Why your sustainability business needs case studies

Jat Leng
January 4, 2024
case studies

Traditionally, marketers guide their prospects through a linear, preset buying journey.

They would track their prospects’ actions and determine the buying stage they were at.

From there, they would then provide their prospects with content and aim to nurture them from one stage to the next and ultimately to purchase.

Those days are over.

A more complex buyer’s journey

Thanks to more channels and information at the buyer’s fingertips, the path to purchase has become more intricate and less straightforward.

Many buyers now prefer to research and compare vendors and solutions independently and anonymously.

So, marketers may not know who their prospects are. It’s thus harder to keep tabs on their actions and target them accordingly.

Many buyers also:

spend more time on social media to gather information
depend more on reviews and peer recommendations
make decisions collectively as buying committees

And they prefer to engage with salespeople only when they are prepared to narrow down their options.

How can you stay top of mind and drive demand, even as your prospects navigate much of their buying process on their own?

Enter case studies, aka customer success stories.

Your most versatile and hardworking content assets

Case studies are still one of the most effective assets in your marketing and sales toolkit, even if prospects’ needs and expectations have shifted.

You can repurpose these evergreen assets many times over and maximise their exposure across various channels.

This way, you ensure they are within the easy reach of your prospects searching for information online.

You can then be surer of connecting with them with relatable success stories – even at the early stages before they are ready to contact you.

And you can prove your value and authority to them, no matter where they are in the buying process.

SaaS marketers ranked case studies as the No. 1 most effective marketing tactic in a survey by Uplift Content

of SaaS marketers said that case studies were very effective at boosting sales in a survey by Uplift Content

of B2B content marketers in a survey by Content Marketing Institute created/used case studies in the 12 months before July 2022

Neil Patel attributed a 185% increase in sales to 3 case studies

More reasons to say “yes” to case studies

1. Earn trust and prove credibility

Social proof influences buying decisions and makes closing the sale easier.

And the good news is: case studies at their very core are a type of social proof.

No proof is more credible than happy, satisfied customers telling their own stories of overcoming challenges and pulling off enviable results because of your solution.

These success stories help build your prospects’ trust in you and assure them that your solution:

works in real life
achieves desirable outcomes for their peers
can do the same for them

Case studies also give your prospects a sense of FOMO.

When they see businesses similar to theirs (or even their competitors) solving their problems and increasing their revenue because of your solution, they want in too.

2. Enable sales and shorten the sales cycle

A study found that 57% of buyers prefer defining their needs and identifying their options before engaging with salespeople.

These buyers compare vendors and form opinions about solutions with the help of resources online, from social media to review sites.

By sharing your case study content in various formats across different digital channels, you show potential buyers at various stages of the buying process that you should be a contender.

According to another survey, buyers also seek out relevant content that helps them align goals and decisions within their buying committees.

Among their top criteria for sharing content:

The content is packed with shareable statistics and insights.
The content tells strong stories that can resonate with the buying committee.
The content comes with relevant links for immediate sharing.

This is where case studies done right come in handy, as they offer these qualities.

And when your salespeople finally come into the picture, the stories, results and social proof in your case studies support them in overcoming objections and nudging prospects closer to the sale more quickly.

3. Build customer loyalty

Your satisfied customers agree to be featured in your case studies.

This gives you a fantastic opportunity to engage with them again.

So they can reaffirm their reasons for choosing you and enhance their customer loyalty.

4. Healthy ROI

Case studies have a long shelf life, selling on your behalf for many years.

Depending on your solution’s price, it doesn’t take too many sales to see a healthy ROI from your case studies.

And they pay for themselves many times over.

Additionally, when you maximise their exposure across multiple channels through reuse and repurposing, you save precious time, effort and money on content creation.

Win more business with case studies

In the next 2 posts, I’ll show you not just a handful but a total of 18 ways to use, repurpose and share your most profitable marketing assets to win more business:

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