Why write a business case study?
Because they’re really effective at converting leads into customers. Here are some of the many benefits of a good case study:
- Build customer loyalty: Not only is this an opportunity to engage with your satisfied customer, but to reaffirm why they chose you and why they should continue to choose you.
- Assist sales: In addition to having case studies posted on your website, salespeople can share them with potential customers in conversations to help them build confidence in the prospect.
- Multi-purpose content: Quotes and data snippets from your case studies make great testimonial tidbits for your the homepage, products/services pages, landing pages, and more. You can also repurpose these into PDFs, videos, blog posts, and infographics.
- Earn trust: Case studies turn positive customer opinions into tangible data that actually proves your value. In fact, it’s among the most trusted content types according to 60% of marketers.
How long should a case study be?
A case study can accomplish what it needs to in a single page. Of course, case study lengths vary by industry; a kitchen remodeling business could probably tell their whole story in pictures while a software invoicing solution, not so much. But here are some guidelines to follow around case study length:
- Most resources tell you that a case study should be 500-1500 words.
- We also encourage you to have a prominent snapshot section of 100 words or less.
- The results and benefits section should take the bulk of the word count.
- Don’t use more words than you need. Let your data, images, and customers quotes do the talking.
What a marketing case study is NOT
A case study is an on-brand, data-driven, objective resource for potential customers to gain confidence in your business. Here is what they are not.
- Case studies are not press releases. Although case studies can be used to accompany new product launches, they are not merely vehicles to talk about new products. In fact, you should make your case studies as evergreen as possible so you can get the most mileage out of them.
- Case studies aren’t advertisements. Bits and pieces of cases studies can be used on landing pages or even in ad copy, but the case study itself should not be an ad. It’s not about roping in a customer or using exciting or embellishing words. It’s about sharing the facts.
- Good case studies are not about your company. They’re about the customer’s journey. Most case studies are bland, instantly forgettable crap because marketers ignore the fact that case studies are stories in the most literal sense. They get preoccupied with things like brand voice or messaging matrices and forget to leverage the narrative form that makes stories so compelling. Or, even worse, they simply can’t stop themselves from harping on about how great their company is, the gravest of sins when case studies are concerned.