6 Reasons Why Your Business Needs Compelling Case Studies Today

Case studies are powerful business tools that can generate leads and convert them into customers. 

Instead of simply talking about a product, case studies allow your business to specifically show how your product or service can be used.

Whether your business sells a physical product or delivers a service, case studies can help you land more customers.

Note: Going forward, so that I’m not overly wordy, when I say “product,” take it as me saying “product or service”.

What is a Case Study in Marketing?

In the business marketing world, case studies are often called customer success stories because they tell the story of a successful partnership between the client and your customer.

You can also think of them as testimonials on steroids because they are much more detailed than testimonials and they also specify proven results.

A well-written case study shows that you understand the pain points and struggles of your customer and that you have a tried and tested solution to address their challenges and optimize growth.

A few examples of case studies are:

• Airstream Generates 78% More Leads at Scale with HubSpot
• How Captar Alunos Doubled its Client Roster with Mailchimp Automations
• 8 Coaches Share The Case Studies They Would Highlight To Show Results 

Many businesses with limited content budgets are hesitant to invest in case studies because of the hard work and long hours required.

But it’s advantageous to have case studies on your website and as part of your marketing strategy because case studies were ranked “very important by” 52% of B2B buyers while evaluating vendors.

And a whopping 91% of online consumers look at product reviews prior to making a purchase.

How many Amazon reviews do you read before deciding on a product? Case studies for your business serve as those Amazon reviews.

While case studies do require an initial investment, they are worthwhile and versatile as you’ll see below.

6 Reasons Why Your Business Needs Compelling Case Studies

So, what are the benefits of creating case studies?

1. To Attract Leads

Case studies can capture your potential clients’ attention because it shows real world examples of how your product helps your customers.

You’re not the one blowing your own horn and announcing to the world that your product is great.

You’re letting your satisfied customers demonstrate how working with you led to their success and that you are qualified to solve their pain points and challenges.

Arm your sales team with customer success stories to help them attract leads and close deals.

2. To Provide Social Proof

Customers want to make the right choice for themselves and their business. They do this by asking for personal recommendations and by reading reviews. They want to see evidence that a product works.

Case studies for your business act as social proof and provide real world examples that your product works by showcasing customer success stories.

As I mentioned above, 91% of online consumers looked at product reviews before purchasing and A DemandGen report found that 78% looked at case studies when researching purchases.

If you don’t provide enough social proof, your website visitors might just click away and never return. 

In addition, case studies let you benefit from the brands of your previous clients. When you mention that you’ve worked with a big name company, your credibility increases in the eyes of potential clients.

3. To Convert Leads to Customers

Case studies can convert leads to customers.

Imagine that you’re a customer who’s trying to decide between two businesses, each of which offers CRM software. One company has a marketing case study that details how it helped a customer increases sales by 50%. The other company has no case study.

Which company would you trust more?

Let’s take another example of a business or life coach. Let’s say you’re deciding on which coach to hire. Both coaches have beautifully designed websites that identifies your specific pain points and both talk about the impressive results they can deliver. And let’s say both have testimonials from happy clients but only one coaching business showcases their customer success stories detailing exactly how their service delivered results.

Which company would you choose?

It’s a highly competitive world out there and the more marketing assets you have in your arsenal, the better your success.

Remember, when a potential client looks at your offerings, they’re constantly thinking, “Does this business really know my struggles? Can they truly and effectively help me?”

By dangling your customers’ positive results in front of your leads, you establish your business’ credibility in your niche and can more easily convert them into customers.

4. To Build Brand Awareness and Brand Authority

Using case studies to showcase customer success statistics and results is an excellent way to establish your brand as a market leader.

By regularly producing insightful, well-written case studies, you’ll demonstrate expertise in your niche.

If you’ve worked with a well-known brand in your industry, highlighting it in your case study also helps build your brand authority. And when you build brand authority, more customers will trust you and want to work with you.

5. To Gain Media Coverage

Case studies can make for great PR stories, especially if you’ve solved a big problem or saved someone a surprising amount of time or money.

You can repurpose your case study into a press release and pitch it to your target media, relevant trade press, and industry websites.

And editors are attracted to customer success stories because it allows them to share tangible, results-oriented stories with their readers who might be experiencing similar challenges.

Case studies are therefore a great resource to start conversations with the media because you are offering something rather than asking for something.

6. To Repurpose as Spinoff Content

Creating a marketing case study may be a large initial investment, but they are also versatile and can be repurposed in many ways.

After publishing a case study, you can then hone in on specific takeaways and use them as a framework for spinoff content.

This spinoff content could take the form of blog posts, newsletters, email marketing, webinars, podcasts, and more.

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Almost any business can benefit from customer success stories – whether nonprofit, B2C, B2B, or B2G – your happy customers are one of your most valuable business assets so you should leverage that.

The more complex and expensive your product is, the more reason to invest in case studies so that you can increase sales, build your brand authority, and drum up media coverage.

Are you using case studies as part of your marketing strategy? If not, you’re letting go of a powerful business tool and the opportunity to create a massive business impact.

Contact me today on how I can help you strategize and create case studies for your business.