How to Build a Customer Use Case and Improve Ad CTRs

Trent Turner is the Director of Performance Marketing at Eight Sleep. He recently used the Customer Use Case framework he learned from Reforge.com to improve Eight Sleep’s ad positioning and messaging which resulted in a 38% increase in ad CTR.

In this Playbook, we’ll teach you how to use the framework to effortlessly build your own Customer Use Cases, improve your positioning and messaging, and increase CTRs.

But first, what is a Customer Use Case?

A Customer Use Case sums up the customer problem that your product solves for. Once a use case is defined, it can be used to better understand your customers so you can realign your brand’s ad positioning and messaging in order to better resonate with customers. Naturally, when an ad resonates with a customer, their interest is piqued and they are more likely to click through and explore your brand.

Customer Use Case Framework 

The Customer Use Case framework is simple:

Trent created a Customer Use Case Template that you can copy and fill out as you review the Playbook. Copy yours here. 

Let’s walk through each step in greater detail. 

1. Define the Customer Problem and Persona:

• Identify the specific issue your product solves.
• Utilize customer feedback, surveys, and interviews and have ChatGPT analyze the data for you.
• Focus on explaining the problem in the customer's own words.
• Define the target persona including demographic (age, gender, income, etc.) and firmographic data (company size, industry, location, etc.).

2. Analyze the Alternatives:

• Evaluate direct competitors offering similar products.
• Consider indirect competitors like alternative solutions or the status quo.
• Tailor marketing copy to counter competitors.

3. Determine the "Why":

• Identify the unique value proposition of your product.
• Understand the core motivation behind choosing your product (typically this means identifying the personal, financial, or social reasons someone uses your product).
• Highlight differentiators compared to alternatives.

4. Determine the Frequency:

• Assess how often the customer encounters the problem.
• Use the spectrum from daily to yearly to gauge frequency.
• Aim for a frequency that encourages habitual use.

Application Example: DTC Brand (Eight Sleep):

Applying the Framework to Improve Ads:

• Create multiple variations of the Customer Use Case and use your findings to tailor positioning and messaging of each ad for it’s specific Customer Use Case.
• Measure improvements in metrics like click-through-rate (CTR) to gauge effectiveness.
• Continuously refine ad messaging and positioning based on customer use case feedback and iteration.

Here are few examples of Eight Sleep’s whitelisted ads: 

By following these steps, your DTC brand can effectively develop and apply a customer use case framework to enhance it’s marketing strategies and improve CTRs.

Read a more detailed Playbook on Trent’s DTC Marketing Newsletter, and be sure to follow Trent on X and subscribe to his newsletter to learn how he’s approaching performance marketing and growth at Eight Sleep.