7 Key Strategies for Building Effective Case Studies

Case studies and testimonials are two of the most valuable tools you can utilize to resonate with your customer base. How did your company help the customer resolve a particular issue? Can future prospective customers see themselves in the same situation and see your service as a shining solution?

In this guide, we’ve compiled seven strategies that will allow you to build case studies that yield results.

What’s a Case Study?

Before we launch into our advice, we should first go into more detail on case studies themselves for those who don’t really know what they are or how they work. While podcasts, blog posts, emails, and eBooks all provide value in your marketing strategy, sometimes customers need something that persuades them while in the critical decision stage. They’ve recognized the problem, they’ve recognized that many solutions exist in the market, and now you need to persuade them of one more thing…to choose YOU.

The very best case studies contain real accounts of a previous or current customer’s experience with your product or service. The customer’s problem should be detailed, and then it should explain how your product/service went on to solve all the associated problems. Why continually tell prospective customers how you help when you can have a customer do it on your behalf?

Case studies allow potential customers to hear about your brand from a reliable source — somebody who has been in their position.

Case Study Strategies

1 — Choose the Right Subject

As we’ve already mentioned, the subject should be a relatable individual or business so that those wondering whether or not to choose your service will be persuaded. However, there are some extra requirements to keep in mind:

• Although this may sound obvious, the subject should be happy with your service and be willing to recommend it to anybody.
• Your project with them should have finished; it’s better to say what did happen rather than suggest what should happen in the future.
• Not only should the project have finished, you should have some tangible results that the customer can share with the audience.

With all these in place, you have the foundation for a great case study and you can move on to the next tips in this guide.

2 — Don’t Shy Away from the Details

Another mistake that we see all too frequently is creating case studies that read like a blog post. Case studies offer a chance for potential customers connect with a story, so be sure to tell it. From beginning to end, include the following;

• Information about the customer and what they do
• The goals and needs of the customer
• Any problems they were encountering
• How you solved this problem and met the needs of the customer
• Tangible results of the project

If possible, we also advise adding a follow-up section to the case study which explains the long-term results. If potential customers can see that the results you provide can be enjoyed in the future as well as right now, this may be enough to convince them of your service.

3 — Be Persuasive in Tone

Your tone is incredibly important when writing a case study. You want to make sure that you are carefully choosing how to frame the story. Ultimately, it should highlight the strongest aspects of your work with this particular customer and also provide great quotes from the customers themselves.

To keep you story authentic, also try to avoid over-editing. Once you have the first draft written, don’t feel the need to edit every single sentence otherwise it will start to lose its shape and the reader will think the story has been manufactured. Keep to the point of the story, don’t ever describe your product or service with adjectives, and make the reader feel as though you’re talking to them directly.

If you can get the right tone in your writing, the content should be relatable to the reader and they should start to trust your brand.

4 — Explain the Results Fully

As noted previously, all good case studies will show real numbers and real results your company has achieved with the client. Going one step further than this, the detail should extend to how you achieved these results. Rather than saying ‘we implemented marketing techniques’, explain what marketing techniques you found to be useful and how these affected the strategy.

Did you focus on Facebook? Did you create videos for YouTube? Did you do a combination of things? If you’re willing divulge this information, the reader will think ‘oh, that’s something we can do’. When keeping it all a secret and not really explaining, it sounds generic and does nothing for building trust.

5 — Approach the Subject Professionally

Though we spoke of choosing the right subject, we haven’t really discussed how you should approach them and convince them to accept this role. For us, the best way to start this process is to have a few potential subjects in mind. From here, send some emails out informing them of your case study plans and how you would love to talk about their success with your service.

With a simple phone call, you can explain why you’re creating a case study and what this will entail for them. Let’s not forget, if they accept, this customer will be doing you a huge favor so don’t bring them into the office and interrogate them for two hours. Instead, set up a voice recorder or a specific note-taker and just have a conversation. Even if the conversation goes what you think is ‘off-track’, you might just uncover gold for your case study. Allow the conversation to drift around naturally.

6 — Play with Formats

In recent times, businesses have learned that case studies don’t necessarily have a set formula. While some have found success by telling a story, others have decided to present the information in a Q&A. Direct quotes from the customer have also proven to be a huge hit. Whichever route you choose to go, remember that the text will need to look easy on the eye otherwise the reader will simply click away in a matter of seconds.

You could have the most interesting and well-written case study ever seen, but it won’t get results if it’s presented as one block of text. Instead, use headings, sub-headings, bullet points, underlined text (bold and italicized text too), and correct spacing. While writing, a great tip we found is to think every reader will be pushed for time. If you have this mindset, the content will flow and it allows readers to just skim read whenever necessary.

If possible, we also recommend breaking the text with videos, infographics, images, and other visual media.

7 — Make the Case Study Available

After going to the effort of producing a case study, the least you can do is ensure it has a prime location on your website. You can also share it on social media to ensure that everyone knows you have a high-quality case study worth reading. With a prime location on your website, the case study can get to work and hopefully lead to a boost in conversion you desire.

Bonus Tip — Consider Different Learners

To finish, we believe that considering the different types of learner can be beneficial for businesses. Since some people just cannot sit and take in long pieces of text, even when broken with images and other content, could there be an opportunity to present your case study as a podcast or YouTube video too? By introducing other means of presenting the information, you cover all bases and ensure everybody sees your content.

If you can follow these seven key strategies with your case study, you’ll be on a fast track to new customers.