Customer story for Benevolent Tech
Overview
Benevolent Tech is a mission-driven tech consultancy based in the US. They provide team and technology alignment consulting, data optimisation, HubSpot implementation and onboarding, and custom development services to non-profits, education institutions and purpose-led businesses.
The brief
Benevolent Tech wanted a writer to create some customer stories to showcase their successful projects, building trust and helping to attract new clients.
They decided to start with OCEARCH, an ocean impact nonprofit researching Great White Sharks and advocating for their conservation. They had completed a successful HubSpot migration for OCEARCH which had led to a significant increase in email signups, and their marketing lead was very happy with their support, so this was an ideal project to feature.
The target audience was senior marketing professionals at US-based nonprofits that could use their support. The objective was to show potential clients how Benevolent Tech had delivered results and could do the same for them, helping to build trust and move prospects along the customer journey. The customer story would be published on the website and would also be used on Benevolent Tech’s social media channels and in direct communications with potential clients.
Benevolent Tech wanted to publish this story on Earth Day 2025, which meant that we had a very short turnaround time for this project (just over two weeks from kick-off to publication).
We decided to make this a customer story rather than just a case study, because Benevolent Tech really wanted to highlight the human aspect of their work, centre the client and their mission, and engage readers with a story they can relate to.
The customer story: writing techniques
The customer story published on the Benevolent Tech blog.
The customer story follows a simple and clear narrative structure: the introduction hooks readers and introduces the main protagonist of the story, the next section introduces OCEARCH and its mission, and the following sections cover the challenge, what the HubSpot migration project involved, and the results.
I put a lot of creative energy into crafting the introduction, because it is essential to grab the reader’s attention within the first few seconds, so they want to read the rest of the content and don’t just bounce away. Many case studies begin with a factual overview of the company in question, but with this piece, I had the opportunity to take a more creative approach.
An effective formula for beginning a story is to introduce a character, situate them in a time and place, and add some element of tension or surprise — all within the first sentence.
The first sentence of this story does all three:
“In the summer of 2021, on an expedition off the coast of Massachusetts, Avery McAlhany met a Great White Shark for the first time—a 6-foot-5-inch juvenile named Santiago. ”
The character, Avery McAlhany, is the marketing lead of OCEARCH, Benevolent Tech’s client. She is situated in a time and place. Meeting a Great White Shark is certainly surprising, and ‘for the first time’ adds even more intrigue. Adding concrete details of the shark makes this more evocative and believable, and ending with the shark’s name makes the reader even more curious. The shark’s name is hyperlinked to a page on the OCEARCH Shark Tracker app, where you can geolocate this exact individual shark.
The rest of the piece continues with this storytelling approach, using direct journalism-style quotes and focusing on the perspective of Avery (not just OCEARCH as an organisation, but the actual human who is using the marketing tools).
When using the ‘hero’s journey’ concept in marketing content, it’s important to remember that you are not the hero — your customer is the hero, and you are the wise guide. Benevolent Tech understands this intimately.
The piece finishes with a section on the results and outcomes of the project. I used Avery’s quotes to show how the project helped her be more effective and fulfilled, as that human angle is key to Benevolent Tech’s ethos. I then paired this with hard data on the increase in email signups and tied this back to how this would help create more positive impact and contribute to their mission.
The combination of quantifiable results and the personal comments from Avery makes this a very effective way to build trust with potential clients.
My process
We started with a kick-off call with Amy Rose, the CMO of Benevolent Tech where she shared her brief and I asked lots of questions to understand her target audience, brand voice, goals and needs.
I interviewed two sources for this story: Bob Breck, a co-founder of Benevolent Tech who was the lead on the project, and Avery McAlhany, the marketing lead of OCEARCH. These interviews were absolutely critical for creating the story, especially Avery as she shared so many wonderful comments that just wouldn’t have come through in the same way without a one-to-one interview.
During the interview with Avery, I asked her about her best experience working at OCEARCH, and that’s when she told me an amazing anecdote about going on a research ship and meeting Great White Sharks. I used that for the opening line of the story.
After the interview with Avery, I asked her some follow-up questions by email and she graciously provided some extra information as well as photos and data that could be used in the piece.
I worked in Google Docs to draft the content and get live feedback and signoff from both Benevolent Tech and OCEARCH.
Given the tight timeline, I created the outline and started filling in some of the sections before I had interviewed Avery, and Benevolent Tech reviewed that ‘working draft’ to ensure alignment. This meant that only one round of revisions of the full draft was needed. I worked quickly and efficiently and was able to meet the deadline so they could publish on Earth Day.
Initially, Benevolent Tech had wanted to focus the results section on increased donations but unfortunately, OCEARCH didn’t have enough data to show that, so I needed to pivot to focus on email signups instead, while connecting this result to an increased opportunity for fundraising and impact. This ensured the story was credible and data-backed, while still hitting the desired key message and meeting the deadline.
Want to chat about creating customer stories like this to build trust and convert leads in your business?