The worst interview request isn’t the one your customer rejects.
It’s the one your customer accepts and later refuses to approve for publication.
Among the hundreds of interview requests I’ve witnessed/written, the ones that turned into approved customer stories have one common element.
They provide just enough information to help customers understand and say yes to the commitment.
But what information is “just enough”?
Context, Commitment, Incentive
The goal of your first email is to make it as easy as possible for your customer to determine why they should participate and what’s required of them.
To do this:
Establish context → Explain the commitment → Provide an incentive → Define the next step.
Here are the questions your email should answer:
1. What is your goal for sharing this customer’s story? Why are you doing these stories right now?
This could include things like:
- Showcase our customers’ success
- Illustrate interesting use cases
- Learn from our customers and educate others
- Have an interesting discussion we can share on social media
2. Why is this customer a good fit? How does their story fit in with your goals?
This should be specific (and true) to the interviewee.
Perhaps they achieved some notable level of success or they use your product in an innovative way. Mention that and show them how it’s relevant to why you’re doing these stories.
3. What are the specific elements of this customer’s story that you want to capture?
Give them a preview of what you want to talk about but don’t overload them with details.
4. What is required of the customer to participate?
At a high-level, explain what’s involved in the process.
Again, avoid overloading with detail. You can explain more logistics in a follow-up email or call once the prospect agrees to take the first step.
5. How will participating benefit the customer?
Here are a few ideas:
- Networking: We’ll be sharing your success in sales conversations with people facing similar challenges.
- Self-Promotion: Your success will be featured on our social media channels and in our email newsletters.
- Help Others: This is a chance for you to share your insights to help others facing similar challenges.
Side note: You’ll also want to make it clear that participating won’t hurt the customer. As in, you won’t share any information they don’t want you to. You can do this by making it clear they’ll have a chance to review and approve.
6. What’s next?
The final line of your email should be something like, “Are you interested in exploring this further? Let me know, and I can provide more details.”
Why These Are the Right Questions to Answer
These questions help ensure your initial interview request is:
Optimized for an informed yes
Things go bad when your overly focused on getting the customer to say “yes”.
You end up promising too much or not fully explaining the commitment. So when the process plays out and your customer’s expectations aren’t met, the case study gets stuck in review purgatory.
Easy to digest
Review purgatory can also happen when you over explain the process.
Customers will be overwhelmed and say yes without understanding the commitment. Or they’ll say no because it’s all too much.
Both scenarios suck.
Appealing to self interest
Before committing to something, everyone asks themselves “What’s in it for me?” So answer that question (honestly) and watch your acceptance rates go up.
At the very least, make sure your customer knows they’ll get an opportunity to review the final product.
P.S. I created an AI prompt that handles 80% of the writing for creating interview requests like this. If you’d like a copy of the prompt, you can find a link to it here.
P.P.S. This is one prompt from a library of prompts I’m creating to use AI for crafting customer stories. Follow me on LinkedIn so you don’t miss the next one.