I’m privileged with having access to the Analytics data of several B2B companies for whom I provide services. This allows me to view, re-view, and analyze the results of online content.
Today, at about the time my head started spinning from all the data, I noticed something. Or at least, I think I did. While US visitors are always the majority of users (compared to other countries), they seemed to spend the least time on the site.
This got me curious and I looked at at the web site statistics from ~10 different companies. These companies have nothing in common in terms of their markets, just that they all appear in my Google Analytics account list. I did not write the content for all of them, so unfortunately, I cannot be blamed for the short attention span. In any case, below are the results from 3 of those companies. (Not enough space for all data.)
While this is by no means a scientific process, it seemed that a similar trend existed in multiple sites — visitors from the US spent on average the least time on site.
Am I missing something? You could initially argue that this was a language problem (it took more time for non native speakers to read). But this argument collapses when comparing visitors from the UK, Australia. or India
I guess this means you need to keep your content short if the majority of your target audience is in North America.
Customer case studies are one of your strongest marketing tools. A success story delivers the credibility of a 3rd party and can speed up the sales cycle. Unsurprisingly, prospects place more weight on what others say about you, rather than what you say about yourself.
So, how about making sure you make the most out of your case studies?
Getting Clients to agree to a case study
How do you get customers to agree to give you data and approve a case study? In many cases, companies remember to request that permission well after the project is complete and payments have been made. Life is much easier if you set the terms for a case study during pre-negotiations. So that at the last ‘nibble’ stage of negotiations, when the client asks to knock off a bit more from your price, you can suggest a tradeoff and set the terms for sharing the data for a case study. Take a look at this short video segment of sales manager Vince Thompson, formerly of AOL and Facebook.
Video or text?
Probably both. Use a text version case study so prospects can download and sales people can distribute during meetings. However, video case studies are powerful, as they provide an immediacy and authenticity, which written copy cannot provide. Here are some examples of good video customer testimonials from Riverbed. Box is another company that does excellent video customer case studies.
How long?
As short as possible. Regardless of the format you select, stick to the facts and what would interest your prospects. Use a very short into about the customer, and move quickly to the challenge/problem. The solutions section should only include relevant/interesting facts — whether about the implementation process (only if relevant), or how your customer uses your solution/service today. And the most important part is the results, which many times are not convincing enough. Yes, that’s the most difficult part to put together, but that’s the most important part too.
Length wise, a written case study should not be more than a double sided page.
Results/Benefits
What can you (or a prospect) make of benefits like “dramatic productivity improvements,” “significant cost reduction,” “shorter sales cycle,” or my favorite, “enhanced visibility.”
Yes. In many cases, it’s difficult to get hard number from clients, but unless results can be quantified, they do not mean much. So your objective is to get some numbers from your client. And by the way, percentages are good enough (30% productivity improvement).
Customer quotes
Here’s the thing. We all know that in many cases, you’re the one writing the quote, and the customer only approves it. But if that’s the case, at least try to make it sound like a customer. A customer does not use wild adjectives to product features, but usually describes in a down-to-earth way how a product/service helped them solve some problem.
Personally, I prefer leaving customer quotes almost as is, even if not grammatically polished, to maintain authenticity.
The unpleasant layoffs are behind you and the marketing writer (whom you never liked anyhow) is finally out the door. The bad news? You’re the only one left to write that one pager for next week’s event. Shouldn’t take too long, should it? Here are a few tips to get you started, increasing the chances that your prospects read beyond the first paragraph…
1-What’s the problem?
Your reader/prospect couldn’t care less about your sophisticated technology, ‘end-to-end’ solution, ‘groundbreaking paradigm’, or ‘revolutionary’ feature. The reader only cares about one thing, and one thing only – his/her problem, and how can you solve it. Always begin the first paragraph stating the clear benefits your product/service offers. e.g., what’s the problem you are solving, and how/why will it make the life of the reader better/easier? The focus of the first paragraph, then, is not your product, but your customer.
BAD – “XYZ is a web-based, multidisciplinary, sophisticated, and adaptive software platform that integrates state of the art sensors and services in order to cover both patients and healthcare professional’s needs.”
Good – “Take control of your retail sales channel with real-time brand and product publishing capabilities from XYZ.”
2 – You talkin’ to me?
With the less formal online marketing, try first person (“you/we”) rather than third person (“product xyz”). Except for a few opening paragraphs in which you introduce the offering/product/company, try to addresses the customer in a personal voice, which is more effective.
3 – What’s your point?
If I’m in the telco business, I already know that churn and customer retention are major challenges; If I’m in IT, I’m aware that TCO is important; and if I’m in the ASIC business, I’ve already learned that managing an ASIC supply chain is complex. So what’s the point? Tell me (quickly) something new. Engage your reader and get quickly to the point. If you start your pitch at 30,000 feet, describing the state of the union, your reader will not stay till the 5th paragraph where you reach the point.
So here’s a ‘BAD’ example for you. I’m sure you’ll write the good one.
BAD – “The telecommunications industry is in a constant state of transition – always moving forward with greater technological discoveries. As network operators bundle multiple services into easy-to-activate commercial packages, the individual customer begins to represent an increasingly complex and important revenue stream that needs to be protected by the operator.”
4 – Why You?
Regardless of your industry, your prospect always has alternatives to your offering. I mean, if there are none, then there’s probably no market… So, make sure your copy highlights the key differentiator(s) and advantages that will cause a potential customer to choose you over competitors. Particularly if you’re a small player competing against large, well-known companies. Here’s how to test it. Can you place your copy also on your 3 competitor sites and it would still work? If so, something’s wrong. Now, hopefully, all the segmentation, competitive analysis, positioning, messaging and that good stuff has been clearly defined long time ago. I’ve heard, though, that this is not always the case…
5 – Less is more
Long, unending sentences with multiple adjectives violate human rights, and mean nothing to the reader. Use simple sentence structure, and make sure you can still identify the subject of your sentence when you reach the period. What this basically means is that you’ll have to get rid of some of the adjectives (does ‘next-generation’, or ‘groundbreaking’ ring a bell?). For a nice list of buzzwords you can get rid of, see this great post by Mashable editor, Ben Parr – “The List of Buzzwords You Should Never Use In a Pitch”
