Case Studies, Customer Stories Impact Willingness to Pay
This episode might reference ProfitWell and ProfitWell Recur, which following the acquisition by Paddle is now Paddle Studios. Some information may be out of date.
Originally published: August 11th, 2018
We live in a fascinating world where even though our advancement as a society has bred the luxury of individuality, we still want to see ourselves in the others that we want to surround ourselves with, because this gives us comfort and trust in the relationships that we undertake.
At least that’s the theory of case studies and customer stories - “Oh I know Sharon. She uses this product? I guess I can use this product, too”. Can we possibly be that primal though? Maybe.
To test this, we asked customers their willingness to pay for a product without any customer stories or testimonials. We then asked similar customers on a demographic basis their willingness to pay for the same product, but with different levels of customer stories.
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Case Studies and Social Proof
In B2B, simply having a customer ribbon or basic testimonials directionally improved willingness to pay. The variation here is pretty wide, but the upward trend indicates roughly a 5% bump in willingness to pay with that little bit of social proof. This trend becomes meaningful when customers were exposed to a mini-case study or a full case study with willingness to pay gains crossing the 10% threshold and trending even as high as 30%.
B2C showed essentially the same exact trend, with basic social proof coming in a bit lower than B2B and a full case study trending higher than B2B.
Further, the specificity of the case study seems to have a lot of power. Most case studies you read are very “I love the product. It had a good result” whereas others go into incredible detail. That detail pays off, as in B2B specific case studies increase willingness to pay at double the rate of generalized ones. In B2C specific case studies increase willingness to pay at 5x the rate of generalized ones.
Essentially, if we see ourselves or at least have enough context to understand that a product worked for someone similar to ourselves, we trust that the solution being provided will work and are willing to pay for that outcome. After all, we’ve evolved a lot as humans, but our basic characteristics of trusting the known is still something beautiful when it comes to product marketing.
That's all for this week. Want to learn more? Check out our latest episode on NPS and its impact on retention and subscribe to the show to get new episodes.
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You've got the questions,
and we have the data.
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This is the ProfitWell Report.
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Hi, Patrick. Debbie here
from Init Live. I'm curious.
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How do case studies or
customer stories impact
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00:00:15,990 --> 00:00:18,550
We live in a fascinating
world where even though our
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00:00:18,550 --> 00:00:22,530
advancement as a society has
bred the luxury of individuality,
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00:00:22,705 --> 00:00:25,825
we still want to see ourselves
in the others that we want to
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00:00:25,825 --> 00:00:29,265
surround ourselves with because this
gives us comfort and trust
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00:00:29,265 --> 00:00:31,965
in the relationships
that we undertake.
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00:00:31,990 --> 00:00:35,750
Or at least that's the theory of
case studies and customer stories.
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00:00:35,750 --> 00:00:37,990
Oh, I know Susan. She
uses that product.
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I guess I can use
that product too.
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Can we possibly be
that primal though?
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Maybe.
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00:00:44,375 --> 00:00:45,815
To answer Debbie's
great question,
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we designed a pricing
experiment with nearly thirty
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thousand different subscription
consumers across b to b and b
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00:00:50,636 --> 00:00:51,451
to c, and here's what we found.
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00:00:51,451 --> 00:00:53,640
To test this, we asked customers
their willingness to pay for a
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00:00:53,640 --> 00:00:55,860
product without any customer
stories or testimonials.
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00:00:59,515 --> 00:01:02,315
We then ask similar customers
on a demographic basis,
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00:01:02,315 --> 00:01:04,875
their willingness to pay for
the same product but with
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00:01:04,875 --> 00:01:07,150
different levels of
customer stories.
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00:01:07,150 --> 00:01:10,990
In b to b, simply having
a customer ribbon or basic
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00:01:10,990 --> 00:01:14,325
testimonials directionally
improved willingness to pay.
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00:01:14,325 --> 00:01:17,445
The variation here is pretty
wide but the upward trend
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00:01:17,445 --> 00:01:20,165
indicates roughly a five
percent bump in willingness to
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00:01:20,165 --> 00:01:23,230
pay with that little
bit of social proof.
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00:01:23,230 --> 00:01:25,870
The trend becomes meaningful
when customers were exposed to
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00:01:25,870 --> 00:01:28,990
a mini case study or a full
case study with willingness to
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00:01:28,990 --> 00:01:31,950
pay gains crossing the ten
percent threshold and trending
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00:01:31,950 --> 00:01:34,125
even as high as thirty percent.
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00:01:34,125 --> 00:01:38,125
B to c showed essentially the
same exact trend with basic
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00:01:38,125 --> 00:01:41,370
social proof coming in a bit lower
than b to b and a full
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case study trending
higher than b to b.
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Further, the specificity of the case
study seem to have a lot of power.
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00:01:48,495 --> 00:01:51,855
Most case studies you read are
very, quote, I love the product.
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00:01:51,855 --> 00:01:53,375
It had a good result.
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Whereas others get
into incredible detail.
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The detail pays
off as in b to b,
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specific case studies increase
willingness to pay at double
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the rate of generalized ones.
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In b to c,
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00:02:04,150 --> 00:02:06,345
specific case studies increase
willingness to pay at five x
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00:02:09,425 --> 00:02:13,425
Essentially, if we see ourselves
or at least have enough context to
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00:02:13,425 --> 00:02:17,090
understand that a product worked
for someone similar to ourselves,
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00:02:17,090 --> 00:02:20,210
we trust that the solutions
being provided will work and
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00:02:20,210 --> 00:02:22,205
are willing to pay
for that outcome.
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00:02:22,205 --> 00:02:25,725
After all, we've evolved a lot as
humans but our basic characteristics
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00:02:25,725 --> 00:02:28,685
of trusting the known is still
something beautiful when it
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00:02:28,685 --> 00:02:30,200
comes to product marketing.
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Well, that's all for now.
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If you have a question,
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shoot me an email or video to
p c at profit well dot com.
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Let's also thank Debbie from
In It Live for sparking this
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research by clicking the link below
to share and give her a shout out.
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We'll see you next week.
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This week's episode is brought
to you by ProfitWell Retain.
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Radically reduce your delinquent
churn and stop losing revenue.
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ProfitWell dot com slash retain.
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