Turn your ecommerce customer reviews into case stories

case story

I’m a potential customer of your business. I visit your store, look around, get a feel for what you can help me achieve.

I head to your reviews section. What does that tell you about my interest levels? I’m not just looking at what it is you do, I’m seeking out other people’s opinions.

So, why are so many ‘case studies’ a simply afterthought bound together like a legal document?

A Case Study is a descriptive, exploratory or explanatory analysis of a person, group or event. An explanatory case study is used to explore causation in order to find underlying principles.

Interest-o-meter? Doesn’t exactly get the juices flowing, does it?

A story is an account of imaginary or real people and events told for entertainment.

Interest-o-meter? Well, we like stories, stories are good. Entertainment? Yep, I quite like the sound of that too.

While we’re all very busy renaming and restructuring our ‘White Papers’ as infographics and snappy eBooks, the Case Study section of our website sits there with it’s text-rich methodic layout. Maybe we add a few client’s quotes to garnish the text and prove that real people are actually behind the businesses we’re talking about?

You’ll generally find the Case Study section hidden within the ‘About Us’ or ‘News’. They follow a ‘structure’ where a shock announcement such as ‘Company X approached us as they were looking to increase their sales by 1000%’ grips the reader and has them asking ‘How will this problem be solved?!?’. Yes, my tongue is placed firmly in my cheek at this point in time.

You can follow one of the many documents that are readily available to you and follow, chapter by laborious chapter, the outline which presents just how great your company are at doing what they do. Some, you may find, can be as interesting as the Terms and Conditions we scramble through each time we download the latest version of iTunes.

You read case studies by some of the most creative agencies and, even then, we’re hit with line after line of processed content that leaves little to whet the appetite.

Are You Sharing a Review, or Telling a Story?

Through your case studies, I want to learn about the people behind the scenes, the thoughts and creative flow that helped you accomplish your client’s goal.

I want to hear from your client. Not just about how awesome you are, but about how you transformed their business for the better. If you’re B2B, how have your services impacted the customers of your client?

I want to read your stories. How does that product you produce change peoples lives? You needn’t focus on just one single client, why not wrap your clients together into an industry-focused case study?

THE CONVENTIONAL CASE STUDY

Yes, it’s fictional and a piss-take. This video went viral back in 2011. It was produced for John St, a creative agency in Toronto.

THE CASE STUDY

Don’t simply translate your existing case studies into video by adding a few animations, such as the ‘case study’ below:

Give your audience a real behind the scenes perspective, focusing on the individuals that make great things happen within your company.

THE CASE STORY

I love the simplicity of the following case study by UK media solutions provider MediaPros. It offers a 5-minute behind the scenes documentary of how they provided a solution for Green Rock production company as they moved to a newer, bigger production facility:

They tell a story. A story narrated by both the client, and the agency. It fuses the solution that the client is seeking with the service that the agency provides. The agency are the hero of the story. Isn’t that what a case study should present?

How can you turn your studies into stories?

You don’t need to think about spending your entire budget on video production or animation. It’s the solutions you offer to your client’s problems that we want to hear about. It’s how you and your business can provide me, your prospective client, with a visual or written story that highlights the common journey that leads your clients towards using your business.

  • Map the journey. Reassure me that your business understands the problem that I’m looking to solve
  • Offer perspective. It’s not just about you, tell the story from your client’s perspective, that’s the perspective your audience truly relates with
  • Offer insight. It’s not all plain sailing, were their obstacles that stood in the way of your client’s requirements? What did you do to overcome those obstacles?
  • Define the problem. Be clear in what it is that your business offers. Don’t reel off a series of features that may not apply to the majority of your audience. Don’t speak in technical terms. Outline the objective and define the issue your client faced
  • Wrap the story around the outcome. Every story needs a happy ending, don’t simply leave the story in limbo. Let us see the immediate solution you provided and the longer-term benefits of that solution
  • Be clear and concise. There’s no need to waffle on about your entire range of products. Keep the story succinct and relating to the outlying issue.
  • Be authentic. A case study which clearly presents a story of how two friends helped each other out doesn’t resonate. You look false, you act false and it doesn’t offer any confidence in your service

Case Studies shouldn’t simply be tagged on as a side-offering of your content. They offer an intrinsic backstage pass to how your business operates and achieves success for it’s clients.

Turn your case studies into case stories. Show your audience that you care about outcomes.


Written By:
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Ian Rhodes

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First employee of an ecommerce startup back in 1998. I've been using building and growing ecommerce brands ever since (including my own). Get weekly growth lessons from my own work delivered to your inbox below.

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