I first found out about Rhonda Britten from the incredible podcast she did with Kevin Rogers. (I listened to it while walking to a co-working space in Libson one day. I had to stop, sit down and stare dumbfounded into the distance for a good 5 minutes because the story she shared was so crazy and intense.)
Then I heard her talk at Copy Chief Live in 2018 and she was fantastic.
So I’ve kept an eye on what she’s up to because I love what she’s doing.
One program she has teaches people how to become life coaches. I thought I’d do a quick breakdown of the case studies she uses to promote this course.
Here’s a peek at what she’s doing well in these case studies… plus some changes that could help her success stories connect deeper and drive even more sales.
Rhonda Britten Case Study Breakdown
Towards the bottom of Rhonda’s Life Coaching Certification sales page, there are 3 testimonials from happy customers. You can click on the links to see full 1-3 minute videos these people made singing Rhonda’s praises.
Two of the videos are more testimonials than case studies. They’re not stories — more people talking about how they loved the program and Rhonda. This is great, but testimonials don’t connect emotionally with readers. And they don’t take the reader on a journey that gets them to see that the transformation they want is possible for them.
The third video, however, does have some case study elements. So that’s the one I’m going to break down. (You can go straight to her success story page here to watch the video I’m talking about.)
What makes this video awesome:
1)The story starts out with some general background information. Then, it dives into what I call the “Turning Point Moment.”
Trish, the woman in the video, talks about how she was diagnosed with Melanoma. And how this led her to ask questions like, “Have I lived my life to the fullest? Have I done everything I wanted?” She then said her answer to those questions was a resounding “No!”
This is fantastic because it connects to the pain a lot of the viewers feel. People in the personal development market often have a sense of feeling unfulfilled. So it gets people to see that this program may be the solution they’ve been looking for.
2) Trish goes on to talk about how she joined Rhonda’s course. Then, she shares what it was like to go through it.
Talking about what it was like to experience a course or program is critical but often overlooked. Here’s why it matters: Imagine you want to buy a car. Before you buy, you obviously want to drive it, right?
Well with live events and courses, you can’t really do that. (Sure you get a money-back guarantee but that still requires people first trust you and put down money.) The closest thing you can do is have people share what the experience is like. This gets the reader to imagine themselves in the course. It’s a chance to build more desire because you can talk about the insights people gained, the support they had, and how those two things powered them to get the results they wanted.
And that’s exactly what Trish does. She talks about how “eye-opening” Rhonda’s program was. And she goes on to talk about how you create great relationships and get support from great people. She makes the course sound like a good time — which is an added benefit.
You don’t just get results, you get an enjoyable journey that leads to the results you want. That makes Rhonda’s course even more appealing.
3) Towards the end, Trish talks about how she was scared to get Life Coaching clients at first. But she used what she got from Rhonda’s program and landed clients who still work with her today.
This proves the program works. It also connects with the fear many readers have around getting clients. They may doubt their abilities and believe even with this program they won’t have the confidence to get people to hire them. But Trish’s story shows that their fear is normal and something they can overcome.
4) The case study page includes video and text. This is great because some people prefer to read while others prefer video. Now, people can consume it however they want.
What could make this even awesome-er
Having ANY kind of testimonial video is great. But there are a few things that could help Trish’s story connect deeper and drive more sales.
1)More backstory — Share more about what was going on in her life that led her to feel unfulfilled. Was she in a boring job? In a bad marriage? Painting more of a picture here will make the story more engaging. It will also call out to people having a similar experience and get them to go “Yes! She’s just like me!”
And that’s exactly the reaction you want people to have at the start of your case study. You want them to see themselves in your case study subject. The more you can connect with your reader’s struggle through a case study, the more they will believe they can get results with your product.
2) Why Rhonda? Why take Rhonda’s life coaching certification instead of some other program? That question is never answered. But having Trish share her answer to that can show how Rhonda’s program is better than the competition.
3) What did Trish learn through the program? Sharing specific lessons and insights she learned does two things: First, it makes the case study valuable for the readers. It’s no longer just an inspirational story — it actually teaches something useful. Second, it’s a chance for Rhonda to show off any Unique Mechanisms — things inside her program that cause people to get results that no other program has.
4) How is her life different now? Trish talks about having clients, but they could go into so much more detail here. Really paint the picture of what her life looks like now and how it’s much better than before.
Also, what drove Trish to this program was a desire to be fulfilled. How did that go? Does she still feel she hasn’t done anything with her life? Or is she now thrilled every day because she gets to help in a meaningful way? Circling back to this can drive home the point that this program leads to a fulfilling life.
Also, in Rhonda’s emails, she talks about how becoming a Life Coach is a good way to make money. But they don’t talk about money in the case study at all. More details on her financial success and what that means to Trish could make this offer more appealing to the reader.
5) Highlight moments — You could make the entire story more compelling by sharing more highlight and lowlight moments. For example, have Trish talk about the excitement she felt the first time she helped a client make a positive change. Or have Trish share her biggest struggle with the program and how she got through it. This would make the story more believable and compelling — so people will want the course more.
6) Beef up the copy — The copy on the success story page mostly repeats what Trish said in the video. But you can suck readers into the copy by sharing quotes that either excit the reader or call out the exact pain, fears, and objections Trish had that the reader also has.
For example, something like, “I didn’t think anyone would hire me…” could be a crosshead. Then you can go into detail in how she felt inadequate because she didn’t have experience. And how the course gave her the tools and confidence to overcome that.
This way, people who are skimming and think “No way would anyone ever hire me” see that crosshead and are immediately sucked into the story.
7) Add images — You can make the story feel real and increase desire by showing images of the journey and results. For example, I might include an image of Trish’s website, or lifestyle pictures showing things she can do now that weren’t possible before (like working from a beach — only less cliche.)
Those 7 points are all things I include in every case study I do. If you want to see what that looks like all together, here’s a case study I created for Kevin Rogers. This one case study alone led to a 15% boost in sales (and that doesn’t even include the other case studies we did that target different avatars.)
If you want help creating case studies like that, shoot me an email at [email protected] and I’ll see if I can help.
Bonus tip:
Rhonda’s case studies are on her sales page. But she could also use them:
- In sales emails
- As a FB retargeting campaign
- On social media (FB or IG post)
- Or one of the other 25 ways I talk about using them