23/05/2019 How to Write a Case Study: Bookmarkable Guide & Template

MARKETING | 16 MIN READ

How to Write a Case Study: Bookmarkable Guide

& Template

Written by Braden Becker

@BradenBecker

Earning the trust of prospective customers can be a struggle. Before you can even begin to
expect to earn their business, you need to demonstrate your ability to deliver on what your
product or service promises.

Writing a case study is a great way to do that.

Sure, you could say that you're great at X, or that you're way ahead of the competition
when it comes to Y. But at the end of the day, what you really need to win new business is
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cold, hard proof.

One of the best ways to prove your worth is through a compelling case study.

Download our free case study templates here to help you display
your company's success.

What Is a Case Study?

A case study examines a person's or business's specific challenge or goal, and how they
solved for it. Case studies can vary greatly in length and focus on a number of details
related to the initial challenge and applied solution.

In professional settings, it's common for a case study to tell the story of a successful
business partnership between a vendor and a client.

Whether it's a brief snapshot of your client's health since working with you, or a long
success story of the client's growth, your case study will measure this success using metrics
that are agreed upon by the client you're featuring. Perhaps the success you're
highlighting is in the number of leads your client generated, customers closed, or revenue
gained. Any one of these key performance indicators (KPIs) are examples of your
company's services in action.

When done correctly, these examples of your work can chronicle the positive impact your
business has on existing or previous customers.

FREE TEMPLATES

Case Study Templates

Tell us a little about yourself below to gain access today:

Hi What's your name?

First Name

John

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Last Name

Smith

To help you arm your prospects with information they can trust, we've put together a step-
by-step guide on how to create effective case studies for your business -- as well as free
case study templates for creating your own. Get them using the form above, and then get
creating using the steps below.

How to Write a Case Study

1. Determine the case study's objective.

2. Establish a case study medium.

3. Find the right case study candidate.

4. Contact your candidate for permission to write about them.

5. Draft and send your subject a case study release form.

6. Ensure you're asking the right questions.

7. Lay out your case study format.

8. Publish and promote your case study.

1. Determine the case study's objective.

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All business case studies are designed to demonstrate the value of your services, but they
can focus on several different client objectives.

Your first step when writing a case study is to determine the objective or goal of the subject
you're featuring. In other words, what will the client have succeeded in doing by the end of
the piece?

The client objective you focus on will depend on what you want to prove to your future
customers as a result of publishing this case study.

Your case study can focus on one of the following client objectives:

Complying with government regulation

Lowering business costs

Becoming profitable

Generating more leads

Closing on more customers

Generating more revenue

Expanding into a new market

Becoming more sustainable or energy-efficient

2. Establish a case study medium.

Next, you'll determine the medium in which you'll create the case study. In other words,
how will you tell this story?

Case studies don't have to be simple, written one-pagers. Using different media in your
case study can allow you to promote your final piece on different channels. For example,
while a written case study might just live on your website and get featured in a Facebook
post, you can post an infographic case study on Pinterest, and a video case study on your
YouTube channel.

Here are some different case study mediums to consider:

Written Case Study

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Consider writing this case study in the form of an ebook and converting it to a
downloadable PDF. Then, gate the PDF behind a landing page and form for readers to fill
out before downloading the piece, allowing this case study to generate leads for your
business.

Video Case Study

Plan on meeting with the client and shooting an interview. Seeing the subject, in person,
talk about the service you provided them can go a long way in the eyes of your potential
customers.

Infographic Case Study

Use the long, vertical format of an infographic to tell your success story from top to bottom.
As you progress down the infographic, emphasize major KPIs using bigger text and charts
that show the successes your client has had since working with you.

Podcast Case Study

Podcasts are a platform for you to have a candid conversation with your client. This type of
case study can sound more real and human to your audience -- they'll know the
partnership between you and your client was a genuine success.

3. Find the right case study candidate.

Writing about your previous projects requires more than picking a client and telling a story.
You need permission, quotes, and a plan. To start, here are a few things to look for in
potential candidates.

Product Knowledge

It helps to select a customer who's well-versed in the logistics of your product or service.
That way, he or she can better speak to the value of what you offer in a way that makes
sense for future customers.

Remarkable Results

Clients that have seen the best results are going to make the strongest case studies. If their
own businesses have seen an exemplary ROI from your product or service, they're more
likely to convey the enthusiasm that you want prospects to feel, too.

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One part of this step is to choose clients who have experienced unexpected success from
your product or service. When you've provided non-traditional customers -- in industries
that you don't usually work with, for example -- with positive results, it can help to remove
doubts from prospects.

Recognizable Names

While small companies can have powerful stories, bigger or more notable brands tend to
lend credibility to your own -- in some cases, having brand recognition can lead to 24.4X
as much growth as companies without it.

Switchers

Customers that came to you after working with a competitor help highlight your
competitive advantage, and might even sway decisions in your favor.

4. Contact your candidate for permission to write about them.

To get the case study candidate involved, you have to set the stage for clear and open
communication. That means outlining expectations and a timeline right away -- not having
those is one of the biggest culprits in delayed case study creation.

Most importantly at this point, however, is getting your subject's approval. When first
reaching out to your case study candidate, provide them with the case study's objective
and format -- both of which you will have come up with in the first two steps above.

To get this initial permission from your subject, put yourself in their shoes -- what would
they want out of this case study? Although you're writing this for your own company's
benefit, your subject is far more interested in the benefit it has for them.

Benefits to Offer Your Case Study Candidate

Here are four potential benefits you can promise your case study candidate to gain their
approval.

Brand Exposure

Explain to your subject whom this case study will be exposed to, and how this exposure
can help increase their brand awareness both in and beyond their own industry. In the B2B
sector, brand awareness can be hard to collect outside one's own market, making case
studies particularly useful to a client looking to expand their name's reach.
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Employee Exposure

Allow your subject to provide quotes with credits back to specific employees. When this is
an option to them, their brand isn't the only thing expanding its reach -- their employees
can get their name out there, too. This presents your subject with networking and career-
development opportunities they might not have otherwise.

Product Discount

This is a more tangible incentive you can offer your case study candidate, especially if
they're a current customer of yours. If they agree to be your subject, offer them a product
discount -- or free trial of another product -- as a thank-you for their help creating your case
study.

Backlinks and Website Traffic

Here's a benefit that is sure to resonate with your subject's marketing team: If you publish
your case study to your website, and your study links back to your subject's website --
known as a "backlink" -- this small gesture can give them website traffic from visitors who
click through to your subject's website.

Additionally, a backlink from you increases your subject's page authority in the eyes of
Google. This helps them rank more highly in search engine results and collect traffic from
readers who are already looking for information about their industry.

5. Draft and send your subject a case study release form.

Once your case study candidate approves of your case study, it's time to send them a
release form.

A case study release form tells you what you'll need from your chosen subject, like
permission to use any brand names and share the project information publicly. Kick off this
process with an email that runs through exactly what they can expect from you, as well as
what you need from them. To give you an idea of what that might look like, check out this
sample email:

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You might be wondering, "What's a Case Study Release Form?" or, "What's a Success Story
Letter?" Let's break those down.

Case Study Release Form

This document can vary, depending on factors like the size of your business, the nature of
your work, and what you intend to do with the case studies once they are completed. That
said, you should typically aim to include the following in the Case Study Release Form:

A clear explanation of why you are creating this case study and how it will be used.

A statement defining the information and potentially trademarked information you

expect to include about the company -- things like names, logos, job titles, and pictures.

An explanation of what you expect from the participant, beyond the completion of the
case study. For example, is this customer willing to act as a reference or share feedback,
and do you have permission to pass contact information along for these purposes?

A note about compensation.

Success Story Letter

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As noted in the sample email, this document serves as an outline for the entire case study
process. Other than a brief explanation of how the customer will benefit from case study
participation, you'll want to be sure to define the following steps in the Success Story
Letter.

The Acceptance

First, you'll need to receive internal approval from the company's marketing team. Once
approved, the Release Form should be signed and returned to you. It's also a good time to
determine a timeline that meets the needs and capabilities of both teams.

The Questionnaire

To ensure that you have a productive interview -- which is one of the best ways to collect
information for the case study -- you'll want to ask the participant to complete a
questionnaire prior to this conversation. That will provide your team with the necessary
foundation to organize the interview, and get the most out of it.

The Interview

Once the questionnaire is completed, someone on your team should reach out to the
participant to schedule a 30- to 60-minute interview, which should include a series of
custom questions related to the customer's experience with your product or service.

The Draft Review

After the case study is composed, you'll want to send a draft to the customer, allowing an
opportunity to give you feedback and edits.

The Final Approval

Once any necessary edits are completed, send a revised copy of the case study to the
customer for final approval.

Once the case study goes live -- on your website or elsewhere -- it's best to contact the
customer with a link to the page where the case study lives. Don't be afraid to ask your
participants to share these links with their own networks, as it not only demonstrates your
ability to deliver positive results, but their impressive growth, as well.

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Building an Effective Story for a Case Study

6. Ensure you're asking the right questions.

Before you execute the questionnaire and actual interview, make sure you're setting
yourself up for success. A strong case study results from being prepared to ask the right
questions. What do those look like? Here are a few examples to get you started:

What are your goals?

What challenges were you experiencing prior to purchasing our product or service?

What made our product or service stand out against our competitors?

What did your decision-making process look like?

How have you benefited from using our product or service? (Where applicable, always
ask for data.)

Keep in mind that the questionnaire is designed to help you gain insights into what sort of
strong, success-focused questions to ask during the actual interview. And once you get to
that stage, we recommend that you follow the "Golden Rule of Interviewing." Sounds fancy,
right? It's actually quite simple -- ask open-ended questions.

If you're looking to craft a compelling story, "yes" or "no" answers won't provide the details
you need. Focus on questions that invite elaboration, such as, "Can you describe ...?" or,
"Tell me about ..."

In terms of the interview structure, we recommend categorizing the questions and flow into
six specific sections. Combined, they'll allow you to gather enough information to put
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together a rich, comprehensive study.

The Customer's Business

The goal of this section is to generate a better understanding of the company's current
challenges and goals, and how they fit into the landscape of their industry. Sample
questions might include:

How long have you been in business?

How many employees do you have?

What are some of the objectives of your department at this time?

The Need for a Solution

In order to tell a compelling story, you need context. That helps match the customer's need
with your solution. Sample questions might include:

What challenges and objectives led you to look for a solution?

What might have happened if you did not identify a solution?

Did you explore other solutions prior to this that did not work out? If so, what
happened?

The Decision Process

Exploring how the customer arrived at the decision to work with you helps to guide
potential customers through their own decision-making processes. Sample questions
might include:

How did you hear about our product or service?

Who was involved in the selection process?

What was most important to you when evaluating your options?

The Implementation

The focus here should be placed on the customer's experience during the onboarding
process. Sample questions might include:

How long did it take to get up and running?

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Did that meet your expectations?

Who was involved in the process?

The Solution in Action

The goal of this section is to better understand how the customer is using your product or
service. Sample questions might include:

Is there a particular aspect of the product or service that you rely on most?

Who is using the product or service?

The Results

In this section, you want to uncover impressive measurable outcomes -- the more numbers,
the better. Sample questions might include:

How is the product or service helping you save time and increase productivity?

In what ways does that enhance your competitive advantage?

How much have you increased metrics X, Y, and Z?

7. Lay out your case study format.

When it comes time to take all of the information you've collected and actually turn it into
something, it's easy to feel overwhelmed. Where should you start? What should you
include? What's the best way to structure it?

To help you get a handle on this step, it's important to first understand that there is no one-
size-fits-all when it comes to the ways you can present a case study. They can be very visual,
which you'll see in some of the examples we've included below, and can sometimes be
communicated mostly through video or photos, with a bit of accompanying text.

Whether your case study is primarily written or visual, we recommend focusing on the
seven-part outline, below. Note: Even if you do elect to use a visual case study, it should
still include all of this information, but presented in its intended format.

1. Title: Keep it short. Develop a succinct but interesting project name you can give the
work you did with your subject.

2. Subtitle: Use this copy to briefly elaborate on the accomplishment. What was done?
The case study itself will explain how you got there.
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3. Executive Summary: A 2-4 sentence summary of the entire story. You'll want to follow it
with 2-3 bullet points that display metrics showcasing success.

4. About the Subject: An introduction to the person or company you served, which can be
pulled from a LinkedIn Business profile or client website.

5. Challenges and Objectives: A 2-3 paragraph description of the customer's challenges,

prior to using your product or service. This section should also include the goals or
objectives the customer set out to achieve.

6. How Product/Service Helped: A 2-3 paragraph section that describes how your
product or service provided a solution to their problem.

7. Results: A 2-3 paragraph testimonial that proves how your product or service
specifically benefited the person or company, and helped achieve its goals. Include
numbers to quantify your contributions.

8. Supporting Visuals or Quotes: Pick one or two powerful quotes that you would feature
at the bottom of the sections above, as well as a visual that supports the story you are
telling.

9. Future Plans: Everyone likes an epilogue. Comment on what's ahead for your case
study subject, whether or not those plans involve you.

10. Call to Action (CTA): Not every case study needs a CTA, but putting a passive one at
the end of your case study can encourage your readers to take an action on your
website after learning about the work you've done.

To help you visualize this case study outline, check out the case study template below,
which can also be downloaded here.

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When laying out your case study, focus on conveying the information you've gathered in
the most clear and concise way possible. Make it easy to scan and comprehend, and be
sure to provide an attractive call-to-action at the bottom -- that should provide readers an
opportunity to learn more about your product or service.

8. Publish and promote your case study.

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Once you've completed your case study, it's time to publish and promote it. Some case
study formats have pretty obvious promotional outlets -- a video case study can go on
YouTube, just as an infographic case study can go on Pinterest.

But there are still other ways to publish and promote your case study. Here are a couple of
ideas:

Gated Behind a Blog Post

As stated earlier in this article, written case studies make terrific lead-generators if you
convert them into a downloadable format, like a PDF. To generate leads from your case
study, consider writing a blog post that tells an abbreviated story of your client's success
and asking readers to fill out a form with their name and email address if they'd like to read
the rest in your PDF.

Then, promote this blog post on social media, through a Facebook post or a tweet.

Published as a Page on Your Website

As a growing business, you might need to display your case study out in the open to gain
the trust of your target audience.

Rather than gating it behind a landing page, publish your case study to its own page on
your website, and direct people here from your homepage with a "Case Studies" or
"Testimonials" button along your homepage's top navigation bar.

Business Case Study Examples

You drove the results, made the connect, set the expectations, used the questionnaire to
conduct a successful interview, and boiled down your findings into a compelling story. And
after all of that, you're left with a little piece of sales enabling gold -- a case study.

To show you what a well-executed final product looks like, have a look at some of these
marketing case study examples.

1. "New England Journal of Medicine," by Corey McPherson Nash

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When branding and design studio Corey McPherson Nash showcases its work, it makes
sense for it to be visual -- after all, that's what they do. So in building the case study for the
studio's work on the New England Journal of Medicine's integrated advertising campaign -
- a project that included the goal of promoting the client's digital presence -- Corey
McPherson Nash showed its audience what it did, rather than purely telling it.

Notice that the case study does include some light written copy -- which includes the major
points we've suggested -- but really lets the visuals do the talking, allowing users to really
absorb the studio's services.

2. "Shopify Uses HubSpot CRM to Transform High Volume Sales

Organization," by HubSpot

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What's interesting about this case study is the way it leads with the customer. This reflects a
major HubSpot credo, which is to always solve for the customer first. The copy leads with a
brief description of why Shopify uses HubSpot, and is accompanied by a short video and
some basic statistics on the company.

Notice that this case study uses mixed-media. Yes, there is a short video, but it's elaborated
upon in the additional text on the page. So, while case studies can use one or the other,
don't be afraid to combine written copy with visuals to emphasize the project's success.

3. "Designing the Future of Urban Farming," by IDEO

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Here's a design company that knows how to lead with simplicity in its case studies. As soon
as the visitor arrives at the page, he or she is greeted with a big, bold photo, and two very
simple columns of text -- "The Challenge" and "The Outcome."

Immediately, IDEO has communicated two of the case study's major pillars. And while
that's great -- the company created a solution for vertical farming startup INFARM's
challenge -- it doesn't stop there. As the user scrolls down, those pillars are elaborated
upon with comprehensive (but not overwhelming) copy that outlines what that process
looked like, replete with quotes and additional visuals.

4. "Secure Wi-Fi Wins Big for Tournament," by WatchGuard

WatchGuard - Windmill Case Study: Secure Wi-Fi Wins Big f…

f…

Then, there are the cases when visuals can tell almost the entire story -- when executed
correctly. Network security provider WatchGuard is able to do that through this video,
which tells the story of how its services enhanced the attendee and vendor experience at
the Windmill Ultimate Frisbee tournament.

Showcase Your Work

You work hard at what you do. Now, it's time to show it to the world -- and, perhaps more
important, to potential customers.

But before you show off the projects that make you the proudest, make sure you follow the
important steps that will help ensure that work is effectively communicated, and leaves all
parties feeling good about it.

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Want to learn as you write your case study? Listen to an audio summary of this post below.

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For an easy way to get started, grab your free case study template below, and go create a
case study that makes your subject proud of their success.

Originally published Feb 17, 2019 8:01:00 PM, updated February 19 2019

Topics: Content Types

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