It’s the summer of 1999, and I am having a full-on meltdown at Ritter’s Frozen Custard. Not because my parents said I couldn’t get anything, or because my custard splattered all over the ground. No, I was frozen at the menu.
Do I choose a safe classic like vanilla? A go-to favorite cookies and cream? Or do I try an exciting new flavor like black raspberry chip? I was overwhelmed, unable to choose. Every trip to Ritter’s felt monumental as a kid, a wrong decision meant catastrophe. But that fear caused agony for both me and my parents, and often ending up with vanilla…
Yeah, who would’ve thought I’m seeing the same behavior, albeit less explosive tantrums (well… maybe just as explosive on Linkedin), in software today. It would be understandable considering how much more expensive of a mistake buying the wrong software is than frozen custard.
The search for verified ROI
More than ever, buyers are looking for reassurance that they’re making the right investment, and they want it before you send over the DocuSign.
Between budget cuts, larger buying groups of stakeholders to convince, and never-ending competition, marketers are scrambling to help their sales teams prove their product’s value.
Broad value statements like “easy to use” and “best customer support” are no longer enough. Flashy campaigns get attention, but buyers want to be confident they are buying the right tool. How can sellers bridge that gap?
We’ve been working on ways to help marketers do this through customer evidence—statements or statistics, straight from verified buyers, that prove the value of your product or service.
Today we’re excited to introduce our most requested offering to build buyer confidence and quantifiably prove the value of your product—UserEvidence ROI Studies.
What makes a good ROI study?
UserEvidence ROI Studies take survey data and in-depth interviews with your customers and turn it into demonstrated, quantifiable proof of the value of your product. All verified by a trusted third party partner.
Traditional ROI study offerings cost more than a 3-scoop waffle cone and make you wait longer than the line on a Friday night in July. They also typically only gather data from a small cohort of 3-6 of your best customers, resulting in reports that tout 487% ROI in 3 months and 9.4 million dollars saved over the first year.
We believe that as much as we believe doctors recommend Camels.
Also, what can your other prospective customers do with that information? Not much.
Great ROI studies are verified, realistic, and applicable.
Verified by a third party. Because any marketer could finagle up a stat with their data team that looks amazing, although we know you don’t 😉
Realistic in its findings. We believe realism is best achieved through hearing from more customers. Not just the small group of your favorites. Realism also comes from a believable ROI model built based on actual uses of the product. Your prospects have to believe the ROI is possible or else you’ve wasted your time.
Applicable to your prospects and customers. This goes hand in hand with realism, but directly affects what ROI measures you should pursue. No one can apply a “saved $3 million in the first year” number to their business. Pursuing percentages and improvements that other companies can input their own numbers into makes an ROI study usable across the GTM motion.
UserEvidence ROI Studies seek all three. Let’s talk about how it works in practice.
How UserEvidence ROI Studies work
Our ROI Studies are a 90 day process from start to delivery. In simple terms the process is as follows:
- Meet with the UserEvidence Research team to discuss goals and what ROI means to your business.
- Collect customer data via UserEvidence surveys alongside long-form interviews to verify and quantify claims
- Build an ROI model that fits the feedback from your customers
- Create, design, review, and deliver final report
This is not a black box project. Our customers have full transparency into the model we build and how we got there. We aren’t afraid to challenge each other’s assumptions throughout the process in service of a stronger outcome.
Why work with us?
Verified. Realistic. Applicable. Every UserEvidence ROI Study pursues these three qualities. That in itself creates a stronger, more usable report than typical ROI studies today. But that’s not the only reason why you should work with us.
Usage. We’re not in the business of nickel and diming you for every little way you want to share the findings in your report. We want you to shout it from the rooftops. ROI Studies are priced on a project basis for simplicity. Our citation guidelines make it easy to use your ROI study to its full potential, and we have a lot of ideas to help you do so.
Modern content and design. We’re well aware that 99% of folks aren’t reading full ROI studies. Our goal in these studies is to create something more fitting to your brand (without losing its verified recognition), and one that your marketing team doesn’t feel they need to rewrite from scratch. Our studies are helpful, succinct, and built to show other prospective customers that your solution can work for them too. Let’s be done with drab reports that look like they were printed on a dot matrix printer.
Speed and affordability. 90 days, as mentioned above. Front to back. Same as research content. UserEvidence ROI Studies are available starting on our Advanced plans, which combined with our software still cost less than a typical full Forrester TEI report.
How GTM teams are using ROI Studies
Sales and marketing are now tasked with telling more specific stories, ones that quantify both the pain the prospect is experiencing and the ROI your solution will bring. Our friends at Productboard are using theirs to educate buyers on what success looks like.
Building business cases has become a key part of buyer enablement. UserEvidence ROI Studies provide a model and results to do just that.
“The team has been able to incorporate metrics, customer interviews, SME interviews, etc., which really lends to the credibility of the report as a whole. Our GTM team has been asking for something like this for a while now, and this will definitely exceed their expectations.”
A new era in customer evidence
Trust is hard to build. We’re continuing to build out our offerings as your third-party verified partner to help you do so consistently with buyers. Our goal is to help our customers prove the value of their products, beyond just regular case studies and testimonials. We can’t wait to see how y’all use them to win your markets.
UserEvidence ROI Studies are available starting on our Advanced plans. Current customers can reach out to their Customer Success Manager to discuss adding it to their plan.
