If you are looking to grow sales of your business, case studies are one of the best ways to do so. People will trust you more than ever if they get a chance to hear words from other people about your products and services.
Though you can reflect on what your current customers think about you through testimonials, case studies are considered more reliable as there is no much room for creating a fictional story.
However, getting customers to participate in case studies is not that easy. In fact, sometimes getting testimonials in words of your customers becomes hard, let alone case studies.
Since publishing case studies aim to build a positive image of your brand to attract more customers, they can expect you to write on their behalf – after all, you know how your product can particularly help solve the problem – but you should avoid it because:
- They can say much nicer things about you and your product.
- You do not want all case studies sound like you wrote them. Readers can easily identify a similar tone.
- You do not know how your product exactly contributed to your customers’ lives.
Before you take the plunge, make sure that you have planned out what you need to ask them. Having a set of questions beforehand can help precipitate the process. Here is what you need to do:
Pick the most satisfied customers
First off, you should pick the happiest customers. You must have a few customers who have willingly put a review of your product. They must have said good things about your business.
Approaching such customers will not only save your time but also help you get constructive material. Further, delightful customers are easy to convince for the interview. You will not need to offer bait to such customers as they will do it out of loyalty.
However, once you have picked customers to interview to create an awesome case study, you will have to process a formal request. You need to take permission from them first. Ask them when they are free to talk to you.
Set timing smartly
Timing plays a paramount role. Of course, you will have to schedule an interview with your customers according to their comfort, but at the same time, you will have to be careful while deciding the length of time.
Even though your customers have given consent to interview with you, it does not mean that you will consume too much of their time. A good rule of thumb says that you should have a list of questions in advance and all of them must be specific that does not require a long explanation.
Email questions to save time at the time of interview
Since the ultimate goal of running an interview for case studies is to get to know in their own words how your product helped them, it does not need to be lengthy. A couple of questions can help you get a wonderful case study. It would be better if you email three to five interview questions to your customers.
If the customer knows questions beforehand, they can be prompt at the time of the interview. Do not forget to record the interview so you can listen to it again to check if it justifies your aim. If you have to make edits, send it to the customer to have them looked at the changes made.
Offer your customer a reward
Happy as they are, your customers can be reluctant to participate in case studies. You cannot force them, but you still can convince them to do so. When you approach them, you can request to participate in it in exchange of a reward.
It can be either monetary benefits or non-monetary benefits. For instance, free shipping or 50% discount on your next purchase and “get product X along with product Y free”.
If you run a reward scheme, it is far easier to convince them to participate in an interview for creating a case study. Some companies use this method for getting testimonials in words of customers. The more genuine you sound, the better the case study will come up.
Now that you have got to know how you can quickly get case studies from your customers, but you need to spend a lot of time on the preparation of questions. Preparing the format of the case study, finding real data, setting rewards, and much more consume a lot of time. It involves proper planning.
If you do not have time to focus on it because of core activities, try to hire a marketing expert. Leveraging their skills and knowledge, you will be able to produce an excellent case study. If you cannot afford to pay for it, you should take out 15-minute loans with direct lenders.