Making the Case for Case Studies

Before making a major purchase, most people want to know how the solution has worked for others. Many TV commercials use actual or dramatized versions of people talking about the problems they had and how the product that is for sale solved their issues. But if you don’t have the thousands or millions that are spent on producing commercials and celebrity endorsements, some good case studies can help you communicate the benefits of your product or service!

Your case studies can be a website article, a PDF, in print form, an infographic or a video. The idea is to communicate the tangible results and real benefits of using your products or services. Whether you opt for a written article, an infographic or a video, the “how to write a case study” follows the same six steps:

1) Identify Happy Customers — Make a list of customers who have had a good experience with your product or service. Divide the list into the different kinds of challenges, solutions, customers and results that were achieved. Then start contacting the customers on your list to see if they are willing to be featured in a case study.
Please note, if you pay a customer, or offer them services or products as “payment” to participate in your case study, you are legally required to disclose that in the case study.

2) Create a List of Interview Questions — Include an overview of the company or person who needed your solution. If it’s a company, you’ll want to know what kind of company it is, what industry they serve, how long they’ve been in business, where they’re located, etc. It’s likely you’ll know the answers to many of these questions without asking. Then think of questions that will help detail their challenge. Again, because you provided the solution, you may know some of the answers, but it’s good to ask because their perspective will be different than yours. Next, craft questions that will outline the results. Try to get concrete, measurable results, like percentage of savings, increase in income, reduction in costs, etc. Last, ask questions that could lead to good quotes. For example, you might ask them what they would tell a colleague about why they chose to use your product or service.

3) Interview Your Customers — If you’ve put a lot of thought into your questions, interviewing your customers should be easy. Prior to the interview, send the customer the questions so they can be prepared with their answers. You can do the interview over the phone or in person. Make an audio recording so that you can go back and double-check the info and quotes. If speaking with the customer isn’t an option, you can always have them send their answers back in an email. Obviously, if you are going to create a video case study, you’ll need to do the interview in person or make sure the customer has a video camera or webcam and the right software to record them answering the questions.

4) Write Your Case Study — Now you have all the pieces of the puzzle, and it’s time to put it together. You may want to hire a freelance writer, videographer or graphic designer to professionally produce this part. Follow a formula where you:
• Start with a brief summary of the challenge, solution and results. Just enough to whet the appetite.
• Provide a quick overview of the person or company that is the focus of the case study.
• Describe their challenge.
• Define the solution you provided.
• Outline the results.

5) Get Approvals — Once the case study is the way you want it, you’ll need to get your customer’s approval. We recommend creating a case study approval form that the customer has to sign. Include the copy from the case study, highlight any quotes that are featured in the case study, and describe how/where you intend to use the case study or quotes. There could be some back and forth as the customer ensures that the case study is accurate and that it reflects well on them, too.

6) Promote Your Case Study — Post the case study on your website (and ask the customer to post it on their website, too!), mail it to prospective clients, share links to it on any social networks you use to promote your business, and keep printed copies handy for impromptu meetings and planned presentations. Custom flyers from 123Print would be a great way to get them pre-printed on professional, glossy paper. Use your case studies to overcome customer objections by showing them real-world results that you can recreate for their company.

Do you currently use case studies to advertise your small business? Let us know what has worked well for you. Leave a comment below or on our Google+ page, tweet us, or post something on our 123Print Facebook wall.