Have you ever wondered why organisations invest in case studies?

We spend a lot of time creating case studies and have them available to download from our website. This isn’t a coincidence, we make a regular effort to communicate with our customers to produce great case studies. Why?

Because we understand just how valuable case studies are in story telling, to educate our customers, creating credibility and proving the things we claim. Which in turn increases our conversions.

Case studies are vastly under valued, but are wholly effective. They are more effective than brochures and traditional sales collateral. Why? Because everyone loves stories, particularly true stories coming directly from the customers point of view.

People connect with stories, and there’s no better method of storytelling in business than using your customer’s voice in a data-backed case study.

While there is no singular format for an effective case study, most contain similar elements and generally speaking, there are 3 major parts to a case study. Start with the problem, outline the different solutions available, and then detail proven results (financial, operational or both), showcasing your product as the optimal solution for the problem.

5 reasons why you should invest in case studies

Now that you understand the value of case studies, let’s narrow the focus and dive into some of the specific and tangible reasons case studies matter, when it comes to increasing website conversions and directly driving sales.

1. Specific

One of the great things about case studies is that they are very targeted and specific. You should never see a case study (if properly developed) that’s a bit woolly. Case studies should hone in on very specific goals that are related to your product offering. Meaning your case studies will get the attention of your target market.

Example: Our HVP case study highlights how our cloud based telecoms solution (Cloud Talk) helped them save nearly £5,000 and provided them with a free technology upgrade to boot.

2. Positions you as experts

Few things are trusted more than statistics and factual claims, and since case studies are built on the premise of researched conclusions, your decision to publish these documents helps position you as experts in your industry. By regularly producing proven and insightful case studies, you’ll become a thought leader in your niche. Case studies with a well-known organisations or brands in your territories, help you elevate your brand too.

3. Explain how you can help

Case studies detail solutions to problems. While a page on your website tells people in general how your product can help them. A case study does a deep dive and provides real life facts on money saved and business improvements. They are real life situations that have happened and people can picture how they could work for them.

Our case study with accountants Studholme Bell highlights not only the financial saving, but also how we created a secure printing environment and a scanning solution that linked directly into their payroll software. Yes the savings were valuable, but it was the secure printing & scanning solution that was the most important out-comes for them.

4. Proof

Today, customers are more demanding in terms of proof. As social media and the internet have evolved, customers have been given access to additional resources and information. Meaning, customers are far less trusting and invest more in reviews and factual findings.

Studies show nearly 70 percent of consumers look at a product review prior to making a purchase online. And case studies can satisfy this desire for proof by highlighting customer experiences and revealing real life facts and results.

A good example of this is our Christ the King school case study. Schools in particular feel more comfortable doing business with you, if you can show them proof  how your product has helped another school. And (off the back of a well constructed case study) are likely to contact the case study school directly to gain further insights.

5. Spin-off content

Many organisations with limited content budgets are hesitant to invest in case studies because of the cost in time commitment. While case studies certainly require a heftier investment (mainly in time), they’re generally more efficient and produce better results.

Then you have further opportunities with the spin-off content, and you can create blog posts, e-shots, LinkedIn posts, Facebook posts, tweets, newsletters, video features, or podcasts. Think of a case study as research. Once you’ve compiled the research into a document, it’s easy then to spin-off all the other advertising opportunities, which then become very cost effective.

Summary

Case studies can take days, weeks or even months to develop. Depending on the data you’re using, where you’re gathering it from, and how you’re putting it together. Creating a valuable case study is an extremely intensive process.

And the last thing you want to do is waste your effort. So if you do invest in case studies, take the time to do them right and then maximise all your available spin-off advertising opportunities.