In this post, we’ll cover all you need to know about creating an effective B2B case study to help your business stand out from the competition.

Proving the efficiency of your product or service is extremely valuable in a B2B model. You should be able to demonstrate that your offer delivers tangible results. You should also be able to design compelling case studies to nurture more robust relationships with your customer community.

In B2B marketing terms, case studies are one of the most potent and significant collateral pieces to showcase your product and attract future customers.

Case studies are prominent throughout the entire customer acquisition process, starting from awareness to contemplation to decision-making. You can set your business for success with the information you publish in case of studies, as it can influence the buyer persona.

Knowing how to write a compelling case study is a crucial skill every B2B SaaS marketing team must learn to nail.

Why?

Because 73% of the most successful content marketers use case studies, and 39% of marketers say case studies have generated the best results.

A careful and well-written case study will turn your customer’s success into your success as it acts as a powerful piece of content laden with evidence. Hence, they should feature in almost every marketing plan as they fulfill multiple demands of B2B marketing.

What exactly is a B2B case study?

What’s the first thing you do when contemplating investing in a service or a product?

Your first action would be to ask your family or friends whether they’ve tried the product or service and whether they would recommend it to you if they’ve tried it.

You’ll probably research what others say about that product or service online. Most buyers know that researching a particular product or service online can spare them from poor investment and experience.

A case study aims to persuade buyers that a product or service can solve a problem by demonstrating real-life results. It is a detailed story of something your business did that may include discussing a conflict, an explanation of what followed next, and an outcome that describes how the company solved or improved the problem.

The qualitative and quantitative outcomes of the case study appeal to the buyer when presented logically, making it a powerful motivator for the buyer.

Why do B2B companies need a case study strategy?

A B2B case study is more than just a typical blog post, as it proves that what you offer is of good quality and valuable. Case studies should align with your entire content marketing plan; hence, you should develop a dedicated strategy that focuses mainly on case study creation.

A B2B case study shows the success story of a buyer that has experienced quantifiable benefits from investing in your product or service. A well-written case study is capable of accomplishing the following vital goals:

• Builds brand credibility: It shows your current and potential customers the value and longevity of your business and its place in a competitive market.
• Focusses on data-backed statistics: It is an additional way to gather significant results and metrics from your active user base with complete data of the amount of money saved, the number of people impacted, or the number of customer conversions.
• Provides insights for current customers: It offers inspiration for existing customers. The outcome is mutually beneficial when established users discover new and innovative case studies.

What are some crucial attributes of a robust B2B case study?

A compelling case study tells a story by taking the readers on a journey from the initial pain point to the ultimate solution. Along with highlighting the importance of your service or product, the narrative should be significant and connect all the dots.

Here are a few crucial attributes to include in your case studies:

• It should have solid titles and headings emphasizing the results you want readers to see.
• It should provide well-described summaries to introduce the prospective and existing buyers to your business.
• It should offer engaging and genuine quotes, answers to queries, and other vital details.
• It should include the “before and after” status of the customer experiences when using your service or product.

How to create a compelling and informative case study?

Case studies play an essential part in your marketing, sales, and brand awareness strategies. However, creating an effective case study is easier said than done!

Follow the six steps below to create highly effective B2B case studies that will help boost your marketing efforts:

1. Focus on your highly engaged customers

Acquaint yourself with your active customers and with which industries your customers work for. Customers experiencing sustainable results can be from any big or small business.

Reaching out to a small-scale business when you need to collaborate for a case study is far easier. The results experienced by smaller companies may even be more impactful, as their resources tend to be limited.

Focus on your customers more than your company, as readers don’t want to hear about how great you are. They expect to come across a B2B SaaS case study that provides insight into your buyer’s view of your service.

Include details of your customer’s industry, the size of their company, and the name of the person you interviewed. Describe why they picked your solution and how it impacted their business while maintaining focus on them and their success.

2. Conduct purposeful research and interviews

Once you have a contact at a company, allocate time for an official interview. Sending the interviewee a list of relevant questions beforehand can help them prepare better and know what to expect.

Explain the entire case study process at the beginning of your meeting. Doing so enables the customer to understand how you plan to use their provided information and address any objections or expectations.

Keep the interview conversational and relaxing. Record the conversation and take detailed notes to remember usable quotes and key metrics. Understand your customer’s experience before using your product, and request more data about the results they underwent once their journey began.

3. Recognize the pain point and success

When you interview and compose your case study, don’t forget to highlight the “before and after” status with points such as:

• What are the problems that your team experienced before implementing this solution?
• What challenges did your team face during normal operations?
• How did implementing the new solution ease the problem and provide better results?
• How has the work culture transformed since adopting this new solution?

Apply your storytelling skills to a case study’s “pain point and success” state. Give a detailed description that enables other customers to see themselves in a similar situation.

4. Create compelling and optimized content

Several powerful sections that tie together to form a complete narrative lead to highly compelling content. If any of your case study sections lack complete information, compensate for the gaps by including strong descriptions, testimonials, statistics, and other tangible details.

Optimize your case studies for SEO to make them more searchable. This requires looking for relevant keywords, outlining your study with on-page headers, and adding direct calls to action (CTA).

5. Use impactful elements

Despite having well-written content for your study, interactive and engaging elements can greatly help tell the story while keeping readers hooked. Consider including the following features for great case studies:

• Expandable menu boxes or texts
• Non-confidential product screenshots
• Counters and other visual elements to showcase metrics
• Relevant photos and imagery
• Brand logos and headshots

6. Share your content

It is always better to send the case study back to the original customer before publishing it. This gives them an opportunity to proofread the article and sign off on some details related to marketing or legal approval.

Once you have their approval, you can publish your case study and encourage your teammates to spread the word. You can also share and promote the study on social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter or your content email lists. Use traceable links when you share to gather data on where the traffic is coming from.

Wrapping Up

Strong B2B case studies can boost your existing content marketing strategy. Highlight your company’s benefits through verified customer stories and produce robust case studies that are easy to use and share.

With these tips on how to write a B2B case study, you can hold your prospective customer’s attention and allow them to imagine themselves in these situations.

If you have any questions on how to leverage case studies in your content marketing strategy, feel free to reach out to me today!