“Do we have any customers we could tap for a case study?”

Perhaps the question most likely to be met with groans in content planning meetings. Case studies take a lot of work to put together. It’s tricky to track down willing participants. And getting the wheels in motion takes time and effort.

Why go to all the trouble when you have an editorial calendar full of other great content and carefully crafted copy on your sales pages?

Yet where do those self same content creators turn when they need to decide almost anything in their personal life? They pull out their phones, scroll past the carefully crafted copy, and look at the testimonials. They put more trust in the opinions of strangers on the Internet all the time because those reviews reflect the experiences of people who have already paid for a service, used a product, or visited a location.

Helpful reviews talk about what a customer was trying to accomplish. They tell us why they chose the product, and whether it worked. They might mention the ease of setup or use, discuss problems they ran into, and how well the company supported them if issues arose. 

Compelling case studies follow the same beats. But writing a case study is about more than providing your customers with social proof. After all, most B2B sales are more complicated than just persuading one person to click “Add to Cart.” B2B buyers need facts and data presented engagingly at the right points along their purchasing decision.

If it sounds challenging, that’s because it should be. This isn’t a project you can drop into the intern’s lap. This mission critical content format needs to be factual, persuasive, creative, and engaging. If you’re looking at a folder of dry downloadable PDFs, it’s time to take another look.

You need your case studies to work harder and drive behaviour that works for both your business and your customer at each stage of the marketing funnel.

What’s the Point of a Case Study?

A case study is a marketing tool. It drives a desired outcome by providing demonstrable proof of previous success. It offers deep detail on a specific situation and presents a quantifiable result. But that doesn’t mean it needs to be boring.

Case studies tell stories. That gives us scope for creativity while providing the critical context our buyers need when looking to make a purchasing decision. 

The context is essential for B2B settings where the stakes are much higher. Think of it this way: when you’re shopping online for a phone charger, it can be disappointing if it doesn’t live up to the reviews. But you’re probably only out a few pounds. You may even have recourse with the seller to recuperate your loss. 

However, when you’re evaluating a purchase for your business, the investment is far greater. There are also the sunk operational and opportunity costs that come with any change to consider. Case studies provide a bulwark against creeping doubts and worries by demonstrating how others in the same industry have succeeded with a solution in the past.

That said, enabling purchasing decisions is just one way this kind of content is valuable. 

When you’re thinking about making a case study, it’s a good idea to ask yourself: “What’s the point of this case study?”

When Should You Use a Case Study?

Case studies aren’t just bottom-of-funnel content designed to convince and convert. Strong case studies can be effective at every stage of the customer lifecycle. 

For a starting point, we propose a simple customer lifecycle framework below and illustrate how a case study might be helpful at each touchpoint.

Awareness: 

Build brand awareness at this stage of the lifecycle. You should look for ways to let your case studies drive engagement and grow your following on various social media platforms.

Consider market trends and current events. Which of your case studies aligns well with what’s happening out there?

Focus content production on publishing content that is authoritative, helpful, and full of expertise.

Your content marketing efforts might include blog posts and videos. Work in your case studies to show your experience and knowledge. Include practical hints and tips, making sure your client examples feel like a natural inclusion. If it feels shoe-horned in to make a sale, you could lose trust.

Think about lead generation. Give people opportunities to receive more details via email and to stay in touch more easily.

Consideration: 

Now you have their interest (and, hopefully, their email address), your content goals are going to shift. You need to nurture each person’s interests and move them from being leads to firmer prospects.

Try to work out what’s holding them back from picking up the phone or filling out that demo form. Then use different types of content to answer those questions.

Email can be highly effective here, especially if you personalise both the content and delivery. The data you gather from each customer's interactions will help you deliver exactly the right case studies at exactly the right moment.

Consider the different scenarios your customers find themselves in. Identify the best examples you have that provide reassurance and eliminate doubts by highlighting the unique challenges you’ve helped others to solve. Find points of connection - perhaps by industry or business aim - then use marketing automation to match your content delivery to be relevant to each individual’s interests.

Purchase: 

At this stage in the customer journey, it’s time to reach into your account-based marketing toolbox. Outreach at this point needs to be as personal as your tech stack and data allow.

For high-profile, high-value prospects consider creating content that is specifically targeted for an audience of one. Hyper-personalised content allows you to show that you understand the specific challenges this prospect is facing.

Top your message off by highlighting a cracking win for your solution. Creating a case study tailored to that potential customer helps them to envision themselves having the same success. You can then extend an invitation for a call to discuss their needs further.

Beyond: 

Marketers often describe the customer lifecycle as a funnel, but it's beneficial to imagine it as a loop.

Even after the purchase, you must keep your brand top-of-mind for your customers. Outreach here can come as a quick, even informal note that asks the customer how things are going and whether they’re facing any challenges. You can easily achieve this at scale with modern marketing automation platforms.

Peppering your post-sales content calendar with case studies helps to educate your customer on the product they’ve bought, as well as demonstrating how your company provides exemplary service.

Don’t forget that it’s okay to show that things don’t always go 100% right. For some customers, an indication of your ability to solve problems is a powerful persuader. The point here is to show the customer you’ll be there for them in the long run.

What Should Your Case Study Say?

What your case study needs to say depends on when you’re saying it. As a business, you need to think through the function that this piece of content will play in your marketing funnel.

What is its purpose? As we’ve seen, it doesn’t always have to be about sales. Maybe you’re trying to show your creativity, or use your experience to win potential buyers’ trust, or establish your reputation as a thought leader. Maybe you’re trying to entice other businesses to collaborate with you to create a unique product or experience for your shared audience.

For customers, what sets a case study apart from brochures, sell sheets, and simple testimonials is that it’s ultimately a story about someone succeeding. Your story needs to flow so that readers can see themselves in it - and they can’t do that if you’re constantly talking about yourself!

When readers see their own potential success in the story you’re telling, they can become your brand’s champion. Most B2B buyers need to get their colleagues onboard, so help them make your case with other members of the buying committee. 

For example, you might target your case study to talk to the needs of a marketer. However, you know they’ll need to convince the CFO and CTO if they’re going to invest in your solution. Include the facts and figures you’d want to present if you were in that boardroom, and if your story is interesting, you’ll have an advocate on the inside doing the hard part on your behalf.

While there’s no colour-by-numbers formula for a brilliant case study, there are some general things you’ll need to be sure to include:

The Customer:

Without the customer, all you have is another sell sheet. They need to be the hero in this story, so make sure they’re at the center of all your content ideas.

The Problem:

What challenge was your customer facing? The more effectively you articulate this (do keyword research to ensure you use terms your customer understands rather than industry jargon), the better you position yourself as a knowledgeable partner and the more empathy you build. You can also highlight steps the customer took to solve the problem on their own or with a competing product and the outcomes. Customer quotes are powerful here.

The Discovery:

How did your customer come to find your product or solution?

The Solution:

Here’s your chance to cut loose and pitch your product or service. Dig into the relevant features that helped the customer solve the problem you outlined earlier.

This is also an opportunity to highlight what’s involved with implementing your solution.

It’s essential to be honest. If there were bumps in the road, explain what your company or client did to mitigate those problems.

The Results:

Ensure you provide quantifiable data that illustrate your product’s impact on the original challenge. Are they proud that their cost savings or revenue gains allowed them to sponsor a local community initiative? Did implementing your solution open up new markets for them? Include that information.

What does the road ahead look like for the customer? Maybe their success with your solution finally gave them the confidence to open that second location - what a great testimonial quote that would be! Wrap things up with an ace finale and a call to action for your reader.

Again, these are not hard-and-fast rules for what to include, but this framework can help you get rolling until you’ve figured out the formula that works best for your client or for the customer lifecycle stages where you’re trying to incorporate case studies.

How Should You Format Your Case Study?

This one’s pretty simple: make them engaging for your audience. You don’t have to be a graphic designer or professional videographer to get it right, but there are some questions to consider around content formats:

Is it skimmable?

Your customers are busy! Be respectful of their time and attention: make it easy to consume your content.

For documents, that means providing an executive summary and bulleting the key takeaways. On your website and social media posts, that means transforming your case study into snackable bites of content.

Think videos offering a sizzle reel of the best soundbites from customer interviews, or irresistible pull quotes and social captions. Entice people to find out more, perhaps by visiting your site and downloading your full case study.

How will customers access it?

It’s a given that you’ll want your case study available on your website, but make sure you lean into your strengths to tell the story. For instance, if you’re a design firm, maybe the landing page itself can be your case study - Fractl did a great job of this with their case study on their work for Porch. Can you tell the same story using social media-ready video content?

What visuals can you incorporate?

It doesn’t matter how interesting your case study is: no one’s going to read it if it looks like a wall of text. Get creative about serving up your story in formats that suit a range of content preferences. 

Can you condense your big points into a shareable infographic, or piece out your best quotes in a social post with an image carousel?

Always consider whether there’s an opportunity to use video to tell your story (there is). Bring customer testimonials to life with recorded interviews, footage from your site visit, or an animated explainer video.

Remember, too, that you can reuse much of the content you create in other places. You can creatively repurpose bite-size testimonials that help promote a consistent message throughout your other marketing efforts.

What Next?

Case studies are a more potent tool than they get credit for. Used effectively, they can speed up a customer’s movement through your marketing funnel, help you generate engaged leads, and improve customer retention.

Powerful though they may be, case studies must be part of a comprehensive content creation plan to reach their full potential. 

Are you struggling to make an impact with your content strategy? Schedule a chat with 1827 Marketing. Our expert content creators and campaign strategists can help you get back on track.