Growing a new business presents several challenges, including earning the trust of your prospective customers. While you can simply come out to say that you are the best in the business, it will not make much impact unless you provide solid proof of your claims.
People love to hear successful stories of a similar challenge to theirs and believe that they too can get help. This is what a case study does. This article explains how to write a case study and make it compelling.
What is a Case Study?
A case study highlights a specific challenge that your business can help solve. You can document it in the form of a video, blog post, white paper, etc. Most case studies, especially in a new business, tell the success story of a business-client partnership, highlighting the challenges presented and the results after solving them.
A well-done case study is not emotionally or sentimentally manipulative as it focuses on telling the story while backing it with substantive data. The goal is to show examples of your work that can help retain existing customers and attract new ones.
How to Write a Case Study
Here are some steps to follow when writing a case study.
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Identify the case study's objective
When writing a case study, you must have a specific objective you want to meet. Define who your target audience is and the problem you are trying to solve. You'll also need to determine when the case study will be helpful.
For example, if you plan to launch a certain product to people in a certain region, the case study will wait until the product is launched and then become useful.
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Choose a case to write about
Even as a new business, you have clients who have worked with you so far. But, which one of these cases will create a more compelling story. You may need to consult with other staff and compile a list to help you choose the most suitable candidate.
To make it more relatable, you can contact the selected customers and have an interview with them as they tell their stories.
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Collect raw data on the case
This is where you engage the customers on their experiences before, during, and after working with your company. You'll be able to collect details on the process, including numerical data like how much time it took to get the problem solved.
Interviews will come in handy in this stage as you get to ask specific questions and capture their emotions from their experience with your business.
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Answer the basic questions
Any prospective customer looking at the case study wants to know specific things. SO focus on answering questions that tell who the customer is and why their story relates to other people, the challenges they were trying to solve, how the company helped solve the problem, and the end results.
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Choose an appropriate structure
How you present your case study will determine how much interest a prospective customer will have in it. You can make use of readily available templates to ensure that you cover everything. Basically, ensure that you highlight the problem, show your expertise, and make a promise to deliver.
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Give the case study a human feel
Most case studies, especially those drafted on templates, tend to have no emotion attached to them. Therefore, the best way to compel prospective customers into taking you up on the task is to make sure that they relate to the case study emotionally.
Let it recognise the anxiety, anger, uncertainty, and all other emotions that come with knowing that the problem may not be solved but assure them that your business can solve their problem as it has done to many others.
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