[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2019\/12\/10\/how-to-create-b2b-case-studies\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2019\/12\/10\/how-to-create-b2b-case-studies\/","headline":"Creating B2B case studies to win customers & influence press","name":"Creating B2B case studies to win customers & influence press","description":"Learn the key elements of writing compelling B2B case studies to influence buyers at large organizations - thereby boosting your bottom line and reputation.","datePublished":"2019-12-10","dateModified":"2021-09-12","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/tracey-wallace\/#Person","name":"Tracey Wallace","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/tracey-wallace\/","identifier":367,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/21377d3250d3cee37a219265f855ca86717424033839661349c4b6845d2250cc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/21377d3250d3cee37a219265f855ca86717424033839661349c4b6845d2250cc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Future of Commerce","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/logo-foc-schema-app-1.png","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/logo-foc-schema-app-1.png","width":172,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/creating_B2B_case_studies.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/creating_B2B_case_studies.jpg","height":375,"width":1200},"url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2019\/12\/10\/how-to-create-b2b-case-studies\/","about":[{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/commerce\/b2b\/","name":"B2B Commerce","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/B2B_e-commerce"]},{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/commerce\/","name":"Commerce","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Commerce","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q26643"]},{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/marketing\/","name":"Marketing","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Marketing","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q39809"]},{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/marketing\/marketing-general\/","name":"Marketing","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Marketing","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q39809"]},{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/sap-customer-experience-live\/marketing-live\/","name":"Marketing","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Marketing","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q39809"]}],"wordCount":1363,"keywords":["B2B Case Studies","B2B Marketing"],"articleBody":"Long before the days of social media and influencers, there were business case studies and word of mouth. People have always gravitated to the tools, technologies, companies, and products that other people highly recommend or use en masse.\u00a0\u201cNobody ever got fired for buying IBM,\u201d was a popular catchphrase in the 1970s. Today, it might make more sense to say that nobody ever got fired for choosing Shopify as an e-commerce platform, or MailChimp for email marketing, or Hubspot for content marketing, or Facebook for social media marketing.\u00a0These tools and technologies are widely used and the stories of those who have been successful on them are widespread. But word of mouth only goes so far. For larger customers \u2013 the ones who will bulk up your bottom line and lead to even more business from similar companies in the future \u2013 you need case studies.\u00a0What are business case studies?Business case studies are data-driven executive summaries of a company\u2019s success using a particular tool. They typically come in the format of:Their problemTheir goalTheir solutionThe resultsProducts used (if the business has multiple products and tools)Business case studies also include quotes from employees at the company featured \u2013\u2013 ideally from those who both use the tool as well as the one who made the purchasing decision. The goal of B2B case studies is to influence the decision maker at another large organization to use your tool based on the success of other recognizable brands.\u201cInfluencing buyers to pull the trigger, like any type of content, is having the right info at the right time. Case studies are often the last piece of the puzzle – that little extra assurance of social proof that your business has what it takes to drive the results you\u2019re claiming,\u201d says Mike Maleszyk, VP of Growth and Marketing, Smile.io. \u201cTelling the customer\u2019s story, but also having use-case specific stats is one of the best ways to show that you value your customers as individuals (they\u2019re not just an order number) but also reinforces all the benefits of working with you.\u201dHow do you write outstanding B2B case studies?There are multiple ways to go about writing a great B2B case study, and it all depends on who your target audience is \u2013 and what will resonate most with them.\u00a0\u201cKnow who your market is. You want to make sure you’re doing case studies not just on your best customers (however you define that), but on companies that will resonate with your target customers – you’d be surprised how often these aren’t the same groups,\u201d says Kasey Bayne, Head of Marketing, DataTrue. \u201cIf you’ve been wanting to go into a new market, or focus on a specific geography, picking a case study customer that aligns with that group is more powerful than something \u2018generic.\u2019\u201dHere is a sample step-by-step for thinking through and building out great B2B case studies.\u00a01. Focus on customers who resonate mostWant to increase how many Fortune 500 brands use your platform? You\u2019re going to need at least one if not multiple Fortune 500 customers who are willing to do a case study with your brand. Most companies who work with Fortune 500 companies build this into the contract so there are no questions or surprises about the need for a case study.Want to attract small businesses to your platform? Well, a Fortune 500 case study won\u2019t mean a whole lot to them \u2013\u2013 except that you\u2019re probably too expensive. Instead, you\u2019ll want to find small business customers who fall within the revenue targets of your prospective customers. Better yet, find small business customers who have grown 10X over the last year with your tool, and detail how your tool helped to do that. Make the customer the hero, and you\u2019ll win more prospective customers who want to be the hero, too.\u00a02. Prep your interview questions ahead of timeYour customers are busy growing their businesses and their careers. Ask for only 30 minutes of their time and prep the interview questions beforehand so that you can get the most information in the least amount of time possible.\u00a0Here are a few great questions to ask:Why did you start looking for a CRM solution?\u00a0What CRM solutions and companies did you compare?\u00a0What about our technology made you decide to go with us?What results have you seen over the last year since coming on board?What parts of our solution do you like best, and why?\u00a0Would you recommend our solution to others?\u00a03. Ask to record the callOftentimes, companies will just send out questionnaires in order to scale their case studies. That\u2019s fine \u2013\u2013 but it\u2019s not the most effective way to get case studies. Instead, hop on 30 minute calls with your customers and ask if you can record the conversation. This will allow you to focus on their answers and ask more pointed questions anytime you hear them talk about something painful that your solution helped to solve.\u00a0Did the last tool they used almost get someone fired? You want to know more about that, and likely include it in the case study.\u00a0Had their own customers been complaining about something they were struggling to solve? You want to know more about that, and figure out how your tool helped.\u00a0Beyond that, the recording allows you to include quotes in the case study itself, which are incredibly valuable for both your sales team (proof points!) and for your marketing team (quotable bits for paid campaigns!).\u00a0Also, with case studies, it is often smart to build out multiple versions. Some businesses will want the more straightforward version with a problem and solution listed. Others might want a first hand account about another company\u2019s experience with the tool. By recording the call, you can easily make both a Q&A version, as well as a more edited version.\u00a0\u201cOffer a long-form version that includes details from the customer’s perspective. Sure, keep the problem\/solutions\/results info, but some people aren’t asking if you can do the work,\u201d says – Mike Wittenstein, Founder and Managing Partner, StoryMiners. \u201cRather, they want to know how you do it, if it will work for their people, and what happens when things get tough. Make your customer the hero of the story and tell it from their perspective.\u201dHow do you market B2B case studies?Finally, you\u2019ll want to market your case study both internally and externally. Here are a few things to do and think through:Publish the case study on the case study section of your site.\u00a0Also create a PDF version for your sales team to use (and design it incredibly well).\u00a0When the case study launches, work with your social media team to pull out the best quotes and stats, share those online and tag the company who is the customer.\u00a0Encourage your sales and marketing team to also share the case study, either by re-sharing the company\u2019s own social media posts, or write a short post for people that they can copy and paste to share.\u00a0Encourage your customer to share the case study to show off their hard work (this is particularly effective if you\u2019ve made the customer the hero throughout the story).\u00a0When relevant, share case studies with press \u2013 especially if the customer is a well known brand or an up-and-coming one \u2013 to see if they\u2019d want to interview your customer for more information.\u00a0Overall, be sure to have a process for case studies and alerting your sales team to new ones.\u00a0With B2B case studies, it is incredibly important that your sales and marketing organizations work closely together. What are the pain points your sale team is experiencing in selling, and is there a customer that will help to alleviate that concern for your prospective buyers?\u00a0That is how you choose which topics to cover, which questions to ask, and ultimately which customers to interview.\u00a0  The Industry Market Report for Retail lays out the roadmap for success. The question is: will you follow it or fall behind?"},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"2019","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2019\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"12","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2019\/\/12\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"10","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2019\/\/12\/\/10\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Creating B2B case studies to win customers & influence press","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2019\/12\/10\/how-to-create-b2b-case-studies\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]