You can use many methods to generate the best traffic. But very few can generate the best traffic as much as case studies can.

Case studies have several big benefits:

they resonate with prospects
they show that your product or service can work
the transparency increases the trust a reader has in you

All of these benefits are important, but the last one—in particular.

Trust is one of the most important factors in traffic generation.

Why is trust important? The reasons might seem obvious, but data explain these reasons to eliminate all doubt.

A study by Edelman showed that gaining a customer’s trust has many rewards:

Obviously, most will buy your products if they trust you and need what you’re selling.

On top of that, they will recommend you to friends. And because they trust you, they would rather pay you more for a product than go to a competitor, all because they know what they’re getting when they buy from you.

But trust is getting harder to earn.

The same study showed that 62% of people (worldwide) trusted corporations (businesses) less than the year before.

There’s a reason I’m telling you all this.

Trust is something you can earn before or after a sale.

Both of these time periods are important, but one is harder than the other: gaining trust before a sale.

It’s tough to convince people to give you a chance when they don’t really know you.

And that’s where case studies come in: case studies are one of the best ways to not only attract the attention of prospects but to also gain their trust and get them to convert.

Why case studies blow away all standard “trust” tactics

The case study is the perfect combination of content that can attract traffic and increase trust in your brand.

According to a survey of content marketers, 70% believe case studies are very effective as a marketing tactic.

The only tactic that’s rated higher is in-person events (tied with webinars).

Reason #1 – They’re more detailed

A typical case study is at least 400-500 words. It describes the customer, their problem, and how the product helped them.

Compare that to a typical testimonial:

A testimonial is usually between 50-100 words.

Put simply, there’s no possible way to go into any serious detail in just a few words.

But when most people are trying to learn about a product or a brand, the number one thing they’re looking for is detail. You have to convince them that you’re the real deal, and providing detailed information is the best way to do that.

Reason #2 – They’re data-driven, and not just a bit

Part of being able to include more detail means being able to include data (and lots of it).

In a testimonial, you might be able to say that “[someone’s] traffic increased by 20%.”

But with a case study, you can provide graphs or snapshots of reports showing the traffic increase over time.

Furthermore, you could compare this to the year before, project future growth, and show how the increased traffic led to more traffic.

Reason #3 – They feel more “real”

Anyone can fake a testimonial pretty easily. I don’t recommend it, but obviously, it happens.

You’ve probably seen testimonials that just seem made up:

They’re too perfect and sound like some intern from a marketing department wrote them.

Not surprisingly, people don’t put the same stock in testimonials as they used to.

But a case study is different.

You’re featuring actual customers who can be looked up to. You’re including not just one quote, but several.

You’re also including real proof of your product or service being used.

For 99% of prospects, this is enough to ward off any suspicion of your case study being fake.

And because case studies include real details about your customer (or their company), they often resonate with readers. It helps them picture your product or service bringing them exactly the same success as your past customers had.

Where case studies fit

Here’s the bad news:

Case studies aren’t for everyone.

For some types of businesses, case studies are amazing. For others, they can actually be detrimental.

The basic guiding principle behind case studies is this:

The more uncertainty there is behind your product or service, the more case studies will help you.

The keyword here is “uncertainty,” which is always defined from a prospect’s point of view.

You may need to survey your prospects in order to see what they are uncertain about. In general, potential buyers wonder:

Will the product work for me?
Will it work as well as I want it to?
Does it justify its cost?
How long will it take to get a result?
Should I trust this company?

Take a complex product or service such as marketing consulting as an example.

An average client knows they need help with marketing, but not much more beyond that.

So when they come across a sales page of a marketing consultant, they are interested but feel a lot of uncertainty. They don’t know what “marketing consulting” really is or whether they need it.

One option for you would be to describe your process in great detail on your page. Many have tried that…and failed. People don’t care about the process—they care about the result.

The better option would be to create case studies that focus on the results, allowing you to clear up those questions that cause uncertainty.

How to put the case study in terms your visitors will understand

After you get your prospects hooked on the headline, your next goal is to focus on the customer in your case study.

You want to describe not only the company but also the big problem they faced before using your product.

The reason behind this kind of description is to help your reader relate to your case study customer as much as possible.

You want your prospect to think: “They’re basically describing my company.”

That’s what resonance is.

If you can get them to think that, what do you think will happen when you reveal that you tripled your customer’s profit (or some other benefit)? They’ll have no choice but to try your service.

Now, you’re not likely to perfectly describe your every prospect, but the more aspects of your customer they can relate to, the better. That’s why it’s important to describe your case study customer in detail.

How to make your case study more compelling

There are a few things you need to include if you want to maximize your conversion rate.

Considering that case studies take a lot of time and effort to put together, you need to make them as effective as possible in order to achieve a good return on your investment.

One of the main ways you can maximize the effectiveness of a case study is with images.

First of all, images help break up the text and make the case study more readable as a whole. Even though your prospect is highly interested in the subject, it’s hard to just read text.

But the most important reason to use images is that they convey complex results in a way that is obvious and easy to understand and that they add yet another degree of realism to your case study.

The bottom line

Creating content that both resonates with your readers and makes them want to buy your products isn’t easy.

However, case studies are your best bet at achieving that.

Although writing case studies may seem a bit abstract at first, if follow these 7 steps, you’ll produce compelling high-converting case studies.