Use Case Studies to Increase Leads & Conversions

Why should you use case studies?

Case studies are an effective tool to present data and information about products, services, and solutions in a comprehensive and convincing way, making them perfect for increasing conversions.
Case studies demonstrate a story – in this case, a customer success story – which can help build trust, credibility, and engagement with your potential customers. Engaged and confident buyers are more likely to take action, making the use of case studies an effective way of quickly increasing conversions.
Case studies also offer another advantage: they provide context. Rather than advertising the features of your products or services, case studies explain how those features have benefitted other customers. This encourages potential leads to exploring purchasing options further rather than drowning in ‘too much information’ about features!
Case studies allow your customers to see that you stand behind your product or service offering and that it has produced real results for real people, not just theoretical benefits! These sorts of real examples can be incredibly reassuring to a potential client when making a purchase decision.

What makes a great case study:

A great case study shares the before and after snapshots so that potential customers can easily understand the impact of investing with you. It should have specific details about the challenges, scope, and solutions that your product or service has provided. It should also include relevant statistics and specific details about the process that was used for achieving success.
Above all else, it needs to present tangible results from working together. Additionally, case studies demonstrate what makes someone successful, offering readers tangible advice and direction on how to attain similar results. Because of this, case studies are helpful tools for marketing teams looking to bolster their sales figures.
Case studies must be carefully crafted to capture attention and highlight features that show why customers chose this particular solution. When properly constructed, Case Studies can be an effective tool for marketing and sales by showing prospects what success looks like when they use the same product or service.
We suggest that your case study have most if not all of the following points covered:

Business Detail

A compelling case study is based on real businesses with real problems, which makes it relatable. Share the company name, location, logo, and what they do so that a potential client could look them up if they wanted to.

Pain Points

Talk about the problems that your case study business was experiencing, be specific. It is important that you talk about the problems that were being experienced so that you can show how you solved those specific issues. It also makes the case study more relatable to other potential customers who are probably experiencing similar issues!

The Solution Offered

What did solution to their problems did you propose to the case study client? This can include diagrams or step by step flows if they are appropriate. Why did you suggest those actions and what were you hoping the outcome would be in the end?

The Journey

Speak about how you executed your plan, how long did it take, what did you have to change from your plans, what went well, what wasn’t as successful as you’d hoped and what did you do instead?

The Results

How did the plan work out in the end, did it resolve the pain points that the customer came to you with? Can you quantify the result at all with data and statistics? Graphs, pie charts, or other easy to consume graphical data representations are ideal.

The Timeline

How long did the entire project take from start to finish, include a completion date in here to show potential clients this is/was recent work. This means you obviously need to keep producing case studies as you serve more clients!
A Real Testimonial
Get words from the customer and their image if you can so that the potential client can see that you’re talking about real people who are happy to put their name on these statements. These ‘real testimonials’ in context are extremely powerful.
Photos
How can you include images of the work, before, after, and during is ideal, but you can get creative! Nobody wants to read a wall of text about a project – break it up with some relevant images to keep the reader engaged and interested until the end!
Video
If you can get a video of the client giving their testimonial that can really take a case study to the next level and allow you to create something that is extremely engaging for the reader. Videos showing before and after of the work can also be amazing for case studies. If you’re feeling really adventurous you could make the entire case study a video that you can upload to a platform like YouTube for your potential customers to find when they search for your company or service on that site!
Call to Action
As you’re creating this case study to increase conversions you should include a call to action – this doesn’t have to be a ‘buy now’ type of request, you could simply tell a viewer to click a link to learn more or to book a consultation.
Case studies can be extremely effective in converting a problem aware buyer into one who is solution aware and ready to make a purchase – don’t miss the opportunity to tell them how to take the next step towards working with you now that you’ve shown them you can solve the pain they are experiencing.

Where should you show your case studies?

So you’ve created an amazing case study that you’re really proud of – what do you do with it next, where should you post it and how can you use it to get the most value from it? It’s important to create an effective strategy for where you should share your case studies in order to increase their reach.

Website and Funnel pages

You can share the case studies anywhere on your website that you feel it will be appropriate and effective. Some have success stories or case studies pages on their site dedicated exclusively to customer success stories, others will post them on their home page whilst others choose to dedicate articles in their blog to each customer’s success. There really is no right or wrong answer as long as they are easy for your potential customer to find.

Onboarding process

Buyer’s remorse can kick in straight after a client presses the buy button. Sending them to a thank you page with a case study of someone ‘Just like them’ or following up their purchase with an onboarding sequence of emails that highlights past successes could help to re-enforce the decision that they’ve made to purchase your product or service.

Email marketing

Client success stories are great for email marketing, let your list know who you’ve been working with, what their problems were, and how you solved them. If you’re clear about your avatar, the chances are very high that there are people on your email list who are experiencing the exact same problems. You share the entire case study in your newsletter, or you can include a snippet and then point them to your website for the rest which in turn increases your website traffic and might lead them to take another action on your website like signing up for a call or consultation.

Social Media

Platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn allow for immediate interaction with customers so it’s an ideal spot for promoting your company’s achievements. LinkedIn allows you to pin featured posts to your personal and business profiles, case studies are perfect for this.

Conclusion

Sharing case studies through these types of channels is an effective way to reinforce the confidence people have in working with you and demonstrate the power of what you can do for them. It can give you an edge over competitors who lack that evidence or just don’t share it. Make sure to share them wherever possible, they are one of the most powerful way of driving sales conversions for your business.

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