Content Libraries
Part of Buyer-facing sales materials
Building a customer story with verifiable evidence
Build a customer story from approved facts, checked results and permission to share, while keeping context and limits visible.
A customer story should describe a real customer's situation, the work undertaken and a verifiable result. It should give readers enough context to judge whether the example is relevant to them. Establish the evidence and permission to share it before drafting.
Confirm what may be shared
Check who can approve the customer's name, logo, staff comments and project details, and for which audiences or channels. A customer's willingness to discuss a project privately does not itself authorise a public story. Keep the final use within the permission obtained.
Remove personal details that the reader does not need. For Australian organisations covered by the Australian Privacy Principles, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner explains that using or disclosing personal information for a secondary purpose requires an applicable basis.
Consent is one possible basis, not the only one. Approval to name a company and the basis for identifying an individual should be checked separately.
Make a record for each claim
Ask the customer and project owners what happened, then check proposed claims against records. For each claim, note its source, period, method and verifier.
| Story element | Evidence to check | Limit to preserve |
|---|---|---|
| Starting situation | Customer-approved account of the original process | Do not invent a problem. |
| Work undertaken | Project record and customer review | State the actual scope and participants. |
| Result | Agreed measurement or documented observation | Identify what was measured and over what period. |
| Customer comment | Wording approved by the speaker | Do not present a paraphrase as a quotation. |
For a numerical result, check the calculation, denominator, period and baseline definition. Omit a figure that cannot be verified. A customer's reported impression and a measured change are different forms of evidence; label them accordingly.
Verifiable claims vs. unsupported statements
- Claim: 'Improved efficiency by 30% after implementation'Must be supported by documented measurement over defined period
- Claim: 'Customers love our product'Not verifiable without specific feedback or survey data
- Claim: 'Workflow reduced processing time from 5 days to 1 day'Requires baseline definition, period, and method of calculation
Explain the result in context
Describe both the supplier's work and the customer's contribution. Include a process change, staffing change or limited rollout if it materially affects interpretation. A before-and-after difference alone does not establish that one product caused it.
Keep the result within the group and conditions the evidence covers. A result from one team is not an organisation-wide result. A configured workflow is not automatically available to every buyer.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission says it can require businesses to back up claims they make about their products or services. Check that the finished story's overall impression matches its evidence and qualifications.
Australian regulatory expectations for marketing claims
- ACCC requires substantiation of claimsBusinesses must back up performance claims with evidence
- Privacy Principle 6 applies to personal info useDisclosure for secondary purposes needs lawful basis
- Consent is not the only valid basisOther bases include legal obligation or public interest
Give another buyer a useful conclusion
End with what the case can help a reader assess: its starting conditions, work required, observed result and questions to check in their own environment. Avoid promising the same outcome.
Before release, have the customer confirm the facts and permitted use, have relevant internal owners verify product and result claims, and check quotations against approved wording. Record the approved version and any review trigger. Revise or withdraw affected material if permission changes or evidence no longer supports a claim.
