Why your B2B case study strategy fails to close sales
Your B2B case study strategy is off. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad you have one, but let’s be honest for a moment. How effective are your case studies? Are they closing your sales consistently?
You did the work. You spoke to your customer and you found out how your solution solved their problem. That sounds great, but you’re not seeing the results you expected given how much everyone raves about case studies, right?
Well, I’ve got a few ideas as to why that might be: the wrong focus, no data, and not respecting your audience’s time.
Let’s dive in.
Four reasons your case study conversion rate is abysmal
There are many possible reasons why your case studies may not be providing the B2B social proof you’re looking for, but some have a bigger impact than others. The following four reasons can boost your case study conversion rate drastically.
1) You focused on the wrong protagonist
I’ve lost count of how many case studies I’ve found where the focus is on the brand and their solution. They’re so proud of themselves and their product or service that the customer they’ve helped is secondary, and that’s not only a missed opportunity but a flaw in their B2B case study strategy.
Your prospects don’t connect to your brand or your products as easily as they will to a customer who’s in – or was in – a similar situation to themselves. By putting the focus on the customer and their challenges, you’re making it relatable to others.
The customer is the one who overcame a challenge. You provided a product or service that helped them with their situation. It’s invaluable help, of course, but by showing how you helped, how you resolved that problem, you position yourself as a partner or helpful entity that works with customers to resolve their problems. This position will have a positive impact on your sales cycle as you’ve already built trust.
2) You’re using vague terms and no data
How much fluff are you using in your case studies? Or, how much marketing jargon have you included? You’re trying to sound clever and important while hiding the really important parts of a case study.
I’m not saying never use acronyms or industry terms, but make sure they’re both relevant and used by your customer instead of you. That way, a prospect who’s in a similar position will relate to the language of your case study, making it an effective sales story.
And then there’s data. Vague terms are used to hide the lack of data – and data is the proof of your solution, the results that build the B2B social proof case studies provide. If you have data that shows what happened, use it. Some metrics you might use include:
- Sales
- Traffic
- Conversions
- Time saved
- Efficiency
Remember, case studies are stories about customers you’ve helped. That’s the real pull, not the jargon you include.
3) You’re wasting your prospect’s time
If your case studies are well over 1,000 words, how likely is it your target audience will read it all and fully appreciate the situation, the solution, and the outcome?
Let’s face it. Time is precious. Long walls of text full of ramble and fluff signal that you don’t have much to say. Your prospect’s job is not to sit and read case studies; they have tasks to do, too, so you want to make an impact quickly.
Make your case studies shorter and more direct so you’re not demanding so much time from your prospects. In fact, you’re already showing them you understand before they ever start reading the case study. Go further and break up the text you do have into clear sections, use formatting like bullet lists, and employ clever designs to make your case study easy to digest.
4) You’re not utilising case studies correctly
Let me ask you, are you using your case studies thoroughly? There are plenty of ways to use case studies, and each method should play a role in your marketing and content strategies.
The most important use of case studies is sales enablement. Your sales or business development teams can utilise case studies to show exactly how you help customers. Having a collection of case studies gives you the chance to be specific on the problems customers face and match the right content to the right prospect. From PDF documents to quotes used in a sales deck, case studies add value.
You can also use case studies:
- As printed materials to hand out at events to start a conversation with or pre-emptively answer
- On your website that you can link to from external platforms such as newsletters
- On social media platforms to stop prospects scrolling through a single, high-impact quote (maybe as a graphic) highlighting their pain points.
Incorporate your B2B case study strategy into your wide content and marketing strategies to help add content to your website that you can build internal links to (helps with on-page SEO and user journeys) and use snippets for your social media platforms to grab attention and speak to prospects where they are.
The goal is to transform case studies from a static resource to an active one, reaching more people before you’ve even spoken. With the content already in existence, you’re improving efficiency by curating it and distributing it further.
After all, with such a powerful resource, you want to get the most out of your case studies to drive growth.
Why effective sales stories are the key to growth
Ideally, the sales cycle would be short and sweet. You’d show the benefits of your product or service to a prospect and they’d sign up there and then. There’d be no dithering or back and forth.
That’s rarely the case, however, with many cycles taking weeks or months depending on the size of the business and the deal in question. Shortening the cycle has obvious benefits, such as moving onto new prospects sooner.
Effective sales stories are the key to shortening the sales cycle. You’re not rattling off a list of benefits or features; you’re showing the solution in action. You’re showing how it helped a real person in a similar situation. The questions a prospect might ask, or the objections they could raise, are resolved straight away with a single case study.
Shorter sales cycles mean more prospects that can be contacted. A higher case study conversion rate means more sales closed, and that means more growth.
Fixing your B2B case study strategy
Investing in case studies is a smart move to help both your sales team and content strategy, but they need to be as strong as possible for maximum return. The four factors above are not the only reasons your case studies may not be closing the sales, but they are common mistakes that can be addressed easily.
Fixing your B2B case study strategy isn’t about editing the resources you already have (although that can certainly help). Rather, aim to address the approach you’ve taken to case studies so they’re focused on the elements that matter right from the beginning, from putting the focus on your customer’s story to asking the right questions to be as specific as possible.
Are your case studies performing as you expect? Arrange an audit of your case studies and learn how to boost their conversion rate.