How to get the most out of your case studies
(This originally appeared in my newsletter. Sign up now to get content like this, for free, every two weeks.)
The hardest bit of copywriting is figuring how to articulate your benefits in a way that is both authentic and compelling. It's something that takes a lot of research, hand-wringing and trial and error to get right.
This is why I am such a huge fan of case studies. They do this work for you!
A good case study takes words directly from satisfied customers' mouths, and put them in front of potential customers.
There's really no better way to prove the claims you're making in the rest of your marketing material.
We tend to think of case studies as a static piece of material, like a brochure or a landing page. You produce the case study, then get it in front of people.
But when you do this, you lose some of the power of the case study. That's because while the underlying information is useful for all kinds of customers, the way it's presented needs to change depending on who you're talking to.
So rather than just shove your case study in front of anyone and everyone, you should use it as a master template, and slice bits out of it depending on what you're trying to achieve. Here's how:
Grab the testimonials for early-stage customers
People in the earliest stages of awareness are probably not interested in reading a full, 1000ish word case study, or watching a video. For these people, the testimonial is the key bit of the case study.
So when you're speaking to these people, grab the quotes from your client from a case study, and put them in whatever you're putting in front of these early-stage leads.
For example, if you're running search engine ads, and directing people to a landing page, the testimonial from your case study can serve as proof for the claims you're making on the landing page. But the landing page itself can be more targeted towards the lead's pain points and how you resolve them.
This gives you the ability to get their attention with a relevant message, then use content from the case study to drive that message home.
Use the whole case study in the middle of the funnel
The middle of the funnel describes people who have shown interest in what you have to offer, but aren't yet ready to buy.
Since these people are reasonably engaged, a case study can be perfect for them. You can include long-ish case studies in things like lead nurturing emails to help your leads understand more about what you do and the value you offer.
This is also a great place for video case studies, if you're producing them.
Use the proof points to close the deal
Finally, at the end of the process you have the people who are just about ready to buy, but need an extra push. For these people, proof points from the case study are perfect.
Proof points are the quantitative facts from your case study - things like "reduced average sales cycle from six weeks to two" or "increased conversions by 200%."
These things are really useful in material to support salespeople, such as sales presentations, scripts and brochures.
These give salespeople some concrete talking points to get people across the line. Again, the whole case study is probably overkill at this point; by this stage, your leads just need to be reminded of the core benefits and the value your product or service can add to their life.
It's a source document, not a finished product
If you take one thing from this newsletter, that's it: your case studies are source documents not finished products. To get the most possible value out of them, you need to take the most relevant bits for your audience's stage of awareness, and use those in the other material you're producing.
That's how you make a case study into a useful piece of marketing material for your entire purchase funnel.
Give it a try, and let me know how you get on.
If you like what you just read, you can get content like this delivered straight to your inbox at 6am every second Monday. Sign up now.
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash