Case studies: the pitfalls
September, 2024
Customer endorsement is seen as one of the most powerful weapons in the marketing arsenal. Yet, despite being relatively simple to produce, a customer reference programme requires care, attention and, most of all, experience. Get it right and the rewards are multi-fold. However, some things can go wrong.
All action, but no result: Like sales leads, case study opportunities often turn to nought, even at the eleventh hour. It’s not uncommon to get as far as writing the case study and presenting the first draft to customer only to find a minor hitch – that could have been identified much earlier – kills the whole project.
What’s in it for me? Your sales team – both direct and indirect – own your customers. They are key to the information and contacts needed to action case studies. But do those sales teams want other people approaching their customers? Is it worth their time and effort to help you land a case study opportunity?
Hunt the benefit: How many times have you read something, thinking, “this is interesting …but where’s the benefit?” However good the flowing, 1500-word prose may be and however good the journey, if the nub of the issue – benefits – are hiding somewhere on page 5, camouflaged by verbiage, it has missed the point.
Erm…what are you talking about? Hands up if you’ve ever sat in a meeting, not knowing why you’re there, or worse, without the right information? With case studies it results in a poor interview, weak information and it leaves customers thinking “do they really know about me?”
I’ll get back to you on that: You’ve just completed a very positive interview with your customer, but 25 percent of your questions were answered with “I’ll get back to you on that”. If the customer ever responds, it will take them ages. Be prepared for a long wait.
Excellent material, but is it irrelevant? You can produce a case study that seems to be an excellent piece of collateral – full of good benefit and partnership messages. But does it travel? Does it mean anything to other potential customers in other market sectors or is it just too insular? Surprisingly, it’s a common mistake in many case studies and makes all the effort redundant.
Benefit, not process: Naturally, what you do and the products and services you offer are top quality. But proximity can blind us. Many case studies concentrate too much on what happened – what you did to help the customer – at the expense of why it was done and, crucially, how it improved the customer’s business.
The quagmire of review: A month ago you sent your beautifully crafted case study to the customer for the final step in the approval process. But the customer’s not even looked at it. It sits, languishing in the customer’s in-tray waiting upon that ‘free moment’ to get reviewed.
The approval debate: Customer says, “Oh, no we didn’t!” You remonstrate, “Oh yes you did!” The debate about whether or not a customer approved something is one you do not want! It is bad news for everyone.
Have case studies, but will not travel: You’ve spent a lot of time and effort creating a portfolio of customer case studies full of powerful messages about the business benefits that you can deliver, but if no one in the organisation knows about it, it’s a waste to time.
