How To Write A Case Study That Sells

A case study is the most persuasive thing on most websites, and most of them are written as a project summary.

The reader does not care what you did. They care whether you have solved the problem they currently have.

Lead with the situation, not the client

The opening should describe a problem, in the reader's language, that they recognise as theirs.

Not "we were engaged by a manufacturer in western Sydney". Start with what was actually wrong. The thing that was not working, the deadline that was at risk, the cost that was climbing.

If the reader sees their own situation in the first two lines, they will read the rest. If the first two lines are about you, they will not.

Be specific about the starting point

"They were struggling with their marketing" says nothing. What was actually happening?

The specific version is always more persuasive. A number, a timeframe, a concrete symptom. What the situation cost them, in time or money or opportunity, and what would have happened if nothing changed.

Vague problems produce vague credibility.

Show the thinking, not just the activity

A list of deliverables is not a case study. Anyone can list deliverables.

What made this situation different, what you considered, what you chose and why. The reasoning is what demonstrates competence, because the reader is trying to work out whether you would think clearly about their problem.

Include a constraint you had to work around. Every real project has one, and including it makes the whole account more believable than a version where everything went smoothly.

Numbers, and only ones you can stand behind

A real number beats an adjective every time. But only use figures you have permission to use and can substantiate.

If a client's numbers are confidential, say so and describe the outcome qualitatively. "Enquiry volume roughly tripled over the engagement" is honest and useful. An invented precise figure is neither, and it will not survive the first person who asks about it.

Never publish a client's figures without their agreement. Some contracts prohibit it outright, and a case study that breaches one costs more than it earns.

Use their words

A direct quote from the client is worth more than a page of your own description, because it is the only part the reader does not assume you wrote.

Ask for one specifically. Ask what was different afterwards, rather than asking whether they were happy. "Happy" quotes all read the same. Specific ones do not.

Never write a quote for a client and put their name on it. If they have not said it, it does not go in.

Structure that works

The situation. What was actually wrong, in their language.

What was at stake. Why it mattered.

What you did, and why that rather than something else.

What happened. The outcome, with real figures where you have permission.

What it means for the reader. The line that says who this applies to.

The line most case studies are missing

End by telling the reader who this is relevant to. "If you are a manufacturer with a long sales cycle and a website that generates nothing, this is the pattern."

Most case studies end with the result and leave the reader to work out whether it applies to them. Most will not bother.

One good one beats six thin ones

A single case study written properly, with a real situation and real detail, will do more work than a page of logos and one-line summaries.

Write the one you would send to a prospect who is on the fence. That is the standard.