how to write a case study for marketing

Marketing case study 101 (plus tips, examples, and templates)

Summary/Overview

If you’re familiar with content lines like, “See how our fancy new app saved Sarah 10 hours a week doing payroll,” you’ve encountered a marketing case study. That’s because case studies are one of the most powerful marketing tools, showcasing real-world applications and customer success stories that help build trust with potential customers.

More than 42% of marketers use case studies in their marketing strategy. Let’s face it — we love testimonials and reviews. People love hearing customer stories and experiences firsthand. In fact, 88% of consumers view reviews before making a purchase decision. Case studies work similarly by providing prospective customers with real-life stories demonstrating the brand’s success.

Case studies provide a more in-depth view of how your product solves an existing problem — something potential buyers can relate to and learn from.

In this article, we take a closer look at what marketing case studies are, why they’re important, and how you can use them to improve your content marketing efforts. You’ll also learn the key elements of a successful case study and how to turn a good case study into a great case study.

What is a marketing case study?

A case study is a narrative that documents a real-world situation or example. A marketing case study is a detailed examination and analysis of a specific strategy, initiative, or marketing campaign that a business has implemented. It’s intended to serve as an all-inclusive narrative that documents a real-world business situation and its outcome.

Marketing case studies are tools businesses use to showcase the effectiveness of a particular tool, technique, or service by using a real-world example. Companies often use case studies as sales collateral on websites, email marketing, social media , and other marketing materials. They provide readers with a firsthand look into how your product or service has helped someone else and demonstrate the value of your offering while building trust with potential customers.

Some common key components of a marketing case study include:

• Context: A case study begins by describing the business’s situation or problem. This often includes challenges, opportunities, or objectives.
• Strategy: An outline of the tactics or strategy utilized to address the business’s situation. This includes details such as the target audience, messaging, channels used, and other unique aspects of the approach.
• Implementation: Provide information about how the strategy was implemented, including timeline, resources, and budget.
• Results: This is arguably the most crucial part of a marketing case study. Present the results through data, metrics, and key performance indicators (KPIs) to demonstrate the impact of the strategy. The results section should highlight both qualitative and quantitative data.
• Challenges and Solutions: A great case study not only focuses on the successes but addresses any obstacles faced during the campaign. Make sure to address any challenges and how they were overcome or mitigated.
• Customer Feedback: Including testimonials or quotes from satisfied clients is a great way to add credibility and authenticity to a case study. Choose customer feedback that reinforces the positive outcomes of the strategy taken.
• Visuals: Compelling case studies include visuals such as graphs, charts, images, videos, and infographics to make the information presented more engaging and easier to understand.
• Analysis: An optional way to conclude a case study includes discussing key takeaways, insights, and lessons learned from a campaign.

Case studies can help you connect your product to the customer’s needs by providing a real world examples of success and encouraging conversions.

Benefits of marketing case studies

Some of the key benefits of using case studies in your marketing efforts include the following:

• Building trust and credibility. You build trust and credibility with potential clients or customers by demonstrating real world success stories. In-depth looks at how your products or services have helped other businesses or people achieve success can increase customer loyalty and encourage repeat business.
• Learn best practices. Learn from strategies employed in successful case studies and apply similar approaches to future campaigns.
• Enhancing sales and conversions. By highlighting the real world results your products or services have delivered, case studies can be a powerful tool for boosting sales. They can help demonstrate the value of your offering and persuade your target audience to make a purchase.
• Explain how your business generates results. Case studies are a compelling way to share key takeaways with your target audience and showcase your brand.
• Use them as content marketing material. Use case studies as content for marketing purposes on websites, social media, and beyond.

Case studies can help your business stand out and achieve success. By highlighting the real world results you’ve delivered, you can use case studies to boost sales, build customer loyalty, and compellingly showcase your business.

Tips on how to write an effective marketing case study

Are you ready to write a compelling case study? Get started with these tips.

Develop a clear and compelling headline

You have about 10 seconds to communicate your value proposition to keep customer attention. Whether you’re designing a new landing page or making a long-term plan for your brand’s content marketing strategy , the headline is the most crucial part.

A compelling title should capture readers’ attention and make them want to read more. To craft a compelling headline:

• Understand your audience: Before crafting a headline, ensure you know your target audience — what are their pain points, interests, and needs?
• Highlight the most significant result: Focus on the most impactful result achieved in the case study. What was the primary outcome of the strategy implemented?
• Keep it brief: Keep your headline concise and to the point. Try to keep your headline under 12 words.
• Use action words: Incorporate action verbs such as “achieved,” “transformed,” or “boosted” to convey a sense of accomplishment.
• Include data: Numbers make your headline more credible. For example, if the case study achieved a 75% increase in sales, include that in the headline.
• Emphasize benefits: Focus on the positive changes or advantages the implemented strategy brought to the client or business. Use these as selling points in your headline.
• Make it unique and memorable: Avoid generic phrases to make your headline stand out from the competition.
• Use keywords wisely: Incorporate relevant keywords that align with the case study and your target audience’s search interest to improve search engine visibility through search engine optimization (SEO).
• Consider subheadings: If you cannot fit all the necessary information in a headline, consider adding a subheading to provide additional context or details.

Here are some examples of clear and convincing case study headlines:

• “Achieving a 150% ROI: How [XYZ] Strategy Transformed a Startup”
• “How Optimized SEO Tactics Skyrocketed Sales by 80%”
• “Mastering Social Media: How [ABC] Brand Increased Engagement by 50%”
• “The Power of Personalization: How Tailored Content Quadrupled Conversions”

Write relatable content

Almost 90% of Gen Z and millennial shoppers prefer influencers who they consider relatable. Relatability is part of building trust and connection with your target audience.

When writing your case study, make content that resonates with readers and speaks to their pain points. The best marketing doesn’t just increase conversion rates — it also serves your customers’ needs. To write content that really resonates with your target audience, make sure to:

• Understand your audience: To successfully write relatable content, you first need to understand your target audience — their interests, pain points, and challenges. The more you know about your target audience, the better you can tailor your content to their needs.
• Identify pain points: As mentioned above, identify challenges your target audience may face. Make sure to highlight how the product or service in the case study can effectively address these pain points.
• Tell a story: Create a narrative that follows a standard story arc. Start with a relatable struggle that the customer or business faced and describe its associated emotions.
• Use real customer feedback: Incorporate quotes or testimonials from actual customers or clients. Including authentic voices makes the content more relatable to readers because they can see real people expressing their experiences.
• Use relatable language: Write in a tone to which your audience can relate. Only include overly technical terms if your target audience solely consists of experts who would understand them.
• Use social proof: Mention any recognitions, awards, or industry acknowledgments that may have been received by the customer or business in the case study.
• Encourage engagement: Urge readers to share their own challenges or experiences related to the subject matter of the case study. This is a great way to foster a sense of community.

Outline your strategies with corresponding statistics

Whether you’re showing off the results your marketing team achieved with a new strategy or explaining how your product has helped customers, data and research make it easier to back up claims.

Include relevant statistics in your case study to provide evidence of the effectiveness of your strategies, such as:

• Quantitative data: Use numerical data to quantify results.
• Qualitative data: Use qualitative data, such as customer testimonials, to back up numerical results.
• Comparisons: Compare the post-campaign results with the pre-campaign benchmarks to provide context for the data.
• Case study metrics: Include specific metrics relevant to your industry or campaign if applicable. For example, in e-commerce, common metrics could include customer acquisition cost, average order value, or cart abandonment rate.

By incorporating relatable outcomes — such as cost savings from new automation or customer responsiveness from your new social media marketing campaign — you can provide concrete evidence of how your product or service has helped others in similar situations.

Use multiple formats of representation

People love visuals . It doesn’t matter if it’s an infographic for digital marketing or a graph chart in print materials — we love to see our data and results represented in visuals that are easy to understand. Additionally, including multiple representation formats is a great way to increase accessibility and enhance clarity.

When making a case study, consider including various forms of representation, such as:

• Infographics: Use infographics to condense critical information into a visually appealing, easy-to-understand graphic. Infographics are highly sharable and can be used across marketing channels.
• Charts: Use charts (bar charts, pie charts, line graphs, etc.) to illustrate statistical information such as data trends or comparisons. Make sure to include clear labels and titles for each chart.
• Images: Include relevant photos to enhance the storytelling aspect of your case study. Consider including “before and after” pictures if relevant to your case study.
• Videos: Short videos summarizing a case study’s main points are great for sharing across social media or embedding into your case study.
• Tables: Use tables to help organize data and make it easier for readers to digest.
• Data visualizations: Include data visualizations such as flowcharts or heatmaps to illustrate user journeys or specific processes.
• Screenshots: If your case study involves digital products, include screenshots to provide a visual walkthrough of how the product or service works.
• Diagrams: Use diagrams, such as a flowchart, to explain complex processes, decision trees, or workflows to simplify complicated information.
• Timelines: If your case study involves a timeline of specific events, present it using a timeline graphic.

Use a consistent design style and color scheme to maintain cohesion when incorporating multiple formats. Remember that each format you use should serve a specific purpose in engaging the reader and conveying information.

Get your case study in front of your intended audience

What good is a compelling case study and a killer call to action (CTA) if no one sees it? Once you’ve completed your case study, share it across the appropriate channels and networks your target audience frequents and incorporate it into your content strategy to increase visibility and reach. To get your case study noticed:

• Take advantage of your website. Create a dedicated section or landing page on your website for your case study. If your website has a blog section, consider including it here. Optimize the page for search engines (SEO) by including relevant keywords and optimizing the meta description and headers. Make sure to feature your case study on your homepage and relevant product or service pages.
• Launch email marketing campaigns. Send out the case study to your email subscriber list. Be specific and target groups that would most likely be interested in the case study.
• Launch social media campaigns. Share your case study on your social media platforms. Use eye-catching graphics and engaging captions to draw in potential readers. Consider creating teaser videos or graphics to generate interest.
• Utilize paid promotions. Use targeted social media and search engine ads to reach specific demographics or interests. Consider retargeting ads to re-engage visitors who have previously interacted with your website.
• Issue a press release. If your case study results in a significant industry impact, consider issuing a press release to share the exciting news with relevant media outlets or publications.
• Utilize influencer outreach. Collaborate with influencers who can share your case study with their followers to increase credibility and expand your reach.
• Host webinars and presentations. Discuss the case study findings and insights through webinars or presentations. Promote these events through your various marketing channels and make sure to encourage participation.
• Utilize networking events and conferences. Present your case study at industry-related conferences, trade shows, or networking events. Consider distributing printed or digital copies of the case study to attendees.
• Utilize online communities. Share the case study in relevant online forums and discussion groups where your target audience congregates.
• Practice search engine optimization (SEO). Optimize the SEO elements of your case study to improve organic search ranking and visibility.

Remember, the key to successfully promoting your case study is to tailor your approach to your specific target audience and their preferences. Consistently promoting your case study across multiple channels increases your chances of it reaching your intended audience.

Marketing case study examples

Let’s look at some successful marketing case studies for inspiration.

“How Handled Scaled from Zero to 121 Locations with HubSpot”

Right away, they lead with compelling metrics — the numbers don’t lie. They use two different formats: a well-made video accompanied by well-written text.

The study also addresses customer pain points, like meeting a higher demand during the pandemic.

“How AppSumo grew organic traffic 843% and revenue from organic traffic 340%”

This case study from Omniscient Digital leads with motivating stats, a glowing review sharing a real user experience, and a video review from the AppSumo Head of Content.

The case study information is broken down into clearly marked sections, explaining the benefits to their target audience (startups) and providing plenty of visuals, charts, and metrics to back it up.

“How One Ecommerce Business Solved the Omnichannel Challenge with Bitly Campaigns”

Download this Bitly case study from their site to see the details of how this company made an impact.

Not only is it well designed, but it also tackles customer challenges right away. The most compelling types of case studies serve their audience by showing how the product or service solves their problems.

Bitly nails it by listing obstacles and jumping right into how the brand can help.

Marketing case study template

Use this basic template to better understand the typical structure of a business case study and use it as a starting place to create your own:

Case Study Title

Date: [Date]

Client or Company Profile:

• Client/Company Name: [Client/Company Name]
• Industry: [Industry]
• Location: [Location]
• Client/Company Background: [Brief client or company background information.]

Introduction:

• Briefly introduce the client or company and any necessary context for the campaign or initiative.
• Problem statement: Describe the specific challenge or problem faced by the client or company before implementing the campaign or initiative.
• Strategy: Explain the strategy that was implemented to address the challenge. Include details such as target audience, objectives, goals, and tactics.
• Implementation: Provide a timeline of the strategy’s implementation, including key milestones and other notable considerations taken during execution.
• Outcomes: Present the qualitative and quantitative results achieved through the implemented strategy. Include relevant metrics, statistics, and key performance indicators (KPIs).
• Comparative data: Compare the post-campaign results to pre-campaign benchmarks or industry standards.

Analysis and Insights:

• Key insights: Summarize insights and lessons learned from the campaign and discuss the campaign's impact on the client or company’s goals.
• Challenges faced: Address any obstacles encountered during the campaign and how they were mitigated or overcome.

Conclusion:

• Conclusion: Summarize the campaign’s overall impact on the client or company. Highlight the value that was delivered by the implemented strategy and the success it achieved.
• Next Steps: Discuss potential follow-up actions, recommendations, or future strategies.

Testimonials:

• Include quotes or testimonials from the clients or customers who benefitted from the campaign.
• Incorporate relevant visuals to illustrate key points, findings, and results.

The above template is a great way to get started gathering your ideas and findings for a marketing case study. Feel free to add additional sections or customize the template to match your requirements.

Craft a compelling marketing case study for your business

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Choose from our library of designed templates, or make it yourself with powerful tools and a library of ready-to-use graphic elements.

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How to Write a Marketing Case Study (With Examples)

Learn exactly what a marketing case study is, how to write one that stands out, and review some examples of existing, successful studies.

As any big brand like MailChimp, Spotify and IMB will tell you, case studies are a huge part of solidifying your brand as thought leaders.

A case study is a win: you share the success of a customer as a result of your company’s actions. At SimpleTexting we call them our Success Stories , but no matter the name, the structure is the same — how company A worked with B to achieve XYZ. 

In this article we’ll cover everything from the basics to real-life examples.What exactly is a marketing case study, what constitutes a good one, and most importantly, how do you build one?

Let’s get started.

What is a Marketing Case Study?

According to Curata , “a case study in the context of marketing is an analysis of a project, campaign or company that identifies a situation, recommended solutions, implementation actions, and identification of those factors that contributed to failure or success.”

Sure, it’s a bit wordy, but at its core marketing case studies share information with prospective customers or clients about how your product offered a solution.

It doesn’t need to be dry reading. It doesn’t even need to be a report (although it can be). The key with a case study is that it should read like a story—only the beginning, middle, and end are all replicable business takeaways.

Case studies are for businesses of all sizes. They can be just as effective for small and medium-sized businesses as they are for enterprise businesses. Here’s why you should be investing time in building case studies.

Why Write a Marketing Case Study?

Before we dive into the instructions, let’s take a second to explore why a business would invest the time and effort into writing a case study. After all, why share your big marketing secrets with the world, what do you get out of the deal?

Simply put, you get the chance to share your story. Case studies, after all, are just stories showcasing your products and methods. They make for pretty spectacular advertising because, to a reader, it doesn’t feel like they’re being marketed to.

92% of customers prefer that media messages sound like a story. By using case studies you’re appealing to the logical, casual consumer who wants to know the “who, what, where, when, and why” that drives them to buy without any of the extra fuss. Case studies are the perfect medium to package it all.

How to Write a Marketing Case Study

As mentioned, every good case study maintains one singular focus: how one company used another to achieve its goal(s). This means most marketing case studies tend to take on an easily understandable problem-solution structure.

Let’s take a look at what you need to create a successful case study.

Components of a Marketing Case Study

Using the ingredients above, assemble them in this order to create a basic marketing case study:

• Write a title : Don’t worry about spoiling the ending. With case studies you want your title to let readers know right away how a campaign ended.  A case study title should include the name of the company or brand being examined, if their campaign went well or poorly for them and a solid metric that demonstrates exactly how well or how poorly they performed. For example: “ SimpleTexting Cut Down Product Onboarding Process by 30% Through Video Instruction. “
• Introduce the subject: Every marketing case study should open with a brief historical overview of the company. What have they struggled with in the past that led to them developing this campaign? Who is their target audience, what do they sell?  Even if your subject is obscure, you want to build a sense of relatability to your readers: so be sure to structure from general to specific. After all, you want readers outside just your industry to take away value.
• Identify your subject’s problems : Avoid leaving your readers feeling underwhelmed by presenting your subject’s problems early on in your case study. What are they trying to build, fix, or change? These problems are what will ultimately establish the subject’s goal, a one or two-sentence overview of the outcomes they’d like to see.
• Spell out your strategies and tactics : The real meat to your case study occurs here. This portion of your study is where you describe what actions you specifically took to try and reach your goals: What did you expect to happen when you tried “X, Y, and Z”?  Your case study can write this all out in paragraph form if you want it to read with some fluidity, or you can simply bullet out your strategies below each goal. Examples of good strategies for a common marketing pain point, such as building a social media following, include: connecting with influencers, developing original creative content, and developing paid advertising parameters.
• Share your results with visuals : At this point, you’ll want to follow up with the preview you set in your title and share with readers how things went. If you saw success, how much and where? If you didn’t were you able to pinpoint where things went wrong? Spare no detail as you write out what worked and what didn’t, and be sure to provide replicable detail (it may be what inspires your reader to become a customer!). Some common metrics commonly found in case studies include: web analytics and traffic, backlinks generated, keyword rankings, shares or other social interactions. Graphics like charts, bolded quotes, and graphs are good opportunities to visually demonstrate your data.
• Wrap it up with a conclusion : Know the difference between reemphasizing and repeating. When writing a conclusion you shouldn’t sound like an echo, repeating exactly what you said in your introduction. Instead, you want to draw emphasis back to your key points and call your readers to action. Let them know what they can do right now to get connected and see this same success (or avoid its failure).  If you’re writing a case study for marketing purposes, this is where you sell yourself and your product.

Marketing Case Study Examples

You’ve certainly heard enough from us to this point. Now it’s time to see what all of these tips and tricks look like in action. `

A plethora of marketing case study examples are out there, each one with a different objective: educational, sales-driven, industry leadership, and more.

To give you a well-rounded picture, we’ll share some of our favorite marketing case studies with you so you can see it all in action for yourself.

1. Surf Live Saving Foundation

The Surf Life Saving Foundation rolled out an innovative new framework for their brand known as the surf lottery. Despite the size of the initiative they were able to break down their process on a share of voice campaign with a great deal of clarity. Why we like this case study : It provides actionable and replicable examples of how their objectives were received.

2. StyleHaul & Asana

Organizational application Asana also finds itself in a competition-heavy environment. They are one of many SaaS productivity programs available. They needed to give their brand more of a voice to edge out against competitors offering near-identical products. The problem that needed solving in this success story is relatable to businesses all around the world, and ASANA’s use of it is a showcase of why they’re leaders in what they do.

Why we like this case study : It’s storytelling at its finest and perfectly demonstrates the subtle advertising concept.

3. Red Sox and CTP

This is a great example of a marketing agency showcasing its history of work with a high-profile client (the Boston Red Sox). It explores their entire body of work on a dynamic landing page. Why we like this case study : It demonstrates what a multi-media approach to a digital case study should strive to be.

4. SimpleTexting & U.S. Hunger

We couldn’t talk the talk without walking the walk. We have a range of varied case studies on our Success Stories page, but one of our absolute favorites is the results from U.S. Hunger.

U.S. Hunger was looking for a way to reach those who need them most – including those without internet access.

Why we like this case study: Not only does it highlight the incredible work of U.S. Hunger, it also shows how much can be accomplished through SMS. It spins a new light on SMS marketing and shows the wider impact of accessible communication. 

Marketing Case Studies are Key to Brand Trust

As a business looking to grow, you need to prove to prospective customers and clients why they should invest in you. Whether it’s a service or a product, case studies are viable ways of showing that what you do works and discussing how you achieved it.

The most impactful case studies aren’t always the ones with big names attached to them. They’re the best stories, the best solutions, and the ones that the most people can relate to.

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Meghan Tocci

Meghan Tocci is a content strategist at SimpleTexting. When she’s not writing about SaaS, she’s trying to teach her puppy Lou how to code. So far, not so good.

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How to Write a Case Study in 8 Steps [+ 34 Examples]

Updated October 2024: Knowing how to write a case study is one of those crucial skills every B2B marketing team needs to nail.

Why? Because SaaS case studies are still the #1 marketing tactic to increase sales—ahead of general website content, SEO, blog posts, social media and other tested tactics—according to a survey we did of 115 SaaS marketers for our 2024 Customer Story Trends & Insights Report .

Case studies are important because they’re an opportunity for you to share your customers’ success with your prospects, and as a result, demonstrate the value of your service.

When thinking about how to write a case study, think of it like writing a story, not a report—although it does need to be factual and should include numbers, it also needs a compelling narrative and lots of quotes.

See 8 case study examples , along with our critique of what each one does well and what they can improve.

Learn how to write a case study in 8 steps

Follow these 8 steps to learn how to write a case study that keeps readers engaged, leaves them informed and gets them interested in hearing more from you:

• Identify a customer to tell their story
• Conduct a successful customer interview
• Write a compelling customer story
• Design your case study
• Get approval from your customer
• Distribute and promote your case study
• Repurpose your case study
• Measure the performance of your case study

1. Identify a customer to tell their story

You need to choose your stories and their heroes wisely. Identify customers for case studies based on the story they have to tell, as well as their enthusiasm.

Remember that participating in a case study requires time and commitment on the part of your customer. It’s a favor to you, after all.

But with a little planning and the right tactics, you’ll be able to secure your customer’s cooperation and smooth the way to creating a killer case study.

See 6 steps for how to pick customers for case studies and get them to say ‘yes’ .

Once the customer agrees to participate, you should complete a case study brief . This document will provide clarity on messaging and the focus of the story and help you determine how to write the case study.

2. Conduct a successful customer interview

What case study questions do you ask in the customer interview to ensure you elicit the details AND emotion you need for an authentic and compelling story?

Gathering the insights, data and customer quotes that make a case study resonate takes some finesse. This is why it’s so important to develop a set of relevant case study questions for interviews with customers.

Find out the 26 interview questions you should ask .

And if you’re recording the interview for a video, find out the process Jeanne Nitchke follows to create successful case study videos .

3. Write a compelling customer story

A B2B case study is a tool you can use throughout your marketing mix. It’s an extension of your brand and should be written in your brand’s voice. And it’s a chance to position your company as a trusted leader and a clear choice for your prospects’ business. 

Follow these 7 steps to learn how to write a case study that keeps readers engaged, leaves them informed and gets them interested in hearing more from you:

A. Include 8 important case study components B. Hook readers with your title C. Keep your executive summary short D. Focus on your customer, not your company E. Use quotes to add Voice of the Customer F. Include metrics G. Guide your reader with a call to action

A . Include 8 important case study components

Every case study needs a story arc that captures the reader’s attention. To master how to write a case study, be sure to begin with a compelling executive summary that illustrates how your reader will benefit from what they’re about to learn.

Next, the piece should outline the challenges your customer faced that led them to seek out your B2B SaaS solution (and dive into that process). Spend some time on the solution and how it enabled your customers to level up their business while positioning them as the hero in the story.

Wrap it up with a results section that shows off hard numbers, then close with a call to action to guide your reader where you want them to go next.  

See examples for each of the 9 case study components you absolutely need to include .

B. Hook readers with your title

Keep three elements in mind when learning how to write a case study headline. Include your customer’s company name. This helps show readers that your case study is a real-life example of how your service helped someone.

Reference the product or service your customer used. This gives readers an idea of whether the case study is relevant to them.

Finally, if you have one, highlight a statistic that references the results your customer got from working with you.

See examples of compelling case study titles from leading SaaS companies .

C. Keep your executive summary short

The executive summary of your B2B SaaS case study should be short (a few sentences) but impactful, and should provide a clear understanding of your service.

First, introduce your customers and the challenges they were facing when they hired you. Next, explain what your company did to help.

To finish strong—don’t skip this crucial step—outline a few results backed up with statistics that reinforce your main message.

Check out 4 examples of executive summaries in SaaS case studies .

D. Focus on your customer, not your company

Readers don’t want to hear about how great you are. When learning how to write a case study, remember that it will only be compelling if you make the customer the hero of your case study—not your own company. Here’s how:

1.  Introduce your customer champion right away

Showcase the individual you interviewed throughout the story, but be sure to introduce them at the beginning. Your readers will relate to a person, not a faceless entity.

Also provide background information on the customer’s company. This should be relevant information that helps set the story up for success. It could include what industry your customer is in, what size the company is and what it excels at.

2.  Let your customer do the talking

When learning how to write a case study, keep in mind that direct quotes should make up a good portion of the case study if you want to make the customer the hero of your case study. Use your words to clarify or connect quotes and move the story forward.

Let your customer champion explain the challenge they faced, how they decided to use your services and how your solution helped them achieve results.

3. This isn’t about you

Don’t paint yourself as the knight in shining armor who rescued a company in distress. Your customer knew they had a problem to solve and proactively ewent searching for a solution. The customer did the research and realized that your solution would help smooth out that bump in their road.

4. Talk strategy

It is important to explain why the customer chose your solution, and how they implemented it and rolled it out. Let readers see the thought process involved.

5.  Cut right to the heart of the issue

Skip any vague and superfluous praise. Go easy on the marketing lingo. What changed for your customer? What did it mean to their business?  Include case study metrics  where possible or detailed descriptions if you don’t have metrics. (This is where you get to brag a little bit about how your service made a difference and why.)

Examples of how to write a case study by making your customer the hero

Remember that the person you interviewed is the face (and heart) of your case study. Be sure they resonate as a real person, like Jamin:

Source: Gong

This is an excellent example of introducing not only the customer, but a specific individual within the company. Jamin is a dad of two and wants to spend as much time with them as possible. And he wants to help his teams get better – great hero material!

Sometimes the organization itself can be the hero, like the Australian Red Cross:

Source: Okta

This paragraph in the executive summary nicely positions the Australian Red Cross as the focal point of the story.

Sometimes, stepping aside is the best way to inspire trust in what you do. To truly make the customer the hero of your case study, let them do the talking—they may be the best salespeople you have.

Get more inspiration for your case studies by checking out our critique of 3 case study samples from GitLab, Sendoso and Front .

E. Use quotes to add Voice of the Customer

There’s a time to paraphrase when you’re writing, but sometimes, no one can sing your praises better than your customer. If you want to master how to write a case study that’s engaging and honest, using quotes as Voice of the Customer is a go-to B2B tactic.

Readers want to hear from your customers whether they recommend your service, and why. The quotes you highlight should be specific and resonant, with detail that brings them to life. Feature testimonials as pull quotes in your design, and include a headshot of your customer to make it personal—and trustworthy.

Get tips on how to choose customer quotes and testimonials for your case study .

F. Include metrics

Metrics are a surefire way to measure success in a B2B SaaS case study. Hard numbers are objective, reliable and convincing. But, you may not always have metrics to tell your story. We’ll walk you through how to write a case study without them.

First, lead with your best quote. Social proof can be just as powerful as numbers in B2B. Describe a clear before and after the experience—for example, time or money saved. Have your customers explain what your service has meant to their business. List a few benefits (infographics come in handy here).

Check out an example from a case study with no metrics .

G. Guide your reader with a call to action

Your reader has stuck with you until the end of your case study. Don’t leave them hanging—guide them where you want them to go next with a call to action. This should be a specific statement that speaks directly to your target audience.

Use design to make your call to action stand out. It should be obvious and clear what you want your reader to do. Tip: you can have more than one call to action in your B2B SaaS case study, and you can intersperse them throughout.

See 8 case study CTA examples from other B2B SaaS companies .

4. Design your case study

Once you’ve figured out the  case study components  you want to use, then it’s time to work with your designer to figure out a case study format and layout that will make your story pop.

Done well, strong case study layout and format elements will:

• highlight case study results like key statistics, facts or quotes
• increase readability by providing breaks for the eyes and mind
• use visuals to explain processes or impacts
• boost credibility and trustworthiness
• break complex topics into digestible morsels

Carefully applied color, headers, subheads, bolded text and bulleted lists should be part of every case study format.

See 6 case study format and layout elements to include .

5. Get approval from your customer to publish the story

If you’ve ever written a case study or collected  customer testimonials , you know they’re cooperative endeavors. Your customer has given their time and granted you permission to tell their story. An important part of this cooperative process of how to write a case study is getting case study approval from your customer before it is released to the public.

Ideally, your customer is aware of the steps and deadlines involved in the creation of the case study upfront. Be sure you know who to send the case study to for review, and who within the organization needs to provide final case study approval.

If your case study is well written, accurate and true to the tone of your interview, the customer’s review and case study approval should be straightforward.

Find out the 3 steps in the case study approval process .

6. Distribute and promote your case studies

A SaaS case study is one of the most powerful tools in your marketing toolbox. But it’s only valuable if it gets in front of the right eyes. Case study distribution and promotion is crucial.

Are you doing enough to promote your case studies?

Give prospects every opportunity to find and read your customers’ stories by distributing and promoting your case studies in a wide variety of ways.

See 34 ways to use promote your case studies .

7. Repurpose your case studies into multiple formats

When mastering how to write a case study, remember to repurpose your case studies into new formats to increase content exposure, engage more buyers and maximize the value of each asset.

Repurposing your case studies also allows you to effectively reach a wider audience with diverse content-consumption preferences—and extend the lifespan and impact of your customers’ successes.

For example, for each case study you produce, you should also produce slides for your sales folks to use in presentations. Here are 4 case study presentation examples for inspiration.

See 13 ways to repurpose your case studies so you can squeeze the most value from them.

8. Measure the performance of your case studies

Successful B2B SaaS case studies take time and effort to produce from everyone involved—including your customers—which means it’s crucial to evaluate whether these sales tools are performing well enough to make the content creation process worth your while. 

However, when learning how to write a case study, it’s important to remember that determining case study success is often easier said than done. This is because many SaaS companies use both quantitative and qualitative metrics to evaluate a home run versus a dud, and gathering this data can be challenging.

Find out how 8 customer marketers measure case study success .

Need a hand with your B2B SaaS case studies?

As a SaaS content marketing agency , we specialize in working with high-growth companies like ClickUp, Calendly and WalkMe. With our case study writing service, you can:

• drive more leads and sales with case studies that resonate
• grab back more time to work on other high-value tasks like strategy and planning
• impress your bosses, colleagues and the sales team with the excellent results you’re getting from the content you’re responsible for creating

Check out our case study writing service for details on how we can help.

As the founder of Uplift Content, Emily leads her team in creating done-for-you case studies, ebooks and blog posts for high-growth SaaS companies like ClickUp, Calendly and WalkMe. Connect with Emily on Linkedin

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How To Write A Case Study [Template plus 20+ Examples]

In an era where every niche seems completely saturated, learning how to write a case study is one of the most important time investments you can make in your business.

That’s because case studies help you present a compelling story of success to bottom-of–funnel decision makers. Do it right, and a solid case study can greatly increase your chances of closing new deals.

A 2023 study from the Content Marketing Institute found that 36% of B2B marketers consider case studies to be effective tools for converting prospects into customers.

In this article, I’ll show you step-by-step exactly how to write a case study that makes an impact. Along the way, I’ll highlight several stellar case studies that illustrate how to do it right.

What you will learn

• What a case study is and what it's not.
• How an effective case study can help establish you as an expert and land more clients.
• How to choose the right topic for your case study, taking into account client successes and broad appeal in your customer's industry.
• The essential parts of a good case study and how to write each one.
• Style and formatting points that will make your case study stand out for readers to understand.
• 4 tips for conducting an effective client interview.
• 6 real-life case studies that you can use as examples for creating your own customer stories.

What is a case study?

A case study is a detailed story about how your products or services helped a client overcome a challenge or meet a goal. Its main purpose is to prove to potential customers that you understand their problems and have the experience and expertise to help solve them.

But, even though a case study can help you attract and win customers, it's not just an advertisement for your offerings.

In truth, your company shouldn’t even be the main focus of a good case study.

Instead, a winning case study follows a successful business transformation from beginning to end and shows how you made it all possible for your client.

An example of a case study that conveys a strong customer story is the deep dive we did into how ClickUp used SurferSEO to boost their blog traffic by 85% in a year.

Why you should write a case study

The most obvious reason why you should write a case study is that it's a great way to show potential customers how others in their position have benefited from your product or service.

Here are a few of the key benefits of writing a case study, all of which can help you turn readers into customers.

Demonstrates expertise 

A well-written case study shows clearly how your company solved a complex problem or helped a particular customer make improvements using your solution.

This is the sort of expertise other potential clients will look for when they run into the same sort of issues.

For instance, one of CrowdStrike's case studies shows how they helped Vijilan scale its logging capacity so they could stop turning away business.

This positions CrowdStrike as experts in helping deal with log management issues.

Other companies dealing with their own logging problems will definitely find this to be a compelling story. And you can bet CrowdStrike will be on their short list of potential solution providers after reading this case study.

Educates potential customers 

You might have the best product on the market, but it won't do you any good if potential clients don't understand how it might help them.

A case study breaks down those barriers by showing real-life examples of your product in action, helping other customers solve their problems.

A good example is the Trello case study library .

Each story gives detailed examples showing how the customer uses Trello and includes actual screenshots from their workflows.

Here is an interesting snapshot from the BurgerFi example.

Here, you get a glimpse of a live Trello board that BurgerFi uses to manage their marketing assets.

By showing how existing clients use your product, you make it a lot easier for future customers to imagine how it might work for their needs, too.

Generates leads 

A strong case study is a valuable piece of content that provides insights and can help companies make decisions.

Many of them would be happy to give you their contact information in exchange for the chance to read about potential solutions to their problems.

That combination of valuable content and a hungry market makes case studies great tools for lead generation.

You can either gate part of your case study and leave the rest of it public, or require an email address and other contact information in order to download the full study.

That's the approach Pulsara took in detailing how their telehealth communication platform helped EvergreenHealth improve efficiency:

The names and addresses you collect with this approach will be about as warm as you could ever hope for since they probably have the same sort of problems you solved in your case study.

Along the same lines, case studies can be extremely effective in upselling or cross-selling other products to the decision-makers who read them.

And they are great tools for persuading a client to make a purchase with you.

Indeed, a great case study can often be the "final straw" that lands you a client considering your services.

A 2023 survey by Uplift Content , for example, found that 39% of SaaS marketers ranked case studies as being very effective for increasing sales.

That made it their #1 tactic for the second year in a row.

Builds trust 

Potential clients want to know that they can trust you to handle their business with care and to deliver on your promises.

A case study is the perfect vehicle to show that you can do just that.

Take advantage of that opportunity to present statistics, client testimonials, graphics, and any other proof that you can get results.

For example, in their case study about helping a law firm uncover critical data for a tricky case, Kroll shows us just how much they were able to cut through the noise:

Any law firm staring at its own pile of documents to search through would love to have that haystack reduced by a factor of 32.5x, too.

And Sodexo makes good use of customer testimonials in their case studies, like this quote from the procurement lead for a Montana mining company.

Having existing customers tell the world that they count on you is powerful free advertising and builds trust with your readers. That can help transform them into customers down the road.

Provides social proof 

You can also use your case study to show that your product or service works in a specific industry.

Real-world examples of customer success stories position you as someone their peers and competitors can turn to, too.

For instance, Stericycle details how they helped seven children's hospitals get a handle on their "sharps" management:

They also include glowing quotes from hospital leaders in the same study.

Other hospitals looking for help in disposing of their hazardous waste will know right away after reading this study that Stericycle understands their needs.

This is the type of social proof that can really help establish you as a go-to solution for the industries you serve.

How to choose a subject for your case study

In order to get the most bang for your buck from your case study, you need to make sure you pick a topic that resonates with your target audience. And one that can make your solution look its best.

Below are 4 ways to select the best subject for your case study.

1. Choose a popular topic

Make sure the topic you tackle in your case study is one that most of your potential clients are searching for.

You may be tempted to highlight an unusual project that you find especially interesting. But that usually won't have the same sort of selling power as a topic with more broad appeal.

For instance, Aruba Networks has helped colleges and universities with all sorts of networking projects. Some of those involve really fascinating edge cases like research labs, esports arenas, and other innovative solutions.

But what most schools are looking for in a network upgrade is improving connectivity across campus while enhancing security and saving money.

Those are exactly the outcomes Aruba focuses on in its Doane University case study .

Remember that your case study is likely to be read by decision-makers at the bottom of the sales funnel who are ready to buy.

Your content needs to resonate with them and address the questions they want answered in order to make their decision.

Aruba tackles their customers' concerns head-on throughout the Doane study, as you can see from their section headings:

• "Realizing a hyper-connected vision"
• "10X throughput eliminates academic barriers"
• "More secure with less effort"
• "Greener and more resilient at better insurance rates"

College administrators can see at a glance that Aruba understands their needs and has helped other institutions with similar problems.

2. Consider relevance and attractiveness

Although you want to choose a popular subject for your case study (as discussed above), it's also important to make sure it's relevant to your target audience.

For instance, if you provide design services, a one-off project you did to help a local company set up its website might have taught you a lot. But most of your potential readers will be much more interested in reading about how your designs helped that client improve brand perception.

It’s also best to choose a situation where your product or service is used in a way that you expect most potential users to adopt. 

For example, Allegion's Mount Holyoke case study (PDF) details how one campus used their products to move to contactless and mobile entry systems.

Students today demand more control over their physical security than ever before. And the administrative overhead of managing thousands of doors and physical keys on a college campus is enormous.

As a result, most schools are interested in using technology to enable their students and reduce staffing costs.

Allegion hits those points dead-on with this case study.

An added benefit of choosing a topic with broad appeal among your target client base is that you can use the content in your normal distribution channels.

For example, you can publish all or part of it as a blog post, include it in your newsletter, or use it as the basis for a YouTube video. Wherever your audience is, that's probably a good place to promote your case study.

3. Identify a 5 star use case

A case study is like a sales executive for your company.

It needs to show your product or service in the best possible light and highlight its features and benefits while distinguishing it from other products.

Choose a client example that really makes your solution look like a superstar and showcases its most outstanding attributes.

You should also avoid showing your product or service being used in a novel or completely innovative way. While that can provide some solid insight, you risk alienating your typical client who needs to know that you can solve their specific problem.

Instead, your case study should demonstrate how your solution took on a common industry problem and delivered stellar results.

A great example is Beckman Coulter's case study that details their work with Alverno Labs.

The objective was to reduce the time it took Alverno to deliver lab test results while reducing operating costs, which are common goals for many testing labs.

The case study presents a detailed description of how Beckman Coulter implemented a continuous improvement process for Alverno. They enhance the discussion with several meaty visuals like this project roadmap:

They also include plenty of tangible data to prove their success.

And of course, include direct client testimonials:

From top to bottom, this case study proves that Beckman Coulter understands their customers business needs and can offer top-notch solutions.

4. Find a satisfied customer

You're going to need input from your client in order to build the most complete and accurate case study that you can.

So when you're trying to choose a customer story to use, look for a client who is happy to share their positive experience working with you.

Try to find one who seems genuinely eager to talk so that they will be timely with their responses to your questions.

If you have a customer who is willing to sit down for an actual interview with you, they're a great candidate. You'll get answers quickly, and the client is obviously comfortable enough with your relationship to talk with you directly.

A good example that focuses on a satisfied client comes from Aerofloat, an Australian wastewater treatment company.

In their Norco Food Case Study , Aerofloat reports that Norco hired them for additional projects as a result of their successful prior engagement:

It's always good to show prospective clients that your existing customers stick with you.

So try to pick a case study done in collaboration with a current client, not one from the past.

Aerofloat also highlights their ongoing relationship with Norco by also including them in the customer list on their About page:

How to write a case study

Now that we’ve covered the benefits of writing a case study and figured out how to pick the best topic for your situation, it’s time to get down to the business of writing.

Below is a rundown of the sections that make up the structure of a typical case study. For each piece, I’ll show you what types of content you should include and give you an example of a study that does it right.

Here are 8 tips to writing a case study.

1. Attention grabbing title

The title of your case study needs to grab potential readers attention and convince them that this is a valuable piece of content.

Make your title catchy, concise, and descriptive, just like you would for a good blog post. But you also need to make sure you give your readers a clear idea of what the case study is about.

Offer them at least a hint of the type of results you were able to deliver, too.

It’s a good idea to use numbers here – the higher, the better. It's especially effective if you can show how quickly you got results and how much money your client saved or made as a result of working with you.

Our ClickUp case study that I mentioned earlier is a good example. The full title is

SurferSEO Helps ClickUp Publish 150+ Articles And Achieve Blog Traffic Growth of 85% in 12 Months.

Here are some other case studies that make effective use of numbers in their titles:

• Healthcare Administrative Partners Increases Online Patient Payments by 20% in Two Months
• Case Study: Taylor Kotwa, Sprinter, Increases FTP 7% in 4 months
• Case Study: Lakeview Farms Reduced Downtime by 36% in 6 Months
• CASELY case study: Improved first response time by 10x while experiencing 16,954% growth

This type of headline gives potential clients a sense that you will work with urgency to improve their bottom-line results.

2. Hook readers in your introduction

The introduction of your case study should set the stage for the comprehensive narrative that follows.

Give a brief description of the problem for context and quickly introduce the customer's story. Touch on the results you helped them achieve, but don't go overboard on details.

Overall, the introduction should give your reader just enough information to keep them engaged and ready to move into the heart of the case study.

It should also establish that they're in the right place and that you are the right person to be telling this story.

This case study about the cybersecurity program at Investors Bank includes a solid example of an effective introduction:

3. Highlight the challenge

This section should clearly outline the problem or challenge that your customer is facing.

Help your readers understand why a solution was necessary, and why that specific pain point was bothering the client. 

And, since this is the entire motivation for the project in the first place, don't skimp on details.

For instance, one of Verkada's case studies explains why maintaining security cameras is a huge challenge for Crystal Mountain Resort in Washington state. They start off with a direct quote from the resort's IT director:

The elevation tops out at a little over 7,000 feet, so the weather conditions can get extreme. We needed durable cameras capable of handling everything from snowstorms to 100 MPH winds.

That makes it crystal clear what sort of problem Crystal Mountain was facing.

The case study then adds more detail with separate subsections about hardware durability, image quality, and cumbersome footage retrieval.

By the time they finish reading this section, your readers should have no doubt about what the problem is and why a solution is needed.

4. Solve their problem

The solution section is one of the most important parts of a case study.

This is your chance to describe how your product or service provided a solution to the problem or challenge your client was having.

It's where you can really start to make a connection with potential new clients by showing them that you understand the issue at hand.

First, provide some details about how you analyzed the situation. The Kroll case study on handling critical legal data mentioned earlier does a great job of this with bullet points describing their research process.

This type of analysis helps build confidence that you take a thorough approach to your engagements and are looking out for your clients best interests.

Now you can move on to describe the solution you and your client chose based on your investigation.

In their legal case study, Kroll determined that the best solution involved digitizing thousands of paper documents and using AI to analyze more than a million documents.

Kroll describes in detail how they used their RelativityOne system to achieve those goals:

This level of detail helps prospective customers better understand the root cause of their problems and positions you as the right company to solve them.

5. Showcase your results

The results section is all about proving that you can actually deliver on the promise of your proposed solution. Go heavy on the details here, too, and make sure your readers understand the results you achieved.

Wherever possible, use specific numbers and data points to show exactly how effective your solution was for your client.

A good example is this BetterBricks case study showing how they helped an aerospace company slash energy costs.

They distilled their bottom line results into a simple table:

The text of the study then goes into more detail about what these numbers mean, but this quick graphic lets readers know right away the scope of the results achieved.

Here is a sampling of BetterBrick’s more detailed explanation of their results in this case:

This is your place to really crow about the success you achieved with your client, so make it as obvious as possible just how impactful you were.

6. Use multimedia well

One way to make a lasting impression on potential clients is to include relevant visuals throughout your case study.

Graphs, screenshots, and product photos help break up the text and make your study more engaging overall.

But they can also add details to your story and make a memorable visual impact beyond what mere words can accomplish.

We got a taste of that with the table of results in the BetterBricks example above, but that's just the start.

Inrix is a good example of a company that loads up its case studies with insightful and engaging media to tell a better story.

For instance, in their breakdown of a collaboration with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (DOT), Inrix uses charts, tables, and graphs throughout.

One innovative example is this diagram about crash distances:

This really brings the idea to life in a way that words alone can't, and it's likely to stick with readers long after they've clicked off the case study.

Other types of media that companies use to good effect in their case studies include pictures of key client stakeholders, interactive charts, tables, and simple graphs.

You can see in this high-level overview that Inrix includes most of these in their Pennsylvania DOT case study:

You can even use video to demonstrate your solution or to share a client testimonial.

If possible, include direct quotes from your client to add authenticity to the case study.

This will show potential customers that you and your existing client have a good relationship and that they value your work.

It’s pretty compelling stuff to have a ringing endorsement like this one from an EnergyCAP case study , to show your readers:

You can place customer quotes throughout the case study to highlight important points, and you should definitely try to include at least one that shows overall customer satisfaction.

Chances are you have some of these quotes already in the form of testimonials or as part of the customer interview you conducted in preparing for your case study (more on that later).

You can use those quotes here if they fit the context of your case study.

That will save time and red tape for both you and your client since they'll be reviewing your final case study before it goes live anyway.

8. Conclusion

The conclusion should summarize the key points of the case study and reinforce the success of the solution. It could also include a call to action, encouraging readers to try your product or service or to get in touch for more information.

You might also include information about future plans with the client to reinforce the idea that your relationship is strong and ongoing.

That's the approach that Gravitate Design used in their case study about helping GoBeyond with their bounce rates and time on page:

Like the introduction, the conclusion section of a case study should be short and sweet, giving just enough detail to make the reader want to hear more from you.

Checklist for case studies

Beyond the story that you want to tell in your case study, you also need to pay attention to several other factors. Indeed, the layout and format of your study can have a big impact on how effective it is at keeping your readers engaged and delivering your message.

Here is a quick checklist for creating case studies.

Break up the text with headings and subheadings

Big blocks of text can be intimidating and make it tough for your audience to stay on track.

In contrast, a case study with clear headings and subheadings throughout breaks up the story and gives readers visual clues about what's coming.

This also makes the case study easier for readers to scan and helps you keep each section focused on a single idea.

Use bullet points for lists or key points

Along the same lines, bullet points let you present important information in small bits that are easy for readers to digest.

Some of the best uses of bullet points include:

• A series of facts or tips
• A list of product features or benefits
• A quick summary of results
• Steps in a how-to procedure
• A rundown of multiple statistics

For these bite-sized hunks of detail, bullets often make for a much cleaner and readable list than jamming all the information into a single paragraph. 

Bullet point lists also make great quick references for readers to come back to later.

Highlight key points with bold or italic text

Bold and italic text draws the reader’s eyes to the words you highlight, which lets you really drive home key ideas in your case study.

You can use this technique to introduce new terms, place emphasis on a sentence, and showcase important parts of your approach or results.

Like bullet points, bold and italic text also give readers a visual anchor for reference as they’re working through your document.

Make paragraphs short and to-the-point

Aim for 3-4 sentences per paragraph to keep the text readable and engaging. Each paragraph should focus on one main idea to support the subject of the section it’s in.

Using short paragraphs tells readers at a glance that there are break points throughout your case study and helps keep them engaged.

Keep consistent length across the case study 

Throughout all parts of your case study, try to cover your main points in detail without overwhelming the reader.

Your potential clients are there to find a possible solution to their problems, not to read a novel.

Give them an inviting document structure and then lead them through each section with clear explanations and no fluff.

Adjust the length based on the complexity of the subject 

The flip side of the tip above about keeping your case study tight and focused is that you need to make sure you cover your topic in detail.

Very complex topics will require more explanation and longer overall case studies than simpler subjects.

For example, a case study about paving a church parking lot might be pretty short.

But a story about implementing a comprehensive information security program for a state government will likely be much longer and more detailed.

Include a summary with some takeaways 

At the end of your case study, summarize the key takeaways and results to reinforce the message you’re trying to get across.

Briefly recap the problem your client was facing, the solution you came up with, and the results you achieved. Think of this as an executive summary that gives business leaders the TL;DR version of your customer’s success story.

Content Snare includes an eye-catching summary in the case study detailing their efforts to grow their email list:

The overall goal is to leave potential clients with a good last impression and invite them to contact you with questions.

Use visuals to break up text and illustrate points

As we saw in the "How to write a case study" section above, graphs, charts, or images can make your case study more engaging and help illustrate key ideas or results. They also add visual variety and help break up the monotony of text-heavy studies.

Use these types of visuals to help keep your readers interested and make your story more complete.

Below is a high-level view of a portion of Advanced HPC’s Philips case study , which does a great job of incorporating the points in this section. It pulls together all the visual elements to create a very appealing reader experience.

4 tips to create an effective case study

You’re going to need your customer’s input in order to craft the most effective case study possible. It’s their story, after all, and they’re the ones who know what it was like to work with you throughout the process.

They also hold key details that you probably don’t know.

So, once you have their permission to write about the project, you’ll need to talk to them about the specifics. But you also want to respect their time.

Here are 4 tips on how to conduct an interview for your case study.

Prepare questions in advance

Know what information you need and prepare questions to pull that information from your client.

Doing this in advance will help you formulate the questions and sequence them properly to avoid bias and wasting time.

Have a few follow-up or emergency questions ready, too, in case you run into a dead end. 

Record the interview

With your client’s permission, record the interview to ensure accuracy and so you can come back to listen to important points again.

This helps you avoid bothering your clients with follow-up questions and also gives you more freedom to let the interview evolve in a natural conversational manner. 

Make the interviewee comfortable

Explain the interview process to your client, why you're asking them to talk, and how the information will be used. Remember that you are the one who “needs” the case study, not them. 

So you go the extra mile to ensure that your guest is as comfortable as possible.

That also means being flexible with the format of your interview.

If your client doesn’t have time for calls, offer to trade voice notes. Or give them a shared Google document for trading questions and answers.

And if you do end up conducting a live interview, agree to meet at a time that’s best for them.

No matter how you end up conducting your interview, make it clear that your client will be able to review the final version before you make it live.

Give them veto power over any of the information you put together.

Ask open-ended questions

Even though you’ll start out with a series of questions you need answered, don’t limit yourself to those. Instead, encourage your interviewee to share their story in their own words. 

Leave some room to ask open-ended questions and let the conversation evolve naturally.

Here are a few examples of the types of questions for discussion:

• What would you do differently if you were starting this project again?
• What do you think about XYZ emerging technology in relation to your industry's challenges?
• What sorts of other projects do you think Acme's solution might help with?
• How do your company's day-to-day operations and needs from how the relevant theories describe the industry?

Especially if you’re recording the interview, as suggested above, you can go back later and put things in a logical order.

Once you have all of the raw material, then you can curate the information and edit it to come up with your final product.

6 case study examples to follow

Now that you know what makes a great case study and how to write one, let's finish up with a few more top-notch business case study examples.

Each of the case studies below hits many of the points in this article, but they all take a different approach. Use them for inspiration or when you need a little refresher on how to write a case study.

This case study provides a detailed account of how Monograph, a B2B SaaS company, improved its marketing projects and reporting using Databox.

It's a pretty straightforward example of the best practices we've discussed in this article, with an introduction followed by background information on the company (Monograph) and the challenges they faced with manual tracking of each data point.

It describes the solution that Databox helped put in place and then shows clear evidence of the results their customer achieved:

Case studies don't come much more textbook than this one, which makes it a great example to follow.

Growth Design on Airbnb

Growth Design takes a totally unique approach to case studies, each one is an online comic book!

Read through their case study about Airbnb , though, and you'll see that it meets all the criteria for a complete case study even if the setup is a little different than most.

Here is a look at the landing page for this beauty of a study.

The author starts out with a problem: the need to book a place to stay in a foreign country in a hurry. So he heads to Airbnb but ends up overwhelmed by choices and bounces to Google Maps to make his reservation.

He concludes that Airbnb was not the full solution for him in this case and suggests several places they could make improvements.

It's a pretty neat dive into a well-known user experience, and it's also a great lesson in how to use visuals to keep your readers engaged in your case study.

This case study about how Grubhub used Webflow to build a viral marketing campaign hits you with stunning results right off the bat.

From there, the study tells the full story of how they achieved these results. Even though the author doesn't explicitly break out the problem, solution, and results sections, she still takes the reader through that journey.

It's a concise but complete story broken up by a few choice graphics.

This case study dives into how Employment Hero uses Slack to keep their remote employees engaged and productive as the company grows.

It details how Employee Hero continuously reevaluates its app usage to identify possible solutions to issues that arise and how Slack consistently helps meet the challenges.

This case study is a great example of picking a use case that is relevant to most of Slack's user base -- improving communication and productivity among remote employees.

Slack also makes effective use of quotes from the decision makers at Employment Hero.

We already talked about our ClickUp case study a little earlier in this article, but it's worth a deeper look as an example to help guide your writing.

As you would expect, this case study hits main points we've covered here: problem statement, solution, and results.

But there are a couple of "extras" that make this one stand out.

For starters, it doesn't just present a single solution. It presents three , each one addressing a different aspect of ClickUp's objectives and each one showcasing a different Surfer feature set. 

For example, solution #1 describes how ClickUp improved their on-page SEO with the help of Surfer’s Content Editor . 

This case study also provides a high-level view of ClickUp’s project management processes and describes how they incorporated Surfer into their content workflows.

It’s a really instructive example of how you can use a case study to help prospective clients envision how your product might fit their situation.

Zoom’s library

This one isn't a single case study at all but a library full of case studies designed to help potential clients understand how Zoom can benefit them.

Here you'll find stories about how very recognizable organizations like Capital One, Vox Media, and the University of Miami are using Zoom to boost connectivity and productivity among remote workers.

There are plenty of good examples here that you can consult when you get stuck writing your own case study.

And the entire library is a great example of using case studies to demonstrate expertise with the help of social proof:

The Zoom case study library also makes liberal use of video, which might give you some good ideas about how you can, too.

Key takeaways

• Case studies are one of the best ways to generate leads and convert readers into customers.
• By showcasing the success you've had helping previous customers, case studies position you as an expert in your field.
• Good case studies can be the final push businesses need in their decision making process to buy your products or services.
• Pick a use case for your study that has broad appeal in your industry and that showcases your products and services in the best light possible.
• Effective case studies follow a predictable format: introduction, problem statement, solution, results, and conclusion.
• Make your case studies as readable as possible by including visual elements like graphs and images, and by breaking up the text into smaller sections, subsections, and concise paragraphs.
• Be as thorough and accurate as possible by conducting client interviews to gather background information for your case studies.
• Follow top-notch case studies for inspiration and ideas about how to make your own case studies as good as possible.

A well-written case study shines a light on your products and services like nothing else and helps position you as an expert in your field.

By showing that you understand their problems and have helped others overcome similar issues, you can prove to prospective clients that you are well-suited to help them, too.

Use the step-by-step instructions in this article to craft a case study that helps you and your company stand out from the competition.

https://surferseo.com/blog/write-case-study/

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• B2B Marketing

Case Study Writing 101: Everything You Need to Write Your First Case Study

Do you want to get more business? Case studies are a great way to do that. In this article, we will go through the case study writing process, from start to finish.

We’ll discuss how to find a company that’s right for you, what information you need for the case study, and what kind of content it should include. Case studies can be an excellent addition to any marketing strategy!

The point of content marketing is to establish your brand/business as a trusted authority in your industry. Customers want to see a real-world demonstration of a company’s product or service and how your solutions can address their needs. And the best way to show this is through a client case study.

Identify a Compelling Angle for Your Case Study

7. propose next step – add a call to action, should you use a template for case study writing.

This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I receive a small commission at no cost to you when you make a purchase. This helps me pay to keep this site going and to bring all these free resources to you. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

What Is a Case Study?

Case studies are detailed stories about a customer overcoming their problem with your company’s products. By the end of a case study, it’s important for the reader to visualize themselves in that position.

Good case studies all have a beginning, middle, and end. They also have an active protagonist – your customer – who overcomes a problem and achieves their goal.

Business case studies allow you to describe the results of implementing your services from the customer’s perspective. Your case study should highlight how your product or service is the best solution for specific customer problems.

Your customer case study can be presented in different formats – article/blog post, video case study, social media post, email, or even podcast audio.

For the purpose of this article, we’ll focus on the blog post format and how to create a compelling case study that will get customers wanting to know more about your business and solution.

Related:   How to Create a Case Study That Converts: The Ultimate Guide for Businesses

Why Create Marketing Case Studies?

Marketers often prioritize other marketing content formats over marketing case studies.

In a recent report , B2B Marketing asked a cohort of marketers how they felt about various content formats, including case studies. 67% of marketers surveyed said case studies were ‘very effective’.

Customer case studies are fantastic tools for marketing because they can be used to highlight customer success. When you share customer stories, it’s easy for potential customers to connect with the customer and feel hopeful that they too will have a successful experience.

Case studies also provide an opportunity to demonstrate your company’s expertise in customer service or product development by highlighting specific results achieved through implementing certain strategies or approaches.

How Do You Write a Case Study?

[source:   Freepik ]

Case studies are about how a particular consumer/client used the goods or services to solve their problem. A good case study has a beginning, middle, and end, just like a story.

Always start with a case study strategy

Before you begin writing a case study, ask yourself: where do case studies fit within your broader content and marketing strategy ? This is critical to identify upfront so you can plan your case study appropriately.

The following questions are important to ask when considering a case study strategy:

• What customer success challenges does your business face?
• What customer pain points do we want to address through the use of content and marketing efforts?
• How will this help our customers achieve their goals faster or better than they would without our product/service?

Is there an opportunity for customer testimonials, customer reviews, customer feedback as part of the design process with customer success team input on what is most helpful information in each stage of product adoption (e.g., early adopter feedback)?

Do case studies offer value outside of just generating leads by driving awareness about products that may drive viral reach, social media, or other customer-generated customer referrals?

What’s the intrinsic value of case studies in terms of customer research, customer engagement, loyalty, and also retention?

Don’t have a strategy yet for using case studies to market your business? Watch our free 5-min training and download our PDF worksheet .

The more engaging your case study is, the better. It is important to choose an interesting customer for the next case study. Have any of your customers used the services you offer on a particularly difficult or unusual problem?

Think outside the box when searching for someone to serve as the basis for a case study. The more engaging your story, the better it is to be heard.

This is why it’s important to consider where your case study will fit within your customer journey and have a strategy for using case studies to market your business.

Once you’ve worked out which angles will speak to prospective clients, and you’ve identified which client(s) would be best suited to profile, it’s time to plan your case study blog post.

How to write a case study in 7 steps

Here at Simple Creative Marketing, we developed the “7P Framework” for writing compelling case studies.

Here’s a video walking through each of the 7 P’s of our case study framework.

Prefer to read? Not a problem. Let’s break down what each “P” stands for. While case studies can be shaped differently,  the following components are a must in any client success story.

1. Punchy Headline – Case study title

The title creates the first impression of your study, and it should be able to reflect the accomplishments or use case of your product effectively. You can even use the client/consumer’s to make it more authentic.

Here are some examples of case study titles that we came up with for our clients:

• How Ally Nitschke Quit Her Day Job And Went Full-Time On Her Coaching Business In Just Five Months

Reducing Bento’s Bookkeeping Time to 5 Minutes Per Month

• How eCommerce Growth agency hit growth targets consistently for 3 months straight and achieved a 76.57% profit margin

2. Profile – About the Client’s Company

The next step in your case study is to turn on the lights and set the stage. Since the story is not about you but the client, a brief introduction to your client’s world helps the audience connect and identify your target audience and relate with the challenges accordingly.

This is also a great opportunity for you to let your readers know what type of clients you typically work with. For instance by stating clearly that the client being profiled is a 6-figure course creator that immediately lets readers know that’s who you serve.

3. Problem Statement – Describe The Challenges

Moving forward with the case study story, describe each problem in a few paragraphs and state the challenges faced by the client before they opted for your product/service.

Keep in mind not to deviate from the subject of your study. When talking about the challenges that your client faced it’s important to provide the context in the form of statistics, stories, and quotes.

You can consider this the “before” snapshot of what was happening before the client discovered your product or service.

This is the background context that really makes the final case study valuable to a prospective client during their research phase i.e. when they are evaluating whether or not to engage your company for a problem that they’re looking to solve.

For example, in a case study that we did for Bean Ninjas client Bento , we painted the picture of how the founder was struggling with poor quality work of their previous bookkeeping service.

The best way to identify the actual challenges a client experienced is to interview them.

We like using Zoom because it’s a great way for clients to speak directly with our team members, so they can be much more thorough in describing what they experienced. We’ve also found video or voice interviews to be far more effective than email interviews as we can ask for clarification and go much deeper during the calls.

These calls also double as customer research calls as often clients will reveal valuable insights that can go straight to sales and marketing teams.

4. Process – Share the Solutions your company provides

After introducing the customer’s problems in your case study it’s time to define the measures you took to resolve the issues.

This is your company’s time to shine!

This is the part where you explain and demonstrate  ‘how you made their journey simple’. What was the methodology or process that you used to provide an effective and remarkable solution for the client?

We recommend you don’t hold back and share enough of your process to provide evidence that you have a repeatable system for producing results and solving your customer’s challenge.

You can always slide in some of your strategies that benefited your client. It enables customers to gain a better understanding of your client’s experience as well as the impact of your work.

One of the best ways to go about it is to show screenshots of the relevant analytics and marketing dashboards that back up your claims of success. Visuals like this can really add to the story.

5. Payoff – Describe the final Outcome

The result is the end goal, or even the champion, of your case study, and it should be given due importance.

Show how your solutions led your client/customer to achieve their targeted goals. The outcome should speak of the benefits your client has received after hiring you.

Example: As a marketing strategist, you can talk about the improved traffic statistics from before you started to how they improved after implementing the customized solutions.

6. Praise – Client Testimonial

Focus on what your happy client has to say.

Your case study isn’t complete without what your customer has to say about your services.

Everyone has their way of storytelling, and who can be the better narrator than your client themself?

Adding client quotes lends credibility to your case studies.

Adding a call to action at the end of your case study article can help encourage your readers to take the desired action.

You could include a call-to-action button in every case study that includes a form for people to sign up or subscribe, create an account, request a demo, book a call, buy something, etc.

How to write a case study specifically for marketing

As mentioned earlier, case studies have become one of the most effective content strategies to boost leads and sales for business owners. However, only a few businesses understand how to go about their case studies effectively.

There are   many ways to create a marketing case study , but you should always keep an eye on these markers:

1. Highlight the Key Takeaway

You should describe the key takeaways and a summary of the outcome when writing a case study. Use engaging language for summarising this information in a single sentence. You could also include this part as the header of the case study.

This is where you get more particular about the subject.

2. Be Realistic About the Case Study’s Objectives

Provide prospective customers with a valuable, beneficial resource that’s also fair.

Depending upon the type of marketing case study you want to create, keeping honest and achievable goals is necessary. It maintains fair competition and promises loyalty to your customers.

3. Identify a Compelling Angle for Your Case Study

What you do is unique, so should be your content. A case study can be an excellent   lead magnet — all it takes taking some time out to chat with your client.

Collect all the information and get creative with it – but remain truthful. Understand what a case study is and what it isn’t. It’s not a sales pitch. It is a success story.

Example: What are the most popular ways that your goods or services are used? Are your services being used by any of your clients to address complicated or unusual problems?

Using a template is an excellent way to go about a case study. It also gives a structure to your inputs.

Also, case study templates easily summarise details and can be used as visual prompts to help the reader skim through it and grasp the relevant information as needed.

Templates also add uniformity to the content of your case study and help keep a check on the length, data points, information to be included. As a result, you don’t miss out on anything important in your case studies, and your readers get a complete package.

Want our case study process and email templates in free PDF download?  Download our Winning Case Studies guide .

Case study writing tips

• Tell a success story – Your case study should be able to tell the story of success. A story that the audience can relate to and would want you to replicate for them.
• One Challenge at a time – You should mention all the challenges without confusing the readers. Talk about each challenge one by one and bring out the solutions accordingly.
• Promise Results – Your audience seeks trust and loyalty along with an effective marketing strategy. Your business case study must provide promising examples of how you helped your client overcome the challenges and excel in the market.
• Don’t forget keywords – Keywords are the real players in the world of content marketing. No matter what type of marketing you do, keywords matter. Keywords determine whether people looking for businesses online can find your YouTube videos, read your posts, or visit your website. While using keywords might sound forced in your case studies, using related, long-tail keywords does help. Also, people tend to search a lot for ‘case study,’ so ensure you include that in your title and content.
• For instance, a title can be ‘Case Study: How XYZ scaled their organic content to 1 million users in a year.’ This would help your content rank for search queries such as ‘content marketing case study’, or ‘organic traffic case study’, etc.

You’re too busy to interview clients and write your own stories. Are case study writing services worth it?

Today, business case study writing services are one of the most in-demand services. They provide quality content writing & publishing for time-poor business owners.

A service that provides well-written case studies can help set you apart in a highly competitive market and show potential clients how you are different from the competition.

More significantly, they free up more time, from research to writing to optimising – all of it so you can focus on sales, customer support, or building your team.

Interested in hiring us to write case studies for your company? Check out our done-for-you packages .

Where to from here?

Hopefully, you now have a better idea of what to include in your written case study and how it can help grow your business.

A well-written case study blog will help prospective customers to understand your process and value proposition so that they can make their decision about working with you.

A well-written case study is a valuable tool in your content marketing strategy .

A compelling case study will include the following elements:

• A persuasive and compelling case study of a successful company
• The story behind the success, including why this particular company was successful
• How this case study is relevant to your business and what you can learn from it
• Details of the methods used in building a successful campaign

(Featured image photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash )

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How to write a great case study [+ Case Study Template]

What’s the purpose of a case study.

Let’s start with what it isn’t - to make a sale. Why not? Because you don’t sell consultancy without having an in-depth discussion with your prospect. This initial consultation is for you to understand the client and what they need, and to determine whether it’s something your firm can help with, and whether you want to (this is your bid qualification process).

So the purpose of your case study is to help convince a prospect to have an initial consultation with you – whether they instigate it (inbound), or you do (outbound).

Some consultancies choose to include case studies in their proposals. This suggests that case studies can be used to help you to make a sale. However, by the time you get to a proposal, your client should already be convinced that you have the capabilities and experience. Offering client references is more appropriate at the proposal stage if they are yet to be convinced.

In this article I'll dive deep into what makes a great case study and how you can create one. You can either read through this article top to bottom, or use the Table of Contents below to jump to the area of most interest.

Why most consultancy case studies are boring!

Case studies written with a selling mentality are obvious because they’re usually very boring! Their focus is on the consultancy, not the reader - your prospect.

One of the ways in which case studies mistakenly focus on the consultancy is when too much attention is given to describing your delivery methodology. The ‘how’ of what you did, rather than the ‘why’, and the ‘what now’ for your client.

Your job – or at least the job of your case study – is to make your reader (the prospect) believe that they can overcome the challenges they face. Your case study helps them to understand they’re not alone or unique in those challenges. And, when reading your case study, you want your prospect to be nodding their head and thinking to themself, “Yes, yes! That’s me they’re talking about!”.

Oh, and it’s about subtly showing them - through example of the outcomes that you’ve provided to others - that you can help them overcome their challenges.

What do I mean by client challenges?

Clients are faced with challenges. Sometimes they can be problems . Negative things that they must overcome.

Sometimes they are opportunities . Positive things that they must realise.

Return to top

Who should write the case study?

One of the reasons consultancy case studies tend to major on the middle bit – the how – is because a consultant has been tasked with writing it. Consultants are rightly very proud of what they do. They’ve spent a long time working on being good at it, and so they like to tell people! This is what I call the middle bit of a case study (more on structure shortly). However, your case study is not the place to deep dive into your delivery methodology.

Instead, you can do that in your Marketing by providing a free downloadable guide and making it available on your website. Or you could write a series of blog articles, or create an email course, or on-demand webinar, etc.

You could also delve into the depths of methodology in the sales process by writing a detailed proposal (although I don’t recommend this approach – your proposals should be brief and to the point!).

By the time your prospect gets to your case studies, they should already have a good idea of what it is that you do and how you do it. As I’ve said, the case study needs to convince them to speak with you, not to buy from you.

Another challenge in getting consultants to write case studies is that they’re too close to the detail, and often, oddly perhaps, too removed from the outcomes. And they’ve probably long forgotten the situation the client was in before they engaged you, or they may not even have been involved in the sales process and so don’t have that deep an understanding.

Add to this the fact that case studies are written in an entirely different way to a consultant’s report, you can see how you’d be setting your consultant up to fail!

How are they written differently? Well, in a case study you write to an individual, using first-person terms, and ideally including emotive language. In a consulting report the style is formal, and your audience is normally multiple people amongst whom you need to create consensus. Whereas in marketing copy (‘copy’ being marketing parlance for writing) I’m very happy to repel people! In fact, I may even want to so that I can be sure to attract the right prospects.

With that said, dull case studies aren’t only caused by getting consultants to write them. There are many marketers in consulting firms who, perhaps under duress from the senior leaders, also make the mistake of mostly talking about themselves, or their firm at least, in their case studies. This is obvious when a case study headline starts with: “Our company helped…” as if it isn’t obvious because it’s on their website!

Unless you’re a solopreneur, I generally recommend that case studies are written by your marketing team, or outsourced to a specialist. The lead consultant should still contribute, however, and provide review and critique.

How many parts are in a case study?

Your case study should tell a story. When telling stories, screenwriters use the 3-Act Structure, introduced by Syd Field in his 1978 book, Screenplay. The three acts are titled: Setup, Confrontation, and Resolution.

Act One sets up the world, characters, the character’s goal, as well as the conflicts or obstacles that are preventing them from achieving their goal. Act Two raises the stakes for the character to achieve the goal, escalating the conflict. Act Three resolves the story with either an achievement of that goal or a failure.

The most important takeaway of the 3-Act Structure is understanding that one event must lead to another and then to another. This unifies actions and meaning, and creates the semblance of a story.

Source:  https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/three-act-structure/

To apply this model to writing case studies we must simplify it even further - a case study needs a beginning (act 1), a middle (act 2), and an end (act 3). I like to refer to these as ‘the before’, ‘the during’, and ‘the after’.

As I mentioned earlier, most people get stuck in the middle bit – ‘the during’ – where they spend far too long going into way too much detail on the least engaging element. You can write much better case studies by initially focusing in-depth on ‘the before’. Getting crystal clear on the challenges that your clients were facing. How they felt about them - their frustrations and fears. What they wanted to achieve – their wants and aspirations.

Your case study should touch briefly on the middle bit (‘the during’), before majoring on the ending (‘the after’). This is where you get to go deep on the outcomes - from the client’s perspective, not yours! Think about those things that the client can now do, and the impact this has both now and in the future on the various stakeholders (more about this later).

How do I ask a client for a case study, and when should I ask?

These are two common questions. My answer to the latter is that you should ask your client for permission to create a case study as early as possible. Often, before the sale!

What I do in my standard terms and conditions is to state that I will reference the client in marketing materials. This way, permission is assumed unless they specifically request otherwise. This doesn’t mean I always get my own way, especially when it comes to dealing with large corporates, but it does gives me leverage in negotiations.

Being able to reference a client organisation adds huge value to my marketing and sales. If I can’t do it, I might add a premium to the cost of a project of, say, 5%-10%. Or I might flip the approach and offer a 5% discount for being guaranteed a case study as part of the engagement.

Of course, even though I state it in my T&C’s, if a client later objects, the likelihood is that I’ll abide by their request. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, as they say!

Speaking of expressions, many times I’ve heard people say:

It’s easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.

I don’t recommend this approach when it comes to case studies. You risk upsetting clients and even causing damage internally within your clients to the person who may have contributed. Always be sure you have permission before writing about your clients.

Even if you have included a statement on your T&C’s, I’d still raise with the client early on. Tell them how important the engagement is to them, and to be working with them as a client. State that is your intention to create a case study and how you’d really appreciate their support and involvement.

When should I create the case study?

Gaining permission to create a case study doesn’t mean that you will create it at the same time – especially when you’ve gotten permission up-front! The best time to create a case study is as your project nears its end. It’s a time when your client should be experiencing a level of euphoria and possibly even relief!

Your lead consultant has probably mentally moved on anyway – they have their next engagement to worry about. Interest in past projects is fleeting for consultants, and the goodwill from clients can soon wane as their interests are focused on their next challenges. So, strike whilst the iron is hot!

I recommend adding requesting a case study as a mandatory step within your end-of-project review meetings with clients.

How do I increase the value of a case study?

Now that you understand the purpose of a case study, how to ask for one and when to produce it, you now need to create it.

Your case study should be an exciting and enticing story. The hero of your case study should be your client! This is how we get prospects to see themselves in the case study, and to desire the same – or similar - outcomes.

To add the most value to your case study, you will name your client organisation, the person contributing, and their role in the client’s organisation.

This is where we can hit our first obstacle. Not every client will allow you to name them in a case study. And as much as many so-called coaches and business gurus might profess that you only sell to the C-suite and that they have the power to do whatever they want, the truth is you don’t always sell to someone in the C suite, and even if you do, they’re unlikely to waste their time going into battle for you to overturn decisions aimed at protecting their brand.

That said, not being able to reference the client doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t bother with a case study, it just means that its marketing value to your firm is more limited.

What if I can’t reference the client - The anonymous case study

If you can’t reference the client you can still produce an anonymous case study. Of course, it’s nowhere near as powerful as the alternatives, but sometimes it’s still worth creating.

I approach an anonymous case study in the same way as any other. If the client will support it, I’ll still undertake an interview and simply use unattributed quotations. Anonymous case studies are only really useful if you’ve no other option. For example, when you have a new service that you need to promote, and the only experience thus far is with a client unwilling to be named.

Naming the client contact

You can increase the value of your case study by naming your prospect and adding their job title, whilst leaving the company name out. Of course, anyone with a little nous can find people on Linkedin and work out the client, so this could mean skirting on the edges of what is acceptable in the client’s eyes. Tread carefully.

Adding a job role and a name helps bring your case study to life, especially when they are direct client quotations. Remember, you want your prospect to think that it is they who you are talking about. And if they share the same or similar job title as your referenced client, then you’re getting closer!

Naming the client organisation

The maximum value of a case study is achieved when you can name your client’s organisation. This helps your prospect to understand if the types of clients you deal with are like them.

A warning here: ego often gets in the way! Let me explain. We all fall into the habit of wanting to name our largest clients. It gives us a great sense of pride. And we hope to give the impression that, “If we’re good enough for them, then we must be good enough for you.”

There’s some truth in this. We essentially inherit brand value from those large organisations. However, your case studies should reference clients that are the most similar to who you engaging with.

Let me share an example from my own business. One of my clients generates just shy of £2bn in annual revenue. I’ve been consulting to this client for over 15 years. The fact is though, they’re an outlier. The vast majority of my clients have revenues of under £10m. Some less than £1m. So my big client has no relevance. (And actually, even if it did, I’m prohibited from referencing them anyway!).

In what formats can I create a case study?

Case studies can be provided in many formats. The most common are:

• Written Case Study: My preferred format because it’s the most versatile and quickest to produce.
• Video case study: These bring your stories and your clients to life, but they are much more costly to produce, take a lot more time, and clients can be less willing to get involved (many are camera-shy!).
• Case Study Presentation: An alternative method that grabs attention much more easily and is well suited to promotion via social media (more on case study promotion later).

Regardless of the chosen format, I always recommend creating a written one. The reasons for this are twofold:

• Writing a case study helps to structure your thoughts (the three-acts) and can be the basis for any other format
• A written case study is the most common and can be used in multiple different ways

Before you engage your client in a case study interview, you’ll want to decide upon your preferred format. If it’s a video case study, you’ll obviously need to get the client’s commitment first.

The Written Case Study

As I said, the written case study is my preferred default. I can easily host it on my website and use on-page SEO for long-term promotion. I can easily create a PDF version to send to prospects. And I can take snippets of text to use in other marketing and sales materials. The written case study format is, therefore, the most versatile.

The Video Case Study

Video case studies are my favourite for bringing a case study to life. Although, as previously mentioned, I still always create a written one.

The first video case study I did for a client I attempted to do the videography myself – I thought, “How hard can it be?!”. Turns out it’s actually very hard! There are so many things you need to take into consideration when creating videos, for instance:

• Your B roll
• Camera angle
• Editing, including having scene changes every 7 seconds (watch any TV soap and you’ll see what I mean)
• And much, much more.

If you want to get an idea, here’s that first effort of a video case study I did for a client .

And here’s the difference when I got a professional team of videographers involved .

These case studies were created by my firm, The B2B Marketer, on behalf of our client, CRM Insights. In both instances, notice how little I get the interviewees to talk about my client, CRM Insights. As much as they chose to mention them a few times, it’s obvious to the viewer (hopefully prospects) who it was who helped the subjects of the videos because the case studies are on my client’s website.

Also notice how they both still have written versions. Notice too that both videos are captioned. Videos should always be captioned as roughly 90% are watched without sound! And they should also work as audio-only in case they’re only listened to.

The Case Study Presentation

Whenever we create content, we’re asking for valuable time from prospects to consume it. What I like about the presentation format is that you’re not making huge demands on your prospect’s time. They can flick through the slides at their own pace, and the amount of reading required is minimal.

You can create your presentation using an appropriate page scale (A4 doesn’t work well on social media); share it on social media; and host it on both your own website and SlideShare.net .

Note that some social platforms don’t include the ability to share presentations, such as Facebook. What I do in this instance is to create slides in PowerPoint, configure automatic slide transitions with a wait time between transition, then export the presentation as an MPEG file. This means you can then share it as a video.

You’ll have to experiment to determine the required wait time between slides. This is often best done by getting someone else to read it whilst you time them between manual slide transitions.

How do I conduct a client case study interview?

Now that you’re clear on why you want to create a case study, how to ask for one, and the format in which you are going to create, you’re ready to engage with your client and undertake the case study interview.

If you’re writing the case study on behalf of someone else, your first action should be to read the proposal. Your second action is to interview the lead consultant.

Your conversation with the lead consult will be mostly the same as the one you have with the client, only you’ll be seeking additional information about the client, and specifically the person who you’ll speaking to from the client organisation.

Getting time in the diary of busy people like your clients is always going to be difficult. If you’re planning a video case study, there are much more involved logistics. For standard case studies where I’m just interviewing someone over Zoom , I have a dedicated Calendly link for case study interviews. This way when I ask the client, I can get it scheduled in straight away and avoid back and forth emails.

When I’m writing case studies on behalf of clients, I give my client the same link, and when they engage with their clients, they book the session on their client’s behalf. This makes the whole process as frictionless as possible.

Once on the call I always set them to record. I do this for two reasons: 

• Paranoia that I’ll lose my notes and have the embarrassment of having to go back to the client!
• So that I can extract direct client quotations that I’ll use in the case study and possibly for testimonial statements too.

Interview Questions

If you do a quick Google search for case study interview questions, you’ll come up with a huge list of questions that you could ask. However, you don’t want the client to feel like they’re being interrogated! I prefer to engage them in conversation and have a list of questions that I tick off in my mind as we go, rather than directly firing questions at people.

That said, here are the questions that I ask when undertaking a case study interview:

Act 1: The Before

• Explain to me what your organisation does?
• Explain to me what your role is in the organisation?
• Describe the challenges faced – problems and opportunities.
• How did they come about?
• What made you aware of them? Were they a shock or expected?
• The frustrations. What was their impact – immediately and in the future? What was stopping you from overcoming them?
• The fears. What would have happened to you/your team/the business/its customers if you had not tackled them?
• Would you have been able to tackle it for yourself? If yes, why didn’t you?

Act 2: The During

• How did you come across us/our firm?
• What made you choose us?
• What did we do together? Describe the journey.
• Aspirations: What were you looking to achieve?
• What new and unexpected challenges arose along the way?

Act 3: The After

• The needs: Now that the challenges have been overcome, what can you now do that you couldn’t before?
• How have things changed? What’s different now? What has been the impact on:
• The customers and clients of your business?
• Your business?
• Your team or function within the business?
• The role within the business? i.e. have you or are you more likely to be promoted or receive a bonus? Has you profile positively increased within your business? (You might not choose to use all of these more sensitive questions, and they may not be appropriate to ask at all. You will need to be the judge of this, and of what to include in your case study).

Closing Questions

I’ll also ask some closing questions which can be valuable to your future marketing and sales efforts, as follows:

• Thinking back to when you chose us, were we competing against anyone else for the work? If so, what stood out as potentially very good in their offering? What did you prefer in their offering over ours? (I’m more interested to know how competitors are better than me, rather than asking questions about why I was the best – the latter is still important but offers less improvement opportunities!)
• Would you be willing to act as a refer for us/my client?
• Can you think of anyone you know that could benefit from the same outcomes, and if so, do you think it would be helpful to them to make an introduction to us/my client?
• Would you be prepared to provide us with a recommendation on Linkedin? (Offer to write it for them too and suggest that they can edit or discard at will)

How do I write a case study?

Now that you’ve completed your client interview (and the lead consultant interview if you’re writing the case study on someone else’s behalf) you should have a robust set of notes and a recording. Download the Case Study template at the end of this article to help form your notes into your structured case study.

The production process I follow is: 

•  Write the case study in word.
• Review, edit and approve it internally.
• Publish it on your website but don’t promote it just yet. Instead, invite the client to review it and set a deadline of, say, 1 week before you’ll begin promoting it. The reason I recommend publishing it first is that a case study will never be a client’s priority. I don’t want them to be a bottle neck in the process. It’s more a point of courtesy rather than formal approval – I’m giving them an opportunity to request edits, not give approval.
• Make any client requested changes.
• Promote the case study.

What style of writing should my case study be in?

Remember that case studies are a marketing asset. They’re not a consulting report, so the style of writing will be much freer. Use first-person terms, including emotive language, talk about individuals (positively, of course!), and make it exciting and enticing.

How do I write the headline?

Your headline is the most important line of your whole case study. It is often said that the purpose of the headline is to grab attention and convince the person to read the first line. This is why it’s so disappointing to see so many case study headlines that start with, “Our company helped…”.

I don’t personally use a specific formula for a headline as I tend to decide it on the merits of each case study. I don’t, however, start with the headline. It tends to come to me once I’m writing the case study. Once defined, I may then go through and edit the case study to ensure it aligns well with the headline.

Here are some examples of case study headlines that I’ve used along with an explanation of why I wrote them as I did:

Heading: Accountancy practice brings systems and processes in line with business growth

This one is pretty self-explanatory. I am calling out firms with the dual challenges of systems and process not keeping pace with business growth. An accountancy is an example of a professional services firm, so if your PS firm is experiencing these problems, you’ll be intrigued to read it.

Heading: Growth constraints lifted as Excel spreadsheets replaced with a tailored CRM

Name me a business that doesn’t find itself with core processes being managed in Excel! And, many of these businesses want to grow but Excel has become the constraint. In this heading I’ve called them and offered CRM as a solution. Someone experiencing these problems and either considering CRM or even unaware of CRM would be enticed to read on.

Heading: EV manufacturer reduces quote turnaround time from 1 day+ to less than 1hr

This headline offers an outcome that many sales directors would dream of. It calls out manufacturers but I wouldn’t expect that sector to be the exclusive reader.

Heading: Implementation of a CRM system enables membership organisation to grow by 300%

300% growth due to a software system? Doesn’t sound believable, which means there’s intrigue. (oh, and it’s also very true! – never lie in a case study).

Heading: Better business intelligence enables professional body to increase client retention

This headline details a problem for membership organisations – retention – and offers a solution and intrigue – improved business intelligence. I want the reader thinking, “Yes, I want that, but how?” which will hopefully lead them to reading the case study.

Heading: Dependence on rock star salespeople removed

Another common problem – those pesky sales rockstars. You know the ones – they never share information, but they’re also damn good at what they do! this headline offers a solution, but you’ll need to read on to find out more. It’s a risk, but hopefully the heavy intrigue is enough.

When it comes to headlines, have fun. Try different ones out. If you have the time, you can always A/B test them too. This would make for an interesting study and optimisation opportunity.

How long should my case study be?

Case studies really don’t need to be long. In fact, I’d say they shouldn’t be long. Five hundred words should do the trick. And if you limit yourself to this target, it avoids you dribbling words all over the page that add no value whatsoever. You’re less likely to dwell on that boring middle bit!

I’m sure plenty of people will have alternative views here, and I’ve seen case studies that are five or six pages long. Whilst I’m not a believer in the adage that people don’t read long form content anymore, I’m also not convinced that they’re interested in reading in deep detail about someone else’s business. Remember, the case study is to convince them to join you in a consultation – it’s not to make a sale.

How do I promote a Case Study?

Creating content, in all its forms, is around 20% of the effort in production, and 80% in promotion.

Too often a consultancy goes to the effort of creating a piece of content and considers the job done once that content is published. I’m afraid that’s just not good enough! Here’s my playbook of activities for promoting a case study:

• On-page SEO optimise.
• Ensure social share icons are included on the page.
• Include a ‘bookmark’ capability on the page.
• Create interlinks with your existing relevant content e.g. link to the case study from a blog article on the same topic.
• If you have hub pages on your website (and you should), include the case study in the relevant hub
• Use website push notifications to make subscribers aware.
• Tell people about in the newsletter.
• Post on company pages on Linkedin and other platforms.
• Post on personal profiles of the lead consultant and any others in the firm with a decent level of following.
• Make everyone internally aware of its availability and ask that they promote it.
• Send an email to any of your other clients who might find it useful.
• Email it to them as a PDF or the hyperlink
• Include it in a proposal (if that’s your strategy)
• [Optional] Run paid ads on social media to present the case study to people who have consumed your other relevant content.

Should I gate case studies?

Gating content refers to requiring contact details in return for providing access. I have seen one particular marketer who takes this approach. Personally, it’s not an approach I would adopt as I believe case studies serve as the final convincer for the prospect. The chances are the prospect has already consumed some of your gated content. I don’t want to further get in their way and add friction by gating content.

Case studies should be easy to access. In terms of generating leads, I always like to include a call-to-action at the bottom to schedule a call with one your experts.

What happens next? (the call-to-action)

In the model of marketing that I recommend, your case studies help your prospect to build trust in you. They also enable your prospects to better understand their challenges, and what they might also be able to achieve (ideally with your help!). 

Now, I'm a firm believer in that your marketing should never take your prospect to a dead-end. So, at the end of your case study you need to consider what you want them to do next.

It might be that your case  study is all the prospect needs to be convinced to jump on a call with you. This is why I like to finish off case studies with a simple call-to-action that provides them with the ability to schedule a call with one of your experts. 

However, just in case they're not ready yet, I also recommend providing links to any other relevant content on your website. You can do this manually, or more efficiently with careful use of tags and categories in WordPress. 

Case Study FAQs

What else can i do with a case study.

Case studies do take time and effort to produce. Therefore, I like to maximise how much value I can get from them. One of the most obvious ways is to create client testimonials. You can extract something valuable that they’ve said to you and turn it into a testimonial statement. These can then be used on your website homepage, in other marketing assets such as services brochures, and even in proposals.

How can I reduce the cost of a video case study?

A good, professionally produced video case study usually costs anywhere from £2,000 and up. There is no upper limit as the only real limit is your and your videographer’s creativity.

One way that you can reduce the cost is to find a way to share it. For example, the case study that I referenced earlier was for my client – CRM Insights. They had implemented a CRM product called Workbooks CRM for their client. Therefore, we engaged with the product vendor to see if they might also be interested in funding a case study with the same client.

As a result, I actually created two versions of this case study. One version for CRM Insights , and the other version for Workbooks . This enabled both organisations to achieve a lower cost outcome.

The lowest cost video case study is to simply record a Zoom session. Here’s an example of where I did that for my client , CRM Insights. The quality isn’t as good, but it’s a cost effective approach.

Should I remove case studies when the company profiled is no longer a client?

I hear this concern a lot. Especially with clients who expertise is in a software product that a client may have chosen to move on from. In my view, a case study is a point in time snapshot. The relevance is your ability to solve the specific challenges your prospects face at that time, and with prospects that are now faced with similar challenges. What happens afterwards is largely irrelevant.

So only remove a case study in the following circumstances:

• It no longer reflects what you do or who you work with
• The relationship with the client has since turned sour
• It has become very old. How old very much depends on what you do. As a general rule, if you’re referencing something from 5 years or more ago, it’s probably a bit old now.

Download Case Study Template

So, now you know all there is know about writing a great case study! Are you ready to put all of this learning into practice? If so, click on the image below to download our free case study template (no contact details required).  

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