The case for case studies
It is the ultimate third party endorsement and an illustration of successful PR being all about what you do rather than what you say.
But securing happy customer case studies and ensuring they appear on message in the media can be a fraught process.
The benefits are obvious – a happy photogenic customer ideally with their adoring photogenic family and (depending on tastes) dog saying how their mortgage/insurance policy/pension/credit card/plastic surgery/whatever has transformed their lives and how excellent the service was is the ultimate aim.
For the media it appears obvious too – if you say your mortgage/insurance policy/pension/credit card/plastic surgery/whatever transforms people’s lives and your client’s service is excellent then surely among your hundreds of thousands of happy customers you must have one willing to talk about it?
But people are bashful about appearing in the media and while they might say they are willing when it comes to actually talking to a journalist about their mortgage/insurance policy/pension/credit card/plastic surgery/whatever they don’t want a picture taken or they don’t want their name published. That kind of spoils the whole case study thing.
And journalists can be picky. Clearly it is fair enough for a Scottish paper to not want a London case study. But journalists do sometimes stipulate that the case study is good-looking which is hard to raise politely with customers or their families. Or even their dog.
How then should companies source case studies? The first step is to identify a central point for collecting data and integrating case studies into processes.
Sources can include testimonial material – this could include emails and phone calls to call centres, positive mentions on social media and blogs and positive feedback directly to senior staff.
Depending on the business the search for case studies could include long-standing customers and should focus on segmentation. The media often looks for specific types of customers for specific products which can tell a positive story.
Customers can be invited to take part in feedback and research projects and can even be asked at the point of sale whether they would be interested in principle in talking to the media about their experience.
Friends and family can be a valuable source of case studies as long as they are legitimate customers – generally the media will not value case studies from staff members.
In order to increase uptake it is worthwhile offering incentives for people willing to take part – vouchers or gifts as a thank you once the case study has appeared are valuable.It is also possible to use third-party research firms to source case studies to illustrate a general trend – Citigate has had success with this approach and relationships with specialist firms.
Case studies have to become part of the PR process and factored in as part of planning. Once you have done that all you need to do is hope they’re good-looking. And if all else fails there’s always the dog.