Including relevant and valuable content on your website can only help your small business online and offline. Case studies are one form of content that can significantly improve business awareness and increase leads. Here are ways to write an effective case study and its three benefits.
What are Case Studies?
Case studies are in-depth analyses of how a client overcame a problem and eventually achieved success with the help of a business. When reading through a case study, customers will metaphorically walk through a potential conflict another client experienced, and how the service or product provided a solution.
Tips for Writing a Case Study
Don’t Make It All About You
A case study shouldn’t be all about you and your process. Stop incorporating the word “we” so much throughout the copy, as potential clients care less about the motivation of your efforts and more about the results your efforts created.
Tell a Story
Case studies tell a story, beginning with an arc, a few sentences describing the situation, and then concluding with a few sentences speaking to the resolution the product or service provided. The copy should be succinct and tailored to the audience you’re trying to reach.
Use Numbers
When showing an increase in a certain metric it’s important to use the actual number. Real numbers with screenshots to back it up will help support your case study.
Benefits of Including a Case Study
Provides Credible Evidence
As a customer, have you ever been persuaded by an online review of a product or service? Case studies are similar to online reviews while also combining testimonials, data, and persuasive copy. When clients are researching your site, a case study will help provide credible evidence, proving why you’re an expert in the industry they need help with.
Humanizes Your Brand
Every successful case study has a story of obstacles, solutions, and amazing results that came from those solutions. When a narrative combines with hard facts, a reader can become engaged with your business’s story and feel even more inclined to work with you in the future. By establishing a connection with your audience, you are increasing the likelihood of more clients and as a result, more profit.
Boosts SEO
Having engaging and informative case studies on your website will help draw more visitors to your site, helping search engines know that your content is valuable and improving your SEO. In turn, this will boost your ranking on Google. It is recommended that when developing case studies around your target audience, you should include target keywords that relate to those topics.
Case studies have the power to make or break your business’s website. However, if you follow a formula that focuses on storytelling and includes real data, you are already on the right track.