Client testimonials are an important reassurance to other potential clients that your business is the one to choose. Why are case studies even more important for your business than other marketing tools? The analysis, proof, and targeted case study questions are the real marketing strategy to convince clients and customers of the efficacy of your business.

What Is a Case Study?

Case studies use persuasive storytelling to bring the customers along the journey of the brand. Case studies identify a problem and then explain how the business’ product/service mitigates that problem. Case studies also ask questions to gauge what customers have to say about the business in a good light, that’s marketing for you. Since other customers are inclined toward testimonials, case studies are believable to people and an effective marketing tool.

What Case Studies Achieve

These are a few ways that case studies can help brands and businesses focus their strategies for growth and expansion.

Brand Trust Solidified

If you have willing participants in your case study, and they are quantifying how much your business has helped them, you have already established brand trust. Since case studies center on customers talking about your business, they can be convincing to other customers, and this helps solidify and expand your clientele’s trust in your goods/services.

Instead of you telling your customers the effectiveness of your product/service and the benefit it may bring customers, your customers are doing it for you. Another important outreach of effective case studies is that firms you want to collaborate with may be convinced that your business is worthwhile.

Targeted Sales and Marketing

Case study questions can help identify problem areas with the target market. They aren’t just an effective marketing tool but provide data that helps lead business analysis. Many case studies, through the years of being reviewed and studied by finance, sales, and marketing, ensure that problems are identified by using data and solved. Specific case studies of previous customers who face recurring issues can be mitigated to show your business’ serious attitude toward customers’ experiences.

Case Study Questions to Ask

While preparing a case study to provide the best insight into your business, the golden rule is: Ask the right questions.

The ones we are brainstorming for you are more geared toward providing professional services to client companies, say financial advising.

1. Can you give a brief description of your company? It is much better to rely on the information being provided by the client about their company, rather than banking on the material you saw on the website.
2. How did you first hear about our service? This is an essential question to ask, as you can observe which channels are more effective in bringing you more clients. Whether the client learned about you through publications, advertisements, case studies, and especially word of mouth, this question helps establish your reputation.
3. What problems made you want to consult our services? It is also best to lay down the problem factors that your client is facing so others facing the same issue know you tackled it, and you can have a clear idea to help them with.
4. What trends in your industry made you want to use our product/service? This simple question helps you identify shifting trends in the market.
5. What have you been most impressed with about our services? Here is a golden opportunity for the client to praise you and bring in more clients for you!
6.  Do you have plans to continue using our product? This question establishes that your services aren’t a one-hit-wonder, and can be a constant factor in the clients’ business. This shows that your client isn’t only satisfied with a one-time application, but wants to use your service to foster growth and progress.

Creating a Proper Case Study

When you are working on case studies, the results depend on how well you execute the surveys or questions. These are a few things to keep in mind while creating a case study.

The Right Subject Gives Direction

Don’t even fathom making the cardinal mistake of asking non-consumers case study questions. Clients are smart, and they are able to decipher what’s honest and what’s scripted. Ideally, the subject should be directly or indirectly involved with the service/product your business provides, so that others in the same sector may be convinced.

Tips for choosing the correct subject:

1. Must have availed, liked, and wanted to recommend your business to others
2. Don’t talk about the engagement with your ongoing projects. Choose one that has finished and yielded tangible results.

With the correct subject identified and consulted, you have the foundation for a great case study all set.

It’s All in the Details

A case study is not supposed to be similar to other marketing material, so including all the relevant details is extremely important. The details must look something like this:

1. Who the customer is and what they do.
2. Their goals, needs, and wants.
3. What was the issue preventing them from achieving said goals and needs?
4. How your business solved the problem for them.
5. Presenting data to back up the results. Incorporate the testimonial in its entirety.

Your case study can look all the more tangible if you add long-term results of your products/services, especially if your business has been around for a while. Seeing a future-oriented investment by obtaining your services, customers are more likely to be interested.

Make it Easy on the Eyes

If your case study reads like an impending headache or close-print novel, no one, not even the most loyal customer, is going to read through your case study questions. Utilizing effective formatting elements such as infographics, subheadings, links, images, and the correct text formats is essential. If you want your case study questions to be SEO-optimized, and for customers to easily find sections more relevant to them, only good formatting can achieve these ends.

Add Numbers

Vague claims such as “this product is now selling in double the units it was before,” don’t help testify what you are saying in your case study. Does doubling in units mean it went from 500 to 1,000, or 15,000 to 30,000 in sales? Show customers that growth is quantifiable and tangible, not just vaguely shown.

Show Your Strategies

Simply saying “our advertising tripled the traffic on our client’s website” isn’t enough. What sounds better? Well, things like “our months-long social media advertising campaign, which involved link-building, resulted in immense brand exposure for our clients across many social media sites.”

Easily Found

So you have created a stellar case study with all the right case study questions. What even is the point if it is not easily available? Make it easily accessible through apps such as Microsoft Business Hub or any other ones that you use. Sharing them through Outlook and Amazon Enterprise will get them out to the market you want to reach.

From identifying subjects, to asking the correct questions, with case studies, you can come up with effective strategies to take your brand or business to greater success.