New customers can often be skeptical when considering doing business with you. Prospects want ‘proof’ that your solution will work for them and that you have done something similar for someone like them in the past.

Case studies, like testimonials, are a great way to add credibility to your marketing. But in going beyond a simple testimonial, video case studies allow you to do even more.

So what makes video case studies so effective and how can they help your business?

You Can Say it ‘Straight From the Horse’s Mouth’

Your sales staff, while being huge fans of your business, don’t exactly provide an unbiased opinion. Quoting your loyal customers directly is much more effective than just ‘tooting your own horn’.

While one or two examples with huge claims of success may still seem suspect, it becomes even more believable as a list of case studies grows.

You Can Show it from the Customer’s Perspective

Most businesses are great at talking about themselves but don’t often look at things from the client’s point-of-view.

A case study can help to describe your process and the results of working with your business from the customer’s perspective. Prospects who can relate to those who were previously in their situation will hopefully be convinced that your product or service will be able to help them as well.

Try to showcase someone in a similar position and/or industry of your target audience so that they may better relate and feel like your product or service will work for them as well.

Here is an example of one of our own video case studies.

You Can Tell a Story

Whether as a blog post, an infographic or in video form, case studies are a great way to tell the story of how you solved a customer’s problem in an engaging way – and storytelling matters.

A case study will typically progress roughly in chronological order, first describing the client, then detailing the problem which needed to be resolved, the solution you were able to provide and how it was implemented, and the results.

This is what sets case studies apart from short testimonials and what makes them so much more effective.

You Can Gain Valuable Insights

Case studies are a great way to get feedback and valuable insights you may be able to leverage in your marketing. Your customers may have actually benefited from working with you in ways you hadn’t considered.

You’ll gain a better understanding of exactly what it is your customers appreciate most and can incorporate some of this language into your marketing.

You Can Use Video to be More Engaging

Case studies can be presented as a blog post, a PDF, an infographic, as a video, or a combination of these.

Video case studies are not only more engaging than those with just text but also allows the viewer to make a more personal connection with the person being interviewed, perhaps to see additional footage of their operations (in the case of B2B) or of them benefiting from your product or service, and can provide additional SEO benefits as well.