How To Turn A Company Case Study Into A Customer Story That Resonates

5 MINS READ

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Case studies are informative and contain valuable information that can help demonstrate the value of your product or service. But a company case study is also known to fall flat with prospects. Why? Because they’re not colorful, and rather technical in tone.

And while this “not-so-vibrant” content is great for marketers, it’s not too appealing to prospects who want to know how you can solve their problems and help them move forward. Case studies are meant to inform and educate prospects on how your solution works, but they don’t tell compelling stories that build trust with customers. That’s where customer success stories come in!

To help you, in this blog, we share some tips for converting case studies into customer stories. Read along!

P.S.: Have you taken approval from your client for the company case study already? If not, here’s a case study approval email template to get started.

Steps to Turn A Company Case Study Into A Compelling Customer Story

While case studies are more useful for presentations, having sales conversations, email marketing, etc. converting them to customer stories, and using them on social media, your blog site, or sending them via newsletters is a great way to attract eyeballs. Here are some tips to turn your case studies into customer stories:

Step 1: Humanize your case study

The secret to using a case study effectively is to use it to humanize your solution. Don’t just tell people how you’re using a certain product or service. Go deeper than that and create a story arc that makes your prospects feel a certain way. And have them fall in love with your brand as a result!

Seeing the real faces of your customers and how they interact with your company or product can help to build trust. From focusing on images and visuals to acknowledging the feelings behind the story, there are many ways creative teams can weave stories together that make their customers feel at home, even in unfamiliar surroundings.

Step 2: Add name, date, time, and place

Good storytelling is powerful, and you should use it to your advantage when writing your case studies. Whether you’re telling the story in a brochure, on your website, or on a white paper, telling a story that starts with “Once upon a time” will make your case studies easy to follow.

While the reasons for adding a date and place may seem, pedestrian, they help initiate the story in the brain of your audience. Sure, it’s not quite as elegant as Asimov’s famous line: “One cold afternoon in spring 200 years ago, a young boy named Gregor Samsa awoke to find himself transformed into a giant beetle.”

Step 3: Make your customer the hero, not your brand

Focus on the customer and their journey from challenge to success – the story should be customer-led. When prospects relate to the hero of the story, they want them to triumph over the obstacle and make a positive impact on the brand. Your prospects are looking for that impact – so if your brand becomes the hero, it would just get in the way of your prospect’s success – it becomes an anti-story. Just step out of the room and let your customer tell you how they will use your product or service!

Here’s an example:

Step 4: Define the customer’s challenge

There should be a single theme that links each customer story. This could be the customer’s frustration in being unable to get what they thought. With case studies, the customer’s journey should be told through quotes from them. We’ve seen some clients’ customer journeys in our case studies, but it is important to attribute their own words to help break up the text and mirror real-life customer experiences. You can add what would have happened if they had not used your solution.

Step 5: Use video testimonials, if possible

The purpose of a customer story is to demonstrate the benefits of adding a product or service to your customer’s experience. The best way to do this is through video. Video allows you to tell your business story by sharing experiences with your customers. Studies have shown how video marketing generates an emotional connection with consumers and makes them want to choose one product over another simply because it was featured in a video.

Moreover, videos can be used for more than just customer case studies; they can also be used for marketing and social media purposes.

Step 6: Add emotion

Good stories are always emotional. They make an impact on the reader. But not all stories have the same impact – some leave a lasting impression and become part of that person’s memory for years to come. For instance, you can share how your product or service made a difference in your clients’ lives – it could be anything from giving new jobs to saving money and adding new products, to achieving their milestones.

Everything from how you present them to how long they take to create should be carefully considered when using them as a marketing tool.

Step 7: Conclude with a “Happy ending”

When writing case studies, it’s often best to leave the reader with an idea of what happened after they used your product or service. Did they keep using it? Are they happy with the results? Have they recommended you to their friends? What are their plans for the future?

The more emotional and compelling your story, the better chance you’ll be giving a great customer story that will get shared by everyone!

Final Thoughts

Hopefully, this blog has provided you with some insight into how to turn your case studies into customer stories that resonate and appeal to the emotions of your prospects. Ultimately, you want to get people excited about the benefits your solution offers. So take a page from the movie business and make each of your customer success stories a great tale worth telling.

We will leave you, for the moment with this. I hope all of you will find this post informative, helpful, and encouraging. If you have any questions or need help with marketing your case studies or customer stories, reach out to us at hello@91ninjas.com and we will be prompt to respond!

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