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What Is a Case Study? How to Write, Examples, and Template

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How to write a case study

Case study template, case study examples, types of case studies, what are the benefits of case studies , what are the limitations of case studies , case study vs. testimonial.

In today's marketplace, conveying your product's value through a compelling narrative is crucial to genuinely connecting with your customers.

Your business can use marketing analytics tools to understand what customers want to know about your product. Once you have this information, the next step is to showcase your product and its benefits to your target audience. This strategy involves a mix of data, analysis, and storytelling. Combining these elements allows you to create a narrative that engages your audience. So, how can you do this effectively?

What is a case study? 

A case study is a powerful tool for showcasing a business's success in helping clients achieve their goals. It's a form of storytelling that details real-world scenarios where a business implemented its solutions to deliver positive results for a client.

In this article, we explore the concept of a case study , including its writing process, benefits, various types, challenges, and more.

Understanding how to write a case study is an invaluable skill. You'll need to embrace decision-making – from deciding which customers to feature to designing the best format to make them as engaging as possible.  This can feel overwhelming in a hurry, so let's break it down.

Step 1: Reach out to the target persona

If you've been in business for a while, you have no shortage of happy customers. But w ith limited time and resources, you can't choose everyone.  So, take some time beforehand to flesh out your target buyer personas. 

Once you know precisely who you're targeting, go through your stable of happy customers to find a buyer representative of the audience you're trying to reach. The closer their problems, goals, and industries align, the more your case study will resonate.

What if you have more than one buyer persona? No problem. This is a common situation for companies because buyers comprise an entire committee. You might be marketing to procurement experts, executives, engineers, etc. Try to develop a case study tailored to each key persona. This might be a long-term goal, and that's fine. The better you can personalize the experience for each stakeholder, the easier it is to keep their attention.  

Here are a few considerations to think about before research:

• Products/services of yours the customer uses (and how familiar they are with them)
• The customer's brand recognition in the industry
• Whether the results they've achieved are specific and remarkable
• Whether they've switched from a competitor's product/service
• How closely aligned they are with your target audience

These items are just a jumping-off point as you develop your criteria.  Once you have a list, run each customer through it to determine your top targets. Approach the ones on the top (your "dream" case study subjects) and work your way down as needed.

Who to interview

You should consider interviewing top-level managers or executives because those are high-profile positions. But consider how close they are to your product and its results.

Focusing on an office manager or engineer who uses your product daily would be better. Look for someone with a courtside view of the effects.

The ways to request customer participation in case studies can vary, but certain principles can improve your chances:

• Make it easy for customers to work with you, respecting their valuable time. Be well-prepared and minimize their involvement.
• Emphasize how customers will benefit through increased publicity, revenue opportunities, or recognition for their success. 
• Acknowledge their contributions and showcase their achievements.
• Standardizing the request process with a script incorporating these principles can help your team consistently secure case study approvals and track performance.

Step 2: Prepare for the interview

Case study interviews are like school exams. The more prepared you are for them, the better they turn out. Preparing thoroughly also shows participants that you value their time. You don't waste precious minutes rehashing things you should have already known. You focus on getting the information you need as efficiently as possible.

You can conduct your case study interview in multiple formats, from exchanging emails to in-person interviews. This isn't a trivial decision.  As you'll see in the chart below, each format has its unique advantages and disadvantages. 

You'll also have to consider who will ask and answer the questions during your case study interview. It's wise to consider this while considering the case study format.  The number of participants factors into which format will work best. Pulling off an in-person interview becomes much harder if you're trying to juggle four or five people's busy schedules. Try a video conference instead.

Before interviewing your case study participant, it is crucial to identify the specific questions that need to be asked.  It's essential to thoroughly evaluate your collaboration with the client and understand how your product's contributions impact the company. 

Remember that structuring your case study is akin to crafting a compelling narrative. To achieve this, follow a structured approach:

• Beginning of your story. Delve into the customer's challenge that ultimately led them to do business with you. What were their problems like? What drove them to make a decision finally? Why did they choose you?
• The middle of the case study.  Your audience also wants to know about the experience of working with you. Your customer has taken action to address their problems. What happened once you got on board?
• An ending that makes you the hero.  Describe the specific results your company produced for the customer. How has the customer's business (and life) changed once they implemented your solution?

Sample questions for the case study interview

If you're preparing for a case study interview, here are some sample case study research questions to help you get started:

• What challenges led you to seek a solution?
• When did you realize the need for immediate action? Was there a tipping point?
• How did you decide on the criteria for choosing a B2B solution, and who was involved?
• What set our product or service apart from others you considered?
• How was your experience working with us post-purchase?
• Were there any pleasant surprises or exceeded expectations during our collaboration?
• How smoothly did your team integrate our solution into their workflows?
• How long before you started seeing positive results?
• How have you benefited from our products or services?
• How do you measure the value our product or service provides?

Step 3: Conduct the interview

Preparing for case study interviews can be different from everyday conversations. Here are some tips to keep in mind:

• Create a comfortable atmosphere.  Before diving into the discussion, talk about their business and personal interests. Ensure everyone is at ease, and address any questions or concerns.
• Prioritize key questions.  Lead with your most crucial questions to respect your customer's time. Interview lengths can vary, so starting with the essentials ensures you get the vital information.
• Be flexible.  Case study interviews don't have to be rigid. If your interviewee goes "off script," embrace it. Their spontaneous responses often provide valuable insights.
• Record the interview.  If not conducted via email, ask for permission to record the interview. This lets you focus on the conversation and capture valuable quotes without distractions.

Step 4: Figure out who will create the case study

When creating written case studies for your business, deciding who should handle the writing depends on cost, perspective, and revisions.

Outsourcing might be pricier, but it ensures a professionally crafted outcome. On the other hand, in-house writing has its considerations, including understanding your customers and products. 

Technical expertise and equipment are needed for video case studies, which often leads companies to consider outsourcing due to production and editing costs. 

Tip: When outsourcing work, it's essential to clearly understand pricing details to avoid surprises and unexpected charges during payment.

Step 5: Utilize storytelling

Understanding and applying storytelling elements can make your case studies unforgettable, offering a competitive edge. 

Source: The Framework Bank

Every great study follows a narrative arc (also called a "story arc"). This arc represents how a character faces challenges, struggles against raising stakes, and encounters a formidable obstacle before the tension resolves.

In a case study narrative, consider:

• Exposition. Provide background information about the company, revealing their "old life" before becoming your customer.
• Inciting incident. Highlight the problem that drove the customer to seek a solution, creating a sense of urgency.
• Obstacles (rising action). Describe the customer's journey in researching and evaluating solutions, building tension as they explore options.
• Midpoint. Explain what made the business choose your product or service and what set you apart.
• Climax. Showcase the success achieved with your product.
• Denouement. Describe the customer's transformed business and end with a call-to-action for the reader to take the next step.

Step 6: Design the case study

The adage "Don't judge a book by its cover" is familiar, but people tend to do just that quite often!

A poor layout can deter readers even if you have an outstanding case study. To create an engaging case study, follow these steps:

• Craft a compelling title. Just like you wouldn't read a newspaper article without an eye-catching headline, the same goes for case studies. Start with a title that grabs attention.
• Organize your content. Break down your content into different sections, such as challenges, results, etc. Each section can also include subsections. This case study approach divides the content into manageable portions, preventing readers from feeling overwhelmed by lengthy blocks of text.
• Conciseness is key. Keep your case study as concise as possible. The most compelling case studies are precisely long enough to introduce the customer's challenge, experience with your solution, and outstanding results. Prioritize clarity and omit any sections that may detract from the main storyline.
• Utilize visual elements. To break up text and maintain reader interest, incorporate visual elements like callout boxes, bulleted lists, and sidebars.
• Include charts and images. Summarize results and simplify complex topics by including pictures and charts. Visual aids enhance the overall appeal of your case study.
• Embrace white space. Avoid overwhelming walls of text to prevent reader fatigue. Opt for plenty of white space, use shorter paragraphs, and employ subsections to ensure easy readability and navigation.
• Enhance video case studies. In video case studies, elements like music, fonts, and color grading are pivotal in setting the right tone. Choose music that complements your message and use it strategically throughout your story. Carefully select fonts to convey the desired style, and consider how lighting and color grading can influence the mood. These elements collectively help create the desired tone for your video case study.

Step 7: Edits and revisions

Once you've finished the interview and created your case study, the hardest part is over. Now's the time for editing and revision. This might feel frustrating for impatient B2B marketers, but it can turn good stories into great ones.

Ideally, you'll want to submit your case study through two different rounds of editing and revisions:

• Internal review. Seek feedback from various team members to ensure your case study is captivating and error-free. Gather perspectives from marketing, sales, and those in close contact with customers for well-rounded insights. Use patterns from this feedback to guide revisions and apply lessons to future case studies.
• Customer feedback. Share the case study with customers to make them feel valued and ensure accuracy. Let them review quotes and data points, as they are the "heroes" of the story, and their logos will be prominently featured. This step maintains positive customer relationships.

Case study mistakes to avoid

• Ensure easy access to case studies on your website.
• Spotlight the customer, not just your business.
• Tailor each case study to a specific audience.
• Avoid excessive industry jargon in your content.

Step 8: Publishing

Take a moment to proofread your case study one more time carefully. Even if you're reasonably confident you've caught all the errors, it's always a good idea to check. Your case study will be a valuable marketing tool for years, so it's worth the investment to ensure it's flawless. Once done, your case study is all set to go!

Consider sharing a copy of the completed case study with your customer as a thoughtful gesture. They'll likely appreciate it; some may want to keep it for their records. After all, your case study wouldn't have been possible without their help, and they deserve to see the final product.

Where you publish your case study depends on its role in your overall marketing strategy. If you want to reach as many people as possible with your case study, consider publishing it on your website and social media platforms. 

Tip: Some companies prefer to keep their case studies exclusive, making them available only to those who request them. This approach is often taken to control access to valuable information and to engage more deeply with potential customers who express specific interests. It can create a sense of exclusivity and encourage interested parties to engage directly with the company.

Step 9: Case study distribution

When sharing individual case studies, concentrate on reaching the audience with the most influence on purchasing decisions

Here are some common distribution channels to consider:

• Sales teams. Share case studies to enhance customer interactions, retention , and upselling among your sales and customer success teams. Keep them updated on new studies and offer easily accessible formats like PDFs or landing page links.
• Company website. Feature case studies on your website to establish authority and provide valuable information to potential buyers. Organize them by categories such as location, size, industry, challenges, and products or services used for effective presentation.
• Events. Use live events like conferences and webinars to distribute printed case study copies, showcase video case studies at trade show booths, and conclude webinars with links to your case study library. This creative approach blends personal interactions with compelling content.
• Industry journalists. Engage relevant industry journalists to gain media coverage by identifying suitable publications and journalists covering related topics. Building relationships is vital, and platforms like HARO (Help A Reporter Out) can facilitate connections, especially if your competitors have received coverage before.

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It can seem daunting to transform the information you've gathered into a cohesive narrative.  We’ve created a versatile case study template that can serve as a solid starting point for your case study.

With this template, your business can explore any solutions offered to satisfied customers, covering their background, the factors that led them to choose your services, and their outcomes.

The template boasts a straightforward design, featuring distinct sections that guide you in effectively narrating your and your customer's story. However, remember that limitless ways to showcase your business's accomplishments exist.

To assist you in this process, here's a breakdown of the recommended sections to include in a case study:

• Title.  Keep it concise. Create a brief yet engaging project title summarizing your work with your subject. Consider your title like a newspaper headline; do it well, and readers will want to learn more. 
• Subtitle . Use this section to elaborate on the achievement briefly. Make it creative and catchy to engage your audience.
• Executive summary.  Use this as an overview of the story, followed by 2-3 bullet points highlighting key success metrics.
• Challenges and objectives. This section describes the customer's challenges before adopting your product or service, along with the goals or objectives they sought to achieve.
• How product/service helped.  A paragraph explaining how your product or service addressed their problem.
• Testimonials.  Incorporate short quotes or statements from the individuals involved in the case study, sharing their perspectives and experiences.
• Supporting visuals.  Include one or two impactful visuals, such as graphs, infographics, or highlighted metrics, that reinforce the narrative.
• Call to action (CTA).  If you do your job well, your audience will read (or watch) your case studies from beginning to end. They are interested in everything you've said. Now, what's the next step they should take to continue their relationship with you? Give people a simple action they can complete. 

Case studies are proven marketing strategies in a wide variety of B2B industries. Here are just a few examples of a case study:

• Amazon Web Services, Inc.  provides companies with cloud computing platforms and APIs on a metered, pay-as-you-go basis. This case study example illustrates the benefits Thomson Reuters experienced using AWS.
• LinkedIn Marketing Solutions combines captivating visuals with measurable results in the case study created for BlackRock. This case study illustrates how LinkedIn has contributed to the growth of BlackRock's brand awareness over the years. 
• Salesforce , a sales and marketing automation SaaS solutions provider, seamlessly integrates written and visual elements to convey its success stories with Pepe Jeans. This case study effectively demonstrates how Pepe Jeans is captivating online shoppers with immersive and context-driven e-commerce experiences through Salesforce.
• HubSpot offers a combination of sales and marketing tools. Their case study demonstrates the effectiveness of its all-in-one solutions. These typically focus on a particular client's journey and how HubSpot helped them achieve significant results.

There are two different types of case studies that businesses might utilize:

Written case studies 

Written case studies offer readers a clear visual representation of data, which helps them quickly identify and focus on the information that matters most. 

Printed versions of case studies find their place at events like trade shows, where they serve as valuable sales collateral to engage prospective clients.  Even in the digital age, many businesses provide case studies in PDF format or as web-based landing pages, improving accessibility for their audience. 

Note: Landing pages , in particular, offer the flexibility to incorporate rich multimedia content, including images, charts, and videos. This flexibility in design makes landing pages an attractive choice for presenting detailed content to the audience.

Written case study advantages

Here are several significant advantages to leveraging case studies for your company:

• Hyperlink accessibility.  Whether in PDF or landing page format, written case studies allow for embedded hyperlinks, offering prospects easy access to additional information and contact forms.
• Flexible engagement.  Unlike video case studies, which may demand in-person arrangements, written case studies can be conducted via phone or video streaming, reducing customer commitment and simplifying scheduling.
• Efficient scanning . Well-structured written case studies with a scannable format cater to time-strapped professionals. Charts and callout boxes with key statistics enhance the ease of information retrieval.
• Printable for offline use.  Written case studies can be effortlessly printed and distributed at trade shows, sales meetings, and live events. This tangible format accommodates those who prefer physical materials and provides versatility in outreach, unlike video content, which is less portable.

Written case study disadvantages

Here are some drawbacks associated with the use of case studies:

• Reduced emotional impact.  Written content lacks the emotional punch of live video testimonials, which engage more senses and emotions, making a stronger connection.
• Consider time investment.  Creating a compelling case study involves editing, proofreading, and design collaboration, with multiple revisions commonly required before publication.
• Challenges in maintaining attention.  Attention spans are short in today's ad-saturated world. Using graphics, infographics, and videos more often is more powerful to incite the right emotions in customers.

Video case studies

Video case studies are the latest marketing trend. Unlike in the past, when video production was costly, today's tools make it more accessible for users to create and edit their videos. However, specific technical requirements still apply.

Like written case studies, video case studies delve into a specific customer's challenges and how your business provides solutions. Yet, the video offers a more profound connection by showcasing the person who faced and conquered the problem.

Video case studies can boost brand exposure when shared on platforms like YouTube. For example, Slack's engaging case study video with Sandwich Video illustrates how Slack transformed its workflow and adds humor, which can be challenging in written case studies focused on factual evidence.

Source : YouTube

This video case study has garnered nearly a million views on YouTube.

Video case study advantages

Here are some of the top advantages of video case studies. While video testimonials take more time, the payoff can be worth it. 

• Humanization and authenticity.  Video case studies connect viewers with real people, adding authenticity and fostering a stronger emotional connection.
• Engaging multiple senses.  They engage both auditory and visual senses, enhancing credibility and emotional impact. Charts, statistics, and images can also be incorporated.
• Broad distribution.  Videos can be shared on websites, YouTube, social media, and more, reaching diverse audiences and boosting engagement, especially on social platforms.

Video case study disadvantages

Before fully committing to video testimonials, consider the following:

• Technical expertise and equipment.  Video production requires technical know-how and equipment, which can be costly. Skilled video editing is essential to maintain a professional image. While technology advances, producing amateurish videos may harm your brand's perception.
• Viewer convenience.  Some prospects prefer written formats due to faster reading and ease of navigation. Video typically requires sound, which can be inconvenient for viewers in specific settings. Many people may not have headphones readily available to watch your content.
• Demand on case study participants.  On-camera interviews can be time-consuming and location-dependent, making scheduling challenging for case study participants. Additionally, being on screen for a global audience may create insecurities and performance pressure.
• Comfort on camera.  Not everyone feels at ease on camera. Nervousness or a different on-screen persona can impact the effectiveness of the testimonial, and discovering this late in the process can be problematic.

Written or video case studies: Which is right for you?

Now that you know the pros and cons of each, how do you choose which is right for you?

One of the most significant factors in doing video case studies can be the technical expertise and equipment required for a high level of production quality. Whether you have the budget to do this in-house or hire a production company can be one of the major deciding factors.

Still, written or video doesn't have to be an either-or decision. Some B2B companies are using both formats. They can complement each other nicely, minimizing the downsides mentioned above and reaching your potential customers where they prefer.

Let's say you're selling IT network security. What you offer is invaluable but complicated. You could create a short (three- or four-minute) video case study to get attention and touch on the significant benefits of your services. This whets the viewer's appetite for more information, which they could find in a written case study that supplements the video.

Should you decide to test the water in video case studies, test their effectiveness among your target audience. See how well they work for your company and sales team. And, just like a written case study, you can always find ways to improve your process as you continue exploring video case studies.

Case studies offer several distinctive advantages, making them an ideal tool for businesses to market their products to customers. However, their benefits extend beyond these qualities. 

Here's an overview of all the advantages of case studies:

Valuable sales support

Case studies serve as a valuable resource for your sales endeavors. Buyers frequently require additional information before finalizing a purchase decision. These studies provide concrete evidence of your product or service's effectiveness, assisting your sales representatives in closing deals more efficiently, especially with customers with lingering uncertainties.

Validating your value

Case studies serve as evidence of your product or service's worth or value proposition , playing a role in building trust with potential customers. By showcasing successful partnerships, you make it easier for prospects to place trust in your offerings. This effect is particularly notable when the featured customer holds a reputable status.

Unique and engaging content

By working closely with your customer success teams, you can uncover various customer stories that resonate with different prospects. Case studies allow marketers to shape product features and benefits into compelling narratives. 

Each case study's distinctiveness, mirroring the uniqueness of every customer's journey, makes them a valuable source of relatable and engaging content. Storytelling possesses the unique ability to connect with audiences on an emotional level, a dimension that statistics alone often cannot achieve. 

Spotlighting valuable customers

Case studies provide a valuable platform for showcasing your esteemed customers. Featuring them in these studies offers a chance to give them visibility and express your gratitude for the partnership, which can enhance customer loyalty . Depending on the company you are writing about, it can also demonstrate the caliber of your business.

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It's important to consider limitations when designing and interpreting the results of case studies. Here's an overview of the limitations of case studies:

Challenges in replication

Case studies often focus on specific individuals, organizations, or situations, making generalizing their findings to broader populations or contexts challenging. 

Time-intensive process

Case studies require a significant time investment. The extensive data collection process and the need for comprehensive analysis can be demanding, especially for researchers who are new to this method.

Potential for errors

Case studies can be influenced by memory and judgment, potentially leading to inaccuracies. Depending on human memory to reconstruct a case's history may result in variations and potential inconsistencies in how individuals recall past events. Additionally, bias may emerge, as individuals tend to prioritize what they consider most significant, which could limit their consideration of alternative perspectives.

Challenges in verification

Confirming results through additional research can present difficulties. This complexity arises from the need for detailed and extensive data in the initial creation of a case study. Consequently, this process requires significant effort and a substantial amount of time.

While looking at case studies, you may have noticed a quote. This type of quote is considered a testimonial, a key element of case studies.

If a customer's quote proves that your brand does what it says it will or performs as expected, you may wonder: 'Aren't customer testimonials and case studies the same thing?' Not exactly.

Testimonials are brief endorsements designed to establish trust on a broad scale. In contrast, case studies are detailed narratives that offer a comprehensive understanding of how a product or service addresses a specific problem, targeting a more focused audience. 

Crafting case studies requires more resources and a structured approach than testimonials. Your selection between the two depends on your marketing objectives and the complexity of your product or service.

Case in point!

Case studies are among a company's most effective tools. You're  well on your way to mastering them.

Today's buyers are tackling much of the case study research methodology independently. Many are understandably skeptical before making a buying decision. By connecting them with multiple case studies, you can prove you've gotten the results you say you can. There's hardly a better way to boost your credibility and persuade them to consider your solution.

Case study formats and distribution methods might change as technology evolves. However, the fundamentals that make them effective—knowing how to choose subjects, conduct interviews, and structure everything to get attention—will serve you for as long as you're in business. 

We covered a ton of concepts and resources, so go ahead and bookmark this page. You can refer to it whenever you have questions or need a refresher.

Dive into market research to uncover customer preferences and spending habits.

Kristen McCabe

Kristen’s is a former senior content marketing specialist at G2. Her global marketing experience extends from Australia to Chicago, with expertise in B2B and B2C industries. Specializing in content, conversions, and events, Kristen spends her time outside of work time acting, learning nature photography, and joining in the #instadog fun with her Pug/Jack Russell, Bella. (she/her/hers)

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How to Write a Case Study for an IT Company

Sep 30, 2023

Introduction

A case study is what can set you apart from the competitors. It’s a chance to show off your portfolio and demonstrate your expertise and problem-solving skills to potential clients. Writing a case study on your work is a chance to present what your company can achieve. What challenges have you faced, and how did your team overcame them.

In an increasingly competitive business landscape, where choices abound, the stories of success and innovation resonate most with discerning consumers. Your portfolio, meticulously displayed within a case study, is a testament to your track record of delivering results, offering tangible evidence of your capabilities.

Let’s see how you can make it shine with B2B case study examples .

What Makes a Good Case Study?

First things first, let’s get our definitions straight. What is a case study exactly?

In IT, a case study is an in-depth examination of a specific real-world situation, project, problem, or success story within the field. It is a research of your project, so to you, where you demonstrate your results to prospects that can potentially become your buyers. These studies are used to showcase how solutions and technologies have been applied to address particular challenges or achieve specific goals. Case studies provide detailed insights into the projects' and initiatives' strategies, processes, and outcomes.

Points to include

• Introduction and background information.

This section provides relevant background information to set the stage for the case study. It includes details about the industry, company, or organization in question and any relevant historical or contextual information.

• Problem statement and main goals.

The problem statement is critical to any case study as it sets the stage for the entire analysis. It succinctly defines the issue or challenges the case study addresses. In this section, the main goals of the project or initiative are also outlined. For instance, a company may face declining website traffic and set the goal of increasing user engagement and conversions. These objectives guide the entire case study and provide a clear focus for the reader.

• Challenges and solutions.

Every IT case study involves challenges that need to be overcome. This section delves into the specific hurdles encountered during the project. These challenges could be technical, financial, or organizational in nature. The subsequent part of this section discusses the solutions or strategies employed to tackle these challenges. This is where you explain how the IT team or organization devised and implemented innovative solutions to address the identified issues.

• Methodology and tech stack.

The methodology and tech stack section provides insights into how the case study was conducted. It details the research methods, data collection techniques, and analytical approaches used. The tech stack is crucial in IT case studies as it outlines the specific technologies, tools, and platforms utilized to implement solutions. This part ensures transparency in the research process and helps readers understand the technical aspects of the project.

• Descriptions and analysis.

The case description section provides a comprehensive narrative of the project or situation. It outlines the context, key individuals, organizations, and events. Following the description, the analysis section is where the real depth of the case study comes into play. You apply relevant theories, models, or frameworks to interpret the data and findings. This analysis should be objective and data-driven, allowing readers to draw their own conclusions based on the presented information.

• Results and conclusions.

In this critical section, the outcomes of the project are discussed. Quantitative and qualitative results should be presented, showcasing the impact of the IT solutions. Did the project meet its goals? Were the challenges successfully addressed? This section also summarizes the key findings and their implications. The conclusions drawn from the analysis should be supported by the evidence presented throughout the case study.

• Reviews and feedbacks.

Including a section on reviews and feedback is beneficial to provide a well-rounded view of the case study. This can include feedback from stakeholders, end-users, or clients who were involved in or impacted by the project. Positive reviews can validate the success of the IT solutions, while any constructive criticism can offer insights into areas for improvement. This feedback loop is valuable for continuous improvement in IT projects.

Each of these components contributes to a comprehensive and informative case study.

Benefits of Case Studies

You get plenty of benefits from providing case studies to your clients, whether on your corporate website or in your portfolio on a commonly used platform like Upwork. Case studies are versatile tools that offer valuable insights and have many applications in research and business. They enable a deeper understanding of complex issues and provide actionable information for decision-making and problem-solving.

Present your expertise

Showcase your specialized knowledge, skills, and achievements in a tangible and persuasive manner. By detailing a real-world scenario where you applied your expertise to solve a specific problem or achieve notable results, you demonstrate your competence and provide evidence of your capability to potential clients, employers, or collaborators. Case studies offer a platform for you to narrate your success stories, highlighting the value you bring to the table. Moreover, they can serve as valuable marketing tools, helping you establish credibility in your field, attract new opportunities, and build trust with your audience, ultimately fostering professional growth and recognition.

Show your trustworthiness

Establishing credibility and building strong relationships with clients, partners, and stakeholders is something you can’t ignore. Case studies provide a transparent and concrete account of how you've successfully addressed challenges or met objectives in real-world scenarios. By openly sharing the details of your approach, methodologies, and outcomes, you demonstrate integrity and a commitment to accountability. This transparency instills trust and enables others to make informed decisions about collaborating with you or your organization. A well-documented case study is a testament to your reliability and competence, reinforcing your reputation as a trustworthy expert in your field.

Communicate valuable insights

Case studies encapsulate real-world experiences and data-driven analysis, allowing for the presentation of actionable insights in a clear and comprehensible manner. These insights, often derived from problem-solving scenarios, research endeavors, or practical applications, offer practical guidance and inform decision-making. By utilizing case studies, individuals and organizations can leverage these insights to drive informed choices, innovate, and tackle complex challenges with a deeper understanding, ultimately facilitating meaningful and positive outcomes.

10 Tips on How to Choose the Right Project

It’s not enough to know how to write a good case. Choosing the right project to introduce to your prospects is also essential. Here are several major suggestions to help you approach this topic best.

• Define objectives. Clarifying your objectives is essential before choosing a project for your case study. Are you aiming to showcase expertise, demonstrate problem-solving skills, or highlight industry-specific achievements? Defining your goals will serve as a compass to guide your project selection.
• Identify relevant topics . Consider themes and topics that align with your case study's objectives. Consider areas where your organization or expertise excels, whether in a particular industry, technology, or solving specific types of problems. A relevant topic ensures your case study remains focused and purposeful.
• Evaluate successful projects. Reflect on past projects or initiatives that have stood out due to their success, innovation, or substantial impact. These projects are prime candidates for case studies as they demonstrate your track record of delivering positive outcomes.
• Consider challenges and solutions. A compelling case study often involves projects with notable challenges and the creative solutions used to overcome them. Such projects provide a rich narrative, showcasing your ability to tackle complex problems effectively.
• Assess client satisfaction. If applicable, consider projects that have received positive feedback from clients, stakeholders, or end-users. Client testimonials and satisfaction metrics can enhance the credibility of your case study and underscore your commitment to delivering value.
• Collect data and evidence. Ensure you access relevant data, metrics, and evidence to substantiate your case study's claims and findings. Data-driven insights add depth and credibility to your narrative.
• Get permission. When selecting a project, it's vital to be mindful of any ethical or confidentiality considerations. Some projects may involve sensitive information that cannot be publicly shared, so ensure you have the necessary permissions and safeguards.
• Diversity and variety. Over time, aim to create a diverse portfolio of case studies. Select projects that represent different industries, challenges, and solutions. This diversity demonstrates the breadth and versatility of your expertise.
• Audience relevance. Tailor your project choice to your target audience. Consider a projects will resonate most with your readers, whether they are potential clients, peers, or students. A relatable case study will more likely engage and inform your audience effectively.
• Feasibility . Assess the practicality of developing a comprehensive case study for the chosen project. Ensure you have the necessary resources, documentation, and team members available to support the case study development process. Feasibility is essential for delivering a well-rounded and informative case study.

Information to Include

When creating a case study, you'll want to include a variety of resources to support your analysis and provide evidence for your claims.

Remember to request the necessary permissions and discuss the case with your client before you make it public. Meanwhile, here is some common info you should consider including.

Relevant data

This includes data collected directly from your case study subject, such as requirements, client inquiries, and observations during the project. Primary data adds depth and authenticity to your study. Don’t forget to provide any reports you can get after the project completion: let your readers know how the whole thing played out. Financial figures, SEO updates, and anything that is relevant. It provides context and additional information related to your case.

Enhancing visuals

include charts, graphs, tables, photographs, and diagrams to illustrate key points, trends, or findings. Visuals make your case study more engaging and easier to understand. Consider using storytelling techniques like timelines, infographics, or flowcharts to help convey complex information and the progression of events.

Testimonials and reports

Incorporate quotes from interviews or statements from individuals involved in the case. Testimonials can provide firsthand perspectives and add credibility to your study. This helps to show the impact of decisions or actions through someone else's lens. Attach relevant documents, such as project reports, emails, memos, or contracts, to provide concrete evidence and context for your case.

Frameworks and tech stack

Utilize relevant theoretical frameworks, models, or concepts to analyze and interpret the data. This demonstrates a strong theoretical foundation for your case study. Including a diverse range of resources ensures that your case study is well-supported and credible and provides a thorough understanding of the subject matter. It also enhances the overall quality and depth of your analysis.

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Write to Engage

Creating an engaging narrative is crucial to writing a compelling text. It helps capture the reader's attention and makes the information more accessible and memorable. Here are some strategies to create an engaging narrative.

Compelling start

Begin your case study with a captivating introduction that immediately draws readers in. This could involve opening with a surprising statistic related to the IT industry's challenges or successes. Alternatively, you can use a powerful quote from a key figure in the project or an illustrative scenario setting the IT project's stage. The goal is to pique the reader's curiosity and make them eager to delve into the rest of the case study.

Narrative structure

Structure your case study like a story to create an engaging narrative. Start with the initial problem or challenge your IT project aims to address. Provide context by explaining why this problem was significant. Then, guide the reader through the project's journey, detailing the steps taken to resolve the issue. Highlight key milestones and turning points. Finally, conclude by showcasing the positive outcomes achieved as a result of the project's successful implementation. This narrative structure helps readers follow a logical progression and keeps them engaged by offering a sense of anticipation and resolution.

Human elements

Inject humanity into your IT case study by focusing on the people involved. Introduce key individuals, such as project managers, team members, clients, or stakeholders, and provide insights into their roles and contributions. Share anecdotes or personal experiences to bring these individuals to life. By showcasing the human aspect of the project, you make it relatable and relatable, helping readers connect with the story on a personal level. This adds authenticity and fosters a deeper understanding of the project's impact.

Dynamics of problem-solution

Make the problem-solving aspect of your IT project a central theme in your narrative. Start by clearly outlining the specific challenges or issues that the project aimed to address. Describe the complexity or urgency of these challenges to underscore their significance. As you progress through the narrative, delve into the strategies, methods, and innovative solutions that were deployed to overcome these challenges. By emphasizing the dynamic between problems and solutions, you create a narrative arc that keeps readers engaged. They become invested in understanding how each obstacle was tackled and how the project ultimately succeeded.

Visual enhancements

To enhance reader engagement and comprehension, incorporate visual elements strategically throughout your case study. Utilize charts, graphs, images, diagrams, and other visuals at relevant points in the narrative. Visuals serve as visual aids, making it easier for readers to grasp complex concepts, data, or project processes. They also help break up lengthy text sections, making the case study more visually appealing and accessible. When used effectively, visuals can reinforce key points and improve overall reader engagement.

By implementing these expanded strategies, you can create a narrative that informs and captivates your audience in your IT case study, making it more compelling and memorable.

Promote your Cases

Sharing your studies effectively ensures it reach the right audience and maximizes its impact. Here's how to approach the promotion and sharing of your case study:

Understand your audience

Begin by clearly defining the specific audiences you aim to reach with your IT case study. Consider factors such as their interests, needs, and preferences. For instance, if your case study demonstrates a groundbreaking IT solution, your primary audience might include CTOs and IT managers. Tailor your content to address their pain points and interests.

Once you've identified your target audiences, determine the most effective communication channels to reach them. This might involve a mix of online and offline platforms. For an online presence, utilize your company's website as a central hub for your case studies. Leverage social media platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook to engage a broader online audience. Consider email newsletters to reach your existing client base or subscribers. For more specialized audiences, explore industry-specific publications, webinars, or conferences.

Content repurposing

Promote your IT case study actively on various platforms. Create engaging social media posts that highlight key takeaways and encourage sharing. In email marketing campaigns, segment your email list to target recipients who are most likely to find the case study relevant. Host webinars or presentations where you discuss the case study's insights, providing opportunities for direct interaction and questions. Actively respond to comments and feedback on social media or your website to foster discussions and enhance the study's visibility.

Extend the life and reach of your case study by repurposing its content. Consider breaking it down into smaller, more digestible pieces. Create blog posts that explore specific aspects or findings in more detail. Develop eye-catching infographics to visualize key data points. Craft short videos that offer concise summaries or highlight real-world applications of the study's insights. These repurposed elements can be shared across various channels and appeal to different segments of your audience.

Continuous monitoring

Use analytics tools to track the performance of your case study's distribution efforts. Pay attention to essential metrics such as the number of views, downloads, shares, and click-through rates. Analyze the data to understand how your case study resonates with your audience. Identify which channels are most effective in reaching your goals.

Continuous monitoring and data analysis are key to refining your promotion strategy. Make informed adjustments to your approach based on the data and feedback received. If you find that a particular social media platform is driving significant engagement, allocate more resources to it. If your webinars are highly attended, consider hosting them regularly. By being agile and responsive, you can ensure that your IT case study reaches its intended audience and achieves its objectives effectively.

By expanding on these points, you can develop a comprehensive strategy for promoting and sharing your IT case study that reaches your target audience, engages them effectively, and maximizes the impact of your work.

Real-world Examples

As a company that provides Webflow development services and has been on the market for several years, we’ve compiled plenty of successfully delivered projects. We’ve put our knowledge and expertise into practice to walk our clients through our process: we started introducing case studies on our own. If you are interested in seeing practical examples of how to write case studies that drive engagement, check out our work:

• Ray Studios

In conclusion, crafting a compelling case study for the IT industry is about presenting facts and figures and telling a story of innovation, problem-solving, and expertise.

In the fast-paced world of technology, where innovative advancements occur rapidly, a well-prepared project study can set you apart from the competition. It showcases your ability to adapt and deliver tangible results. Remember that a successful case isn't just a document; it's a testament to your skills and a valuable tool for attracting clients, collaborators, and opportunities.

Every detail matters. From defining your objectives to presenting your conclusions, your project should be presented compellingly and informative to showcase your achievements in the industry.

So, embrace the challenge, and let your case studies become your success story.

It’s an in-depth analysis of a specific project, problem, or scenario related to technology implementation, innovation, or management. It provides a detailed account of real-world situations, often highlighting challenges, solutions, and the outcomes achieved. IT case studies showcase how organizations or professionals leverage technology to address issues, make improvements, or achieve business objectives. These studies serve as valuable learning tools, offering insights into best practices, lessons learned, and innovative approaches within the IT field. They also demonstrate the expertise and capabilities of individuals, teams, or organizations operating in the IT sector.

The length of a case study can vary, but it typically ranges from a few pages for shorter, so about 1500-2000 words, with more focused studies, to several dozen pages for more extensive and detailed analyses. The specific length depends on the complexity of the subject, the depth of information provided, and the intended audience and purpose of the case study. It’s better to avoid short-form studies that don’t go further than 500 words and combine those into one cohesive case.

Choose a relevant and compelling technology sector topic to write a case study. Define your objectives clearly, outlining your aim with the case study. Next, gather comprehensive information about the project or scenario, including details on the technology used, challenges faced, and the solution implemented. Organize this information in a structured format, including an introduction, background, problem statement, solution, results, and conclusion. Use visuals like charts and diagrams to illustrate key points. Ensure that the case study is well-researched, data-driven, and focused on providing valuable insights to your target audience, whether it's professionals, peers, or students. Finally, proofread and edit your case study to ensure clarity and coherence before sharing it with your intended readers.

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How to Write a Case Study: Bookmarkable Guide & Template

Updated: July 18, 2024

Published: June 13, 2012

Earning the trust of prospective customers can be a major challenge. Before you can expect to earn their business, you’ll need to demonstrate your ability to deliver on the promises of your product or service. The best way to win new business is with cold, hard proof.

A great way to prove your worth is through a compelling case study. HubSpot’s 2024 State of Marketing report found that case studies are so captivating that they were the fifth most commonly used type of content that marketers relied on.

That statistic still holds true in Forbes Advisor’s 2024 study, which adds that 78% of B2B businesses report using case studies and customer stories because they are “ crucial for demonstrating real-world value. ”

Having written these ever more frequently over the past ten years, I hope to serve as your guide through a process that can feel daunting, but I promise is worth the effort. Below, I'll walk you through what a case study is, how to prepare for writing one, what to include in it, and how it can be an effective tactic.

Table of Contents

Case Study Definition

• Why Write a Case Study?
• How Long Should a Case Study Be?

Case Study Templates

How to write a case study, case study format, business case study examples.

Free Case Study Templates

Showcase your company's success using these three free case study templates.

• Data-Driven Case Study Template
• Product-Specific Case Study Template
• General Case Study Template

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A case study is coverage of a specific challenge a business has faced, and the solution they've chosen to solve it. Case studies can vary greatly in length and focus on several details related to the initial challenge and applied solution, and can be presented in various forms like a video, white paper, blog post, etc.

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.

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, helping you attract new clients.

Why write a case study?

I know, it sounds like a huge endeavor — is it really worth it?

The truth is that while case studies are a huge undertaking, they are powerful marketing tools that allow you to demonstrate the value of your product to potential customers using real-world examples.

Here are a few reasons why you should write case studies.

1. Explain complex topics or concepts.

Case studies give you the space to break down complex concepts, ideas, and strategies, showing how they can be applied in a practical way.

You can use real-world examples, like an existing client, and use their story to create a compelling narrative that demonstrates how your product solved their issue. Most importantly, it explains how those strategies can be repeated to help other customers get similar, successful results.

2. Show expertise.

Case studies are a great way to demonstrate your knowledge and expertise on a given topic or industry. This is where you get the opportunity to show off your problem-solving skills and how you’ve generated successful outcomes for clients you’ve worked with.

3. Build trust and credibility.

In addition to showing off the attributes above, case studies are an excellent way to build credibility. They’re often filled with data and thoroughly researched, which shows readers you’ve done your homework.

A robust case study instills confidence in the solutions you present because the reader has now vicariously experienced the problem — and they followed, step-by-step, what it took to solve it. These elements work together, enabling you to build trust with potential customers.

4. Create social proof.

Using existing clients that have seen success working with your brand builds social proof .

People are more likely to choose your brand if they know that others have found success working with you. Case studies do just that — put your success on display for potential customers to see.

All of these attributes play together like an orchestra to help you gain more clients. Afterward, the case study acts as a reference. You can pull quotes from customers that were featured in these studies to repurpose them in other marketing content.

How long should a case study be?

Now that you’re more acquainted with the benefits of producing a case study, let’s explore how long these documents should be.

The length of a case study will vary depending on the complexity of the project or topic discussed. However, as a general guideline, case studies typically range from 500 to 1,500 words.

Whatever length you choose, it should provide a clear understanding of the challenge, the solution you implemented, and the results achieved.

This may be easier said than done, but it‘s important to strike a balance between providing enough detail to make the case study informative and concise enough to keep the reader’s interest.

The primary goal here is to effectively communicate the key points and takeaways of the case study. It’s worth noting that this shouldn’t be a wall of text. Make it attractive to dive into by using headings, subheadings, bullet points, charts, and other graphics to break up the content and make it more scannable for readers.

I’ve also seen more and more brands incorporate video elements into case studies listed on their site for a more engaging experience, which is highly recommended given that video is currently the best performing marketing content format.

1. Get started with case study templates.

Telling your customer's story is a delicate process — you need to highlight their success while naturally incorporating your business into their story.

If you're just getting started with case studies, I do recommend that you download HubSpot's Case Study Templates to kickstart the process if you haven’t already.

2. Determine the case study's objective.

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 succeed 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.

For example, your case study could 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.

3. 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 certainly don't have to be simple, text-based 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 for maximum impact.

Here are some different case study mediums to consider and ways to benefit from them:

Written Case Study

Consider writing your 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 that your readers fill out before downloading the piece. This enables your 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. Plus, you can create cross-channel posts with the video, or take still images from the video to use with any social media account.

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.

Pro tip: Make the top of your infographic visually interesting to attract clicks. Don’t be afraid to front-load a particularly interesting statistic or detail — there’s no such thing as wasting it if nobody was reading it, right? Lead with something your target audience will find juicy.

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.

4. Find the right case study candidate.

Writing about your previous projects requires more than picking a client and telling a story — you’ll need that client’s participation.

You’ll need permission, quotes, and a plan to make it as easy on them as possible. 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, they can better speak to the value of what you offer in a way that makes sense and sounds good to 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 your prospects to feel, too.

One part of this step is to choose clients who have experienced an unexpected level of 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.

This can widen your appeal and attract more and varied clients.

Recognizable Names

While small companies can have powerful stories, bigger or more notable brands tend to lend their credibility to your own.

In fact, 89% of consumers say they'll buy from a brand they already recognize over a competitor, especially if they already follow them on social media.

Pro tip: It can be intimidating to revisit older clients, especially big names, and especially if they moved on with another company. But listen — if you did good work for them and saw results, you can be proud of that and they can be honest about what worked. Don’t be afraid to ask for their support with your case study.

Customers that came to you after working with a competitor often have captivating highs and lows that make for a great story.

Switchers can help highlight your competitive advantages and might even sway decisions in your favor if you have prospects on the fence.

5. 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 a plan in place before you call your candidate is one of the biggest culprits in delayed case study creation.

Most importantly, having a plan lined up helps in 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 steps #2 and #3 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, so make the deal sweet.

Benefits to Offer Your Case Study Candidate

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

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 a free trial of another product — as a thank you for their help creating your case study.

The bigger the scope and size of the study, the more you can make the case to your finance department to justify larger gifts and get more buy-in.

Brand Exposure

Explain to your subject how and to whom this case study will be exposed.

This exposure can help increase their own 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.

Employee Exposure

Allow your subject to provide quotes with credits back to specific employees.

When this is an option for 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.

Backlinks and Website Traffic

Backlinks are a benefit sure to resonate with your subject‘s marketing team. When you publish your case study on your website, make sure that your study links back to your subject’s website. This is known as a “backlink.”

If your reader clicks the link in your case study, it takes your reader to the subject's website. Essentially, this small gesture gives them additional website traffic from visitors who have read your case study.

Additionally, a backlink from you increases your subject's page authority in the eyes of Google, which is growing in difficulty as AI infiltrates the internet.

This helps them rank more highly in search engine results. Landing higher on the SERP enables them to collect more traffic from searchers who are looking for information about your subject’s industry.

Once you know what you’re going to offer your candidate, go ahead and contact them to see if they are interested in featuring in a customer success story, with the promise of more details to follow.

6. Ensure you have all the resources you need to proceed before you get a response.

Now it’s time to prepare the resources needed for if — when! — they agree to participate. At the very least, you’ll need a case study release form and a success story letter.

Let's break those two 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 study once it is completed.

You’ll need permission to use any brand names and to share the project information publicly.

You should typically aim to include the following in your 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 be able to include about the company — things like names, logos, job titles, and pictures.
• An explanation of what you would 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? Do you have permission to pass contact information along for these purposes?
• A note about compensation.

Success Story Letter

This document serves as an outline for the entire case study process so your subject better understands the entire process they would be opting into.

You'll want to be sure to define the details outlined in your Case Study Release Form within your Success Story Letter. There are many details you’ll need to think about so that you can clearly explain what the process will be like.

7. Define the process you want to follow with the client.

Before you can begin the case study, you have to have a clear outline of the case study process with your client. An example of an effective outline would include the following information.

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 before 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.

This 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 and impressive growth, as well.

8. Download a case study email template.

You’ve gathered your resources, and soon your candidate will get to explore the exciting details of participating in your case study.

The case study release form communicates what you'll need from your chosen subject, and your success story letter outlines the process in its entirety.

Hopefully by now they’ve replied that they are interested in working with you on a customer success story. It’s time to send your case study email!

To give you an idea of what that might look like, check out this sample email.

In terms of the interview structure, I recommend categorizing the questions in a way that the answers flow into six specific sections that will mirror a successful case study format. Combined, they'll allow you to gather enough information to put together a rich, comprehensive study.

Open with the customer's business.

The goal of this section is to generate a better understanding of the company's current challenges and goals, plus 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?

Cite a problem or pain point.

To tell a compelling story, you need context that helps match the customer's needs 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 before this that did not work out? If so, what happened?

Discuss the decision process.

Exploring how the customer decided 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?

Explain how a solution was implemented.

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?
• Did that meet your expectations?
• Who was involved in the process?

Explain how the solution works.

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?

End with 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?

It’s a smart idea to send a copy of your interview questions to your subject ahead of time so they can prepare strong answers and collect the numerical data you need from them.

10. 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 useful, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. I always do, but I also know that it works out in the end, so I just jump on in and work it through.

So where should you start? What should you include? What's the best way to structure it?

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 through video or photos with a bit of accompanying text.

Here are the sections I’d suggest, and I'll cover these in more detail after #11 below:

• Title. Keep it short. Develop a succinct but interesting project name you can give the work you did with your subject.
• Subtitle. Use this copy to briefly elaborate on the accomplishment. What was done? The case study itself will explain how you got there.
• 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.
• About the Subject. An introduction to the person or company you served, which can be pulled from a LinkedIn Business profile or client website.
• Challenges and Objectives. A 2-3 paragraph description of the customer's challenges, before using your product or service. This section should also include the goals or objectives the customer set out to achieve.
• How Product/Service Helped. A 2-3 paragraph section that describes how your product or service provided a solution to their problem.
• 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.
• 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.
• Future Plans. Everyone likes an epilogue. Comment on what's ahead for your case study subject, whether or not those plans involve you.
• 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.

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.

11. Publish and promote your case study.

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.

Lead Gen in a Blog Post

As stated earlier, 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 to it from your homepage with a “Case Studies” or “Testimonials” button along your homepage's top navigation bar.

The traditional case study format includes the following parts: a title and subtitle, a client profile, a summary of the customer’s challenges and objectives, an account of how your solution helped, and a description of the results. You might also want to include supporting visuals and quotes, future plans, and calls-to-action.

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Showcase your company's success using these free case study templates.

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Blog Graphic Design 15+ Case Study Examples for Business, Marketing & Sales

15+ Case Study Examples for Business, Marketing & Sales

Written by: Alice Corner Jan 12, 2023

Have you ever bought something — within the last 10 years or so — without reading its reviews or without a recommendation or prior experience of using it?

If the answer is no — or at least, rarely — you get my point.

Positive reviews matter for selling to regular customers, and for B2B or SaaS businesses, detailed case studies are important too.

Wondering how to craft a compelling case study ? No worries—I’ve got you covered with 15 marketing case study templates , helpful tips, and examples to ensure your case study converts effectively.

Click to jump ahead:

What is a case study?

What to include in a professional case study, business case study examples, simple case study examples, marketing case study examples, sales case study examples.

• Case study FAQs

A case study is an in-depth, detailed analysis of a specific real-world situation. For example, a case study can be about an individual, group, event, organization, or phenomenon. The purpose of a case study is to understand its complexities and gain insights into a particular instance or situation.

In the context of a business, however, case studies take customer success stories and explore how they use your product to help them achieve their business goals.

As well as being valuable marketing tools , case studies are a good way to evaluate your product as it allows you to objectively examine how others are using it.

It’s also a good way to interview your customers about why they work with you.

Related: 6 Types of Case Studies

A professional case study showcases how your product or services helped potential clients achieve their business goals . You can also create case studies of internal, successful marketing projects. A professional case study typically includes:

• Company background and history
• The challenge
• How you helped
• Specific actions taken
• Visuals or Data
• Client testimonials

Here’s an example of a case study template:

Whether you’re a B2B or B2C company, business case studies can be a powerful resource to help with your sales, marketing, and even internal departmental awareness.

Business and business management case studies should encompass strategic insights alongside anecdotal and qualitative findings, like in the business case study examples below.

Conduct a B2B case study by researching the company holistically

When it comes to writing a case study, make sure you approach the company holistically and analyze everything from their social media to their sales.

Think about every avenue your product or service has been of use to your case study company, and ask them about the impact this has had on their wider company goals.

In business case study examples like the one above, we can see that the company has been thought about holistically simply by the use of icons.

By combining social media icons with icons that show in-person communication we know that this is a well-researched and thorough case study.

This case study report example could also be used within an annual or end-of-year report.

Highlight the key takeaway from your marketing case study

To create a compelling case study, identify the key takeaways from your research. Use catchy language to sum up this information in a sentence, and present this sentence at the top of your page.

This is “at a glance” information and it allows people to gain a top-level understanding of the content immediately. 

You can use a large, bold, contrasting font to help this information stand out from the page and provide interest.

Learn  how to choose fonts  effectively with our Venngage guide and once you’ve done that.

Upload your fonts and  brand colors  to Venngage using the  My Brand Kit  tool and see them automatically applied to your designs.

The heading is the ideal place to put the most impactful information, as this is the first thing that people will read.

In this example, the stat of “Increase[d] lead quality by 90%” is used as the header. It makes customers want to read more to find out how exactly lead quality was increased by such a massive amount.

If you’re conducting an in-person interview, you could highlight a direct quote or insight provided by your interview subject.

Pick out a catchy sentence or phrase, or the key piece of information your interview subject provided and use that as a way to draw a potential customer in.

Use charts to visualize data in your business case studies

Charts are an excellent way to visualize data and to bring statistics and information to life. Charts make information easier to understand and to illustrate trends or patterns.

Making charts is even easier with Venngage.

In this consulting case study example, we can see that a chart has been used to demonstrate the difference in lead value within the Lead Elves case study.

Adding a chart here helps break up the information and add visual value to the case study. 

Using charts in your case study can also be useful if you’re creating a project management case study.

You could use a Gantt chart or a project timeline to show how you have managed the project successfully.

Use direct quotes to build trust in your marketing case study

To add an extra layer of authenticity you can include a direct quote from your customer within your case study.

According to research from Nielsen , 92% of people will trust a recommendation from a peer and 70% trust recommendations even if they’re from somebody they don’t know.

So if you have a customer or client who can’t stop singing your praises, make sure you get a direct quote from them and include it in your case study.

You can either lift part of the conversation or interview, or you can specifically request a quote. Make sure to ask for permission before using the quote.

This design uses a bright contrasting speech bubble to show that it includes a direct quote, and helps the quote stand out from the rest of the text.

This will help draw the customer’s attention directly to the quote, in turn influencing them to use your product or service.

Less is often more, and this is especially true when it comes to creating designs. Whilst you want to create a professional-looking, well-written and design case study – there’s no need to overcomplicate things.

These simple case study examples show that smart clean designs and informative content can be an effective way to showcase your successes.

Use colors and fonts to create a professional-looking case study

Business case studies shouldn’t be boring. In fact, they should be beautifully and professionally designed.

This means the normal rules of design apply. Use fonts, colors, and icons to create an interesting and visually appealing case study.

In this case study example, we can see how multiple fonts have been used to help differentiate between the headers and content, as well as complementary colors and eye-catching icons.

Marketing case studies are incredibly useful for showing your marketing successes. Every successful marketing campaign relies on influencing a consumer’s behavior, and a great case study can be a great way to spotlight your biggest wins.

In the marketing case study examples below, a variety of designs and techniques to create impactful and effective case studies.

Show off impressive results with a bold marketing case study

Case studies are meant to show off your successes, so make sure you feature your positive results prominently. Using bold and bright colors as well as contrasting shapes, large bold fonts, and simple icons is a great way to highlight your wins.

In well-written case study examples like the one below, the big wins are highlighted on the second page with a bright orange color and are highlighted in circles.

Making the important data stand out is especially important when attracting a prospective customer with marketing case studies.

Use a simple but clear layout in your case study

Using a simple layout in your case study can be incredibly effective, like in the example of a case study below.

Keeping a clean white background, and using slim lines to help separate the sections is an easy way to format your case study.

Making the information clear helps draw attention to the important results, and it helps improve the  accessibility of the design .

Business case study examples like this would sit nicely within a larger report, with a consistent layout throughout.

Use visuals and icons to create an engaging and branded business case study

Nobody wants to read pages and pages of text — and that’s why Venngage wants to help you communicate your ideas visually.

Using icons, graphics, photos, or patterns helps create a much more engaging design. 

With this Blue Cap case study icons, colors, and impactful pattern designs have been used to create an engaging design that catches your eye.

Use a monochromatic color palette to create a professional and clean case study

Let your research shine by using a monochromatic and minimalistic color palette.

By sticking to one color, and leaving lots of blank space you can ensure your design doesn’t distract a potential customer from your case study content.

In this case study on Polygon Media, the design is simple and professional, and the layout allows the prospective customer to follow the flow of information.

The gradient effect on the left-hand column helps break up the white background and adds an interesting visual effect.

Did you know you can generate an accessible color palette with Venngage? Try our free accessible color palette generator today and create a case study that delivers and looks pleasant to the eye:

Add long term goals in your case study

When creating a case study it’s a great idea to look at both the short term and the long term goals of the company to gain the best understanding possible of the insights they provide.

Short-term goals will be what the company or person hopes to achieve in the next few months, and long-term goals are what the company hopes to achieve in the next few years.

Check out this modern pattern design example of a case study below:

In this case study example, the short and long-term goals are clearly distinguished by light blue boxes and placed side by side so that they are easy to compare.

Use a strong introductory paragraph to outline the overall strategy and goals before outlining the specific short-term and long-term goals to help with clarity.

This strategy can also be handy when creating a consulting case study.

Use data to make concrete points about your sales and successes

When conducting any sort of research stats, facts, and figures are like gold dust (aka, really valuable).

Being able to quantify your findings is important to help understand the information fully. Saying sales increased 10% is much more effective than saying sales increased.

While sales dashboards generally tend it make it all about the numbers and charts, in sales case study examples, like this one, the key data and findings can be presented with icons. This contributes to the potential customer’s better understanding of the report.

They can clearly comprehend the information and it shows that the case study has been well researched.

Use emotive, persuasive, or action based language in your marketing case study

Create a compelling case study by using emotive, persuasive and action-based language when customizing your case study template.

In this well-written case study example, we can see that phrases such as “Results that Speak Volumes” and “Drive Sales” have been used.

Using persuasive language like you would in a blog post. It helps inspire potential customers to take action now.

Keep your potential customers in mind when creating a customer case study for marketing

82% of marketers use case studies in their marketing  because it’s such an effective tool to help quickly gain customers’ trust and to showcase the potential of your product.

Why are case studies such an important tool in content marketing?

By writing a case study you’re telling potential customers that they can trust you because you’re showing them that other people do.

Not only that, but if you have a SaaS product, business case studies are a great way to show how other people are effectively using your product in their company.

In this case study, Network is demonstrating how their product has been used by Vortex Co. with great success; instantly showing other potential customers that their tool works and is worth using.

Related: 10+ Case Study Infographic Templates That Convert

Case studies are particularly effective as a sales technique.

A sales case study is like an extended customer testimonial, not only sharing opinions of your product – but showcasing the results you helped your customer achieve.

Make impactful statistics pop in your sales case study

Writing a case study doesn’t mean using text as the only medium for sharing results.

You should use icons to highlight areas of your research that are particularly interesting or relevant, like in this example of a case study:

Icons are a great way to help summarize information quickly and can act as visual cues to help draw the customer’s attention to certain areas of the page.

In some of the business case study examples above, icons are used to represent the impressive areas of growth and are presented in a way that grabs your attention.

Use high contrast shapes and colors to draw attention to key information in your sales case study

Help the key information stand out within your case study by using high contrast shapes and colors.

Use a complementary or contrasting color, or use a shape such as a rectangle or a circle for maximum impact.

This design has used dark blue rectangles to help separate the information and make it easier to read.

Coupled with icons and strong statistics, this information stands out on the page and is easily digestible and retainable for a potential customer.

Case study examples summary

Once you have created your case study, it’s best practice to update your examples on a regular basis to include up-to-date statistics, data, and information.

You should update your business case study examples often if you are sharing them on your website .

It’s also important that your case study sits within your brand guidelines – find out how Venngage’s My Brand Kit tool can help you create consistently branded case study templates.

Case studies are important marketing tools – but they shouldn’t be the only tool in your toolbox. Content marketing is also a valuable way to earn consumer trust.

Case study FAQ s

Why should you write a case study.

Case studies are an effective marketing technique to engage potential customers and help build trust.

By producing case studies featuring your current clients or customers, you are showcasing how your tool or product can be used. You’re also showing that other people endorse your product.

In addition to being a good way to gather positive testimonials from existing customers, business case studies are good educational resources and can be shared amongst your company or team, and used as a reference for future projects.

How should you write a case study?

To create a great case study, you should think strategically. The first step, before starting your case study research, is to think about what you aim to learn or what you aim to prove.

You might be aiming to learn how a company makes sales or develops a new product. If this is the case, base your questions around this.

You can learn more about writing a case study  from our extensive guide.

Related: How to Present a Case Study like a Pro (With Examples)

Some good questions you could ask would be:

• Why do you use our tool or service?
• How often do you use our tool or service?
• What does the process of using our product look like to you?
• If our product didn’t exist, what would you be doing instead?
• What is the number one benefit you’ve found from using our tool?

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