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Case studies

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Case studies prove your value to potential customers…

What’s the best way to convince someone that you’re up to the job? And how can you demonstrate to potential customers the actual value to their business of your products and services?

Case studies and customer testimonials can give real substance to your words and promises.

Indeed, the more your statements are based in fact – beyond any bold claims you make – the more convincing your messaging will be. Testimonial quotes from happy customers, glowing reviews and case studies all help to establish that credibility.

Better still, case studies also demonstrate the practical reality of implementing your products and services. They shine a light on your solution benefits, your expertise and how you add value.

Say it through the words of others…

The beauty of case studies is that that they provide real-life context. Blog articles enable you to address specific questions. The best ebooks are how-to guides about business challenges. And white papers and reports present a vision for the future.

But case studies are fact-based, historical commentaries on how your customers actually achieved success in the context of their operations.

You can use them to describe how certain features of your products or services translate into tangible customer benefits. You can provide summary financial figures. You can demonstrate operational improvements. You can talk about the impact on customer experience. And much more.

Be the silent hero in your all-important customer’s words…

Up-Word recommends that you create case studies in a format that’s similar to front page news stories:

• Strong headline that includes a statement of value (extra growth, savings, hassle avoided etc)
• Brief intro paragraph with a simple overview of what happened, from the customer’s perspective
• Quote from named person in key role at the client that supports the headline and first paragraph
• Then the remaining details of how you and the client solved their challenge.

This approach means that anyone picking up the case study will be able to learn the most important details by the end of paragraph two. It also makes the client – and their all-important testimonial quote – the focus of the case study.

And yet, because the customer is speaking in glowing terms about you, your business is the hero.

Break the mould – forget tired old case study formats...

Many case studies apply the same rigid, conventional format. They set out some details on the customer first – type of business, turnover and other such details. Then they give some background on the project – what the customer challenge was, how long they struggled for, and so on. And then – finally – they provide the information on what happened and how the project helped the customer’s business.

At Up-Word, we think that’s upside-down. The reader may not even persevere all the way through to the guts of the story. Unfortunately, many sales teams remain doggedly loyal to this format.

Up-Word will always deliver what your business demands. But why not give the reader the essential facts up front? Primarily, they want to know how your solution might help them – how much new growth it might stimulate; how much money they can save; how much more efficiently you can help them operate, and so on.

And what does the reader care, really, about what line of business your other clients are in? By all means, include that information, but towards the end. If someone’s truly interested, they’ll keep reading. Likewise, the details of your customers’ business challenges are best explained by describing how you solved them.

Encourage full client co-operation…

A frequent difficulty in creating compelling case studies is getting your clients to properly commit to them. There are many good reasons why some businesses may not want to go public about their suppliers, much less any of the details of deployment.

So it’s important to impress on your clients how your case study is about making them look good too. It should be the win-win story of how you improved their business together – demonstrating your customer’s great judgment and thirst for innovation.

Indeed, one of the most important things is to get a strong quote from a suitably senior, named person. Without this, your case study will lose a great deal of its impact and quickly become just more bold claims about your business.

Boost your customer’s confidence in case studies…

The process of creating case studies often works best when Up-Word takes the lead. We can conduct interviews with your clients directly via conference call, getting all the key information to write the story.

And because we’re coming to it fresh, we can ask questions that you might not be able to. Also, we know exactly what we’re aiming to produce, so can get to the heart of that quickly, free from unnecessary details.

Moreover, having a third party acting on your behalf can help to smooth the process. It’s no longer you that’s asking your client for glowing praise, but an independent voice asking objectively how your customer has benefitted from working with you.

Schedule a free, no-obligation call …

Have an informal chat about your objectives and find out more about how you can benefit.

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