How to write a great case study
Case studies are powerful testaments to your professional abilities and effectiveness. They show, beyond a doubt, what it is that you do so well…and how you made that happen for real-life customers.
Seeing those results and learning how customers love what you do goes a long way towards building preference for your products or services. Ultimately, you want a prospect to trust and prefer you over the next guy.
Case study writing sounds easy. It looks easy. When a case study is compelling, concise and clear, it’s an easy read. But that’s where the knowledge, the work and the magic come in. We’re happy to share our knowledge about what makes a case study great. So saddle up—here we go.
Showcase business results, not metrics
Effective case study writing requires a thorough understanding not only of what you do for your customers, but also customer perspectives on the results you delivered and the value of those results. You may have greatly simplified a process or delivered a super sales lift, but how does that affect your customer’s business overall? What did it allow them to do?
Positive statistics, like a 30% increase in purchases, are great. But be sure to connect stats to business results. Is your customer now able to serve their own customers more quickly, cut the time it takes to do business, or increase profit, not just sales? The business results of your customer’s ‘win’ is what you should be looking for and highlighting in your case studies.
Keep it arm’s length
One of the cardinal rules of a successful case study is staying at arm’s length from your customer. When you’re collecting information about the great job that you did for them, it can’t be you that does the collecting. In other words, you can’t interview your own customers.
A lot of the questions that need to be asked are subjective; some of them have to do with how your customer feels about your process, your staff, how easy it was working with you to achieve that ‘win’. To get authentic answers to such questions, your customers need to feel comfortable about opening up and telling it like it is. They need to be able to relax and feel like they’re not being put on the spot. So how is that done?
Getting a customer to put their guard down requires an impartial third party. You want to get no-holds-barred feedback because it is essential in rounding out a believable case study—one that doesn’t sound like a sales pitch. Don’t get us wrong; we’re not saying that everything your customers say will make it into your case studies. But to gain that ring of authenticity, case studies need to acknowledge any bumps on the road to success. Honest customer feedback can also provide you with valuable insights that you can use to improve how you do what you do.
Know what’s important
Let’s say you’ve asked the 20 or 30 questions required to tease out the information you need to write up a stellar case study. That’s a lot of info! So what’s truly important? That you hit it off and established a great relationship…or that you decreased process time by 22.5%? The answer is probably both, but knowing how and when to highlight each is part of the magic.
There’s also such a thing as ‘too much information’. You may have reams of statistics and data pertinent to the case study that you need to create, but your goal is to communicate proof points clearly and succinctly. Are you able to pick out the very most important highlights? Can you think of how some of that information could be used graphically to drive your point home?
Make it like candy
Whether it’s a video, a PDF or a set of PowerPoint slides, a case study is communicated visually. Not just in terms of design (which is also important), but in terms of what’s written and how the copy jumps off the page at readers. How do you highlight key statistics? Can you make effective use of subheadings to capture attention and communicate your point?
Make key points, the most delectable ones, jump out at readers. Busy people don’t read, they scan. Ideally, the points that leap off the page are so tantalizing that they will hook them into reading in depth. But even if they don’t go for a deeper dive, you will have succeeded in communicating the key points and building trust, regardless.
Write for the medium
Case studies are, by and large, hugely underutilized. Traditionally speaking, businesses write up a long-form case study ‘article’ and put it on a page on their website. Where it gathers cobwebs.
As you probably know, case studies are always relevant, always timely. They should take many forms: social media bites, a short series of slides in sales presentations, an in-depth article for the website or an annual report, or for placement in an industry magazine. Your case studies should manifest across channels, in all of your materials. They can take the form of a Q&A with your customer, a one-page summary that fits perfectly into a sale deck, and the list goes on.
Whatever the case may be (ha ha), case studies need to be written for the medium. You shouldn’t try to fit 100 words into a social media post, nor should you shorten a question-answer format article down to the bare essentials. Each format is consumed differently, so you’ve got to arrange the information to suit accordingly—all while highlighting the same key points.
Make the excitement contagious
You know that satisfying feeling of doing a great job for a customer? Big customer wins are exciting. Your client feels good, you feel good, everyone is in a great place. Communicating that joy, that excitement, is a big part of the job in producing a truly compelling case study. To make that happen, avoid the temptation of throwing in handfuls of nifty adjectives…try to explain the feelings that everyone had—customers and their customers—rather than trying to make the writing itself exciting.
The best case studies are simple to read, powerful and convincing. No matter the format, they highlight the same key points, ensuring consistency in delivery. That way, no matter what channels your prospects use to connect with your case studies, they get the same story, just in greater or lesser detail.
Do we have you convinced? Let’s talk through your goals, budget, and ideal formats. Connect on a no-pressure call to find out if we’re a fit—just use the form below.