5 Best Practices for a Video Case Study

Video case studies are a great way to show how your brand has helped your clients. They’ve got one over on traditional testimonials because they put real faces behind those endorsements and you can visually demonstrate the effects you’ve had on your customers.

There’s no single ‘right way’ to do a video case study, but here are what we think are the five best practices to ensure you hit the mark with your audience.

Case studies should focus on the problem your customer or client had, and how your products or services solved that problem. Did your services help a client who was struggling to start their business? Did your product make it easier for customers to manage their workload? Framing your case study in this way will help to make your USP clear for your audience.

Try to include data to show how your client’s business was benefited by using your service and, if possible, include statistics to show revenue growth or other measurable improvements. Your case study should not only identify the featured client’s pain points, but those of your audience too, and make sure you include a CTA at the end of the video too.

You may be keen to include every detail of your success in your case study, especially if you have lots of clients singing your praises, but it’s good practice to keep your video as brief and succinct as possible. The attention span of an audience is much shorter now due to the rapid-fire content overload they experience on social media, so tell your story in as few words (or frames) as possible.

A case study should follow a simple format of the customer’s journey, introducing them and framing their problem, what the stakes were, where you came in and, finally, the results. Even in this non-fiction format, there is still a narrative that needs a beginning, middle and end.

With all types of video production, it’s always good practice to give plenty of time to the pre-production process. Proper planning reduces the chance of getting behind schedule or going over budget during the shoot or in post-production. Whilst you may be keen to get started on your video, doing your due diligence here will save a lot of headaches later on.

The pre-production process includes writing a script for the action, drawing up storyboards, planning your shot list and you’ll also want to spend some time choosing the right client whose story you can tell. 

You may have a few success stories to choose from, so consider which of them will translate best on-screen and, if you’re going to have a client talking on screen, consider choosing someone who matches the audience you’re trying to reach.

As part of your pre-production process, you should also decide on a style for your video case study. For example, will it include interviews or talking heads of your clients addressing the camera, with a heartfelt recommendation of your brand? Or will it be more stylistic and show what you have done for a client, by showing your products or services in action, followed by the results?

Whatever route you choose, it’s best to stick with it, as jumping between different styles will likely mean you won’t be able to do justice to any of them, and a case study that goes on too long will lose the viewer’s interest.

If you want to make a sleek and professional video case study, then you’ll need to use a dedicated video production team, which is why our final best practice is to keep that team looped in on your plan. 

Communication is key in creative projects, so if your goals change or you decide to go in a new direction style-wise, you’ll need to keep an open dialogue with your videographer. This will allow them to make those changes accordingly and have enough time to do them justice.

That wraps up our top five video case study best practices. Video case studies are an invaluable way to let a new audience see how you’ve changed the lives of your existing customers and, if you do it right, you’ll be able to create something that increases both your brand exposure and your credibility.

If you’re looking for video production services to help create your video case study, get in touch with us and see how we can help.