How To Write a Great Case Study

Breaking down the case study to convert readers into customers

There’s nothing quite as powerful as a third party endorsement. As we plow through the digital age, words of recommendation are traveling primarily through social media, on-site testimonials and through the use of case studies. While all are effective, there are few tools that can help you win more business as effectively as a case study. Used for pitching new customers, telling a story and demonstrating a skill set, if you’re not taking advantage of this platform, you could be missing out.

To make sure that doesn’t happen, we are going to show you how to write a great case study that converts over and over and over again.

What is a case study?

A case study is very similar to a customer testimonial; however, it not only presents satisfactory quotations from your customers, but it also shows real-life proof of your high-quality work. A case study demonstrates that your business delivers on its word while demonstrating the types of clients and customers you’ve served in the past. Case studies provide endless value to your readers so they can learn exactly how you might be able to help them and see your products and services implemented directly into the user experience.

How to write a great case study

First, you’ll want to find and reach out to a customer with whom you’ve had great results. Ask them for a testimonial regarding your services and to summarize the experience of working together. Once they are on board, start by telling the story. Think about what problem you solved, the timeline and the overall results.

The general outline of your case study should be as follows: an introduction to the satisfied client, the major challenges they faced prior to doing business with you, how you were able to remedy those challenges, and performance results from the particular company or individual. Think of it as a formulaic approach to storytelling so that you can easily present the facts to anyone who might be interested in your services.

Complete the piece with direct quotes from your customer, numbers and statistics that demonstrate results, and appealing visuals to complement the impact your services made on their business. Keep your case studies as simple and concise as possible. Each one should be unique in problems, solutions, and client testimonials, but they should all be similar in the flow and feel for consistency.

Yakkety Yak Tip: Create a case study template that is limited to one page. Easy-to-follow, visually pleasing pieces will attract readers much more than a downloadable document with too many words and little color or graphics. 

Need help getting started? Yakkety Yak created an easy Yakkety Yak Case Study Tool Kit, complete with an “ideal case study respondent checklist,” questionnaire, and step-by-step guides. The goal is to make the process as easy and seamless as possible for your respondents—and easy for you to put together something comprehensive to present to potential customers.