Case Studies: How to tell your business story to build trust & emotional investment in your work
Whether you call them case studies, client stories or customer success stories, case studies are the multitasking heroes of evergreen sales and marketing content.
They are incredibly versatile. You can use them at every point in the customer journey - from discovery to nurture, consideration to sales and upsells. They can work in multiple sites on your website, as part of your welcome email sequence, as a pdf sent out before or after sales calls, repurposed as blogs or social media posts - the list is close to endless.
But before we get too deeply into all of that…
What is a case study?
Case studies are used differently in business than in academia (where they’re a common tool in, say, psychology research). For business purposes, they’re used to demonstrate impact and build credibility by showing a specific customer’s experience of working with your organisation. They’re typically structured to show this customer experiencing a challenge and then solving their issues through the intervention of you/your organisation - this might be via using a particular software, or through you coaching them, or via your course, programme or consultancy.
A case study takes one person’s experience and tells it as a story, which makes it easier to digest and remember, engages your emotions as a reader, and makes it possible to picture yourself standing in the shoes of the ‘hero’ of the story. They also typically give some quantitative information too, thus satisfying both aspects of the decision-making process, the emotional element and the logical element.
What is the difference between case studies, client stories and customer success stories?
Some people consider case studies to be likely to include more data and be more quantitative than a qualitative ‘client story’ - but in marketing the terms are usually used interchangeably. So usually there’s no real difference, in terms of format or structure, between what’s described as a case study versus what’s called either a client story or a customer success story. They’re all different terms for the same thing, so you should feel free to use whichever term you think will resonate best with your audience.
Case studies vs. testimonials
A testimonial IS a bit different though. It’s briefer than a case study - in fact, your case study will most likely contain quotes that you can use as testimonials. A testimonial is a first-person verbatim quote giving a straightforward recommendation of your product or service. It doesn’t have the ‘story’ element of a case study - it’s a short review, not an in-depth study that considers lots of different aspects of your product or service. Case studies give much more detail and therefore a more rounded picture of your work (although if you dedicate a whole page to testimonials, they can start to have the same kind of compound effect as an individual case study).
Why should you use case studies as part of your sales and marketing strategies?
Case studies are one of the best possible ways of providing social proof - and thus building trust that you will do what you claim you will do.
What is social proof?
Social proof includes reviews, testimonials and word of mouth recommendations, alongside case studies. It’s effective in marketing, because humans are highly susceptible to the idea of going along with the ‘in-group’ behaviours. We use the endorsements of others, whether we regard them as experts, as celebrities, as friends - or simply as other people who have actually used a product or service that we haven’t experienced ourselves - as a shortcut to help us to decide whether something is worthwhile or not. Robert Cialdini, in his (very influential) book, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, says that “we view a behavior as more correct in a given situation to the degree that we see others performing it”.
Case studies offer reassurance, proof that other people have used a product or service and liked it, which builds trust and as a result of all these factors coming together, they help people make the decision to buy more quickly.
Another reason that some of my clients like case studies is that it’s a way of demonstrating social proof even as a relatively new brand, or for a new product or service. Whereas reviews tend to need a critical mass to generate authority, one really in-depth case study on a brand new service provides social proof even if only that one person has ever used the service. Because a case study allows you to show your process in detail and to showcase a whole range of results, both qualitative and quantitative, the effect is much greater than can come from even a very positive online review.
When people are feeling uncertain and risk averse, they look to others for reassurance that they’re doing the right thing. This is where your case study can come in. It demonstrates in detail, and in a storytelling format that works well for our brains, that someone else has used this service and got great results. This can be what it takes to tip someone over the edge from ‘thinking about it’ to ‘buying’.
What effect do case studies have on consumers’ buying decisions?
In 2024, Brightlocal’s research established that 75% of consumers either ‘always’ or ‘regularly’ read online reviews as part of their buying decision-making process - and, as discussed above, case studies are like reviews on steroids. Most people want to check that others have already had a good experience with whoever they’re planning to work with.
A Demand Gen Report from 2017 found that 78% of B2B buyers view case studies as an important, determining factor in their purchase decision, while a survey of over a thousand people by Dimensional Research found that 90% of buyers who read positive customer success content claimed that it influenced their purchasing decision.
Apart from social proof, why else should you consider using case studies?
Some of the best reasons to use case studies are their versatility, their evergreen nature (a case study from 3 years ago is likely still relevant and persuasive) and their shareable nature - for others, see this piece on the top ten reasons to use case studies in your sales and marketing.
What are all the ways you can use case studies or client stories?
Case studies can be used in inbound marketing and outbound sales, for authority building, in content marketing and podcast interviews. You can use quotes or metrics from case studies as the subject lines for emails, you can include case studies in your client onboarding process - there’s almost no limit to the different ways you can use them.
However, the commonest uses are as social proof on your website (either with a dedicated page and a place in your navigation bar, or scattered across sales pages, your home page, and converted into blog posts); as pdfs sent as follow-ups to sales calls; as part of cold outreach, to immediately increase your credibility; in paid social media ads; or as part of a sales pitch deck or marketing presentation.
Why storytelling works so well to build trust
Storytelling is a big factor in the effectiveness of case studies. Stories are much more memorable and ‘sticky’ than data, so by structuring your case study as a ‘hero’s journey’ where your customer experiences challenges and eventually succeeds in their aims, you’re both appealing to the reader’s emotions and ensuring that the story sticks, in a way that the facts alone probably wouldn’t. Stories work to hold our attention and shape the way we learn, they’re how we connect with and understand one another. They’re a really powerful tool to use to increase the impact of your marketing.
One of the biggest reasons storytelling is so important in sales and marketing is that stories are like engines for generating an emotional response in readers - in fact, if you put someone in an MRI while reading a story, the same parts of their brain light up as would happen if they were experiencing the events of the story in real life. Our brains are continually trying to keep us safe by predicting the future - and stories give us a safe way to experiment with what it might look like to take a particular action. You can see how a case study story is helpful in this context, allowing us to predict what it would feel like to hire a particular consultant, use new software or start volunteering with a charity.
Businesses need to engage their audience’s emotions before they decide to buy
We need at least a little bit of emotional investment to be able to make any form of decision, including buying decisions. Studies of brain-injured patients who have lost the capacity to experience emotions have shown that it’s incredibly hard for them to make decisions that seem both unimportant and not intrinsically emotional, such as the decision to take a particular route home, or to choose a specific kind of sandwich for lunch. It seems that emotional investment unlocks our decision-making capacity - after which we often post-rationalise our decision with facts and figures.
Because stories, such as case studies, allow us to place ourselves in the shoes of the protagonist, they give us an opportunity to emotionally engage with the possibility of working with you. And that emotional engagement means that we’re much more ready to make a decision to buy.
How to choose who to feature in a case study
The most obvious factor is, who has had a really good experience with your product or service? Secondly, out of that pool of people, who is likely to have the time and the willingness to engage with the process - they need to be happy to be interviewed, up for sharing their experiences and ideally happy to share their story without it needing to be anonymised. It’s also worth bearing in mind that in some industries NDAs or just general privacy concerns may rule out some of your options. Depending on the kind of service you offer, you’ll also want to think about whether your potential case study subject might feel vulnerable about sharing their challenges with a wider audience.
And the other thing you need to consider is, out of all the things you do, what do you most want to showcase at the moment?
What questions to ask to generate the right material for your case study
Bear in mind that your interviewee is probably pretty busy, so you want to be able to get through the interview and cover everything you need in around 20-30 minutes. That means doing your prep in advance. Don’t ask questions that you can answer via desk research and make sure you have thought through everything you’ll need to know before you get started.
You might also want to consider sending your interview questions in advance, so that your interviewee feels comfortable, prepped and relaxed - no one likes feeling that they’re going into a situation blind.
Here are the key areas to make sure you include when you draw up your list of questions:
The client/service user’s own background, goals, where they work/what they do/why they needed your service
What their challenge or issue was? Why did they need your help? What else did they consider using?
The solution: what else did they try? Why did they choose you? What was the implementation like?
Results: what have the benefits been? Do they have any measurable data they can share? What was their overall experience like? Would they recommend this service? What’s next for them?
Outside of covering these areas, make sure you really listen to their answers, give them space to talk, ask follow up questions (simple is good here: could you tell me more? And how did that make you feel?) and try to avoid closed (yes/no) questions.
How to structure your case study
The commonest structure is:
Background - who’s being featured? Why did they need your service?
Challenge - more detail on what their issue was, why it was such a problem
Solution - what you offered, how they implemented it, what worked well
Results - these can be both data-driven and emotions-led. What changed? What are they able to do now that they couldn’t do before? And how do they feel about it?
Just because this is the commonest structure, you don’t have to stick to it. Case studies are stories, so you have extra license to be creative! Be sure to include a mixture of narrative information, verbatim quotes, photos, infographics, and links out as relevant.
Which kinds of businesses are case studies most useful for?
The industry niche that uses case studies most consistently seems to be software - because it’s a highly technical industry (so case studies can be used to simplify complex ideas while also humanising a technology that may seem abstract and remote to consumers) in which it can be hard to demonstrate difference from competitors via data alone.
Case studies are also extremely useful for high ticket services - think masterminds, retreats, other large investments - especially in the online world, where customers may feel that they’ve been burned by big promises that came to little in the end.
They’re also particularly useful for consultancy firms that take on complex projects, giving a chance to showcase different elements of the work and its longer term benefits.
Three key takeaways about using case studies:
Case studies leverage the power of stories so that they’re more memorable than other forms of marketing; they engage emotions more readily; and they help to simplify complex ideas.
They’re versatile: they can be used at every stage in the customer journey and can be repurposed as blogs, social media posts, audiograms, referenced in sales pages and your home page, sent out as follow-ups to sales calls, etc., etc.
They build trust and authority with your audience, demonstrating the real value of your work, showcasing your expertise and positioning you as clearly different from your competitors.
Finally: Should I write my own customer case studies or hire an expert?
You absolutely can write your own case studies, following the advice above. It’s a relatively time-consuming process, but it has a great ROI, because of the power, versatility and evergreen nature of client success stories.
However, there are benefits to hiring an expert beyond simply saving time - they will likely be able to repurpose the content more effectively for you into other formats, they are experienced in putting your interviewees at ease and helping the interview flow, knowing which follow-up questions to ask, and understanding how to frame a particular case study to show off your service to the greatest advantage. They should also be able to give you valuable additional insights, such as offering you Voice of Customer data from their interviews.
If you’d like to work with an expert to produce case studies for your own organisation, you can book a consultation with me here to discuss your needs.