Case Studies
Using a new supplier can be risky: case studies and testimonials can considerably reduce this perceived risk for new customers.
When a potential customer is making a decision whether to use your organisation's services or not, he will take a number of criteria into account. Price is an important factor, but what price can you put on a trusted and experienced supplier who has a demonstrable track record of delivering exactly what you are after?
As a prospective supplier, you can rant on about how good you are until you are blue in the face with PowerPoint presentations and glossy brochures, however, case studies and testimonials are two of the most powerful tools you can use to convince a new customer that you can actually do what you say you can.
Case studies combined with testimonials provide a unique way of demonstrating your skills and services. For example, if you want to target prospects in a particular market space where you have several other clients, it is likely that they will have similar needs. If you can demonstrate an example of how you worked with a similar organisation using a high level of relevance to the prospective customer's own requirements, then this usually provides the reassurance and comfort factor that will tip the balance in your favour.
Case studies are very cost effective. It's relatively low cost to produce a case study; usually involving a couple of days of time (from someone like me!). This normally involves a few interviews with relevant parties such as the project / sales team involved in the implementation and if required with the end client themselves. The case study is then drafted, and any approval processes you require adhered to.
The format of a case study can vary depending on your needs, but usually takes the following typical structure
- Description of customer
- Description of your organisation
- Issues facing customer before engagement
- Supplier selection criteria - i.e. why were you chosen?
- Method of engagement
- Problems solved and methodology
- Benefits since engagement
- Future of partnership
Once your case study has been approved, you have a number of options as to its use. You can publish it on your web site; use it in email marketing as a click through incentive; print for use as a corporate insert / flyer; as a direct mail campaign; disseminate to relevant industry publications for some free publicity; on-stand at exhibitions etc. As a cost effective marketing tool, a decent case study will certainly give you a lot of mileage.
Example of a case study project
One of my clients, a large distributor, had been struggling to collate and write up about ten case studies themselves. Given the raw information and their customer's contact details, I researched the various solutions, contacted all relevant parties for further information, and successfully produced ten end user case studies to a consistent format within a period of two weeks.
My client made very few changes to the case studies produced, and was successfully able to use them for sales promotion and service endorsement.
If you would like to find out more about producing a case study for your organisation, give me a call on 07769 687095. For more information about my other copywriting services, click here.
