The Frank Sinatra Test says that one big reference is enough to build trust. But I tend to disagree.
Customer success stories are a great way to build credibility for your brand. Clearly communicating how your product has helped solve a real-world problem for a customer makes your offering relatable and tangible to others.
But how many stories do you need to be credible? Should you have many stories or can one big-sized company testimonial do the trick?
Say you have a window cleaning company and you have cleaned the famous pyramid of the Louvre museum in Paris, does this make you credible for any of your customers?
In their book ‘Made to Stick’, Chip & Dan Heath suggest you are.
The book authors refer to this issue as the Frank Sinatra Test. The famous lyrics from the song New York, New York, sung by Old Blue Eyes, say “If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere…”
It’s a principle of credibility: if you have one HUGE example, your audience will assume that you can take care of their needs without question.
But is this true?
Everyone wants to create stories about big-name companies, because successful companies do business with other successful companies, right?
Yet, the problem is that your customers cannot always relate to big companies. They want to recognize themselves in your stories. Especially smaller companies might have completely different needs compared to those big names.
So, instead of continuously chasing that one big name, I would suggest looking for a variety of success stories that align with your goals and audience. Look for variety in geographical spread, industry and company size…
What do you think? Does size matter? Or was Frank Sinatra wrong?