The classic case study format — problem, solution, outcome — is tried and true and it’s tough to beat. But there are ways that you can make your case studies work harder as part of your digital marketing. Here are a few:
Photo by Kristin Klein
Make Your Client the Star of Your Case Studies
Of course, your case studies need to help prospects understand the value of the product or service you provide. But takes paragraphs — or pages — to say, in effect, “We’re great. See?” isn’t going to convince anyone that that is the case.
Focus instead on your client and you’ll still have ample opportunity to point out what they experienced during the process of working with you, what outcomes they achieved, and what that meant for their business.
The more you can quantify, the better. Nothing speaks louder than dollars and cents. But don’t forget the other issues that may motivate your prospects: risk reduction, increased confidence, being able to cross one more item off the “things to worry about” list.
Measure Successful Meaningfully
While you’ll rarely find any metric of success more meaningful than increased profitability, there are may ways to talk about whatever success you’ve achieved. You should be thinking about things like efficiencies your solution created for the client, cost reductions, improvements in processes, increased ability to forecast outcomes. You should work to align the outcomes you can measure with the issues most important to your clients and prospects.
Focus on the Work You Want to Do
It’s tempting to use the biggest names on your client list when you create case studies, but it’s far smarter focus on the work you want to be doing more of in the future. If those two align, great. If not, drop the big names in favor of the better work.
Don’t Forget the CTA
The CTA — call to action — should encourage prospects to experience the same positive results. This isn’t the time for a hard sell; instead extend a more gracious invitation to them to take advantage of the same opportunity. Depending on what you know about your prospects and when during the buying process they are likely to read case studies, your CTA may invite them to reach out to you or to take a step requiring less commitment.
Either way, a thoughtfully constructed case study should move your prospect closer to a decision about how good a fit you are for their needs.
