Having quality content on your site is important for your customers, sure. But, what really is going to make your customers convert and trust your business is having examples from your clients about how your business helped them to succeed. Sharing case studies on your site can turn a warm lead into a hot lead and help drive more potential customers to become actual customers. What information and tools do you need in place to craft up a high-quality case study to impress your future customers? Here are 5 tips to help you perfect your case study game.
Outline the problem, the goals, the strategy and the success
Whether you’re an agency or a business trying to show how pleased your customers are, it’s crucial to have a framework in place to highlight your achievements consistently. One process that works well is to outline the problem, explain the goals, give the details of the strategy and then describe the level of success.
The problem – what was the pain point of your customer or client? Why did your customer seek your business out? What were they hoping to solve when they came to you for help?
The goals – so they showed up on your doorstep, or came to your website for help, what were they hoping to achieve? What are their goals? In our case, most of our clients are trying to increase sales or brand awareness. While for some businesses, like a realtor, their customers may be looking to find their dream home within their budget and in a good school district. Goals have to be kept in perspective, as every business and every customer is going to have very unique and individual goals.
The strategy – what was actually done to help your client succeed? What product did your customer buy to help achieve their goals? What actions did you put in place to ensure that your client would be happy with the outcome?
Success – was your strategy a success? Whether or not your client or customer achieved their goals is important, but more importantly, what did you learn from the entire experience. Sometimes, as hard as you try and as much planning you do, you just do not meet your goals. So how can you use that to your advantage? Did you learn something new about your business or your talents that can help your future customers? Be sure to include that in your case study because it shows that you learn from failure and won’t repeat the same mistakes.
Numbers Matter
Were you able to grow your client’s business by 200%? Did your customer enjoy their product or service for 10 years without a problem? It is important to include numbers when writing your case study, this will help potential customers or clients visualize the growth. Pro Tip: include growth figures in the title, it will entice potential customers to read the case study and find out how you succeeded.
Below is a snippet from one of our case studies, we are making it easy to see the success and high-level stats that were most important to our client.
Make it a Story
A case study should be much more than just the numbers. While they are incredibly important, you should work with a copywriter and create a story. When you work with your clients or with your customers, you develop a relationship and that needs to come to life through words. By getting creative, you are able to help your potential customers envision your future relationship.
Include Images
Did you create a website that transformed your client’s business? Or did you find them their dream home? Did you help them create perfect business cards? Show it off! By including visuals of the project, strategy and success, you are allowing your potential customers to visualize their very own success with you. Below is a quick sample of some of the work that we created for our clients. We tried to choose images that were representative of the client and the work that we completed for them.
Make it Accessible
Don’t make it a treasure hunt to find your case studies or success stories. You’ll want to have a section on your website that shows off all of your hard work. Make it easy for potential customers to read how you have elevated other customer’s lives or businesses. Oh yeah, the image above – that can be found right on the homepage of our website!
Conclusion
Crafting up a captivating case study can help transition a warm lead to a really hot lead that is interested in working with your business. You’ve demonstrated that you have the skills and know-how to succeed in the past and can help your future clients or customers do the same. It’s an opportunity to highlight your services, your talents, your products or your team and their capabilities to meet and surpass goals.