The 5 Big Reasons Why Business Owners Overlook Case
Studies. (Are You Making This Costly Mistake Too?)
Riddle me this…
In a time when prospects are becoming increasingly jaded and immune to sales tactics which worked wonderfully just a few short years ago (yellow highlighter headlines and fake countdown timers, anyone?)…
…and attention is being stretched to breaking point as we’re bombarded daily with eleventy million emails and notifications…
How can you stand out like a bright beacon of authenticity and eye-ball-grabbing focus to your audience?
Well there’s one fundamental piece of powerful persuasion most business owners are neglecting to use in their marketing, which…
- Does the heavy lifting to pre-frame the sale by allowing your prospects to ‘see themselves’ getting success with your program or product (getting buy-in well before buying, in the vein of good marketing ‘making selling superfluous’)
- Neatly sidesteps skepticism, and elegantly overcomes the objections gnawing away at your prospects as they consider whether or not to hit the buy button
- Remains timelessly effective, as other tactics come and go in the blink of an eye…
Yes, I’m talking of course about case studies.
I’ve long been puzzled as to why so many business owners don’t make more use of case studies.
Eccola Media found in their Technology Content Survey Report (2014) that case studies rank as the third most influential content marketing type in the purchase process for small businesses and large enterprises.
But effective case studies aren’t just limited to the data-heavy tech world. They’re also powerful to share in MANY other sectors too, such as e-commerce and coaching. (Brilliant Minds do this…brilliantly…they use executive coaching case studies to showcase success stories of clients in different sectors.)
And so I did some digging to get to the root of this puzzle, because it’s only by understanding what lies behind this apparent oversight, that we can begin to remedy it.
Here are the top FIVE reasons I uncovered
Maybe you can relate….
Reason #1: Not fully appreciating the benefits of case studies
Do good work with clients, then ask for a testimonial. Rinse and repeat.
That’s what business owners are told, but it leaves them missing out on the awesome power of case studies.
Testimonials are great, don’t get me wrong, but they’re often shallow sound-bites which don’t really get into the meat of things in the same way a case study can.
If you’re not using case studies in your business you’re missing out on these benefits…
Create Connection with Your Prospective Clients
A case study focuses on showcasing the specific results a client achieved through your program or product, with the full story of before, during and after, so you can demonstrate the value your clients get. It’s a success story on steroids because the client is the hero (not you, you’re the guide) and the reader can see themselves as the hero too, if the story resonates with their own challenges and hopes.
Better still, if you know the key issues your target audience struggle with, and the typical objections they might have to working with you, case studies can be tailored to specifically address these points. This helps your audience see that you understand them.
Show Don’t Tell
This is marketing 101, but it’s surprising how often it gets forgotten! You can tell someone until you’re blue in the face how great your program is, but it’s far more powerful when you can showcase specific results clients have got from it.
Sometimes it can be hard for people to grasp exactly what you do, and how it might benefit them. Case studies are great to ‘translate’ features and benefits into tangible results, so potential clients can get excited about the types of results they can look forward to as well.
Build Trust and Authority
One of the biggest thoughts running through your prospective client’s minds as they’re weighing up whether to invest in your program or product is “will it work for me?”
Case studies help overcome this by building trust. The reader can clearly see that ‘everyday’ folk just like them are getting results. And because of this you can also show authority in your niche because you have the success stories to back up your claims.
Educate To Transform Skeptical Propects Into Eager Buyers
People will buy when they are ready, and as we know, this can take time and many marketing touches. When you have a bank of case studies to draw on you can use them to continue educating prospects as they progress in their relationship with you.
Whether it’s to highlight particular features, focus on certain benefits, or enlarge on niche-specific outcomes, case studies are an engaging relatable way to keep educating prospects and stay top-of-mind until they’re ready to buy.
“The six to eight touches it takes to qualify a lead are crucial components of the lead nurturing process, allowing marketing the opportunity to educate and inform prospects as they move through each stage in the buying journey” – Salesforce
Reason #2: Not understanding how to do an effective case study
There ARE a lot of moving parts to doing an effective case study, and if you miss any pieces out of the process, just like a soufflé without its well-whisked egg whites, you’ll end up with a disappointing mess which can’t be used.
Here’s the brief version of what you’ll need to do to create a really effective case study…
Step 1: Research the topics you want to cover in the case study
Step 2: Find people to feature (this could be from feedback, reviews or usage of your product)
Step 3: Select the ideal person for each case study you want to create
Step 4: Contact the people you’d like to feature (remember you’ll need a legal release form too)
Step 5: Decide how you want to structure your case study and what framework you want to use, so you know you’ll get all the information you need from the interview
Step 6: Prepare yourself and the subject for the interview (questions, location, whether you’ll be using video and audio recording)
Step 7: Set up and conduct the interview
Step 8: Write your case study, using compelling copywriting to tell the story, highlight the key points, and draw the reader in.
Step 9: Use additional elements as appropriate (e.g. video, audio), and then create all the different marketing assets you’ll use for extra ‘leverage-points’ to make the most of each single case study.
As you can see, it’s a lot more in-depth than ‘can you write me a quick testimonial please?’ But the benefits are well worth it.
Reason #3: Being afraid of giving away too much
The plus-side of a juicy case study is that you can really dig into your client’s success story and take the reader on a hero’s journey. And because it’s an interview process a good interviewer will be able to peel back the layers to get from superficial sound-bites to emotionally compelling deep detail.
The down-side of a juicy case study is that many business owners are scared that too much detail might be revealed.
They worry that competitors might glean inside information. Or that the ‘before and during’ elements of their client’s journey might not portray them in a 100% positive light. (Equally the interviewee might worry the ‘before’ part of their journey might paint them in a negative way too).
A few ways to get around this include:
– Changing specific data results into more experiential and descriptive results, or even anonymize the case study
– Focusing more on the what and why of your solution or the bird’s eye view of the principles, rather than the granular how and specific tactics used, so you’re not sharing your proprietary methodology
– Writing the ‘before and during’ parts of your client’s journey in a positive light, so they’re seen as proactively recognizing and solving their challenge, rather than being a hopeless loser who desperately needed your help (remember the client is the hero of the journey, you’re the guide!)
Remember that not every case study has to show massive wins. A person who is completely new to your programs and products might resonate more with a case study showing a more modest win, because it feels more achievable to them where they currently are, so it’s good to include those too.
Reason #4: Not knowing how to squeeze maximum goodness from case studies
As you can see, creating case studies takes an investment of time and effort, but that’s just the start of the process. What happens after you’re got your case study is where the real results happen. This is why if you’re going to the trouble of doing case studies it’s super important to squeeze maximum goodness out of them!
Here’s a selection of ways you could and should be making them jive in your business, so they continue to give you positive ROI long after the final full stop was added…
- Have a portfolio of case studies on your website (like this one Optinmonster used to showcase how Social Media Examiner added 250,000 email subscribers)
- Use them in different formats across your socials (think of it as snack, lite bite, or fully loaded depending where you’re posting them)
- Add them into your email sequences e.g. your welcome sequence or various conversion sequences
- Use them to do the heavy-lifting on optin pages and sales pages
- Create a case study lead magnet
- Slide them into speaking gigs, and pitch decks
- Go old-school and use them in direct mail campaigns, shock ‘n’ awe packages for prospects, or to share at conferences
- Include them in proposals and sales conversations
- Use them internally to train and inspire your team
As you can see, with a bit of planning and intentional strategy, every single case study you do can be leveraged across your whole business at all the different touch points to improve your lead generation, sales conversions, and lifetime customer value.
In Content Marketing’s report; 2020 B2B Content Marketing: What the Successful Do you can see how case studies can be effective in EVERY stage of business:
Reason #5: Falling prey to the ‘I’m too busy to do case studies’ goblin
Running your own business takes strength of character, tenacity, and time. And quite rightly, your main focus is probably on creating amazing results with the clients who have entrusted themselves to your program or product.
However…(you knew that was coming, right?)…you ALSO owe it to yourself and your business to be your own best client too!
What does that mean?
It’s treating YOUR business with the same care and attention you lavish on your clients. Because without it, your business will struggle, and you won’t be in a position to do your best work with clients anyway. So it becomes a lose-lose situation.
The way to turn it around is to commit some time and focus to work on the ‘big levers’ in your business. And case studies should be right up there in those priorities.
Techvalidate found that 45% of companies take between 1 and 3 months to create a case study. This is why it’s important to bake ‘create case studies’ into your regular marketing activities, and to follow a proven process to do them right, so you get a usable and powerfully persuasive tool to add to your ongoing marketing.
Conclusion
Far from being just another piece of content, case studies are a core pillar of successful marketing and selling, which can be used across all the touch points of your business. They help attract more of your ideal leads and create stronger trust with prospects who are considering working with you. By making the client the hero of the story, you can demonstrate real results, and boost sales conversions by showing clients-to-be how you’ve helped people just like them.
Want to turn YOUR clients’ success stories into more sales?
Contact me today about my Case Study Heroes package, so you can put these powerful persuaders to work 24/7 in your business, without the awkwardness and time-suck of trying to do it yourself.
