “yes” first.
  • People trust people they relate to.

Before {{company/product/service}}, where did you turn to for {{need you solve}}?

Why ask this question:

  • Put your customer in a time machine. Get them to remember how life used to be before you came into their lives.
  • Great question for uncovering purchase prompts. What was going on in their lives’ that got them thinking about a solution?

What alternatives to {{company/product/service}}were you considering?

Why ask this question:

  • Chances are the person reading this might be comparing you to a similar alternative. They’ll instantly know they’re not in the wrong place.
  • Side benefit is that you’ll discover indirect competitors (for example, paper and pen) you might not have thought of before.

Why did you choose {{company/product/service}} over the alternatives?

Why ask this question:

  • You’ll extract the factors that pushed them over the edge to choose you over alternatives. This data = gold.
  • If you have “alternatives to” landing pages on your site, you can swipe the best bits of these answers to punch-up the copy.

What was your first experience using {{company/product/service}} like?

Why ask this question:

  • If you’re asking this customer to write a story, we’re assuming they’re power users or evangelists. Chances are high their “aha moment” hit hard. Getting customers to describe the scene around their first “aha” moment is priceless.

What do you enjoy most about using {{company/product/service}}?

Why ask this question:

  • Because we want to know which product features to double down our product marketing efforts on..
  • These answers can be used as testimonials snippets on product and feature pages.

Any {{company/product/service}} experience stick out in your mind as being top notch?

Why ask this question:

  • Stories > opinions.

Based on your experiences using {{company/product/service}}, do you have any results to tell us about?

Why ask this question:

  • Extracts quantitative proof of value. e.g. My conversion rate increased by 32% after 6 weeks
  • Extracts qualitative proof of value. e.g. My anxiety decreased and I was able to focus better which led to me writing better content.

What were the biggest anxieties, uncertainties, or doubts you had about {{company/product/service}} when signing up?

Why ask this question:

  • Other people will 100% have similar anxieties. Preload them in a positive context and they’ll be neutralized.

What would you say to somebody who’s on the fence about signing up?

Why ask this question:

  • Your customers can sell your product better than you can. Give them a chance to do it for you.

What are you going to use {{company/product/service}} for next?

Why ask this question:

  • To show that you’re future-proof.

What three adjectives would you use to describe {{company/product/service}}?

Why ask this question:

  • Professional? Cool? Reliable? Generous? How are you perceived in the eyes of your customers? You can use this to inform your branding.

How would you summarize {{company/product/service}} in one sentence?

Why ask this question:

  • A good alternative to the question above.

Some examples

Check out these questions in action on the customer stories listed below.

Hope this gave you some ideas!

You can learn more customer success marketing initiatives in this 5-min post.