idbd:focus

Build Brand Trust Through your Website Using the Case Study

Let's face it – in this day and age, business websites are extremely competitive and often analogous within industries. From creative content writing, SEO/ social media tactics to an infinite supply of stock photography options, how does a business gain the edge over their competitors?

While it is true that client testimonials, actual product and service reviews, professional affiliations, white papers and client lists will boost your online integrity and reputation, one of the most overlooked methods in building brand trust through your website is the case study.

A case study, per Wikipedia.org, 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. Case studies may be prospective, in which criteria are established and cases fitting the criteria are included as they become available; or retrospective, in which criteria are established for selecting cases from historical records for inclusion in the study.

Basically, a case study will tell your clients' story – define the problem or challenge, detail the methods chosen to reach a solution, and show the tangible and intangible results derived or benefits gained from the solution. They start out as questions or surveys, using photography, graphics, charts, and statistics to support the results. The final summary can be written in a question and answer format, bullet points or in paragraphs. You can also choose to do a video case study with a client… keeping the content short and to the point (:30-:60) to hold the viewers' interest.

Be sure to post the final case study to your website to gain the brand credibility and trust of potential clients and to influence their decision making when it comes to your products and services.

A great example of a case study was done by Google Analytics/Viget for Puma.