How to create effective case studies that drive results

A case study that walks prospects through a story of how you helped a similar customer is one of the best ways to show off your results and persuade potential customers to work with you.
So to help you produce effective case studies that will demonstrate your business credentials, here are a few things you should start to think about…
Collect Customer Testimonials
To help your case study seem as authentic as possible include the name of the person, their company and their position alongside their quote. You could also consider including a link to their LinkedIn account but make sure you have the person’s permission before you publish this information.
Collect Customer Testimonials
Before you start writing your case studies you also need to consider the level of your target audience. If your customers won’t understand the technical jargon that your product or service involves, you need to make sure that your case study is more accessible.
Choose past clients or customers that your current target market can relate to. Is there a specific industry you would like to do more work in? Is there a certain problem that you are really good at solving? Being specific in this way will help your case studies resonate with clients in certain industries or situations.
Writing a case study: Think problem and solution
1. Title
2. Introduce the customer and their problem
You could also include the steps that this customer took to solve the problem themselves before coming to you, including products or services they used along the way.
3. Your solution
4. The results
If you claim that your product or service ‘saves people time and money’ or is the ‘best value on the market’, this is where you will want to back up your claims with evidence. Be as specific as you can in this section and provide some numbers if possible. This might be savings (money or time), growth, ROI or similar.
But don’t worry if you don’t have any hard numbers to demonstrate your success, just be as specific with the results as you can. For example, gaining a repeat customer off the back of your product or service demonstrates the value that you provided.

Include images or different formatting options
If you have a particular piece of data that you want to draw attention to you could show this using a graph or a visual. You could also format your quotes so that they appear to stand out, or highlight the main points of your case study using different formatting or bullet points.
Whatever you decide to include, images are a must. By providing an image of a small group of customers, your process, or the end result, your case study will appear more authentic, engage the reader for longer and help them to better understand the case study. You could also include your client’s logo – especially if they are a big name in your industry.
Make the most of your case study
You should consider sharing case studies on social media along with a link to the complete story. In these posts, you can pick out the most compelling points of your project to encourage people to click through and read, and you should @mention the client or customer if possible.
Another way to share your case studies is through the use of emails. If you have a case study that you think a potential client would be particularly interested in – maybe they are from the same industry or have worked closely with your client before – consider emailing them a link after an introductory meeting or sales call.
Finally, you could produce these case studies in a print format to use in client meetings, display at conferences and hand out during industry events.
Some good examples
For example, 2bm’s case studies are separated by the headings ‘the requirement’, ‘the challenge’ and ‘the solution’. The solution is broken down into bullet points and the customer quote is highlighted in a different format to make it stand out.

In Morecrofts’ projects, the main points of the case study are highlighted in a different format, including the client, location and services provided, and the client quote is in a prominent position at the bottom of the case study.

If you need more help to design or produce your case studies, we will be happy to help or advise you – just get in touch.