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November 2, 2020 Content Chat Recap: How To Craft Customer Case Studies That Win Business

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An integral part of leading a marketing, public relations, or similar communications agency is actively exploring new clients to support the agency’s ongoing business development. To best set your team up for success, you should have customer case studies available in a multitude of forms to address prospective client questions and showcase why your team is best fit to solve their unique needs.

In this #ContentChat, we discuss how to craft customer case studies that win business. Check out the full recap below, where we explore why customer case studies should be part of a company’s content mix, how to identify the right customers to feature in a case study, ways you can incentivize customers for being featured in a case study, and more. If you have more questions after reading this, let us know in the comments so we can help.

Q1: Why should you have customer case studies as part of your content mix?

Your prospective clients want access to non-marketing information and 1:1 purchase recommendations from their peers to help them evaluate which agency or consultant to partner with. Customer case studies (when approached well) can help these prospective customers understand the work you do and the results you’ve driven for companies with similar needs.

Also, customer case studies can add credibility to your business.

Q2: How do you identify the right customers to feature in a case study?

Many companies prioritize big brand names for their case studies, but this is not always the best approach.

Instead of brand recognition, consider the quality of the story you can tell with a customer case study, and pick customers that demonstrate a clear challenge they overcame with specific (and ideally impressive) results.

Create case studies that showcase a range of industry or type of work experience (i.e. social media, long-form content, media relations, etc.)

Align with your customer success and sales teams to identify prospective customers, and ensure you are in good standing with them/there are no reasons you should wait to approach them about a case study.

Keep in mind that approval cycles can take weeks to several months depending on the customer (one reason large brand names may not be the best to prioritize), and you should confirm that your contact has the authority to oversee the case study approvals.

Q3: When and how should you ask a customer if they are willing to be featured in a customer case study?

A successful customer case study requires results, so a brand new customer should not be considered for a case study.

A natural time to ask a customer for a case study is when they renew or when they have reviewed their achievements using your product/service…

Or if you’ve seen them praising your company on social media channels or relevant review sites/discussion boards.

When asking a customer to participate in a case study, have the person at your company with the most personal relationship with the customer make the initial ask.

Erika does not recommend using a template for outreach, because the initial ask should not come across as a marketing pitch.

Q4: Should you provide an incentive to customers who agree to be featured in a case study? If so, what are common incentives you can provide?

Per our poll, the majority of respondents sometimes compensate their customers for participating in a case study.

The goal is to find an arrangement that will work best for your team and your customer. Some potential incentives include access to new features or functions…

Discounted services…

Or payment for any travel costs associated for the interview.

Case studies can be explored during any contract negotiations, and Dan recommends that you do not promise an incentive, but instead surprise the customer afterward in a way to show gratitude.

Q5: What questions should you ask your customer to build out an effective customer case study?

The case study should explore the customer, their challenges, and how your product/service made their life easier and drove results. As such, you should not start by asking “how are you using our product.”

Ask about the interviewee, what their role entails, and general background about the customer company history.

Next, explore what the customer was doing before they had access to your product/service, including any challenges with this setup. Be as specific as possible, including time spent on tasks, associated costs, and potential hurdles in the process.

Ask what other vendors were considered and why the customer chose your brand over the competition.

With this foundation in place, you can now ask how they are using your product and how it has changed their day-to-day work.

Q6: How do you format your customer case study to meet different needs throughout the new business journey?

You should have your case study in multiple formats to best meet the needs of your prospective customers. You should consider video interviews (and include captions wherever you post the video)…

Use video scripts or other conversations to create a blog post…

And use email Q&A to fill out any gaps.

Expanding on the ideas shared by the community, you should have written case studies of various lengths to fulfill any RFP or similar requirements when engaging with a prospective client. Instead of a traditional “bricks of text” document, include headings, subheads, and bullets to make the content more skimmable. Consider having each of your customer interviews exist as a video testimonial (long and short form), written as a blog post and other skimmable written formats of varying degrees of detail, and as a presentation slide or SlideShare.

Q7: What are some common mistakes companies make with their customer case studies?

The common mistakes we see companies make with case studies include: Publishing case studies that are too company-centric instead of focusing on the customer and their unique story…

Highlighting just the solution without discussing the problem…

And only having one version of a case study.

About Alek Irvin

Alek Irvin is a content marketing professional with a rich history in social media management, executive thought leadership development, and media relations. As a consultant at Erika Heald Marketing Consulting, he creates human-focused content and thought leadership platforms that help brand leaders connect and engage with their communities. Alek has worked with a range of startups and Fortune 500 companies across the B2B technology and consumer spaces, including IBM, Dell Technologies, Hitch Works, Emtrain, Integrate, and Frameable. Connect with him on Twitter @AlekIrvin.

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