At a Glance
Gainsight's three-person customer marketing team was drowning in manual work and waiting weeks for case study drafts, fielding constant requests for customer proof, and spending way too much time on spreadsheets instead of building relationships. By implementing Peerbound's AI-powered platform, they cut case study production time from 90 days to 42 days (a 53% improvement), cut $1,500 in production costs per case study, and achieved a 70% open rate on automated proof emails to sales reps.
The Challenge: Why Customer Proof Was Hard to Find and Make Accessible
Melanie Paddock and her team of three manage everything customer advocacy at Gainsight, including case studies, video testimonials, reference matching, awards programs, and the Gainstars customer recognition program. But the traditional process was slowing down their momentum.
Case studies took forever. "We used to send case study interviews to a writer and it would take up to three weeks to get that initial draft back," Melanie explained. By the time content made it through the full cycle (writer, product marketing review, back to writer for tone adjustments, customer approval) 90 days had passed. Stories lost their relevance.
Customer proof was scattered everywhere. Sales reps and CSMs needed customer quotes and testimonials but had no easy way to find them. "Content was everywhere and hard to consolidate and find," Melanie noted. This meant the customer marketing team became a bottleneck, fielding constant Slack messages and email requests.
The team wanted to do more strategic work but spent most of their time on repetitive tasks. "We wanted Peerbound to be a repository for customer proof. I'm so excited not to be the bottleneck holding onto all this content and quotes anymore, and I want to be able to find, facilitate, and disperse it," Melanie shared.
The Solution: AI That Amplifies the Team's Impact
Gainsight implemented Peerbound to automate repetitive tasks and make the impossible possible. The platform enabled the team to give access to real-time customer proof across the entire organization, while freeing up capacity for what actually matters: building relationships with advocates.
90-second case study drafts. "Now, as soon as we do the customer interview, I go into Peerbound and I get that initial draft within 90 seconds," Melanie explained. AI handles the heavy lift of creating a first draft, so writers can focus on tone and voice instead of starting from scratch.
One place for all customer proof. The platform became the single source of truth for testimonials, quotes, and stories. "We've made it easy to find all of that content in one place and you can now ask for specific custom proof directly in the Slack app, which has become one of the most utilized channels at Gainsight," Melanie noted.
Proof emails that sales actually opens. Peerbound listens to sales calls, finds similar customer stories, and automatically sends relevant proof to reps. "Adoption has been absolutely incredible. We have seen around a 70% open rate on the emails and Sales leadership has asked that all reps are enrolled," Melanie shared.
The Results: Faster Content, Real Savings, Bigger Impact
53% faster case studies. "With our new case study process, we pull the AI-generated draft from Peerbound that goes to the PMMs to mark up, then to a writer for tone, then back to the PMM, and lastly up on the site. From start to finish, the new process takes 42 days; previously, it was taking up to 90. That's huge."
The acceleration happened at every step. "Because the draft is delivered the same day as the interview, it's top of mind for the PMMs and I'm seeing three-day faster turnaround times from the PMMs on the initial review for the story. It also takes less time for the writer because the bones are already there and they're just checking it for tone and voice." The speed gains have allowed Gainsight to increase case study output from 31 to 40 a year.
$60,000 in annual cost savings. The efficiency gains go beyond time saved. "By partnering with Peerbound, we were able to cut the 2-3 week process of drafting a case study through a contract writer, which saved us $1,500 per case study. And with up to 40 case studies created per year, the savings are substantial."
70% proof email open rate. Sales reps are actually using the automated proof emails, which validates the entire approach. Sales leadership even proactively made sure all their reps were enrolled, a clear sign the content was hitting the mark.
More time for strategy. "AI is making my job more streamlined. I'm able to focus on more important things, like building strategy and taking existing programs to the next level," Melanie shared. Instead of being stuck in spreadsheets and chasing down content, the team can focus on what they were hired to do.
How to use AI to Amplify Relationships, Not Replace Them
Here's what Melanie wants other customer marketers to know: AI isn't the enemy. "I am not scared about AI because in our jobs with advocacy and building customer advocates, it is all about relationships. If you talk to a group of our Gainstars, they're not there for the AI bot, they are there for the people and for the connection."
The key is using AI to eliminate tedious tasks and deliver insights that were not accessible before. "How I use AI and how I visualize AI helping is taking away the repetitive tasks that used to take up so much of my day, and streamlining things like the case study process. So instead of a draft in weeks, we get it within ninety seconds."
Her advice? "I think all customer marketers should lean into AI and really see how you can best use it to take away the mundane parts of your job, the spreadsheets, the stuff that's not as fun as being in front of people and doing human connection."
The results speak for themselves. "It's a night and day difference," Melanie noted when comparing the new approach to previous solutions.
About Gainsight
Gainsight is a complete customer retention platform bringing human, digital, and agentic programs together to help companies retain and grow their best customers.
Want to learn more about managing your customer proof? Check out our 2026 Guide for B2B SaaS Marketers.
