Improve Your Marketing with Compelling Case Studies
Nothing quite sells products and services like a solid recommendation. Skimming reviews has become a necessary prerequisite before purchasing anything. So why not shine a light on the best and brightest reviews of your company? Marketing case studies are just the tool for that.
However, it takes a dose of creativity and high-quality design to make a marketing case study that is more than data and words. You want your case study to uniquely position your business as the hero to your customer’s biggest frustrations in a way that captivates and converts.
Understanding Marketing Case Studies
A marketing case study is a piece of content specifically designed to best represent your product or service as a solution to your ideal customers’ problems. Case studies use actual customer experiences, often backed by data, to demonstrate how your business has delivered proven results.
The rest of your marketing content can shout all day about what you do, but case studies are where real-life examples prove that you walk the walk, not just talk the talk. It pulls back the curtain of your website to give customers a front-row seat to working with you. While case studies can take more time and research, they are multi-functional tools that can help support many aspects of your business.
Why Case Studies Matter
As mentioned, reviews are a big deal and highly valuable in marketing. A shocking 95% of customers check reviews before making a purchase, and more than half will pay more for a product with a better review. Case studies are where you can take a positive customer experience, magnify it, and make it so much more than just a five-star review. You can give insight into the whole story and showcase your unique value proposition in action.
These are just a few of the reasons why a case study should be an essential part of your marketing strategy:
It shows a track record of success.
The more case studies you collect, the more opportunities you have to demonstrate your continued success under various circumstances and in different industries. Using testimonials, data, and results can show the reader how you live up to your promises. You can build trust and improve your brand’s reputation.
Pro Tip: Create case studies for your business's different verticals or within the various industries you serve. A well-rounded catalog of case studies shows your versatility and adaptability.
2. You can use it as an educational tool.
Particularly in tech, it can be hard to explain exactly how your product or service works within the confines of a homepage. A case study can be where you give real-life examples in terms that your customers can understand. It can clarify technical jargon and simplify complex topics.
Pro Tip: You can use case studies internally as well. For example, case studies can help new employees understand the impact and relevance of your products and services.
3. It can improve sales objectives.
Marketing case studies are powerful tools for sales teams and lead generation. They give teams concrete examples to share with prospects so they can feel confident about their decisions. Use them to demonstrate ROI, increase credibility, and address objections.
Case studies can also drive traffic to your website and help you collect leads. They are generally keyword-rich content that can improve organic SEO.
Pro Tip: Use case studies to guide your sales team through their conversations. Case studies can be used to illustrate key points, answer common questions, and demonstrate the buying process.
4. It supports other content marketing objectives.
A high-quality marketing case study can stream fresh content across your entire content strategy. Use it to create supportive blog content or an email marketing series. It can also be a great place to pick up statistics, graphics, or quotes for your social media channels. Take it beyond the page and record videos or podcasts to highlight your results.
Pro Tip: You can also reverse workshop your case study. Have a great podcast interview or video with a customer already created? Transform it! How can you gather supportive details and data to create a powerful case study?
5. It can highlight areas of strength and weakness.
While case studies are meant to focus on the good, they can also uncover areas in need of improvement. As you collect data and customer experiences, identify opportunities for improvement. This could be expanding or focusing on services in a particular niche to improve the quality of service. It could also highlight the characteristics of long-term success and what it takes to replicate it.
Pro Tip: Conducting a variety of cases can help you identify gaps in your offer. Regularly evaluating customer satisfaction and product performance is key to creating relevant and timely case studies.
Building Blocks of a Strong Case Study
The nuts and bolts of your case study are where things really get exciting. A killer case study can cohesively demonstrate your success while also engaging the reader. Even if it happens to be the first time they have come across your company, your case study should be able to stand alone as a representation of your product or service.
How to Start Writing a Case Study
A powerful case study starts with a great title. The title should captivate your reader by highlighting the results achieved during your case study. Naturally, this should tie into their major pain points. Make it relatable and compelling.
From there, share your case study as a thrilling story.
“Set the scene” about where your client was before they came upon your company. Providing background information on their company and industry can help them feel relatable.
Present the problem and obstacles they were facing.
Position your company as the hero to your customers’ biggest frustrations.
Describe your evaluation process and how you created effective solutions.
Using proof like data and customer quotes, show the results of your product or service.
While a case study can feel like an enormous undertaking, you’ll be happy to hear that case studies can be written in as few as 500 words. Most importantly, you present your case study effectively and with the necessary proof to maximize conversions. Focus on creating a case study with dynamic, high-quality graphics, data, and measurable results.
Types and Formatting
Most case studies fall into one of four categories. Your industry, product or service, and marketing goals can help you determine what type of case study will be the most effective.
Problem/Solution: Highlight a problem upfront and outline the solutions you provided. This type of case study is especially useful in demonstrating how your offering operates in real-life scenarios.
Before & After: These are great for showcasing transformative results. Written as a comparison to “life before,” this case study can focus on the tangible benefits of your products or services.
Success Story: Success stories feel especially powerful because they are customer-centric. They often focus on the customer's perspective and are rich with quotes and testimonials. Paired with quantitative data, these case studies can inspire trust and build confidence in your brand.
Interview Case Study: An interview case study also puts your customer’s voice at the forefront, making everything relatable and authentic. Include insights from your own team members to share your team’s perspective and focus the content on the journey and results.
Example Case Study Template
Ready to start writing? This case study template can help you get started building a high-quality case study. We’ve crafted some thought-provoking questions to get your creative juices flowing.
[Compelling Headline]
What is your single most important value proposition?
Share a statistic or evidential proof.
[Supportive Subheading]
Why did it matter?
[Introduction & Background]
Who is your customer and what is their background? Tell their story.
[Challenge]
What challenge were they facing? What did they try previously that was unsuccessful?
[Solution]
How did they find your business? What solutions/opportunities did you see?
[Implementation]
What detailed steps did you take to make a change? How did it affect your customer’s experience?
[Results]
What data metrics can quantify your results? How did you measure success?
[Conclusion]
What are the next steps? What future goals does this customer have and how will you support them?
Throughout your case study, you can include quotes and testimonials from your customers, as well as engaging graphics and imagery. Just because the focus is on the data does not mean that your case study has to be presented without a little pizzazz.
Example Case Studies and Why They Work
These are just a few examples of high-quality case studies that really shine. Each example uses compelling storytelling and quantitative data to prove that their business is worth the investment.
Industry: SaaS
What Works: Google uses infographics and customer quotes to craft an easy read that demonstrates the power behind Google’s data analytics. You don’t have to be a data scientist to understand the impact of what Google and Bayer were able to accomplish together.
HubSpot
Industry: Marketing, CRM SaaS
What Works: HubSpot shares the good stuff with powerful data that quickly captivates your attention. They highlight the main points of their case study with a well-designed synopsis right from the start. HubSpot also uses visual media to share the results of their case study.
Fullstory
Industry: B2B data software
What Works: Fullstory has built a case study library that lives on its website as a testament to thousands of happy customers. Each one is well-designed and supported by customer quotes and backed by data. When dealing with data analysis, businesses need help knowing exactly what they need. These customer-centric case studies help prospective customers see what can be accomplished by using Fullstory’s software.
HelloFresh
Industry: B2C Subscription Food Service
What Works: This case study demonstrates HelloFresh’s ability to listen to its customers, respond to trends, and launch new products, even when it is a risk. HelloFresh has shifted to offer more vegan and vegetarian options in the last 10 years, strongly based on customer data. Even non-vegetarian subscribers often opt for vegetarian meals, so now, 20% of the meals available from HelloFresh are vegan or vegetarian.
Purple Mattress
Industry: Retail
What Works: Purple used data collected from J.D. Power to build their case study. They confidently highlight their positive performance in a 2023 Mattress Satisfaction survey. (Work smarter, not harder!) J.D. Power is a reputable market research firm that thoroughly evaluates all the products and services it reviews. Customers generally trust the findings from their results. Purple performed well in multiple categories, so you can see exactly how they stacked up against the competition.
Bringing It All Together
High-quality case studies can be a catalyst for improving your marketing efforts. You can highlight how you are shaking up your industry, tackling complex problems, or showcasing transformations. Bring your data to life with customer quotes, interviews, and testimonials. All of this comes together to paint a picture of your brand’s impact.
With your case studies in hand, you’ll be able to connect with your audience, build trust, and see more conversions. Now, that’s some powerful content marketing!
Schedule your free 20-minute consultation today to learn how Comma’s dedicated content marketing team can elevate your marketing case studies.