B2B Healthcare Case Studies: How To Identify Your Superstar Client

So you’ve been tasked with creating a case study that will help convert new customers — congratulate yourself on being part of an organization that recognizes the importance of telling their most successful stories!

If you’re like most B2B health organizations though, you’re about to make a huge mistake, and that’s choosing the wrong client to feature.

It’s easy to think that any moderately satisfied client will work for your case study, but that thinking is dead wrong and will lead you to wasting your time and worse — branding yourself as just another software company/revenue cycle consultant/startup that has nothing special to offer the industry.

I believe in an online healthcare B2B environment full of vibrant content that helps providers and organizations find the solutions that best fit them, so I’m going to share with you five questions that will lead you straight to the client story (or stories) that you should be featuring via engaging case studies.

Pass these around to project managers, sales people, and executive leadership who have the most exposure to client feedback and experiences so they can help you choose the best candidates for your next case study.

Who comes to mind when you think “happy client”?

This is goes without saying, but it still needs to be said. If you’re looking to create a full case study, you’ll want a client that’s happy with you — that’s largely because you’re going to be asking quite a bit of them to create a case study that actually has impact.

Case studies are much deeper than testimonials and require interviews, quotes, and questions that will be a bit of inconvenience on the part of your client. If a client is already happy with your work, they won’t mind helping you out.

If you wanted to tell a story about an interesting project to someone not involved in the industry, what client comes to mind?

People like interesting stories…period. Unfortunately, when you’re wrapped up in the details of ICD-10 conversion software or a patient portal upgrade, you can easily forget what draws your average reader in. Looking at a case study from the perspective of someone outside the industry will help you find stories that are compelling to anyone in an organization.

What client successes align most closely with your core values and core competencies?

You’re publishing a case study to sell something, right?

If your organization is in a huge push to define yourself as innovative and client-focused in the world of beacon technology, then choose a client story that features forward-thinking problem-solving and highlights the tech that sets you apart.

What client would be most enthusiastic about being featured in (and sharing) a case study?

Case studies should be shareable.

Not a lot of B2B content is, but some health organizations have found ways to go viral. Shareability is possible, and one of the best ways to achieve it is to leverage your client networks. If a client is already well-connected or has a strong social media presence, consider featuring them…they’ll likely be glad to get the publicity.

Who started with the biggest/most common/most interesting challenge that you ended up solving?

People love David and Goliath/John Henry-type stories. They also love stories that speak to their everyday lives and challenges.

Businesses face mundane and enormous challenges every day. Maybe you’re there to help them slay dragons, or just make daily life a bit simpler. Either way, think of who embodies one of these and put them in the spotlight. (This study on an mHealth implementation at behavioral health facility that I created with Samsung is one of my favorites.)

You may have come out of this with more than one client, or even several potential candidates. That’s a good thing. It means that you have multiple stories to tell and can use different case studies to attract different clients to different offerings.

Wondering about your next steps? Find out what case studies can do for your organization, and how I can help you build engaging, editorial-styled customer stories that people will want to share.