You’re making one of the most basic B2B case study mistakes: you’re not the protagonist

Of all the B2B case study mistakes I see, one stands out the most: businesses taking centre stage.

I get the logic. Case studies are resources to show prospects how your product or service helps with a problem or situation. Showing your business in the best light has to be a good thing, right?

Except you’re not relating to the people you’re selling to. That’s why your case studies aren’t performing as well as they should.

Mistakes I see in case study copywriting every day

I’ve talked about the case study strategy mistakes I’ve seen already but looking closer at the success stories themselves shows me if your content strategy is broken or if the delivery is the issue. A lot of the time, your strategy problems feed into the writing mistakes without you even realising it.

Other case study mistakes are specific to the writing itself, and that’s what I want to dive into here. Specifically, here are three mistakes sabotaging your success stories.

Too many stats, not enough emotional weight

We’ve fixated on the idea that stats and metrics and data are the most important part of a case study.

Yes, stats and data matter, but they don’t tell the whole story.

Let’s say your case study shows a 30% increase in conversions or leads for that specific customer. Without details giving context of the customer’s situation, where their business is or what their conversions were before, it doesn’t mean anything. It looks like you’ve plucked a stat out of thin air.

You’re missing the personal impact to the customer. Data shows your solution works but the emotional weight of your case study shows the difference it made to the people using it.

Broad scenarios no one relates to

Relying on broad scenarios is a huge B2B case study mistake. You fall into this trap because you want to use that case study as much as possible, with as many prospects you can, instead of creating a library of hyper-specific success stories for a range of situations.

Think of all the content you’ve read or watched that didn’t resonate with you and ask yourself why. The answer is the writer played it safe or covered a topic in such a broad manner that you had no reason to engage with it. The same happens with case studies, since we’ve fallen into the habit of publishing garbage content like it’s normal.

The wrong hero takes the stage

The biggest mistake B2B businesses make with their case studies is thinking they’re the protagonist, the main character, the hero.

You’re not.

Yes, you’ve provided the product or tool or service that solved the problem, but you didn’t solve the problem. Your customer did.

Another name for case studies is success stories. It’s the customer’s success that you’re using to showcase how you helped, not your success in solving their problem.

That reframing is why so many case studies don’t perform as they should.

Fix your B2B case study mistakes by focusing on the right protagonist

All three of the B2B case study mistakes I’ve shared can be fixed with one change: choosing the right protagonist.

You’re not the hero, your customer is

Changing the hero of your case study from you, or your solution, to your customer protagonist is all it takes to improve its effectiveness. You’re turning the case study from you shouting about what you did to sharing the success of your customer – with your help.

To make this change more authentic, add details about the problems the customer faced on a personal and organisational level, being as specific as possible. When you share this with a prospect in a similar situation, they’ll instantly relate to the situation and see your value.

Use customer-centric storytelling

I’m all for customer-centric storytelling as it’s one of the best ways to relate to your audience. Your solutions exist to solve your audience’s problems, which you already know from research and ideal customer profiles (ICPs).

Your prospects are being hounded with facts, data, and slogans trying to win them over. By focusing on your customers and making case studies around them, you make your stories more relatable and effective.

Show results, but don’t forget the personal impact

I’ll say it again: data is important, but it works best with a customer protagonist your prospect can relate to, whether that’s a similar job role or a scenario they’re both in.

By aligning data with the right protagonist, you’re taking the two most powerful elements of a case study and making them work together. You hit the logic areas by showing hard results and achieve the emotional impact by showing what your customer overcame to get the success.

You’ve positioned your business as a helpful partner, and prospects will respond to this positively.

Make your customer the hero of your case studies

Make your case studies as effective as possible by ensuring they focus on the right protagonist – your customer. Of all the changes you can make, choosing the right hero for your success stories has the biggest impact and will give your sales team the best resource to close deals.

Even if you ignore all the other B2B case study mistakes (not something I advise), a customer protagonist will still put you one step above others who are yet to make that same change.

If your case studies are centred on the wrong protagonist, get in touch to find out how I can help with targeted success stories your prospects relate to.