How Case Studies Get Done – One Leg at a Time
Ever played a carnival horse racing game?
To get your mechanical horse to move forward toward the finish line, you have to roll a ball into little holes, hoping to consistently hit the top hole and make your horse go faster than the others.
The ball keeps coming back to you and you have to roll it as fast as possible again to keep your horse moving.
It usually takes 8-10 rolls to get to the finish line.
Likewise, customer case study projects usually take 8-10 steps to get them over the finish line.
At any given time, I’ve got case studies or success stories in every phase of the cycle, from gathering initial background to securing final customer signoff.
It feels like this horse race game – inching forward one step at a time. Sometimes the race is fast and easy, and other times long and frustrating.
What can you do to keep the horse moving?
Keep the ball moving
It’s about never sitting on the ball. When the ball comes back to you, act on the next step as soon as possible. I know it’s hard when you have so many projects in the works but try to keep it moving.
That means setting up interviews as soon as you can, in case contacts are about to travel or about to start a major project. Integrate edits or change requests and shoot the story back to reviewers. Answer questions or concerns from customers quickly.
Know roadblocks
Ask whether customers will be out of the office at any time in the near future. Sometimes you can’t change your project schedule but maybe you can.
You might be able to move a project up to avoid sending the customer a case study for review just as they’re leaving on a big vacation.
Set expectations early
When you start a project, let customers know if you’ll need it for a specific opportunity like a trade show or event and get their feedback on whether it’s doable on their end. You might remind them throughout the process about that target date.
If this specific customer can’t meet those deadlines, choose another for your upcoming opportunity and come back to the first customer at a better time for him or her.
Be persistent but also sensitive to the fact that customers have their jobs to do as well.
One step at a time, your projects get ever closer to that finish line. Keep them moving!
Are You Missing this Critical Case Study Step?
Customer case studies and success stories change hands – a LOT.
On average, 3-4 different people review a story before it’s finalized. At times, it can be twice that many.
Each review is an another opportunity for errors and typos to creep in.
Don’t expect reviewers to find these errors. Most are not proofing for perfection, but rather for content.
Whether you’re a writer or manager of the project, make sure every story gets a final proofing.
Pick a proofer
Ideally, select someone who hasn’t seen the document all along, just to do the proofing.
If not, then the writer usually assumes this role.
Build it into the process
Team members can be eager to get an approved case study out for use.
But make it mandatory that the case study goes through this final proofing phase before it goes out for public consumption.
Read carefully
Especially if you wrote the story, read it carefully.
Maybe even print it out so your eyes see it differently. You’ll catch things you wouldn’t see on the screen.
Beware errors in design
If the story is going into a design template, proof it again after it’s in that format.
A perfect Word doc can end up with words missing in the layout process.
Being detail-oriented pays off. You don’t want prospects to find an ugly typo in your hard-earned case study.
Dare to Give a Case Study Customer a Deadline?
What’s the biggest unknown in any case study or success story project?
The customer’s review and approval time.
As we’ve said, customers can turn a story around in a day or take months.
You have to find a middle ground of being persistent but stopping short of pesky.
Some people simply need specific targets. Or, to put it more bluntly, a deadline.
Typically, I don’t give customers a deadline right out of the gate, when they first receive the story for review. I tell them that I’ll check back with them later in the week or early next week – usually giving them 3-4 days.
The only exception to this is when there’s a specific need driving a very fast turnaround – such as a PR opportunity or event. In that case, it’s best to communicate about the tight approval cycle before the project even begins, and get the customer’s commitment that the dates are doable.
But for typical projects, I reserve deadlines for those that are lingering a little.
A recent project reminded me that some people really respond best (and only?) to deadlines. When the project lingered, we let the customer know that the company needed the case study for some specific upcoming opportunities.
In turn, the customer responded with edits and moved the story to the next step.
It doesn’t always work so well, but for certain types of people, it’s the right motivator.
Of course, whatever deadline policies you adopt in regards to customer approval, always be flexible and aware of what’s going on with the customer. Are they traveling, out sick, stressed with other work?
Adjust and work with the customer as needed – keep their experience as pleasant as you can.
Maybe offer to work directly with the customer’s legal or PR team for final approval so your contact doesn’t have to project manage.
So what’s your deadline protocol when it comes to customer approvals, and what works best?
A ready-to-use case study – How long does it take?
In the discussion about customer case studies, one question comes up over and over:
How long does it take to get a case study done?
How many days or weeks are needed to get a completed, approved customer story in hand and ready to use?
Unfortunately, the answer isn’t that easy.
On average, I would say about one month. BUT, it really depends on the part of the process that makes customer stories different from other marketing projects – the review and approval phase.
From the time you interview the customer to completing the draft, video or audio might be a couple of weeks. Then, how long is it in the customer’s court?
I’ve seen customers approve stories the same day they receive them. But I’ve also seen them make the rounds of customer review for months.
Often, it depends on the size of the featured customer’s organization. Generally, the larger the company, the longer approval takes.
Small companies have fewer reviewers and not as much legal and communications review required. Larger companies have multiple levels of approval, and your story can get stuck in any of those levels.
You can do a few things to help speed the process, such as setting the expectation with the customer before starting that you will need the story by a specific date. However, you are still limited by your customer’s internal processes.
But in general, start early! Capture the case study as soon as there’s a strong story and the customer is ready.
For example, if you have early January trade shows, it’s not too soon to start now. Once, I got a call from a company in mid-December wanting to get a case study done for a trade show the first week of January.
If it was a brochure, maybe that’s doable. But not with a case study. Three weeks just isn’t enough time, even if the end-of-year holidays did not get in the way.
More tips on expediting customer approval.
Will Customers Nominate Themselves as Stories?
If asked, will customers submit themselves as possible case study or success story candidates?
From consumer-products companies to B2B to nonprofit organizations, many now actively solicit stories with self-service “Share Your Story” links on their Web sites.
- Apple created a link for this soon after the release of its wildly popular iPhone.
- FileMaker software includes a link to “Tell us your story.”
- Girl Scouts of the USA asks former members to share their experiences for its alumnae program.
- And Toyota Motor Sales gather owners’ stories and gets usage permission through an online form.
Does customer self-nomination actually work?
Sometimes. I know it’s worked extremely well for Toyota, which has tons of customer experiences on its site.
But some B2B companies have tried the approach with hardly any submissions to speak of.
Are consumers willing to submit themselves more readily than business candidates? Perhaps.
Fortunately, it’s something that’s pretty cheap to try for while, and pull if it doesn’t generate any great story candidates.
Self-Service Story Options
You have a few different options for information that comes through “Share Your Story” links on your website:
- Collect names and customer interest, and then follow up to get the complete story.
- Create a web form that asks for more detail. Then run stories as first-person customer accounts basically verbatim—like extended testimonials. Check for typos, etc. before publishing online.
- Create third-person, professionally written stories from answers that customers provide on a web form.
Be sure to let customers know how stories will be used, and the positive benefits of being featured.
If you choose to run stories based strictly on customer-submitted information, you’ll need a way for customers to indicate their permission as they type in their experiences. Toyota has a check box that handles this.
You may also want a way for customers to upload a photo of themselves, if applicable.
In general, but not always, first person (I, we) stories seem most appropriate for consumer companies while third person (he, she, they) works best for B2B.
To decide the best approach for your company, consider your audience, and maintenance and cost considerations.
Have you tried a web form? If so, share your experience in the comments.
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