Ever feel like you want to tell people that you know what you’re doing, but need something a liiiiiiiitle more than testimonials.
Enter…case studies!
Case studies are a great tool for helping your audience realize that you are definitely the solution to your problems.
It combines the best parts of storytelling with the cold hard facts.
Here’s how to do it…
Why Write a Case Study
First of all, what is a case study? A case study is a detailed story about someone who used your product or service to achieve a goal.
What is the advantage of a case study over a testimonial?
1. You don’t have to ask people for a testimonial (which can be rough, and let’s face it, people are busy).
2. You get to tell the story and highlight what you want to really focus on.
3. It tells the whole story and relies on cold, hard facts (instead of emotions).
With the prevalence of fake reviews, consumers are getting warier of testimonials. So, case studies are definitely having their moment.
How to Write a Great Case Study
As with most things, start with a catchy headline.
A couple of ideas:
- How [Customer] Went from [Challenge] to [Result]
- How [Customer] [Got Results] In [Time]
Then, introduce your customer, and give some detail about them.
Outline the challenge that they faced or the opportunity that they wanted to take advantage of.
(Notice how you’re not even mentioned yet? Yeah, that’s on purpose! You’re not the hero of this story – your customer is!)
However, if you are a fan of Donald Miller’s StoryBrand, you know this is the point of the story where the hero needs help. The hero needs a guide.
It’s now time for you to be introduced as the handy-dandy guide. Here, you can talk about why your customer chose you. You can outline the approach that you took in helping the customer with their challenge/issue.
Next, is the MOST IMPORTANT part.
TALK ABOUT THE RESULTS.
No one cares about how you do it. All people want to hear about IS THE RESULTS! (Sorry for so many caps…I’m just very excited.)
As much as you can quantify, do that. Numbers are absolute GOLD here!
As much as you can, show actual results from what you did. For example, if you are a sleep consultant, “And now their kid sleeps” is kinda lame.
BUT, “Now Ron and Judy’s son sleeps on a consistent schedule and falls asleep by himself. The family is now less stressed. Instead of rocking little Ethan to sleep, Ron and Judy get some alone time.”
That’s much better. So even if you don’t have any data, be really specific about what the results are and the difference that they made in your customer’s life.
Of course, to do that, you’re going to need to interview your customers to make sure that you really understand what your service or product meant to them.
So that is the case for case studies.
Wondering how to include them in your content calendar? Let’s book a call and chat some more – I’d love to talk all things content.
