The Insurance Case Study Writing Guide: How to Turn Client Wins Into Sales Tools

How do you show your prospects exactly what your company can do for them? With a case study. Insurance case studies give buyers the facts, figures and real-world proof they need to make a purchasing decision.

What Is a Case Study?

A case study is a powerful marketing tool that is often used in the middle or bottom of the sales funnel, to help buyers develop a preference for your offering. Case studies increase buying confidence and validate the buying decision. They prove that your product or service performs as promised.

Instead of just telling prospects how great your brand is, you them exactly what your brand can do. This gives prospects a more concrete understanding of what to expect and enables them to step into the shoes of a satisfied customer.

The Elements of a Case Study

An effective case study contains key elements that align with the buyer’s journey:

• Who is the customer? If you don’t have permission to name the customer describe them by industry, size and other relevant details.
• What problem were they trying to solve? When B2B buyers are shopping for a product, they’re trying to solve a specific problem. Identify this problem so other prospects with similar problems can relate. Sometimes, there’s more than one problem.
• What other solutions did they consider? B2B buyers usually consider multiple options before deciding. This is a key part of the process, and including the details can help emphasize why your company stood out.
• Why did they choose your solution? State exactly what your company offered that other competitors couldn’t.
• What was the implementation process like? Switching B2B vendors can be a major undertaking. Describe the process so your prospects will know what to expect. Keep the focus on the positives but don’t hide the hiccups. Prospects know that things don’t always go perfectly according to plan, and this shows that you’re competent and able to overcome any barriers that arise.
• How has the company benefited? In the beginning of the case study, you described the client’s problem. Now touch back on this and show how the problem has been solved. Include specific information about how the company has benefited from your product or service. For example, how much time or money has the client saved? How are they better prepared? How have you helped increase their revenues?
• What are the key takeaways for others in a similar situation? Convince prospects that they should follow the client’s example and partner with your company. Summarize your argument with key takeaways from the case study.

Why Case Studies Belong In Your Content Library

Before you can convince someone to use your services, you need to earn their trust. For marketers, this can be an uphill battle. A Gallup survey asked people how they rate the honesty and ethical standards of various professions, and only 10% expressed a high or very high opinion of advertising practitioners. Only car salespeople, members of Congress, stockbrokers and telemarketers all scored lower.

When you’re trying to sell something, people are naturally skeptical. If you just say that your company can help people solve their problems, your prospects might not believe you. You need to build credibility, and a case study that provides concrete examples can help.

A case study is also a fantastic way to differentiate yourself from your competition. As mentioned earlier, case studies are often used in more advanced stages of the customer journey, when prospects are already familiar with your company and need information that’s going to guide their purchasing decision. You want to create preference for your company so you can close the sale, and a case study can help you do that.

Your Case Study Can Convert Leads for Years

Some content has a short life, but not case studies. Although creating a case study will require some effort, once you have it, you can use it for as long as you continue to offer the featured products and services, and the featured company is still a customer.

• Feature your case study on your website. You can create a landing page for your case study or case studies so prospects can find them easily. They can be offered as instant downloads or you can generate leads by gating them with a form.
• Blog about your case study. You want your case studies to get read, and your blog is a great place to mention them. And don’t just call it your XYZ Company case study. Instead, mention a specific challenge the customer overcame, then use the case study to tell the story of how they did it.
• Promote your case study in social media posts. Spread the word about your case study on social media. You can always just write a post and link to the case study, but also consider designing graphics for the case study. A LinkedIn carousel post is another great way to highlight your case study on social media.
• Encourage prospects to download the case study as a call to action in other blog posts. These blog posts do not have to be about the case study. They just have to connect to the problem at the heart of the case study. This is a practical way to encourage your audience to learn more about your company.
• Link to case studies in email nurturing campaigns. If you’re nurturing a prospect that has downloaded other content, a case study link can entice additional engagement.
• Build case studies into your sales processes. Sales professionals love using case studies as handouts as they provide a great springboard for meaningful conversations.
• Give your case studies to your sales team. Case studies help your sales team break down buyer resistance by showing prospects how others within a similar industry and with similar challenges have been successful with your product or service.
• Turn your case study into a webinar or video. The story you’ve already told makes a great foundation.

Because case studies have a long lifespan and can be used as the basis for other pieces of content, they can deliver a great ROI. In fact, one case study can become a dozen coordinated assets. Learn more about squeezing a good ROI out of other types of content.

A Strong Case Study Paints a Picture

When you write a case study, you’re telling a story about how your company solved a problem for a client. Many of the best practices that apply to storytelling also apply to case study writing.

Your case study writing should have all the crucial elements of a story: at least one appealing character, a setting and conflict. When you tell a story, you’re not just stating facts and statistics. You’re painting a picture with words. This requires a narrative arc with detail and depth.

• Provide background information to ground the story. Before you can describe the solution you offered, readers need to know a little about the client and the client’s problems.
• Describe the stakes. If the client’s problems weren’t solved, what would have happened? This is what was at stake.
• Give the case study a satisfying ending. How has the client’s situation improved? Bring this back to the original problem so readers can see what’s changed, and be as specific as possible.
• But stay on topic. When you write a case study, you want to provide details, but those details need to be relevant. What’s the lesson you want the reader to take away? And does everything in the case study support that lesson?

More Case Study Dos and Don’ts

To squeeze the most value from your case study, you need to follow some best practices.

• Don’t just list bulleted facts. You might be able to pull a list of bulleted facts from your case study to use in other types of content, such as social media posts, but your actual case study needs enough room to tell the story in a meaningful way.
• Do use names. Your case study will carry a lot more weight if the featured customer is named. You can also use anonymous case studies if the client doesn’t want to be named, but they are not quite as credible.
• Do appeal to emotions. Think of your case study as a story. You’re showing your prospects what it’s like to work with your company, so you need to build a narrative. This is also a good place show how your company helps clients solve the problems that keep them awake at night.
• Don’t make your case study longer than it needs to be. Your prospects are busy, and they probably won’t have time to read an overly verbose document. Provide enough information to create a compelling story, but don’t get bogged down with unnecessary details. An effective case study is usually around two pages.
• Do include quotes. You can say that your company is great, but it sounds more convincing if one of your customers says it. The featured customer may be willing to provide you with quotes and their logo to include in your case study. As a bonus, this is also free publicity for them.
• Do get permission. If you’re naming a customer, you will need to secure their permission and allow them the opportunity to review and approve the final piece before it is used. Be sure to save their written approval in case questions arise in the future.

Need Case Studies but Don’t Know Where to Start?

Our experienced insurance writers can help you turn client wins into case studies your sales team will actually use. Learn more about using case studies to fuel the buyer's journey. Or, if you’re ready to get started, book a 30 minute call.