April 18, 2024
Kris: Hello, and welcome to design and prosper episode 133. Before we get into the episode, we wanted to let you know that we have a live masterclass happening soon, all about how to build a design business model that works. We share five business models that maximize profits and minimize your time. Sign up over at designandprosper.co/masterclass It’s 100 percent free. We will pop the link into the show notes too.
[Intro music]
Kris: Hey everybody!
Donna: Hello. So today we are demystifying the case study. They’re such an important tool in our marketing toolkit and our content toolkit for that matter.
Kris: Yeah, for the whole spectrum, really.
Donna:They showcase your design expertise, they build trust with potential clients, and they drive new business and conversions. And lots of conversations.
Kris: Yeah. So even if you’re starting out in business, fear not because the information we’re going to share with you today, it starts at the very beginning of the client journey. So this can start with your very next client. So case studies can be super simple or they can be detailed, they can be shorter term or longer term.
So we want to meet you where you’re at and hopefully help you to get those case studies out into the world sooner rather than later.
Donna: Yeah, absolutely. I think the key takeaway from today’s episode is keep it simple. Don’t complicate, really look at it and go, how can I do this in a really beautifully simple manner?
Even if you like the longer form case study, it still needs to be nice and simple as well. Don’t overcomplicate.
Kris: Don’t overcomplicate it. And we’re going to share a lot of information with you today. Um, and that is for those of you who are details orientated out there, but we still want you to keep it really simple.
And even though we’re going to share lots of stuff, Depths on how to put together your own case studies. Like I mentioned before, it could be super, super simple. It can be short and it can be just focusing on, you know, what’s happened during the project, even. It doesn’t have to be actual results that have happened once it’s gone out into the world. So keep it really, really simple, especially if you’re just starting out with this.
Donna: Yeah, absolutely. All right. Well, first of all, let’s talk about why case studies matter so much. They’re really, really powerful. Case studies are so brilliant because they demonstrate the value. They brilliantly do that. And they show evidence of your expertise, which is what we need our potential clients to see.
We need them to see that we are highly capable of creating something that will grow. Bring results for them and we know what we’re doing. So case studies do all of that. They show the journey from the client problem through your design solution. And then the positive results. The happy ending. We all love a happy ending.So yeah, they’re just such a brilliant, powerful marketing tool.
Kris: Yeah. We’re always saying you’ve got to communicate your value. You’ve got to figure out a way to show that you are the expert. And this is a brilliant way to do it. Best way ever. So clients really do want to see proof that you can deliver results, that you can do this.
You know, you’ve got the goods. So you can do this through testimonials. And we did do an episode about this a while ago. It was episode 65. If you want to check that out, just how to get there. Testimonials for your graphic design business. And while testimonials are super valuable, they are really powerful, especially when it comes to social proof, case studies do take it a step further and they showcase your design process and they show results and they show the real impact on your client’s business that your work has had.
Donna: Yeah. Yeah. And it’s a really powerful form of storytelling.
Kris: Yeah.
Donna: And we know that 2024 is. All about storytelling when it comes to marketing. We’ve been listening to that a lot out there in, in the world.
Kris: Storytelling sells.
Donna: It sells. It really does. And so storytelling is powerful in so many ways because it creates that emotional connection. That’s the key.
Kris: Yeah.
Donna: And that’s first and foremost, because emotions often go deeper than facts. And we see that a lot of where if we’re rattling off facts and figures. That’s great. But once we have an emotional connection to that, people remember it.
They retain it more. So, you know, being able to hear a client’s voice and their experience with your design process creates a much stronger connection than just talking about it or just writing it down.
Kris: It’s relatable.
Donna: It’s really relatable. Yeah. That’s right.
Kris: And the stories are just more memorable. Your clients are going to remember it. People are likely to retain that information rather than if it was just a bunch of facts and figures. Absolutely.
Donna: Yeah. It humanizes the data. And overall better engagement with your audience. So, why wouldn’t you, right?
Kris: There’s so many benefits, there’s even more benefits because case studies do go beyond simple praise and yeah, they were happy. I had a happy client. They go so much deeper than that. They combine testimonials with measurable results. So it’s. Absolutely. Concrete evidence and show something really tangible. So that in itself is going to build trust and it’s that magic combination of emotion and data.
Donna: That’s it. It is magic. Isn’t it Kris You know, you are showing real world projects that actually happened. And, real world people that actually got results because of the work that you, beautiful designer, you did with them. Or for them. Well, usually with them. We like to work with our clients, don’t we?
Kris It’s the perfect combo of that left and right brain.
Don: It is. It’s really, really powerful. So. Types of results we’re talking about here could be, you know, website traffic.
Kris: Yeah, like an increase in eyeballs on their, their website. Gotta like that.
Donna: Thank you very much. Better brand engagement. There’ll be evidence. These are things that we can measure.
We’ll talk about, a little bit more about that in a second, but what we’re wanting to see things that we can actually measure.
Kris: Yeah. We want to know. Like it might be the number of saves their social media posts are getting now as opposed to before.
Donna: As opposed to the three months before that you did the work, you know, there’ll be a boost in sales figures. Presumably. Yeah.
Kris: Hopefully. So there’s lots of measurable results and we’ll get into more of that later, but just wanted to touch on that really quickly.
Donna: Yeah.
Kris: And case studies are also a really great way to walk through. Clients or potential clients through your design process, which is so important for value, right?
Donna: Yeah, seeing the value that you bring as a designer, seeing your process is so valuable.
Kris: Like a little peek behind the scenes into your world. And this will build confidence in your expertise and your ability to be able to deliver. Something that’s going to work. And your ability to understand the client’s needs.
So case studies just make it easier for future clients to visualize themselves working with you.
Donna: Well said. Absolutely. And you get to highlight specific challenges and how you found solutions to these problems potentially.Via these case studies as well.
Kris: Yeah. You get to showcase how much of a smarty pants you are.
Donna: Yeah. Love that. How clever you are. Because we as designers are problem solvers, right? That’s what we do on the daily. We solve problems and every project has a unique set of problems to solve. But even though they’re unique, we, when it’s being told in a storytelling way and it’s relatable, clients can actually put themselves in those people’s shoes as well and go, Oh, I relate to that. That’s something like I’ve been going through. And I need that and I want that. So we’re really talking about humanising this whole experience for our clients.
Kris: Yeah. It’s such a great way to demonstrate how you yourself as a designer, tackles creative problems, how you adapt when there is like a tricky little design problem to solve. It’s a really good way to showcase that. And you can’t, it’s not easy to do that. You In any other kind of format. So case studies for the win there.
Donna: Absolutely. And when they see that you have solved that problem for that client, well, it’s highly likely that you’re going to be able to solve their problem as well.
Kris: And another benefit is that they are so good for content. Repurpose like crazy. Go for it. Social media posts, blog articles, emails, you know. Talk about it during a discovery call. Yes, why not? Pop it in your welcome guide, pop it in your profiles if you have a company profile, a studio profile or whatever. Like they’re so good.
Donna: Go for it. On repeat, on repeat, on repeat.
Kris: So how do you get case studies? That’s the next thing that we’re going to talk about. So it is a process. It is.
Donna: It’s a to do people. But it’s worth it. It’s one of those things that you can’t just snap your fingers and this will be done.It is a process. It is going to take time. But it’s a highly valuable process for you to go through in order for you to offer this out to the world, out to your target audience.
Kris: Yeah. Yeah. So the first thing with this process is to communicate to your client that you love to do case studies, that you actually want to do them, and that you You think that they would be a great candidate for a future case study.
Out of the gate, mention this. Seed the idea. As early on as possible. So you want to get them to buy in on the idea. And just as a side note, you really do need to get your client agreement to participate in a case study if you were going to actually publish it. You would, that would be a later step, but you would get them to sign off and approve a signed agreement.
Donna: Absolutely. You could even offer a little incentive, like an add on in exchange for their participation in a case study. A little carrot. I will actually give you a social media template or a, you know, something that you could do in your sleep for them. An extra little thing that they will get to the value of, and you can put a value on it so they know it’s highly valuable for them, if they participate.
Kris: And they’ll feel special. They’ll feel special being singled out too. Be part of a case study. They will love it.
Donna: And especially if they have come on board via reading case studies, they’ll be like, I want to be one of those featured clients. My business is amazing. I want to be able to be shown in that way as well.
Kris: They’ll be all for it. All right. So the second thing that you need to do as part of this process is you need to start with a comprehensive design brief. You know, that is whether you’re doing case studies or not, of course, you need to have a comprehensive design brief and you should always keep them on file.
Extended periods of time forever, really. And each client brief should ideally include some clear, measurable goals.
Donna: Yeah. This is key people. So listen up and grab a pad and pen. Yes. Um, this is really important. These are the measurable elements that are really going to give you that juicy intel where you’re going to raise eyebrows.
When there’s a shift upwards with these things or downwards or whatever they are, but just make sure you measure. Measuring is everything. That’s what case study is all about.
Kris: Yeah, so the types of goals that you might be looking at, there could be some website goals. So it could be to increase unique visitors by x percent within a specific time frame, like it might be three months after launch of the website.
It might be to increase page views by X percent within a specific timeframe could be to increase click through rate. So you might be trying to increase the number of people who click through to a call to action, for example, or it could be an increase in average session duration. So because of the changes that you’ve made or the design that you’ve implemented, how long do visitors now stay on the website compared to before? And you’re always looking at a specific timeframe.
Donna: And remember, these are goals. So we’re setting these up as goals and then we’re going to measure. Later down the track. So some brand awareness goals as well. So what Kris was just outlining them were website goals. Some brand awareness goals might be an increase in brand mentions on social media platforms by X percent within a specific timeframe.
And again, that specific timeframe, we’ll talk a little bit later about the check ins, but at minimum of three months would be the first check in. It could also be an increase in engagement, like likes and comments and shares on social media posts by X percent within that same timeframe.
Kris: We could also be looking at sales goals, lead generation goals, conversion goals, those sorts of things.
So it could be tracking an improvement in lead quality so that the leads that are more likely to convert or are they converting?
Donna: More qualified.
Kris: Qualified. Increase in sales by X percent within a specific timeframe, increasing average order value. If you’re dealing with an e commerce kind of site, that could be relevant there and increasing conversion rates.
So that could be not just sales, but it could be like subscribing to a newsletter. You know, it could be making a purchase, but it could be some other kind of action action that you’re wanting them to convert to.
Donna: And we could also look at customer satisfaction as well. So has there been an increase in customer satisfaction, score it by a certain percentage after implementing a new design?
So these are all measured via surveys and we’ve got some milestones that we’ll talk about in a little bit further into our podcast, but at minimum, it’ll be a three month mark. We need some time and space for, for this to unfold and to flourish in order to actually measure these things. But we need to start with a goal. So these are the goal setting. That this is where we’re starting.
Kris: So the third thing that you would need to put in place is to get some baseline data. So if you’re thinking, Oh, this client’s a good candidate for a case study, you would want to have some starting data so that you’ve got something to measure with later because then how can you do percentages? How could you know?
Donna: How would you know how much percentage it’s increased? Exactly.
Kris: So if you’re looking at traffic metrics for a website, for example, you would need to see what they’re getting now and track it. Because it, it would just be impossible to backtrack later and go, oh, I think that it’s increased. You really wanna have actual, actual numbers.
Donna: You need to know the numbers. So you need to have that baseline data. It’s imperative. All right. So number four, you would document your design decisions through the project, this is a way of showing, this is that sneak behind the curtain, little bit of process. So explain the thought process behind your key choices and how they address the client’s needs. You know, you don’t have to give away the whole show, but just invite them in to those key decision making times where the client can get really excited about what it is you’re doing.
Kris: Well, it’s about making really comprehensive notes behind the scenes as well, because then you’re going to. Pick and choose. You’re going to cherry pick what you’re going to pull out for a case study. And so as part of our design and conceptual process, we do write about everything, you know, like it’s why is this in here?
If you’ve got an inspiration doc, why is that picture in there? If it doesn’t have a reason for being, why is it there? It’s that sort of approach. And so you should be doing that too. So we teach that design process and creating rationales and all that sort of thing in the Academy, but that needs to be watertight because then I’m All of that information is going to feed into your case study later on.
Donna: And I like that you use the words watertight, Kris, it really does have to be watertight. When you are wanting to really feature and showcase case studies, you need that information to be really solid.
Kris: Alright, the other thing that you need to consider is in order to get your case studies is you’re going to gather client feedback at certain key milestones.
Donna: This is what we’ve been talking about.
Kris: So you’re going to collect and archive client feedback at certain times. So it would be. Definitely be at the end of the project. Yep. And that would be, you know, primarily about what it was like working with you. Yeah. Because that’s an interesting part of the case study as well, right?
Their opinion and their, their experience of working with you. Yep. Yep. Then you would do a three month check in. And that could be just a little check in, like, how’s it going, how’s everything going?
Donna: Always take notes though, even if it’s a lovely little check in, we’re always taking notes. We’ve got specific surveys at certain points, but even on those check ins, gather the intel.
Ask the questions, what’s going on, you know, we want to know what’s going on. And especially because they’ve signed on to do a case study, they’ll be open to having a more extensive conversation with you.
Kris: And if the client wants to. Reveal more at the three month mark or has some really key insights at the three month mark.
We’ll then have that conversation, go deeper at that point in time, but it can be just a check in. It can be, yeah, we on track, what’s going on. Then we recommend at the six month mark to do another survey. So keep it short, different questions to the end of project survey, and they should have some insights by now.
We get starting to get some traction. We’re starting to see the impact the brand changes have made and the design has made on their business.
Donna: So revisit your goals and formulate your questions based on the goals. For that six month mark survey. So we want to know, are we meeting those things as well?
There’ll be things that you can measure anyway. There’ll be metrics you can gather without the survey information. The survey should be informing the goals that you set as well.
Kris: And then depending on what’s happened already in the six month mark, you might want to do a 12 month check in again. Like it might be, do you want to hop on a call?
And this could actually have a twofold purpose. If you haven’t had any repeat work from this client, it might be an opportunity. You could drum up some more business. So we like the regular check ins anyway, but it’s really important not to overwhelm your client and the type of questions that you ask are going to be key.
We have a list of questions that we share as part of the Academy module. We share the types of questions and when you should be asking them there, but don’t make this complicated, whatever you do.
Donna: Underline that, do not make it complicated.
Kris: Yeah, just make it as easy as possible for your client to be involved with as little effort and input from them. They’re busy people, you know, so use pre written responses and multiple choice answers are really good. That’s going to win.
Donna: That’ll be the win every single time is they don’t have to do too much and they can give you those responses really nice and easily. But again, gauge it on the client, by the 12 month mark, especially.
You’ll have gotten to know the client and you can tailor things a little bit when you know that that client is a really detail oriented client, for example, versus you need to have full multiple choice for some clients. And then you’ve got other clients that you can really extract some really beautiful, juicy intel from.
And, you know, you can really have a bespoke case study in that way. But don’t make it too hard for yourself either. Don’t make it difficult for them. Don’t make it difficult for you. You want this to work. Yeah. Because remember, this is not a paid. This is not paid work. This is marketing. It’s part of your marketing strategy.
Marketing strategy comes out of your marketing budget, your time spent on this. And like we said from the outset, it’s a process and it will take you time. And once you commit to this, you will have to systemize it and carve out time for it. And just remember, It’s not big, nobody’s paying you for this. It’s marketing time and money and effort.
Kris: Yeah. And then just the last step in this system is just after you’ve had a check in, look at the project results, look at the metrics. Like we covered before, this could be website traffic. It could be that they’re padding increase. It could be that they’ve got higher sales figures.
What was the goal and what is actually the goal? The data saying now, and also just gather client testimonials throughout the project, grab those little screenshots and little social proof things that we love, love, love. We’ve done different podcasts on that as well, as we mentioned earlier about grabbing those testimonials.
So the last thing that we wanted to run through with you is the structure of a good case study. So what makes a good case study, and it can be really, really simple, and actually a really good rule of thumb is just what happened before, what was the client like before, what happened during the project, and then what happened after.
Donna: I love those ones. I love those case studies. What’s happened since? So three steps. Before, during, after. Boom, boom, boom.
Kris: Yep. It’s great. So if you want to break it down just a little bit more. The first step is highlight the challenge and, or challenges, if there was multiple challenges as there often is, and what the goal was.
That’s the first step.
Donna: Always include the goal. Yes. It’s mandatory.
Kris: And then the second step in the case study, describe the process. So what was your unique approach? What happened behind the scenes? Yes. You know, what was happening throughout that design process? Like you might’ve been working with this client for six weeks. What happened during that time?
Donna: Why would I, as a potential client, go with you over another designer? And that unique approach that you’re offering and sharing a little bit of insight into is the gold. It’s your secret sauce. It’s like, Ooh, I want a piece of that. I want you to do that type of work for me.
Kris: Yeah. Yeah. Then number three, you want to showcase the results. So that’s the exciting bit, you know, include that data, that sales increase, that social media proof, or maybe there’s that website traffic percentage increase. Fingers crossed. Hopefully.
Donna: Yeah, fingers crossed. And don’t forget the testimonials. Testimonials. Actual words from the client to support what you were saying. What you were communicating. Validating that you’ve done it all. That this has actually happened. Yes. Validating have fun with that. In terms of the look and feel of, um, that data. That data could be really creatively presented as well.
I love data graphics. Oh gosh. Yes. So you could have so much fun with your brand aesthetic with that. It could just be so much fun.
Kris: So cute. I love a cute graph. And then finally include a call to action at the end of your case study. So you’ve done all this work. Now what?
Like the whole point is to get more clients, right? Yes. So what do you want potential clients to do? They need to take action of some sort. What would that be?
Donna: Yeah.
Kris: Book a free chat, for example.
Donna: Yeah. Come on, have a chat with me. I can do this for you as well. Let’s talk, that kind of thing.
Kris: Yeah. And so this shouldn’t just be words, of course, it’s visuals and words. So we need to have, like Don said, those beautiful graphs and things that could be before and after photos. It could be, you know, behind the scenes pics. You might be doing sketches. There might be, a photograph of you working on sketches.
Donna: It could be a video, a little build of some sort.
Kris: Client photos. You could even have a client photo in there, like you might be going to their office and you’ve got like the Pantone swatch out. It might be that sort of thing.
Donna: Yeah. There’s so many things you could do. So remember. Before, during, after, with those steps that we’ve just outlined there.
Kris: So, we mentioned this before, but after you’ve written your case study, make sure you get your client to approve it. Really want to reiterate that. You want them on board. You want them to love it. You want them to share it far and wide with the world, because you want more great clients like them.
Donna: Yeah, absolutely. Leverage that thing. Leverage it to the cows come home. Share it far and wide. Get them to share it far and wide. You know, like we said before, at the very beginning, you know, email it, blog it, share it on socials. All the things. Turn it into a video. Nice. You know, whatever, whatever you do, you can’t do enough once you’ve got a really phenomenal case study.
Kris: Be brave with it as well. You might even submit it as a PR piece to a design publication.
Donna: Oh, the six o’clock news!
Kris: Haha! Well, if you’re living in a small regional area, you absolutely could. You know, they’re looking for stories. They’re looking for human interest stories.
Donna: Yeah. The local paper, that kind of thing really just be brave.
I like how you reminded everybody to be brave there, Kris. There are lots of ways you could share this far and wide because it’ll be stunning. It’ll be so great. And then there’s also, LinkedIn and Facebook and all the normal ones as well.
Kris: Writing articles on other platforms other than the real estate you own, like it could be Medium. It could be, like you said, LinkedIn articles, that sort of thing. So yeah, go for it. Far and wide. So that sort of brings us to the end of talking about case studies, but remember, it is a long term strategy.
Donna: It really is. It’s a process, like we said, so if we go back to the milestones, we’ve got immediately after project, the three month check in, the six month check in, and then the 12 month check in. So just looking at capturing those milestones alone. It’s a 12 month task, right? It is a long term strategy.
Kris: But even those check ins we hope will drum up some more business for you as well. So there’s a bit of a side strategy to that as well.
Donna: And the thing is you can, you can split it as well. You could start to. post about it and talk about it at the six month mark. We, you really need some solid data. You really need some solid intel.
Kris: Well, I’m just thinking Don, you could even do a little case study of just the process and the result, the visual result. Like, like we said at the beginning, it could be, it can be short term, it can be long term, it could be brief. It could be really long and extensive. We want to meet you where you’re at with it and start. Start small. Ideally, you would have data, but maybe if you just want to dip your toe in the water, it is more of a simple case study of before, during and then now what they look like.
Donna: I absolutely love those ones. They’re really great. But yeah, for these big, big ones, they are a bit of an investment of your time, but so worth it.And once you systemize this strategy, it’s on repeat. All of the systems that are in place to capture all of this. will be absolutely so easy to do and you can outsource it to a VA or, you know, it doesn’t need to be you doing this eventually down the track.
Kris: Yeah, it’s not a one and done thing. You’re not doing one case study and that’s it. This is part of your marketing strategy. If you want to take this on as part of your overall way that you do it. Bring in new clients in the door and you publish them regularly if you could. And it’s a really great way to attract new clients.
And also like Donna mentioned that people will probably be more likely to want to be a part of a case study if they’ve already seen a previous one you’ve done. Well, another thing is they will actually be excited about the possibility of it. They’ll be able to see, Oh, that client got really great results.
I’m excited to see my great results being documented as well. So they’ll want to be part of future case studies. So turn it into a system. Make it a part of your marketing strategy. I don’t think you can go wrong with these. I think we wanted to demystify it because case studies can sometimes sound scary or What is this thing?
Donna: And they can look overwhelming as well. But when you break it down and you set some goals and then you capture that data, it really doesn’t have to be hard. And once you systemize, we can’t stress enough, systemize, systemize, systemize the process of this and the capturing of all the information and the whole thing, and you’ll be doing it on repeat. You know, Kris and I never like to go into any of these big marketing strategies where we think we’re only going to do this once.
Kris: No.
Donna: We always set them up with the view that. We’re going to have this on repeat. So we systemize from the first step, moving forward. Okay, we’ve done that. We’ll do it again.
So it’s now a system. The next step, capturing that data. We’ve done that. We’ll do it again. So now it’s a system. So while you’re doing the very first case study, you’re building your system. And you can then outsource to a VA or whatever the case may be to get some help. You don’t have to be the one capturing all this information, moving forward or collating it or pulling it together or doing the beautiful data graphs and things like that.
So it really does need to be a system and become a part of your marketing strategy. And you’ll have it then on repeat and you can extract little bits across the way. You don’t have to wait for the 12 months to post anything. You can have, you know, little bits and pieces that are coming through the whole time you’re working with someone.
Kris: All right. So just remember the whole aim of this is to win over clients so that they can trust you and so that they can see the value.
Donna: Yeah.
Kris: And also, you will be able to confidently speak to past projects. If you’ve done a case study as well, it would just, you know, be able to showcase the power of results. You’ll be able to hop onto social media and all the things just so much more easily. The discovery calls…
Donna: Imagine the discovery calls when you’ve got some case studies to lean into. And be like, yeah, I did this for this client and this, and these were the results and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And they’ll be just there going, wow, sign me up, do it for me.
Kris: I bet there are so many designers out there who have gotten amazing results for clients and it hasn’t been documented.And it feels like such a waste.Because I bet if you’d done this process, you would have like the before and after. And you’d be able to see so many. You would have the receipts.
Donna: Yeah. Just start now. Start now.
Kris: This is a good strategy.
Donna: Be brave. Get it going. Be brave. Alright everybody. Get it done. Do this for your beautiful business and we will talk to you in a week. See you!
Kris: Bye!
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