Why B2B websites need case studies
B2B case studies are an effective way of demonstrating your brand's expertise and authority in your industry, in fact 88% of B2B marketers believe case studies to be the most compelling type of B2B content marketing.
They can help prove to your potential clients that you can help them. Yet many businesses overlook these powerful tools. Here we will look at several reasons why it is a good idea to include B2B case studies on your website, and how to go about it.
What is a case study?
Case studies have been around since before the internet was invented, but they've taken on a new life in this digital age. A well-crafted case study is a great way to tell your story and show off your products and services to potential clients.
At its core, a case study is a detailed account of how one person or company used your product or service to improve their life in some way. It's like a testimonial on steroids - there's more detail, more information, and more proof that what you do works as advertised.
Building brand credibility and trust, leads to improved conversion rates
B2B websites often have a different set of goals than B2C sites. While the latter are focused on selling products, the former want to build credibility and trust to sell their services/solutions. Case studies are an excellent way to do this. When potential clients come to your site, they're looking for proof that you can do what you say you do. You want them to be able to trust that you have the resources, experience, and expertise necessary to take on the challenges of their business. Case studies provide this type of evidence by sharing stories from real clients who were able to successfully solve their problems with your products or services, and the more case studies about satisfied clients that you have published, the more likely you will be able to convert leads into customers.
For example, Omniscient Digital’s case study about ‘How AppSumo grew organic traffic 843% and revenue from organic traffic 340%', is a good example of how data can be used to demonstrate the value proposition of a product and also show how the client benefited in both the short and long term.
Case studies also give another perspective on how your company operates: what's important to you as an organisation, how you treat customers, and how you solve problems related to your business.
Case studies don’t just provide content for your website, they can also be leveraged across other marketing channels. From social media posts to event collateral to emails, case studies are content that can be used across multiple marketing channels to show off your expertise and engage customers in conversation with you.
How to Write a B2B Case Study
Plan it out
Before you write you need to plan it out: What is the purpose of your case study? How did you help solve the customers problem? What main points do you want to address in your content and why?
Gather information and data
You need to gather information and data that support your claims. You'll want to back up your assertions with facts, figures, statistics, or other data. You can get this information by interviewing your customer, which brings us on to the next point.
Interview the customer
This is where you ask them about their experience with your product, their experience with the customer journey, and of course, how they feel about their business now that they've been using it. The more specific you can get here, the better. You want to understand what specific problems they had before using your product and how your product has helped solve them, ask if they have any stats or data to support this. You also want to know if there are any new challenges since having started using it—and if so, how do these affect them? Finally, ask what their future plans are for using this product or service moving forward (if applicable).
Who is your target audience?
You need to know who you are writing for before you start writing, you may have several different audiences for your business, so consider which group you want to target with this piece of content. Consider: How technical is their industry? What are their pain points? Are they interested in statistics or stories? Answering these will help you to decide on the type of language and format needed for your case study.
Consider the format
It’s important to consider the format of your case study before you start writing. You want to choose a format that works for the subject matter, the audience, and the medium in which it will be delivered. For example:
- Article-based case studies are popular because they're easy to read on websites and in emails. Article-based case studies don’t always have to be heavy on the text, OneAgency’s case study about their rebranding work for client Norfolk Blood Bikes lets the visuals speak for themselves.
- Video-based content can be difficult to produce but if done well can attract an engaged audience and gain greater reach than written content alone. Usually, video case studies are customer centric and less about your brand, messaging app Slack has some great examples of short, interesting video-based customer stories.
- Podcasts have become increasingly popular among B2B companies because listeners are able to consume them whenever they like (as opposed to watching videos) - whether that's during their commute or while working out at the gym.
Industry Examples
Take a look at some industry examples from Infosys, Hubspot and Bigfork, to get some ideas for your own case studies.
Infosys Case Study
Hubspot Case Study
Bigfork Case Study
So that's it. Use case studies to tell a compelling story, target the right people, and collect valuable feedback. It may seem like a daunting task, but with a bit of planning you'll be able to write awesome case studies that get results.
