‍Video  Interview Method

1. Audit
   1. Audit your best customers and reach out to them using our reach out template below in this blog post. 
   2. Offer an upsell or bonus (new feature, new update, early access) in return for customer interview if needed. 
   3. You should have the case study and logo usage already weaved into your contract at negotiation stage to not have to obtain the approvals retroactively. 
   4. If the client is too nervous about it, ask for a redacted version they would approve or even an anonymised one. They are not ideal but can help in the early days if they are specific enough. 
2. Schedule The Interview
   • . Schedule a 30 minute interview call with customers using Calendly or another calendar scheduling software. 
3. Conduct the interview
   1. You can use Zoom video conferencing
   2. You can use just Zoom audio conferencing - if the prospect is uncomfortable on video
   3. You can use just the telephone and record the call
   4. You can also hire a professional camera crew to visit the office of your customer (this will cost you approx. $2k, but it’s worth it if you can afford it and the customer is willing to help you)
4. Craft The Written Case Study
   1. Take what you learned in the interview and craft a written version in your own words - this version will accompany the video version on your landing pages and ads. Be as detailed as possible - specific metrics, timelines, cause-effect relationships. Insert quotes from the interview to back up your claims.
5. Add The Case Study To Your Website
   • . Update your case study section on your website to include the new case study.
   • You can also use a PDF version in your outreach, follow up emails and other communications. 

Write The Case Study Yourself And Request Approval

In some cases the customer simply doesn’t have the time or the interest to provide you with a full case study interview. If this is the case, you will need to write the case study yourself and use your best guess to determine the impact of your solution on their metrics.

1. Audit what you did for the customer and any communications between yourself and the customer.
2. Craft the before state, what you did and the after state. Craft a rough quote from the customer.
3. Send the draft to your customer to review and comment.
   1. The customer will likely request that you change a few points to increase accuracy. They will also flesh out the quote.
4. Add The Case Study To Your Website
   • . Update your case study section on your website to include the new case study.

Decouple Case Study From Customer Name

Sometimes the customer is unable to provide you with a full case study since you are bound by an NDA. This is common with large enterprise customers and financial service companies.

If this happens, you can request an interview and redact the customer business name and personal name.

Use method 1 steps, but make it clear to the customer that any information that can be used to identify the customer will be redacted.

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Template for reaching out:

Subject: Hey {name} - Quick Interview

Hey {name},

I hope all is well!

I wanted to reach out to see if you are open to doing a 30 minute interview with me via Zoom.

The purpose of this interview is to:

1. Get a deeper understanding of the challenges we have helped you with
2. Get a deeper understanding of the language our customers use to describe their own challenges and circumstances
3. Collect positive feedback (if applicable) used for marketing (we will of course clear everything with you before publishing and you can disclose what you like ex. Quotes or testimonials)
4. Collect feedback that we can use to improve our offer

Please let me know if you are open to this.

We would greatly appreciate it!

Kind Regards,

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Before The Interview Starts:

“Hey [name], great to have you here. How’s it going?

Great. So I don’t want to take too much of your time, but before we start the interview.

I want you to know you can freely talk in this interview. I will send you the edited version before we publish and we can redact anything that you want, so there is no pressure.

Does that work?”

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Let them agree and get comfortable.

“So let’s just quickly recap the before and after state:

You started with us when?

Your previous [metric] was [state 1 metric]?

Your current [metric] was [state 2 metric]?

Okay, great. Let’s get started.”

You are framing the conversion with the previous state and desired state before the interview starts, so the customer stays aligned to the general structure of the interview.

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Interview Questions

1. Tell me a little bit about your business
2. What problems were you trying to solve? What were you trying and what were your frustrations?
3. What solutions did you start looking for? 
4. How did you hear about us? 
5. What were your first impressions of us? 
6. Why did you decide to do business with us? Why did you decide to pull the trigger?
7. What results did you achieve? What areas of your business/life improved and by how much? Why do you think they improved? What was your ROI?
8. What do you think the impact of working with us has been?
9. Describe working with us. In what area did you get the most value? Why do you think that is?
10. How likely are you to recommend us? Why should someone listening take action right now?
11. What can we improve?

“Okay, great. That is fantastic. We will get this edited and we will send this over to you before we publish. Thank you so much!”

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