You might have heard a common term “CASE STUDY” during various training sessions – in your course books, from your lecturers, and more. Also, you might have a general idea of what case studies are. But this isn’t enough especially when you’re a management aspirant or a start-up.
So, today we are going to discuss what case studies actually are, why they are important and a few crucial tips to create them.
Case Studies – Definition
Case studies are a powerful marketing tactic that helps businesses tell how valuable their products and services are – through research based facts and evidences.
In simpler words, case studies are real life examples that prove the worth of your brand, products and/or services.
Case studies usually involve the stories of your current customers or clients who have used your products and services and enjoyed satisfactory results.
Case Studies – Significance
It is undeniable that businesses using case studies as their marketing tool are more successful than those who don’t.
Why?
- Case Studies help dig deeper to understand how your services or products have satisfied your current customers. These provide detailed information about your products to your buyers.
- These help your win over new customers based on the facts and figures you present them in the form of compelling stories.
- Case studies are evidences to prove that your products or services are capable enough to serve buyers & satisfy them with desired outcomes.
Also Read: Best way to measure customer satisfaction
Case Studies – Creation Tips
- Determine your ideal customer and create your case study around them. For instance, if your ideal customers are from the automobile industry, create case study around automobile repair, auto parts and accessories.
- Present your story with a beginning and a proper end. Include in your story:
- Who was the customer?
- What they do?
- What was their problem/need?
- How your product/service helped them satisfy their needs or solve their problem.
- Use proper structure and formatting to make your case study more readable. Use good formatting elements like headers, bulleted lists, images, bold and italicised text. Also, make your case study SEO optimised.
- Do not forget to add real numbers in your case studies as these are the most important part. Case studies are research based content hence whatever numbers you retrieve should be added in your case study. But be accurate and clear. Avoid ambiguity.
- Discuss about the strategies you used to achieve a particular goal or fulfil a customer’s need. Talk about what made you decide the strategy for this particular situation and how you implemented it step-by-step.
How to Create a Case Study?
Writing a case study is no less than an art. A case study needs to cover all the necessary details but in a language that caters to the audience’s needs and pain points.
Below-mentioned is the step-by-step process using which you can prepare a case study easily.
Have a look!
1. Know your goal.
Case studies are highly specific pieces of content with the ultimate goal to help a set of audiences. A case study must revolve around particular events or instances where a company/ service provider/business works with a customer to offer the desired results/products. So, the first step is to identify the right set of audiences who will benefit from the case study. Also, you must dig deeper to understand various other aspects of the story that your audience may find appealing enough.
To identify your case study goal, you need to revisit your buyer persona. By studying this buyer persona closely, you will be able to pinpoint their desires, dream solutions, problems, and worst nightmares. Now, think of an instance when you were able to offer 100% client satisfaction by addressing all the issues mentioned above.
The idea is to leverage a relatable customer success story and break it down into the form of a skimmable case study.
2. Be crystal clear about your client/subject.
Choose your subject/client with caution. You want someone who adds to your brand identity and aligns with your core services. Make sure that the customer or subject you choose has a positive name recognition. They must have a great experience with your products or services. Also, they should happily agree to promote your service or product through the case study.
Another crucial point that you must keep in mind is that this client must match your ICP or Ideal Customer Profile. Other potential clients must be able to relate to this customer in terms of current pain points, desires and circumstances.
Customers who belong to the below-mentioned categories will be a good choice for case studies:
- Those who are associated with popular brands and already have established reputations in the market. Highlighting such a client will bring in easy conversions.
- Those who are more than happy to advocate for your service or product and know the plus points and features from the inside out.
- Those who switched to your product/service because of being happy with the previous service provider. Brownie points if they agree to mention where and how your competitor missed the mark.
- Those who can share their experience in terms of tangible results.
Once you finalize the customer or company as your subject, make sure you seek their permission to do so. Some customers and companies have strict policies around promotional materials and official marketing. Get their approvals and permissions in advance in order to avoid any kind of miscommunication or legal issues.
3. Conduct a thorough research and gather necessary data.
All the claims that you are going to make in the case study must be thoroughly backed by solid data. This gives credibility to your case study. Start with collecting data and feedback from your client. The data can include any metrics that the customer was struggling to improve earlier. Or you can discuss enhanced ROI and back it up with valid data.
You must have adequate data about how you helped your customers attain a certain result or how you helped them come out of an unpleasant circumstance. The idea is to show the dream transition in terms of ‘Before’ and ‘After’ pictures.
You must also interview the key stakeholders who have been involved in deployment, purchase decisions, or direct use of the services or products you are going to talk about.
Pro tip: Curate a set of questions beforehand and share the questionnaire with the interviewee so that they can prepare their answers well in advance. Also, avoid asking yes/no questions so that the interviewees provide detailed answers.
4. Zero down upon a specific format.
There are multiple formats to write a compelling case study. However, a few elements stay constant across all the platforms. These are:
- Intriguing headline
- Crisp introduction of the customer/subject.
- Unique challenges faced by the customer
- The solutions you offered to alleviate the problem
- The dream transition
- Solid data to back up your claims
- A compelling Call To Action (CTA)
Also, the format can be completely text-based, consisting of conventional print stories, data-heavy infographics, interactive social media content, website content, professionally shot videos, and so on. The format ultimately depends on the taste and preferences of your ICP.
5. Start writing your case study.
Now that you have all the necessary data and permissions, start with the writing process. Here are a few things that would help you write a great case study.
- Write a clear, crisp and concise story.
- Keep your audience engaged in the case study by sharing necessary details.
- Celebrate your ICP in the case study and make them feel heard and valued.
- Never overload your audience with data. Keep it skimmable.
- Real results such as customer quotes and numbers enhance the credibility.
6. Distribute the case study.
Once you are done writing the case study, you need to focus on distributing the same on relevant platforms. The best places where you can distribute your case studies are on your business website and social media. You can also share your case study in newsletters or as a lead magnet. Your sales teams can also put this case study to best use, especially when aiming for large B2B sales.
Types of Case Study
There are three major types of client case studies in the marketing world:
1. Explanatory case studies
These types of case studies revolve around the impact of a specific service or product on the life of your customer. Explanatory case studies are not first-hand experiences. Rather, they serve as a distant observation and detailed inference.
2. Third-person case studies
This is the kind of case study where you hire subject matter experts to write about the dream transition your client experienced after using your product or service. You gather all the relevant data and write the case study from a third-person perspective, thereby creating an immersive experience for the readers.
3. Implementation case studies
This is the type of case study where you go deeper into the implementation part and cover every minute detail to focus on the product/service implementation part. Readers who are interested in the Whys, Hows and Whys find this type of case studies highly beneficial.
4 Best Examples of Marketing Case Study
1. Chevrolet DTU by Carol H. Williams
This case study leverages the brand name “Chevrolet” like a pro. DTU stands for Discover the Unexpected. The abbreviation sparks curiosity in the potential client’s mind. The images, headings and videos keep the audience glued to the screen. The mixture of headings and subheadings make it an easy read for the potential customers.
2. Better experiences for all by Herman Miller
Herman Miller deals in sleek, classy furniture that is functionality-oriented. They created this case study for a Dubai hospital. The clean user experience and the appealing video at the top grab instant attention. For greater accessibility, this video-based case study has includes closed captioning option.
Also, they have presented a lot of details in just a few crisp paragraphs which enable the potential clients to get a clear idea of Herman Miller’s strategy.
The case study enlists the furniture purchased by the Dubai hospital. Also, they wrapped up the case study with a quote from the client.
3. Hunt Club and Happeo- a tech enabled love story by Happeo
First of all, it looks like a blog post which increases the readability score. The case study begins with a client quote and then comes the compelling headline – “Technology at the forefront of Hunt Club’s Strategy.” This beginning is intriguing enough to spark your curiosity as a tech-driven firm. The case study efficiently manages to portray the value proposition of the software. The best part is that every paragraph in the case study is written in the form of a customer-oriented quote. Towards the end, Happeo subtly enlists the features that served as a game changer for Hunt Club.
4. Acoustic by Genuine
Less is more and Genuine is actually proving this right with this case study. The Acoustic case study is simple and straightforward. They mix in just a couple of short and crisp paragraphs to deliver their message. The case study ends with a quote from Acoustic’s CMO. Also, you will get to see the brilliant results that Genuine brought for them.
The simplicity of this case study enables the audience to focus on the core message of the case study. Also, the stunning visuals and simple yet appealing copy are playing their part so well. Another important point is that the case study actually aligns well with Genuine’s brand identity.
The quantifiable data and simplicity of this case study make it one of the best marketing case studies ever.
To conclude, it can be said that using Case Studies in the right way can help your B2B marketing regime successful.
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