writing a case study marketing

How to Write a Marketing Case Study (With Examples)

Learn exactly what a marketing case study is, how to write one that stands out, and review some examples of existing, successful studies.

As any big brand like MailChimp, Spotify and IMB will tell you, case studies are a huge part of solidifying your brand as thought leaders.

A case study is a win: you share the success of a customer as a result of your company’s actions. At SimpleTexting we call them our Success Stories , but no matter the name, the structure is the same — how company A worked with B to achieve XYZ. 

In this article we’ll cover everything from the basics to real-life examples.What exactly is a marketing case study, what constitutes a good one, and most importantly, how do you build one?

Let’s get started.

What is a Marketing Case Study?

According to Curata , “a case study in the context of marketing is an analysis of a project, campaign or company that identifies a situation, recommended solutions, implementation actions, and identification of those factors that contributed to failure or success.”

Sure, it’s a bit wordy, but at its core marketing case studies share information with prospective customers or clients about how your product offered a solution.

It doesn’t need to be dry reading. It doesn’t even need to be a report (although it can be). The key with a case study is that it should read like a story—only the beginning, middle, and end are all replicable business takeaways.

Case studies are for businesses of all sizes. They can be just as effective for small and medium-sized businesses as they are for enterprise businesses. Here’s why you should be investing time in building case studies.

Why Write a Marketing Case Study?

Before we dive into the instructions, let’s take a second to explore why a business would invest the time and effort into writing a case study. After all, why share your big marketing secrets with the world, what do you get out of the deal?

Simply put, you get the chance to share your story. Case studies, after all, are just stories showcasing your products and methods. They make for pretty spectacular advertising because, to a reader, it doesn’t feel like they’re being marketed to.

92% of customers prefer that media messages sound like a story. By using case studies you’re appealing to the logical, casual consumer who wants to know the “who, what, where, when, and why” that drives them to buy without any of the extra fuss. Case studies are the perfect medium to package it all.

How to Write a Marketing Case Study

As mentioned, every good case study maintains one singular focus: how one company used another to achieve its goal(s). This means most marketing case studies tend to take on an easily understandable problem-solution structure.

Let’s take a look at what you need to create a successful case study.

Components of a Marketing Case Study

Using the ingredients above, assemble them in this order to create a basic marketing case study:

• Write a title : Don’t worry about spoiling the ending. With case studies you want your title to let readers know right away how a campaign ended.  A case study title should include the name of the company or brand being examined, if their campaign went well or poorly for them and a solid metric that demonstrates exactly how well or how poorly they performed. For example: “ SimpleTexting Cut Down Product Onboarding Process by 30% Through Video Instruction. “
• Introduce the subject: Every marketing case study should open with a brief historical overview of the company. What have they struggled with in the past that led to them developing this campaign? Who is their target audience, what do they sell?  Even if your subject is obscure, you want to build a sense of relatability to your readers: so be sure to structure from general to specific. After all, you want readers outside just your industry to take away value.
• Identify your subject’s problems : Avoid leaving your readers feeling underwhelmed by presenting your subject’s problems early on in your case study. What are they trying to build, fix, or change? These problems are what will ultimately establish the subject’s goal, a one or two-sentence overview of the outcomes they’d like to see.
• Spell out your strategies and tactics : The real meat to your case study occurs here. This portion of your study is where you describe what actions you specifically took to try and reach your goals: What did you expect to happen when you tried “X, Y, and Z”?  Your case study can write this all out in paragraph form if you want it to read with some fluidity, or you can simply bullet out your strategies below each goal. Examples of good strategies for a common marketing pain point, such as building a social media following, include: connecting with influencers, developing original creative content, and developing paid advertising parameters.
• Share your results with visuals : At this point, you’ll want to follow up with the preview you set in your title and share with readers how things went. If you saw success, how much and where? If you didn’t were you able to pinpoint where things went wrong? Spare no detail as you write out what worked and what didn’t, and be sure to provide replicable detail (it may be what inspires your reader to become a customer!). Some common metrics commonly found in case studies include: web analytics and traffic, backlinks generated, keyword rankings, shares or other social interactions. Graphics like charts, bolded quotes, and graphs are good opportunities to visually demonstrate your data.
• Wrap it up with a conclusion : Know the difference between reemphasizing and repeating. When writing a conclusion you shouldn’t sound like an echo, repeating exactly what you said in your introduction. Instead, you want to draw emphasis back to your key points and call your readers to action. Let them know what they can do right now to get connected and see this same success (or avoid its failure).  If you’re writing a case study for marketing purposes, this is where you sell yourself and your product.

Marketing Case Study Examples

You’ve certainly heard enough from us to this point. Now it’s time to see what all of these tips and tricks look like in action. `

A plethora of marketing case study examples are out there, each one with a different objective: educational, sales-driven, industry leadership, and more.

To give you a well-rounded picture, we’ll share some of our favorite marketing case studies with you so you can see it all in action for yourself.

1. Surf Live Saving Foundation

The Surf Life Saving Foundation rolled out an innovative new framework for their brand known as the surf lottery. Despite the size of the initiative they were able to break down their process on a share of voice campaign with a great deal of clarity. Why we like this case study : It provides actionable and replicable examples of how their objectives were received.

2. StyleHaul & Asana

Organizational application Asana also finds itself in a competition-heavy environment. They are one of many SaaS productivity programs available. They needed to give their brand more of a voice to edge out against competitors offering near-identical products. The problem that needed solving in this success story is relatable to businesses all around the world, and ASANA’s use of it is a showcase of why they’re leaders in what they do.

Why we like this case study : It’s storytelling at its finest and perfectly demonstrates the subtle advertising concept.

3. Red Sox and CTP

This is a great example of a marketing agency showcasing its history of work with a high-profile client (the Boston Red Sox). It explores their entire body of work on a dynamic landing page. Why we like this case study : It demonstrates what a multi-media approach to a digital case study should strive to be.

4. SimpleTexting & U.S. Hunger

We couldn’t talk the talk without walking the walk. We have a range of varied case studies on our Success Stories page, but one of our absolute favorites is the results from U.S. Hunger.

U.S. Hunger was looking for a way to reach those who need them most – including those without internet access.

Why we like this case study: Not only does it highlight the incredible work of U.S. Hunger, it also shows how much can be accomplished through SMS. It spins a new light on SMS marketing and shows the wider impact of accessible communication. 

Marketing Case Studies are Key to Brand Trust

As a business looking to grow, you need to prove to prospective customers and clients why they should invest in you. Whether it’s a service or a product, case studies are viable ways of showing that what you do works and discussing how you achieved it.

The most impactful case studies aren’t always the ones with big names attached to them. They’re the best stories, the best solutions, and the ones that the most people can relate to.

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Meghan Tocci

Meghan Tocci is a content strategist at SimpleTexting. When she’s not writing about SaaS, she’s trying to teach her puppy Lou how to code. So far, not so good.

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10 Marketing Case Study Examples: Learn How to Master Them in Your Campaigns

There are millions of blog posts, articles, and videos across the internet that try to give you advice about marketing. According to Google, at least 7,050,000 unique content pieces include the phrase “marketing tips.”

But with plenty of outdated and filler content creation to just build out a website, it’s hard to find applicable advice that actually works online.

In this article, you’ll learn from marketing case study examples that demonstrate what it takes to master channels like social media, email marketing , and PPC, as well as how to use case studies in your own campaigns.

Don’t rely on empty words. Learn powerful marketing best practices that are backed up with examples and data.

What is a marketing case study?

In marketing, a case study is an in-depth study of the effectiveness of a certain tool, tactic, or strategy. It focuses on measurable outcomes, like an increase in sales, visitors, or production hours.

Typically, it includes a few key elements:

• Introduction to the customer/client
• The problem the client needed to solve (should align with problems prospective clients also need to solve)
• The solution (and context of why your company/software was the right fit)
• Data from before and after implementing the solution

In a sense, a case study documents the journey of working with your company. And it gives potential future customers a reason to trust your company.

What are the different types of case studies in marketing?

In marketing, three main types of case studies are commonly used:

1. Third-person or client case studies: These highlight the experience of a specific client working with your company or using your product.

2. Explanatory case studies: These case studies explore the impact of a phenomenon or tactic, such as the company’s marketing strategy, and how it impacted its growth. In this case, it’s not based on first-hand experience, but rather observation and inference.

3. Implementation case studies: An implementation case study takes the average client case study a bit further, focusing on the actual implementation and covering it in detail.

You can also divide the case studies further by the type of medium they use — video or text.

And in 2024, video case studies are becoming more and more popular. Many companies even use them as remarketing ads to address potential objections.

Why should you use case studies?

Case studies are a powerful way to prove that your products or services work, showcase your expertise, and build trust with potential customers.

It’s a way to transition away from just “telling” your customers and instead start “showing” them through examples. There’s a reason the old copywriting maxim goes, “Show, don’t tell.”

Consumers’ trust in companies to tell the truth in advertising materials is lower than ever. In 2020, only 14% of consumers said they trust advertising to be honest about a product or service.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t generate trust with your company’s website.

Consumers trust third-party reviews, testimonials, and data. In fact, 91% of 18–34-year-olds trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.

So you need social proof. And client case studies — especially those that interview the current clients — are the best of both worlds. You get to highlight data while getting powerful social proof that shows that your product works.

When just adding a simple customer testimonial to your website can increase conversion rates by up to 34% , imagine what a detailed, compelling case study can do.

1. Email marketing case study: Your Therapy Source

If you think that email is a marketing medium of the past, think again. At ActiveCampaign, we have hundreds of recent case studies that prove the opposite.

For example, Your Therapy Source receives a 2000% return on investment (ROI) from our campaigns simply by taking advantage of basic marketing automation .

In particular, a basic abandoned cart email represents around 30% of all revenue generated by automations.

With ActiveCampaign, that’s incredibly easy to set up. You can take advantage of our integrations with key e-commerce platforms like WooCommerce , Shopify , and more.

Because the case study goes into detail about exactly how the company achieved the results, it’s a combination of an implementation case study and a regular third-person case study.

2. Instagram marketing case study: Converse

If you look at all the top Instagram accounts in clothing, Converse has a much higher engagement rate than its competitors.

At 1.79%, their social media posts have an organic engagement rate over 15 times higher than Nike.

Why is that?

Let’s take a closer look at how they achieve these numbers:

When looking at Converse’s top Instagram posts, you quickly notice a trend. Collaborations with influential creators and artists — lately Tyler, the Creator — get a different level of engagement.

The post promoting their new collaboration shoe got over 183,000 likes in a few weeks. Converse even took it a step further and produced a short film with Tyler.

If you want to reach a wider number of people, combining audiences is a great strategy.

This is an example of an explanatory case study.

First, we worked backward from Converse’s powerful Instagram results. Then, we identified tactics that contribute to their high levels of engagement.

Because we didn’t work directly with Converse, and we’re only observing as an outsider, this is an explanatory case study.

3. Content marketing case study: porch.com

Fractl is a content marketing agency that worked with porch.com for over a year to earn 931 unique domain links, 23,000 monthly organic visits, and more.

The case study focuses on results over method — that means it’s a typical third-person case study.

They’re showcasing the results the company generated for a specific outside client without getting into the how-to.

These types of case studies are most useful for persuading hesitant potential customers to get on board. Showing that you’ve generated results for similar companies or people in the past is the best way to prove your skill set.

Depending on your target audience, going into detail with an implementation case study may be a better option.

4. SEO case study: Zapier study by Ryan Berg

This in-depth case study by Ryan Berg is a perfect example of how you can use explanatory case studies in your marketing.

It breaks down Zapier’s SEO strategy and how they created over 25,000 unique landing pages to improve their search rankings for different search terms.

Zapier’s main strategy revolves around targeting relevant long-tail keywords like “app A + app B integration.” That’s the key they used to generate serious organic traffic over the long term.

By breaking down industry leaders and how they rose to success, you can borrow some of their brand power and credibility.

You can use these kinds of case studies if your current clients don’t allow you to go into detail about the tactics you use to grow their online presence.

These case studies demonstrate to potential clients that you know what you’re talking about and have the expertise needed to help them succeed in their industry.

5. PPC case study: Google Ads and Saraf Furniture

When it comes to pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, Google was one of the earliest innovators. And in 2021, it’s still the largest digital advertiser globally, with $146.92 billion in ad revenue in 2020.

You might not think they need any more credibility, but Google still uses case studies, especially in emerging markets like India.

This case study shows how Google Ads helped Saraf Furniture generate 10 times more inbound leads each month and hire 1,500 new carpenters as a result.

Without going into details about the methods, it’s another typical third-person case study designed to build trust.

6. Video marketing case study: L’Oréal and YouTube

In this case study, various members of L’Oréal’s global marketing team break down exactly how they used YouTube ads to launch a new product.

As a result of the campaign, they were able to establish their new product as the No. 2 in its category and earn 34% of all mass sales across a network of online retailers.

The case study breaks down how they used YouTube for different stages — from awareness to loyalty. It’s another example of a third-person implementation case study.

7. Remarketing case study: AdRoll and Yoga Democracy

AdRoll is a remarketing platform that tracks your visitors and lets you show them targeted ads across the internet.

Their case study with Yoga Democracy perfectly showcases the power of the platform.

Look at these highlights:

• 200% increase in conversions
• 50% reduction in CPA
• 19% of total revenue attributed to AdRoll

These are metrics you’d love to show any potential customer. The case study goes into detail about how they built an effective remarketing campaign, including cart recovery emails and ads.

Because of the detail, you can classify this as an implementation case study.

8. Influencer marketing case study: Trend and WarbyParker

This influencer marketing case study from Warby Parker and Trend showcases how you can use influencer marketing even with a limited budget.

The “Wearing Warby” campaign was centered around showcasing influencers wearing Warby Parker glasses in their everyday life.

From mundane tasks like eating breakfast to artists creating a new masterpiece — it showcased Warby Parker’s products in use and made the brand more approachable for influencers’ followers.

This is another third-person case study, as it doesn’t go into much detail beyond the results.

9. Customer experience case study: App Annie and Coca-Cola

In this case study, Greg Chambers, the director of innovation for Coca-Cola, explains what App Annie brings to the table.

Instead of specific numbers and metrics, it focuses on the big-picture benefits that App Annie has on Coca-Cola’s customer experience.

The video interview format is also perfect for driving trust with potential customers.

Again, this is a typical third-person case study that you see a lot in the marketing world.

10. SaaS case study: Asana and Carta

Of course, it’s not just agencies and advertising platforms that need to master the use of case studies in digital marketing.

Let’s explore an example of a case study outside the marketing industry, in this case specifically for B2B marketers.

Asana is a project management platform that helps companies make their workflows more efficient.

It’s a good example of a case study that focuses more on the lived experience and less on the metrics.

This is a third-person case study that is closer to a client interview or testimonial, which is a good option if it’s hard to quantify improvements with metrics.

Best practices: How to use case studies in your own marketing campaigns

In this section, you’ll learn best practices to help you maximize the value of case studies in your own marketing campaigns.

Let’s look at four steps you can take to effectively use case studies.

Include a dedicated case study/customer stories page on your website

Most companies with a successful online presence have one of these pages. Emulate the top competitors in your industry by creating an improved version of their pages.

You can also add a case studies section to your resources page or blog.

Build CTAs into your case study pages

The chances are low that a random Googler will make it to your case studies. Most likely, it’s someone who thinks they might need your product.

So don’t be afraid to include calls to action throughout your case study pages.

Share case studies as part of your email marketing campaigns

Email marketing is hands-down the best channel for nurturing potential needs . That means you should always use case studies and customer success stories in your campaigns.

But it’s important that it doesn’t feel too promotional. Instead, share the unique steps they took to ensure success to deliver value, not just pitch.

Use case study video ads to overcome objections

When you’re thinking about buying a product, it’s easy to talk yourself out of it.

“It’s too expensive.” “It won’t work for me.” There are a lot of excuses and objections out there.

A case study video can be a powerful tool to overcome these objections in potential buyers.

Don’t overlook case studies when you’re planning your next marketing campaign. Towards the bottom end of the funnel, in stages like decision and action, they’re a powerful marketing tool.

When used right, case studies will help you fill your sales pipeline and provide your sales team with qualified leads.

Hopefully, the examples in this article taught you how you can use case studies in social media, email, and content marketing strategy to further your business goals.

You should also have learned how to use case studies to sell your company’s expertise.

If you want to grow your business, it’s crucial to learn from the people who have gone before you. In marketing, trying to learn all principles from scratch through trial and error would be a costly mistake.

If you’re ready to take advantage of marketing automation and email marketing tools that help similar businesses generate ROIs of 20x or higher, start your ActiveCampaign trial today .

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What Is a Case Study in Marketing and How to Build One (Examples)

A marketing case study allows you to illustrate and explain how you achieved enormous success in a specific situation.

For instance, last year, Jacob McMillen wrote about how Pronto used Crazy Egg to increase leads by 24 percent .

That’s a big number.

It’s not a full case study , but it demonstrates the goal of a marketing case study. You want to shock your audience, then explain exactly how you achieved your results — preferably with proof.

You might have read lots of case studies over the years without realizing your business could benefit from them. Lots of entrepreneurs are put off by the hard work and long hours required to build a marketing case study.

However, think about how many leads you might convert by proving your track record, establishing trust, and attracting traffic through SEO .

Let’s look at how marketing case studies can impact your business, discuss how to write one, and check out a few examples.

What Is a Case Study in Marketing?

A case study in marketing is a document or web page that includes several basic parts:

• Description of the subject : Explain your customer’s or client’s history and pain points.
• Subject’s goal : Identify your customer’s or client’s goal for the project so readers understand what to expect.
• Hypothesis for strategy : Tell your audience what you expected to happen after you implemented your strategy for the customer or client.
• Implementation of strategy : Take the reader through the step-by-step process you used to help your customer or client.
• Results of strategy : Deliver the results in as much detail as possible, preferably with a quote from the client or customer.
• Concluding findings : Explain what this case study has taught your specifically and how it can help other people.

You don’t have to include every category, but the more detail you add, the more effective your marketing case study becomes.

Most of the time, you’re conducting a case study for your own business. You want to show the world how your product or service has helped a customer in a huge way.

For that reason, it helps to know you’ll perform a case study from the beginning. In other words, try not to reverse-engineer a case study from a great result. Instead, track your arrangement with your customer throughout the process.

The Importance of Creating Case Studies to Convert Leads into Customers

Think of a marketing case study as a lure. It’s a way to dangle amazing results in front of your leads so they’ll decide to convert .

Imagine that you’re a customer who’s trying to decide between two businesses, each of which offers time management software. One company has a marketing case study that illustrates how it helped a customer save four hours per week. The other company has no case study.

Which company would you trust most?

You can use that consumer logic to inform your business decisions. Thinking like a customer can help you achieve new insights into marketing.

Creating a marketing case study gives you an edge that your competitors might have. It can also help your leads make more informed decisions.

Too many businesses copy their competitors or other businesses. Instead, you should spend time being more creative and innovative. Below is a video by Neil Patel that illustrates why you need to quit copying digital marketing strategies.

If you’re bold enough to be different, you can convert more leads. A marketing case study gives you that opportunity because nobody else can duplicate it.

Why is it so important to build trust?

Anybody can throw testimonials on their site by Ron R. and Jennifer K. Anyone can also make them up.

Trust is tenuous in the digital marketing world. If you can’t create it, you likely won’t convert leads into customers.

Think about all the companies that have experienced data hacks. Their stocks plummeted, consumer sentiment turned ugly, and profits dwindled. That’s because consumers lost trust.

Similarly, any company can make bold claims about its products or services. Consumers have become numb to superlative-littered copy and hyped-up videos. They want to see evidence.

If you can prove that your product or service delivers powerful results, you’ll gain your leads’ trust.

Marketing case studies show how you tackled a problem and overcame it on behalf of your customer or client. It’s that simple. The more detail you give, the more authority you create for your company — and the more your leads will trust your expertise.

4 Case Study Examples

Before we tell you how to build a case study, let’s look at a few examples to get you warmed up. Each of these marketing case studies illustrates the power behind the medium.

They’ll also show you how different case studies can look depending on design, detail, results, and goals.

The Shopify case study by HubSpot demonstrates how a narrative can be woven from a company’s journey. When Loren Padelford became head of sales, he immediately identified weak spots in Shopify’s sales cycle, so he decided to adopt HubSpot.

This case study highlights the ways in which Shopify used HubSpot’s email plugin to save time and improve communication flow. There’s a quote from Padelford in the case study, which can add even more impact in terms of building trust among leads.

Here, we have a fairly vague result. The company — specifically Padelford — claims to have achieved great success with HubSpot’s tools, but there aren’t any concrete numbers to back that up.

There’s nothing wrong with this approach, though, as long as your customer or client can offer a raving quote.

Ecommerce marketing case studies can become extremely valuable. In this case, Bit.ly used a more traditional template for a marketing case study. The PDF document includes several sections that take you through the process of how Vissla improved its omnichannel marketing with Bit.ly.

The results were that Vissla was able to visualize and centralize data in one place. They gained greater control over their social media marketing, which resulted in faster and better improvements in the content they shared.

There’s also a quote from Vissla’s media marketing manager, Keegan Fong: “Bitly Campaigns offers us a whole new way to look at our marketing channels. By giving us an easy-to-use dashboard that instantly displays the results of our multichannel promotions, we can see what kinds of content work on what channel, which channels we should be investing in the most, and what we need to do to optimize our content.” [ For Social: @vissla ]

3. Viperchill

There’s a great marketing case study from Viperchill that you’ll want to check out. It’s a quick, fun read that explains how the author created a squeeze page that generated more than 700 leads and results in a conversion rate of 64 percent.

Notice that he used hard numbers. Sometimes, it’s impossible to boil results down to a figure or percentage, but if you can, do so. People comprehend real numbers faster than lengthy text explanations.

4. MarketingSherpa

This MarketingSherpa case study is super detailed and describes the process by which MarketingSherpa helped a natural foods company boost revenue by 18 percent with a site redesign. You see the entire project from start to finish.

You’ll notice that there are lots of visuals. Since this marketing case study focused on design, visuals were imperative. Let your business and its niche guide the way in which you construct your case study.

How to Create a Case Study Marketing Strategy That Converts

Now that you’ve looked through a few case studies, how do you create a marketing case study of your own?

It starts with a case study marketing strategy that’s designed to convert leads. You don’t want to choose just any project. It should be geared toward other businesses or customers who might benefit from your business.

Let’s take it step by step.

1. Choose a success story that is closely related to your potential customer

You might notice that many companies publish numerous marketing case studies. There’s a reason for that.

Each case study targets a different segment of the company’s target audience. Let’s say that you sell shoes, purses, and hats. A case study about shoes won’t interest someone who’s shopping for hats.

You can either choose a project that has already concluded or one that is starting or underway. It’s always best to start at the beginning, but if you’re anxious, you can take the reverse-engineering route.

Decide which segment of your target audience you want to appeal to first. Next, select a case study subject closely related to that segment. You want your marketing case study to resonate with the leads you most want to convert.

2. Identify the key points of the case study and use storytelling

Decide what parts of the case study you want to highlight. These details will likely appear in the marketing case study’s headline as well as throughout the rest of the text.

For instance, if you helped a customer boost revenue by 200 percent, that’s a highly relevant detail. You’ll want to spotlight it in the headline and several times in the content so you keep it fresh in readers’ minds.

You might have several key points. Think about the struggles your customer was facing before you stepped in, how you approached the solution, and why alternatives weren’t working. When you can provide numbers, do so.

Once you’ve identified those key points, start weaving them into a narrative. Make it exciting! Add sensory details, frustration points, and colorful anecdotes.

A marketing case study shouldn’t sound dry. It needs to engage the reader so he or she keeps going until the end.

If possible, intersperse the copy with images. Make them relevant and easy to see on the screen. Let the images help supplement the story you’ve woven.

3. Highlight the great results

As mentioned above, results are paramount. If you can express them in numeric form, so much the better.

Consider creating a custom graphic to serve as the featured image on your post. That way, people can share the image on social. Add the amazing result to the text on the image to entice people to click.

The point here is to capture attention. If people are willing to pay attention to you, then you’ve won the first part of the battle. As long as you maintain that attention, you have a good chance of converting the lead.

4. Explore different types of design

Design can prove fundamental to a marketing case study’s success. If you’re publishing it as a blog post, break it up with H2s, H3s, and H4s to guide the reader through the story. Add images and leading lines to keep the visitor engaged.

Remember that color matters. Consider using colors for text and images that correlate with your customers’ color scheme or with your own site’s palette.

5. Ask for feedback! What does your potential customer want to learn?

Don’t let the conversation stop at the end of your marketing case study. Open up the forum for more insights.

Invite readers to ask you direct questions about your business, products, services, or methods. Not only that, but respond to those comments. Take each one as a gift.

These comments might tell you what type of case study you should create next or allow you to cement a conversion by answering objections or questions.

Marketing case studies can improve your conversion rate , but you have to put in the time and effort. Yes, a polished case study requires work, but if you can secure sales from its publication, why wouldn’t you give it your full attention?

Remember that trust matters when it comes to converting leads into customers . If you don’t have trust, you’ll lose your leads to your competitors.

A great marketing case study demonstrates your track record. It builds a case for leads to use your products or services over someone else’s.

What are you waiting for? Start creating your first marketing case study now.

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Marketing Results

22 Marketing Case Study Examples (With Template)

February 17, 2016 by Will Swayne

Prospects who aren’t ready to buy – or who are “sitting on the fence” – tend to be resistant to even well-crafted marketing messages.  But a bunch of well aimed marketing case studies can often tip the scales in your favour.

“Sell benefits, not features” is good advice, but benefit-rich copy can actually deter prospects who haven’t reached the decision stage yet.

And too many benefits in the absence of marketing proof elements  can ring hollow in today’s increasingly sceptical marketplace.

We published our first marketing case study back in 2005 and I quickly realised the power of case studies as a versatile and effective marketing tactic.

Why are marketing case studies so effective?

Here are three reasons:

• Case studies show, they don’t tell. Telling you I can get you more qualified leads is one thing. Showing you how a similar company to yours got 145% more leads with 24% lower marketing costs is another.
• Prospects are typically curious to understand how others have achieved the results they desire. They will eagerly devour a well-constructed case study.
• Case studies are also a great tool for closing fence-sitting prospects. For many years I’ve asked prospects why they chose to work with us, and the most common response seems to be, “I was impressed by your case studies” , or “I saw you helped someone in my industry so I figure you can help us too” .

Now let’s look at how to structure and effectively promote a case study, and then some marketing case study examples for you to replicate.

Our Recommended Case Study Template

Here’s the case study structure we’ve adopted which has proven effective:

• Start with a major headline that summarises the key result achieved: e.g. “Investment Property Strategist Triples Leads In 6 Months” . This gets the prospect excited about reading on.
• Then introduce the background . In other words, the “Before” scenario.Don’t bore the reader with too many details about the history of the client. But DO provide an insight into the “trigger” that led to them seeking your assistance. e.g. “The client noticed smaller competitors starting to appear ahead of them on Google”. And,   DO talk about the negative effects of the “Before” state. E.g. “New customer acquisition that had previously been growing by 10% every quarter had flatlined for the last 12 months.”
• Now talk about the solution . Here’s where you explain what you did to achieve the outcomes. I like to list different services or solutions in the form of bullet points. Also, include significant details and facts and figures to add “richness” to the story. Where possible, demonstrate with images, screenshots or other proof elements. Emphasise anything you did differently to the standard approach, or anything that highlights your point-of-difference benefits.
• Now talk about your results . Results are the crux of any good case study.I like to go with a number of punchy bullet points, populated with specific numbers. E.g . “Lead volume up 75%… New customer volume from online sources up 145%… 1,540 more organic search engine visitors per month.”
• Include a testimonial from the client. What was their reaction to your work? The “Before-During-After” approach is a good structure for testimonials. A strong testimonial adds texture and credibility to the data in your core case study.
• End with a call-to-action . This can be relatively low-key. For example, “Contact us to explore how you can enjoy similar breakthrough results.”

You can see more examples of different implementations of this concept on our online marketing case studies page.

How To Promote Your Case Study

A case study that never gets read won’t help you.

Here are some of our favourite promotional methods:

• Optimise each case study for search engines . A good start is using a <title> tag on your case study pages in the format: “<INDUSTRY> <SERVICE> case study”. For example, “Accountant online marketing case study” or “Car sales lead generation case study” .   This will tend to rank you well for anyone searching for case studies about your industry.
• Send case studies to your email subscribers . These emails achieve high engagement both as broadcasts, and as “drip emails” within an automation sequence .
• Create a print booklet of case studies to send to prospects and clients via snail mail or distribute at trade shows.
• Case studies make great social media updates and can be recycled every few months using different headlines.

22 Marketing Case Study Examples

1. fuji xerox australia business equipment, tripled leads for 60% less marketing spend.

In 90 days, we doubled web lead flow with lower marketing costs.

Read the full case study here.

Paul Strahl , National e-Business Manager

2. Surf Live Saving Foundation

Surf lottery grows online revenue 47%.

Marketing Results delivered tangible business improvements, including 47% higher revenue from digital, year-on-year.

Yin Tang , Surf Live Saving Foundation

3. ABC Reading Eggs

Integrated search and conversion management for abc reading eggs.

Marketing Results have been instrumental in profitably expanding our ad spend, while removing waste.

Matthew Sandblom , Managing Director ABC Reading Eggs

4. MAP Home Loans

From 70 hour weeks to 40 hour weeks with 100% annual growth.

I now make twice as much money, have less stress and fewer hours.

Craig Vaunghan , Principal MAP Home Loans

5. Inkjet Wholesale

Online advertising roi doubles – in just three months.

We couldn’t be happier – conversion rates are up, costs are down, ROI has doubled.

Glenn Taylor , National Marketing Manager Inkjet Wholesale

6. Breaking Into Wall Street

Info-marketing business achieves 300% revenue growth with 7-figure profits.

Marketing Results provided the marketing support to grow my annual revenue 300%+. They don’t just advise – they implement.

Brian DeChesare , Founder Breaking Into Wall Street

7. LatestBuy

Brw fast 100 online retailer latestbuy.com.au boosts sales by 45.3%.

Revenue had flatlined… Now it is up by 45%, with over 80% of that due to conversion rate optimisation.

Shaun Campbell , Co-Owner LatestBuy.com.au

8. directSMS

More traffic, less cost, lead volume doubles.

More than doubled the number of qualified enquiries via our website for the same ad spend.

Ramez Zaki , Co-Founder directSMS

9. Business Coach and Author, Pure Bookkeeping

Successful marketing automation and 100.95% year on year growth.

50%+ of business comes directly through online channels and none of this would have happened without Marketing Results.

Peter Cook , Business Coach & Author Pure Bookkeeping

10. Positive Training Solutions

Higher rankings plus more, higher-quality leads.

Marketing Results excels in strategic and online marketing.

James Grima , Managing Director Positive Training Solutions

11. Geelong’s Gym

From 5-6 leads a month to 60-70. 10x increase.

We’ve gone from 5 – 6 leads per month to 60 – 70!

Gerard Spriet , Owner Geelong’s Gym

12. Super Finance – SMSF Property

A new pipeline delivering a steady flow of web leads.

Outstanding quality of web generated leads!

Yannick Ieko , Director Super Finance

13. College For Adult Learning – Training Organisation

300%+ more sales with 60% lower cost per sale.

I expect at least another 60% more leads and 80-90% more revenue by continuing to work with Marketing Results.

Rob Golding , Director College For Adult Learning

14. The Gourmet Guardian – Food Safety Programs

4 times more leads and a 269% revenue increase.

Your AdWords strategies have quadrupled leads, almost tripled revenue and reduced my dependence on contract work to zero.

Gavin Buckett , Managing Director The Gourmet Guardian

15. Quick Coach – Life Coaching Courses

More qualified sales plus a facebook roi of 1285%.

The results have been fantastic… I have had over 500 potential students opt in via Google wanting to change their lives and those of their clients.

Glen Murdoch , Founder & CEO Quick Coach

16. Investment House – Property Development

Clients lined up for everything we can find.

We have clients lined up for everything we can find.

Colin Ferguson , Managing Director Investment House

17. Cosmetic Surgery Lead Generation

257% increase in qualified lead volume.

In less than a year, our enquiry volume increased by over 257% while increasing the quality and conversion rate of those leads.

Dee Tozer , Managing Director Medici Clinics

18. All Suburbs Catering

61% roi gain in less than 5 months….

20% more enquiries for 34% less cost – a compounded gain of 61% in only 5 months.

Jeff Veale , Managing Director All Suburbs Catering

19. Trilogy Funding

549 qualified sales leads in 3 months.

549 qualified sales leads in 3 months.

Ed Nixon , Principal Trilogy Funding

20. Customized Stickers

Online revenue rockets by 800%.

With Marketing Result on our side, our website revenue has increased by over 800% in only 18 months.

Anthony Khoury , Managing Director Customized Stickers

21. Technoledge

Engaging ceos of ideal target companies.

We’re routinely seeing CEOs of Australian hi techs with turnover of $5 million to $50 million (our target audience) opting in and proceeding to self-qualify before they contact us for a meeting. This is what digital marketing is supposed to do.

Tracey James , Director Technoledge

22. First Aid Training

Specialist first aid training company doubles revenue in 6 months.

We’ve streamlined customer acquisition, increased customer lifetime value, and doubled our revenue in 6 months!

Dave Hundt , Director Kids First Aid

I encourage you to put these tips into action and see how they work for you.

What other ways have you used case studies effectively in your business?

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How to Write a Case Study in 9 Steps [+ 34 Examples]

Updated April 2024: Knowing how to write a case study is one of those crucial skills every B2B marketing team needs to nail.

Why? Because SaaS case studies are still the #1 marketing tactic to increase sales—ahead of general website content, SEO, blog posts, social media and other tested tactics—according to a survey we did of 115 SaaS marketers for our 2024 Customer Story Trends & Insights Report .

Case studies are important because they’re an opportunity for you to share your customers’ success with your prospects, and as a result, demonstrate the value of your service.

Think of it like writing a story, not a report—although it does need to be factual and should include numbers, it also needs a compelling narrative and lots of quotes.

A B2B case study is a tool you can use throughout your marketing mix. It’s an extension of your brand and should be written in your brand’s voice. And it’s a chance to position your company as a trusted leader and a clear choice for your prospects’ business. 

Learn how to write a case study in 9 steps

Follow these 9 steps to learn how to write a case study that keeps readers engaged, leaves them informed and gets them interested in hearing more from you:

• Include 8 important case study components
• Hook readers with your title
• Keep your executive summary short
• Focus on your customer, not your company
• Use quotes to add Voice of the Customer
• Include metrics
• Guide your reader with a call to action
• Get inspired by other case study examples
• Drive more views of your case studies

1 . Include 8 important case study components

Every case study needs a story arc that captures the reader’s attention. To master how to write a case study, be sure to begin with a compelling executive summary that illustrates how your reader will benefit from what they’re about to learn.

Next, the piece should outline the challenges your customer faced that led them to seek out your B2B SaaS solution (and dive into that process). Spend some time on the solution and how it enabled your customers to level up their business while positioning them as the hero in the story.

Wrap it up with a results section that shows off hard numbers, then close with a call to action to guide your reader where you want them to go next.  

See examples for each of the 9 case study components you absolutely need to include .

2. Hook readers with your title

Keep three elements in mind when writing your B2B SaaS case study headline. Include your customer’s company name. This helps show readers that your case study is a real-life example of how your service helped someone.

Reference the product or service your customer used. This gives readers an idea of whether the case study is relevant to them.

Finally, if you have one, highlight a statistic that references the results your customer got from working with you.

See examples of compelling case study titles from leading SaaS companies .

3. Keep your executive summary short

The executive summary of your B2B SaaS case study should be short (a few sentences) but impactful, and should provide a clear understanding of your service.

First, introduce your customers and the challenges they were facing when they hired you. Next, explain what your company did to help.

To finish strong—don’t skip this crucial step—outline a few results backed up with statistics that reinforce your main message.

Check out 4 examples of executive summaries in SaaS case studies .

4. Focus on your customer, not your company

Readers don’t want to hear about how great you are. A case study will only be compelling if you make the customer the hero of your case study—not your own company. Here’s how:

1.  Introduce your customer champion right away

Showcase the individual you interviewed throughout the story, but be sure to introduce them at the beginning. Your readers will relate to a person, not a faceless entity.

Also provide background information on the customer’s company. This should be relevant information that helps set the story up for success. It could include what industry your customer is in, what size the company is and what it excels at.

2.  Let your customer do the talking

Direct quotes should make up a good portion of the case study if you want to make the customer the hero of your case study. Use your words to clarify or connect quotes and move the story forward.

Let your customer champion explain the challenge they faced, how they decided to use your services and how your solution helped them achieve results.

3.   This isn’t about you

Don’t paint yourself as the knight in shining armor who rescued a company in distress. Your customer knew they had a problem to solve and proactively ewent searching for a solution. The customer did the research and realized that your solution would help smooth out that bump in their road.

4.   Talk strategy

It is important to explain why the customer chose your solution, and how they implemented it and rolled it out. Let readers see the thought process involved.

5.  Cut right to the heart of the issue

Skip any vague and superfluous praise. Go easy on the marketing lingo. What changed for your customer? What did it mean to their business?  Include case study metrics  where possible or detailed descriptions if you don’t have metrics. (This is where you get to brag a little bit about how your service made a difference and why.)

Examples of how to make your customer the hero

Remember that the person you interviewed is the face (and heart) of your case study. Be sure they resonate as a real person, like Jamin:

Source: Gong

This is an excellent example of introducing not only the customer, but a specific individual within the company. Jamin is a dad of two and wants to spend as much time with them as possible. And he wants to help his teams get better – great hero material!

Sometimes the organization itself can be the hero, like the Australian Red Cross:

Source: Okta

This paragraph in the executive summary nicely positions the Australian Red Cross as the focal point of the story.

Sometimes, stepping aside is the best way to inspire trust in what you do. To truly make the customer the hero of your case study, let them do the talking—they may be the best salespeople you have.

Get more inspiration for your case studies by checking out our critique of 3 case study samples from GitLab, Sendoso and Front .

5. Use quotes to add Voice of the Customer

There’s a time to paraphrase when you’re writing, but sometimes, no one can sing your praises better than your customer. If you want to master how to write a case study that’s engaging and honest, using quotes as Voice of the Customer is a go-to B2B tactic.

Readers want to hear from your customers whether they recommend your service, and why. The quotes you highlight should be specific and resonant, with detail that brings them to life. Feature testimonials as pull quotes in your design, and include a headshot of your customer to make it personal—and trustworthy.

Get tips on how to choose testimonials for your case study—and what not to do .

6. Include metrics

Metrics are a surefire way to measure success in a B2B SaaS case study. Hard numbers are objective, reliable and convincing. But, you may not always have metrics to tell your story. We’ll walk you through how to write a case study without them.

First, lead with your best quote. Social proof can be just as powerful as numbers in B2B. Describe a clear before and after the experience—for example, time or money saved. Have your customers explain what your service has meant to their business. List a few benefits (infographics come in handy here).

Check out an example from a case study with no metrics .

7. Guide your reader with a call to action

Your reader has stuck with you until the end of your case study. Don’t leave them hanging—guide them where you want them to go next with a call to action. This should be a specific statement that speaks directly to your target audience.

Use design to make your call to action stand out. It should be obvious and clear what you want your reader to do. Tip: you can have more than one call to action in your B2B SaaS case study, and you can intersperse them throughout.

See 8 case study CTA examples from other B2B SaaS companies .

8. Get inspired by other case study examples

When you’re looking to sharpen your company’s B2B SaaS case studies, reviewing your competitors’ content is an excellent way to gather inspiration.

Critique their case studies for what worked well and what could be improved, such as titles, imagery and use of testimonials and statistics. We’ve done some of the legwork and reviewed 8 case studies from ServiceChannel, Zenefits, AppDirect, Expensify, GitLab, ServiceNow, Splunk and Zendesk so you can take notes on the hits and misses. 

See 8 case study examples .

9. Drive more views of your case studies

You already know why the B2B SaaS case study is a powerful marketing tool. Now that you know how to write a case study, you can likely imagine it’s a time-consuming effort.

To leverage your case studies to their full potential, create a section on your website for them and promote them from your home page as well as from relevant landing pages for your services.

Create B2B case studies in various formats including video, and promote them on social media as well as in your e-newsletter. Get your case studies into your sales team’s hands, and use them at any presentations or conference talks you give.

See the 8 ways to squeeze the most value from your case studies .

Now that you know how to write a case study, what’s next?

With these tips on how to write a case study, you’ve got a great overview of the elements you need to pay attention to when writing a B2B SaaS case study. Now you’ll want to dive a bit deeper into each of these tips to round out your knowledge and learn actionable steps you can start taking towards better case studies today. 

First up is to dive into our post on how to format your B2B SaaS case study so it reads like a natural story narrative. This will help you keep your prospect’s attention and allow them to imagine themselves as the central character—your next customer!

Need a hand with your B2B SaaS case studies?

As a SaaS content marketing agency , we specialize in working with high-growth companies like ClickUp, Calendly and WalkMe. With our case study writing service, you can:

• drive more leads and sales with case studies that resonate
• grab back more time to work on other high-value tasks like strategy and planning
• impress your bosses, colleagues and the sales team with the excellent results you’re getting from the content you’re responsible for creating

Check out our case study writing service for details on how we can help.

As the founder of Uplift Content, Emily leads her team in creating done-for-you case studies, ebooks and blog posts for high-growth SaaS companies like ClickUp, Calendly and WalkMe. Connect with Emily on Linkedin

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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: What is a Case Study? [+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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• 12 Essential Consulting Templates For Marketing, Planning and Branding
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• Learn How to Write a Case Study: 8 Steps for Writing a Case Study

How to Write a Case Study: 8 Steps for Writing a Case Study

What is a case study?

Case studies contain accounts from your customers that showcase how your products or services solved their problems. These studies are like stories — you have a protagonist (the client), a problem, and a solution. Your case study analysis (or story) can vary in length.

As you create your case study, you should structure it, so your audience can see themselves as the customer. You want them to get in the client’s shoes. You must tell a compelling story that gets your audience invested in your case study.

Think of a case study as an in-depth review of your business. You use a client’s experience to show why your business is the best fit for someone’s needs.

Why should I create a case study?

As you learn more about case studies, you may wonder why they’re so valuable.

Let’s look at three reasons case studies matter to your company:

1. Case studies are effective

The biggest reason to use case studies is they’re effective. When people read case studies, they understand your business better. It effectively works to build your audience’s perception of your company.

When you create case studies, you help people understand your business better. From understanding what you do to how you operate, you provide your audience with valuable insight.

Considering  66% of business-to-business (B2B) marketers  find case studies to be effective, you don’t want to miss the opportunity to engage and delight your audience with them.

2. Case studies provide social proof

If someone hasn’t worked with your business or purchased your products, they need validation that you’re the right choice. They turn to information, like reviews and case studies, to see how others felt about working with your company.

With case studies, you provide social proof of the excellent work you do.

You share an authentic experience from someone who worked with your company. People see firsthand what it was like to work with you or to use your products. It makes them feel confident in contacting or choosing your business.

3. Case studies build trust

Case studies build trust with your audience.

When prospective leads see others validating the work you do or endorsing your products, it increases their confidence in your business. Your audience will see others having a positive experience and trust that you’ll provide them with the same experience.

When you build trust with your audience, they’re more likely to choose your company.

Table of Contents

• What is a Case Study?
• Why Should I Create a Case Study?
• 1. Case Studies Are Effective
• 2. Case Studies Provide Social Proof
• 3. Case Studies Build Trust

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today, how to write a case study.

Are you ready to start creating your case study?

Check out these eight steps on how to write a business case study!

1. Determine your case study’s purpose

Before you dive into the nitty-gritty of creating a case study, determine your case study’s purpose. Don’t create a study without one. If there’s no direction with your case study, you’ll leave your audience feeling confused as to why you composed this case study in the first place.

Be realistic about the purpose of your case study. Your case study isn’t going to perform as well as an informative blog post on an industry topic. It’s a piece of content that appeals to people close to converting.

Your case study may not garner as much engagement, but that’s okay!

If you have a real purpose for your case study, you won’t feel disappointed with the results. You can set simple objectives, like generating leads, to help you create real results with your case study.

2. Choose the right clients to use in your case study analysis

If you want to know how to write a case study successfully, start by choosing the right clients to showcase in your case study. You must find the right candidate to appeal to your audience. Focus on finding a client enthusiastic about your products or services.

You want the client to show how much they love your products or services. Without some enthusiasm or passion from your customer, you won’t know how to write a business case study that engages your audience and gets them to keep reading.

When choosing a client for your case study analysis, make sure they meet the following requirements:

• Enthusiastic about your products or service
• Understands your products or operation of your services well enough to discuss them
• Gives permission to share data, like revenue increases, with readers
• Got results that significantly and positively impacted their company

Additionally, focus on well-known clients, if possible. While this isn’t a requirement, it’s helpful if you’re trying to build engagement and increase trust. If someone sees a brand they know, they’re more likely to read the case study.

Important note:  Before creating a case study analysis,  always  get permission from your client first! You’re going to share their results and their story, so you must ensure your client is comfortable with you disclosing that information.

3. Choose the right medium to present your case study

When you create your case study, you must choose the right medium for showcasing your information. The way you share the information can influence how your audience engages with your content.

There are three case study formats:

• Written: These case studies are the most widely used option when presenting a client’s story. They typically come in the format of an eBook, where users can download the information into a PDF to read more.
• Video:  As video continues to grow in popularity, video case studies are becoming increasingly popular. You can shoot an interview with a client to capture their experience with your business.
• Infographic:  This case study format is great if you’re looking to present a lot of data. Infographics help readers digest information easier, so they can take away the most important points from your case study.

Before writing your case study, choose a format that works best for you and your client. For each case study, you can use a different format. It’s up to you to decide how you want to present the information from your clients to your audience!

4. Ask the right questions

As you’re gearing up to interview your client, make sure you’re asking the right questions.

You want to use questions that allow you to construct a quality narrative.

Don’t ask yes or no questions. Yes or no questions don’t require explanation or expansion, which will leave you struggling for information. Stick to open-ended questions that encourage your clients to talk more.

Here are some example questions you can ask when interviewing for a case study analysis:

• What challenges did you face before finding our products/services?
• What were your goals for your company, and how did we help you achieve those goals?
• What made our company stand out from the competition?
• How has your business benefitted from using our products/services?

These questions provide information that you can use in the case study. It will also help you get direct quotes from your clients.

By asking the right questions, you’ll create a more informative and engaging case study.

5. Let your clients tell the story

To know how to create a case study that engages your audience, you must know how to present your client’s story. The biggest mistake companies make is morphing the client’s story to be about their company, rather than the client’s experience.

Future leads don’t want to hear a sales pitch about how great your company is and how you’ll work great for them. They want to see someone else’s experience and understand how they perceive your business, products, or services.

Your audience wants to see authentic experiences that reflect your company and the work you do. If you want to know how to write a business case study that works, start by letting your clients tell their story.

Give your clients a voice when you compose your case study. You want the information to come directly from them. Include direct quotes and integrate them into your text to increase validation and credibility for your business.

When you use direct quotes, don’t repeat the same information in the text after it.

It’s best to let the quote speak for itself.

For example, let’s say a client says: “Company A’s software helped my team increase their efficiency, which allowed us to spend more time getting to know our customers and what they needed from us.”

Right after inserting that quote, you wouldn’t want to say: “As you can see, Company A was able to increase their efficiency through using our software, which helped them spend more time with their clients.”

That would be a repeat of what the client said. Instead, let the quotes speak for themselves. They’ll have a larger impact if you leave them as they are without overexplaining what the quotes mean.

By letting your clients tell the story, you’ll see more success with your case studies.

6. Make sure your case study works for everyone

If you want to know how to write a case study successfully, start by creating a case study that works for everyone.

You’re going to have prospects interested in your business for different reasons. You must compose your case study in a way that, even if it isn’t relevant to their situation, they can get something out of it.

Create compelling angles for your case studies, but don’t exclude parts of your audience in the process.

Essentially, make your case studies universal to people who read them. Even if they wouldn’t use your company for the same reasons, they can see how your company would help them with their specific problems.

Let’s say you offer software that allows companies to organize and prioritize team tasks.

You create a case study analysis that looks at how a wedding planning company used your tool to help clients stay organized on their wedding day and prevent fewer things from going wrong on the wedding day.

While using the organization tool for wedding planning doesn’t apply to everyone who visits your site, they can still see the value in it. They understand that your software helps people miss fewer tasks and manage big projects, which benefits their company.

If you want to know how to write a business case study, make it easy for everyone to see the value of hiring your company or purchasing your products or services.

7. Show your audience rather than tell

As you’re composing your case study, make sure you’re showing your audience success rather than telling them. A lot of companies make the mistake of droning on about them making clients successful.

Your audience doesn’t want to hear it — they want to see it.

If you want to know how to write a case study that makes an impact on your audience, use data and facts. Show your audience how much money your clients saved or how many new customers they earned.

When you show your audience the results, it will resonate with them more and help them see the potential of working with your company.

8. Promote your case study

The last step in how to write a case study is simple — promote your case study. People won’t always find your case study on their own, so you must share and promote it on relevant platforms.

With any case study you create, you can link to it within the content on your site.

Whether it’s a pricing page or blog post, if it’s relevant, you can link to it and drive people to your case study.

Additionally, you can share your case studies through social media. Whether it’s a video or a link to your case study, you can help your social media followers see what it’s like to work with your company.

If you want to see success with your case study, you must publish it where your audience will find it. It will help you garner more engagement and get more people interested in working with your business.

• How to Write a Case Study
• 1. Determine Your Case Study’s Purpose
• 2. Choose the Right Clients to Use in Your Case Study Analysis
• 3. Choose the Right Medium to Present Your Case Study
• 4. Ask the Right Questions
• 5. Let Your Clients Tell the Story
• 6. Make Sure Your Case Study Works for Everyone
• 7. Show Your Audience Rather Than Tell
• 8. Promote Your Case Study

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4 tips for creating a successful case study.

Now that you know how to create a case study, it’s time to start writing it!

As you compose your study, keep these four tips for success in mind:

1. Tell the story from start to finish

A big part of writing a case study is learning how to write a business case study that tells a story. You want to tell a story that highlights your customer’s journey from start to finish.

When writing a case study, begin with the basics. Establish who the client is and what they do. You’ll also want to highlight their goals and what they aim to achieve with their products or services.

Next, talk about their problem. Discuss how the client ended up on a journey to look for your business. You’ll want to ask how they found your company.

Once you explain their problems, move into how they found you and how you helped solve their problem. This part is a great place to pull direct quotes from your client that highlight how you helped their business.

Finally, wrap up by discussing where that client and their business is now and how they’ve improved.

It’s essential to be thorough and not skip on the details. With all your case studies, you’ll want to tell your client’s story from start to finish to help your audience visualize themselves in those clients’ shoes.

2. Make information easy to read and understand

If you want to know how to write a case study successfully, focus on creating a case study that’s easy for your audience to understand. Your case study should be easy for your readers to read, skim, or watch.

For written case studies, focus on breaking information into smaller paragraphs.

Your paragraphs should be no more than three sentences. If you have paragraphs with six or seven sentences, you’re going to overwhelm your audience and deter them from reading your case study.

With video case studies, speak clearly and ensure that, if it’s an interview, your client speaks clearly as well. You can also  add your subtitles  and closed captions to ensure that people can follow the conversation if they can’t keep up with what people say in the video.

If you’re using an infographic, make sure it flows in the order of how you want people to see the information. You can use objects, like arrows, to guide people. Additionally, you’ll want to choose colors that make your infographic easy to look at and make text difficult to read.

When you create your business case study, focus on making it easy for your audience to digest. It will help your case study see more success.

3. Try different formats to see what engages your audience

A common misconception about case studies is that they must be written. While many people tend to write their case studies, you aren’t limited to that format. Videos and infographics are both great options for presenting case studies.

If you want to know how to write a successful case study, try different formats. Some formats will work better for your audience than others. Additionally, some case studies will fit better with certain formats than others.

Let’s go back to the example of being a company that sells software for organizing team tasks.

Your wedding planner client happily agrees to do a case study and share their experience.

The wedding planner is enthusiastic and loves your product. With someone who has a personality like that, it may be best to use video for your case study. That way, you can capture her enthusiasm and excitement.

Additionally, weddings are visual events. You can use clips of people setting up for a wedding to help capture the essence of the client’s work.

Remember, you don’t need to stay in one format! Choose your format based on your client, their business, and the type of content your audience engages with the most.

4. Prepare questions before your interview

Questions are a critical component in creating a case study. You want to ensure that you’re asking the right questions to allow clients to elaborate and provide you with enough information about your project.

If you want to build a solid case study structure, prepare questions before your interview. You don’t want to go into a case study interview without knowing what you want to ask. It will make you appear unprepared and won’t help you get valuable information.

Before interviewing your client, prepare at least four to five questions and one follow-up question for each.

Let’s use the wedding planner client as an example.

Here is a sample of the questions and follow-up questions to ask the client:

• What does your business do? What are some of the challenges of running your business?
• What problems led you to find a software like ours? How did those problems impact your company’s ability to operate?
• How did you find our business? How did we stand out from the competition?
• How did our software help solve your problem? What improvements did you notice with your team and business?

As you can see, these questions are thorough and allow the client to expand on their answers. The follow-up questions let you get more useful information, too, so you have plenty to work with for your case study.

By writing questions ahead of time, you’ll help create a case study structure that has tons of information for your audience and helps guide them through the client’s journey.

Start publishing compelling case studies today

If you don’t have the time to create compelling case studies, WebFX is here to help. We have a team of over 500 experts that will help you compose case studies that engage your audience and get them interested in your business. From video marketing  to  copywriting  to  infographic design services , we have everything you need to compose your perfect case study.

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How to Write a Marketing Case Study: A Guide for Creating the Ultimate B2B Social Proof

by Greg Mischio | Case Studies

For a manufacturing company, case studies can be one of the most effective ways to generate leads, showcase your strengths, and vividly demonstrate how you solve clients’ challenges. But there’s a problem: Case studies aren’t necessarily easy to create.  Here’s a complete guide on how to write a marketing case study and create the ultimate form of B2B social proof.

They’re usually an afterthought that’s offloaded to someone not necessarily prepared to do them well. On top of that, case studies often get made without a strategy behind them and are used with no real goal in mind. 

And that’s a shame, considering how valuable they can be:

• Demand Gen Report   found that 78% of companies surveyed said they used case studies to research B2B purchasing decisions, which was more than any other type of content.
• DocSend looked at 34 million content interactions. Compared with other sales content, case studies showed an 83% completion rate, an average that left all other content in the dust.
• eMarketer reports that a survey conducted by RSW/US, a business development firm, showed that almost 63% of agency executives cited case studies as their top way to generate leads.

To tap that potential, here’s a list of steps anyone can use to start creating exceptional case studies.

1. Strategy: Strategize before you editorialize

Before you do anything, make sure you have a solid strategy for your case study by answering these key questions:

Question: What’s your goal with the case study? 

Answer: ask your sales team (first)..

• Is it to help sell a particular service? 
• Do you want to emphasize a specific offering? 
• Are you trying to grow business in a certain sector?
• Are you trying to get more clients to try a new product?

One place you can start to get answers is with your sales team. They may be the ones who’ll be using case studies the most.  

This is typically the case with most manufacturing companies. The sales team is on the front line, dealing firsthand with the issues. This is where the story starts.

Question: What type of prospect are you targeting?  

Answer: find an industry and position match..

The story you tell in your case study should be shaped by who you’re going to be telling it to. If you’re trying to reach a certain industry or a certain job role, then you want to find an industry and position match. 

According to Joel Klettke of Case Study Buddy , “If you tell the wrong story to the wrong people, your case study will fall flat.”

Question: How will you use the case study?

Answer: don’t just relegate them to the “case studies” page..

Have a plan for how you’re going to target the audience you’ve identified and ultimately use the case study.

Here’s one way you should not use case studies: Relegate them to a seldom-visited section of your website called … “case studies.” Instead, use them throughout your website.

Also, note that how you use the case study should determine its format, and you don’t have to pick just one. Case studies and the various components that comprise them can be repurposed in dozens of ways. (More on that below.)

Question: Who owns the relationship with the client?

Answer: work through your team to get to their team..

Who should you contact at the company? What should you know about this person? Who should set up the initial contact? 

Check with the sales team or project manager – whatever is appropriate for your situation – so that you:

• Don’t step on anyone’s toes. 
• Don’t waste time with unnecessary steps.
• Start the case study off right by getting helpful intel.

2. Selection: Choosing your top case study prospects

Once you have the big picture strategy aligned, now it’s time to narrow your client list even further, based on the following criteria: 

The client must be into you

You want to be certain that your client is ready, willing, and able to say positive things about you. Some milestones that could spur a case study include:

• You’ve just received a short email of thanks from a client.  
• You’ve just achieved some recent positive results for them.
• Your product helped them boost their own sales or reach a goal.

The work must be recent

You’re building the case study around your client’s experiences with you. Are those experiences recent enough? People forget details over time. Key staff leave. Industry trends and concerns shift. Make sure the case study and the people you’re interviewing are still relevant. 

The client and the work must be relevant to your goal

Don’t settle for case study candidates just because they’re easy to get. Your decisions matter because they’ll attract like-minded prospects. 

3. Pitch: Making the case to clients 

Keep it simple … and all about them.

When you’re at the point of actually calling or emailing the client to make a case study request, here are five things to keep in mind:

• Answer the “What’s in it for me?”
• Briefly explain why you want to do this now. 
• Keep it short.
• Give a deadline. 
• Thank them for their participation in advance.

Here’s a sample email with all the elements:

PRO TIP: Package it all up for the deciding party

After your initial pitch, it’s not uncommon for your primary contact to have to convince someone else in the company to agree to the case study. Make it convenient (and compelling) by putting all of the above points in an easy-to-read PDF that:

• Reassures them it won’t take a lot of time and that they have the final say for approving material.
• Explains the interview process.
• Makes it as easy as possible for them to schedule a time through something like a Calendly link. 

Then give your client a vivid sense of what the outcome will be by showing them beautifully-designed case study samples. If you don’t have any to show, go out and find some good ones on the internet. Then simply say something like, “This is what we’re thinking.” 

What if a client says “No?”

You may find that a client isn’t interested in doing a case study with you. When they give you a no, you should keep in mind that their refusal is usually one of three things:

Objection: Uncertainty. They have an uneasy feeling about what’s going to be shared and how it’s going to be used.

Counter: Give them control. Emphasize that nothing will be published until they give their full and final approval.

Objection: Inconvenience. They’re busy and it sounds like it’s going to take a lot of time on their part.

Counter: Explain how quick it will be. Remedy the perceived inconvenience by explaining the details of the process, especially that the bulk of their efforts will be an interview that will take under an hour.

Objection: Selfishness. They see the case study as nothing but a favor to you – with no payoff for them. 

Counter: Show them the money (benefit). Tell them the cool ways you’re going to share the case study and how it will put a positive spotlight on them .

You can also take two approaches to compromise:

• Create an anonymous case study
• Gate your case study

Alternative approaches: Anonymous and gated case studies

Don’t throw your hands up if the client insists they’ll need to be anonymous. There are creative ways to still make the case study effective:

• Include direct quotes but use gender-neutral pseudonyms when you attribute them.
• Agree to gating the case study and only sharing it with specific parties and with their pre-approval.
• Agree to using the case study for internal purposes only. For example, case studies can actually be great training and onboarding tools.

Anonymous case study

Gated case study

You don’t see these all that frequently, but here’s an example of how the web design company ProtoFuse gates case studies for their client. 

4. Create: How to write the case study

Talk to the client … and write (and record) what they say.

You cannot do a good case study if you don’t talk to the client. No one wants to hear you blather about yourself … that’s the whole point of this exercise. 

Remember, case studies are really customer success stories, so personal perspectives are important. In fact, you’ll find that the customer expresses things about you in ways you hadn’t considered.  

It also gives authenticity to your message. Check out this quote from a client about us. It’s real dialogue, not a polished piece of prose. That’s why it works.

No matter what format (written word, audio, video) you choose to create that case study, it’s essential you capture those golden nuggets!

Best practices for the interview 

Your client’s most valuable asset is their time. That’s why you’ll want to make the most of the interview. Follow these guidelines to help make your interview successful:

Follow a process. Have an interview process and follow it step-by-step. That’s way more important than striving for a “perfect” interview.

Provide questions before the interview (and after). Give them time to prepare. Some sample questions can include:

• What was your life like before working with us? 
• What was the experience of working with us like? 
• What have your results been?

Don’t interview more than two people at a time.  One is ideal – two is the max.

Use a conference system, and record the interviews.   Zoom is our preference. If you’re lucky, you can use the video, but the audio can be converted into a video with still photos.

Focus on their experience, not opinions. Ask about the client’s experience of you, not their opinion of you. Ask them to tell their story – the opinion will reveal itself. 

Look for proof of impact. Seek information on the impact rather than gathering platitudes. “We tripled our output” is way better than “They were great to work with.”

Avoid the Yes/No. Rather than yes/no questions, make sure you ask carefully-crafted open-ended questions that will engender compelling insights.

Ask for graphics, videos, etc.   Anything that can help tell the story. 

Use tried-and-true copywriting tactics to create a compelling case study

Yes, use proven methods but get strategically creative. Don’t mindlessly lock yourself into set formulas. For example, the challenge-solution-results structure can work great for a case study. But you don’t have to stick to those actual words. Strengthen the effectiveness of that structure by creating inviting subheadings for each section.

A great headline is crucial. No matter the format of the case study, your headline is critical. It needs to be specific and powerful enough to motivate people to read it.

Here are four simple but effective headline formats from Joel Klettke at Case Study Buddy: 

• How (service/company) helped (client) (result)
• (Result) for (client)
• (Client) gets (result) with (service)
• How (client) (eliminated pain) with (service)

Integrate metrics into the headline. There’s no time to waste in a case study. So don’t hold out for a dramatic finish. Give the compelling reason to read it right away – along with the impressive data. And that cover page? It should stand strong alone if it had to.

Example: Thysse used the “3X” number to showcase increased productivity from a client.

Make use of charts and graphics to tell the story. Use the type of graphics you’d see in a PowerPoint presentation to a CEO. This is a format they’re comfortable with yet conveys the metrics they need to make a decision.

Example: These two charts show increases in organic rankings and keywords, and then the headline in the footer underscores the bottom-line value.

Put company details on the side. Don’t clog up the flow of a powerful story. Put details like the company’s location, size, founding date, and service lines on the side in a little fact box.

And if you can’t get metrics? All is not lost. Again, focus on the client’s experience. By doing that, you’re also likely to get some great testimonials. In fact, powerful social proof presented in an effective visual can be just as compelling as an impressive metric. 

In lieu of metrics, you can also place heavy emphasis on the goal that was achieved with the client. People don’t always remember the metrics of how you accomplished a goal – it’s the simple fact that you crossed the finish line first that counts.

Qualitative example: This is all about a specific initiative for HarperCollins UK.

Let the client’s voice come through. When it comes to the written content of your case study, let the client tell the story as much as possible through their own compelling quotes.

Example: Use a real person with their actual words. Seeing the photo adds so much authenticity.

You can also showcase your own people. Yes, this is all about your client telling the story. But it’s a partnership, right? You can interject how you felt in helping them achieve success, and showcase yourself in the process.

Craft a story-specific call to action. Make sure to add a CTA at the end that actually relates to the story just told – rather than a generic “contact us” request. 

Use proven methods that work for large bodies of content. These are standards that we use for any piece of lengthy digital content. They apply to case studies as well.

Rein in the rambling DocSend research has found that completion rates were the highest when case studies were no more than two to five pages.

Short paragraphs Paragraphs should only be 1 – 3 lines in length. A guideline, not a rule, but try and follow it. You are writing for skimmers. Ideally, get the page width of your website (although this will vary with demand responsiveness) and pull in margins. Keep it short!

Use subheads (H2, H3, H4) Use paragraph subheads to break up the writing. Every 200-300 words, or where appropriate.  Don’t be afraid to use keywords, but don’t push the issue. Make these subheads lively.

Use visuals for every page scroll Plan for an image every page scroll. That can be a pullquote, a photograph, or a table. Screen shots are great if they include data. 

Use bullets, numbered lists Use bullets and numbered lists as often as possible. 

Use parallel form on bullet headers Your bullet points should be consistent with each other.  If one bullet point starts with a verb, they should all start with a verb.  Example:

• Find a smarter way to use bullet points
• Use them in small doses
• Edit them for parallel form

If you’re going to use bullets, keep them to 1-2 sentences.

Make the writing lively If you’re bored with it, your reader will be bored.

Let the article sit When you’re done with the initial draft, let it sit overnight. Then look at it the next day and make needed changes. Guaranteed to improve your writing.

Cut your word count by 10% Guaranteed to make your writing tighter.

Don’t forget about the power of video and audio There’s just something about that play button. When tweets have video, they’re six times more likely to get retweeted. Case study videos tap into people’s hunger – and readiness – for video viewing. 

Video allows you to capture body language and tone of voice. It gives you the power to add emotional appeals with music and show the product or result in action.

GEW UV Curing has created some amazing Customer Spotlights on their YouTube channel.   The format is more of a story, but they definitely convey the success of using the products.

You can also record interviews, and then embed the audio files into the post. We’ve uploaded short interviews either as a stand-alone file or use SoundCloud to embed them.

4. Distribution: Getting the word out

After all that time and effort, you want to maximize the case study’s exposure. How? By leveraging the power of repurposing . Case studies can be used throughout the sales funnel.

Many of these came from our buddy Joel Klettke again!

Top of funnel

Use the case study itself as a lead magnet: How we solved this problem for this kind of company. 

• Take the interview transcript, clean it up and edit, get it approved by the client, and presto, you have a great Q&A blog post.
• Use it in your email subject-line. 
• Print it out for trade show handouts.
• Post it to social media feeds. 
• Grab attention with Facebook ads using a great How to … headline.
• Include a downloadable case study with your CTA.
• Use testimonial quotes on your landing pages or website pages.
• Use in email outreach and put quotes or stats in subject lines.
• Make a SlideShare presentation out of it.

SlideShare presentation.

Pullquote for webpage.

Tweet with tagged client.

Email signature line.

Middle of funnel

• Send along with your RFPs.
• Share in pitch meetings.
• Equip your sales team with them.
• Add to newsletters.
• Drip the story with an email series.

Handout that can be included with capabilities brochure and at pitch meetings.

Bottom of funnel

• Place case study stats or quotes next to friction points like pricing areas or landing pages (see below).
• For upselling options, have a case study available that demonstrates how a client benefitted from your premium package.

Used on sidebar of landing page.

PRO TIP: Create top-of-funnel “case studies” for other people

One technique we’ve found to be very effective is to write top-of-funnel content about a particular problem and then showcase a partner’s solution and make them the expert source. It can function as a “pay it forward” piece of content, and they’ll likely use it on their website, giving you a nice backlink.

Get started today, but keep your editorial calendar open!

You have the tools and tactics to get started on a case study, but you need one more thing: tenacity. 

It’s not always easy to get case studies from clients. They’re busy, and even after you’ve written one, it can take weeks or even months for them to approve it on their side. Don’t schedule them on your editorial calendar until you have it approved on their end. 

But stick with it. The long-term benefits can be huge. Start creating case studies on a regular basis. It’s the most overlooked, yet most valuable piece of content you can produce!

Greg Mischio

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5 Steps for Writing a Killer Marketing Case Study

December 5, 2019

By Natalie Boyd

Create content in a silo. Keep your wins to yourself. Promote nothing. This is marketing’s mantra, right? Not even close.

Today’s marketers have a full-time job creating content, generating leads, driving traffic, collaborating across channels, and staying in the know when it comes to understanding the ins and outs of their ideal customer—and a case study can display your success.

Though the type of marketing material can vary from infographics to blogs to videos to e-books , the case study is a piece of content that should be in every organization’s front pocket. It is a valuable tool everywhere from the website to the sales floor that can:

• Boost Your Industry Credibility. Whether you work across industries or you are specialized within a particular niche, experience must be shared. A case study is a perfect avenue to promote your industry know-how. After all, birds of a feather flock together. Showcasing your achievement through a case study within a specific industry will boost your credibility while delivering proof points that may attract similar clients.
• Show Your Success . You have customer wins. Flaunt them. Unlike traditional marketing materials, a case study delivers validation from your customers of your good work. It takes words to a different level by showing the journey from point A to point B in a narrative format, while being authentic enough to share where you were challenged and transparent enough to share your secrets—all while delivering the data to back it.
• Repurpose the Content. A case study gives an in-depth look at your problem-solving skills. With this content in hand, it is easy to create blogs or videos—or let your public relations team use the case study as a talking point with the media. If you repurpose the case study content across formats and channels, you will give your success wings.

The case study is not only the perfect content to arm the sales team with data-driven points, but it is also a document that serves as a testimony from those outside of your organization.

After all, you ask your family and friends to recommend their favorite businesses, you read reviews before booking your vacation hotel, and you see the movies that have won the most awards. (Nearly 90 percent of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.) It’s natural to want to surround yourself with products, services, and companies that have the blessing of those that have gone before you. And that, in a nutshell, is what the case study is.

The case study will give you credibility, flaunt your customer wins, and give you a narrative for additional content. You’ve taken the time to understand your customers. Your products, services, or tactics have blown through their obstacles and there is data to prove your strategies work—now it’s your turn to make a case study work for you.

Tips for Creating High-Performing Case Studies

1. build trust.

The best case studies leverage the right relationships.

First off, you should establish a plan for selecting candidates. Your participants should have extensive product knowledge and impressive results. If possible, highlight any notable brands you work with.

When reaching out to participants, building trust is important. You want something authentic—so remove the case study verbiage from your initial request. Make your prospective participants feel special, and start by asking them to help tell their story.

As you move forward with the interview process, remember that your customers are busy. So be prepared. Keep questions clear and concise, but also open-ended. Drive the conversation, but allow your participants to openly describe their experience.

2. Tell a Story

Once you gather the facts, it’s time to start writing.

The “hero journey” is a narrative outline in which a hero goes on an adventure, wins a victory, and comes home changed or transformed. And according to marketer Sid Smith, a loose adaptation of Joseph Campbell's literary theory can be applied to your marketing case study:

• Hero suffers a loss or experiences a serious problem …
• Hero attempts to resolve issues through usual means, and fails …
• Hero goes on a journey and discovers an ally or new approach …
• Hero overcomes tremendous odds to resolve the problem …
• Hero returns triumphant and tells all about his conquest.

What does this all mean? That storytelling drives case studies. Identify your sample customers, their goals, their needs, and how your company helped them meet these goals.

3. Pay Close Attention to Formatting

No one enjoys huge chunk of texts. As we’ve blogged about before here at SmartBug Media, too many words might not get your message across , or even worse, scare off readers.

The first rule of thumb? Keep it simple.

Like other inbound content, case studies do not have to be complicated. When it comes to length, I’ve seen several schools of thought. Marketers such as Debbie Weil claim that 500 words works best while Neil Patel touts the benefits of long-form copy .

Worry less about word count and more about telling your story. Also, like other forms of content, employ effective formatting elements, including:

• Bulleted lists
• Bolded text

Most importantly, it’s up to you to find out what’s best for you and what resonates with your end-users.

4. Include the Facts

This may seem like a no-brainer, but a marketing case study without facts is like a car without gas: It will sputter out before you reach your destination. However, as important as it is to include facts, it’s also essential to show real numbers and real proof.

Rather than use ambiguous terms such as “doubled traffic” or “tripled conversions,” display the actual numbers. You want data to be crystal clear.

Ultimately, numbers should contribute to your overall story. They’ll outline tangible results. And when properly portrayed, data can show exactly where your customers began and where they ended up with your help.

5. Talk Strategy

Just as it’s important to include real data, it’s equally important to provide specific strategy. You’ll want to include a conclusion that explicitly proves how your product or service impacted your customer—and how it helped them reach their goals.

Rather than simply say how your services led to your customer’s end results, tell your readers exactly how your services impacted your customer. At this point, you’ve already told your story. Now is the time to finish it.

This post was originally published in March 2017, and it has since been updated.

Easily craft compelling customer interviews & provide leads with the information they need to make an informed decision.

Case Study Questions Template

About the author

Natalie Boyd was formerly a Marketing Specialist at SmartBug Media with 10 years of experience supporting in-house, freelance, and agency clients. She is passionate about using inbound marketing to help businesses succeed and make meaningful connections with their target audience. Read more articles by Natalie Boyd .

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Case Study Writing 101: Everything You Need to Write Your First Case Study

Do you want to get more business? Case studies are a great way to do that. In this article, we will go through the case study writing process, from start to finish.

We’ll discuss how to find a company that’s right for you, what information you need for the case study, and what kind of content it should include. Case studies can be an excellent addition to any marketing strategy!

The point of content marketing is to establish your brand/business as a trusted authority in your industry. Customers want to see a real-world demonstration of a company’s product or service and how your solutions can address their needs. And the best way to show this is through a client case study.

Identify a Compelling Angle for Your Case Study

7. propose next step – add a call to action, should you use a template for case study writing.

This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I receive a small commission at no cost to you when you make a purchase. This helps me pay to keep this site going and to bring all these free resources to you. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

What Is a Case Study?

Case studies are detailed stories about a customer overcoming their problem with your company’s products. By the end of a case study, it’s important for the reader to visualize themselves in that position.

Good case studies all have a beginning, middle, and end. They also have an active protagonist – your customer – who overcomes a problem and achieves their goal.

Business case studies allow you to describe the results of implementing your services from the customer’s perspective. Your case study should highlight how your product or service is the best solution for specific customer problems.

Your customer case study can be presented in different formats – article/blog post, video case study, social media post, email, or even podcast audio.

For the purpose of this article, we’ll focus on the blog post format and how to create a compelling case study that will get customers wanting to know more about your business and solution.

Related:   How to Create a Case Study That Converts: The Ultimate Guide for Businesses

Why Create Marketing Case Studies?

Marketers often prioritize other marketing content formats over marketing case studies.

In a recent report , B2B Marketing asked a cohort of marketers how they felt about various content formats, including case studies. 67% of marketers surveyed said case studies were ‘very effective’.

Customer case studies are fantastic tools for marketing because they can be used to highlight customer success. When you share customer stories, it’s easy for potential customers to connect with the customer and feel hopeful that they too will have a successful experience.

Case studies also provide an opportunity to demonstrate your company’s expertise in customer service or product development by highlighting specific results achieved through implementing certain strategies or approaches.

How Do You Write a Case Study?

[source:   Freepik ]

Case studies are about how a particular consumer/client used the goods or services to solve their problem. A good case study has a beginning, middle, and end, just like a story.

Always start with a case study strategy

Before you begin writing a case study, ask yourself: where do case studies fit within your broader content and marketing strategy ? This is critical to identify upfront so you can plan your case study appropriately.

The following questions are important to ask when considering a case study strategy:

• What customer success challenges does your business face?
• What customer pain points do we want to address through the use of content and marketing efforts?
• How will this help our customers achieve their goals faster or better than they would without our product/service?

Is there an opportunity for customer testimonials, customer reviews, customer feedback as part of the design process with customer success team input on what is most helpful information in each stage of product adoption (e.g., early adopter feedback)?

Do case studies offer value outside of just generating leads by driving awareness about products that may drive viral reach, social media, or other customer-generated customer referrals?

What’s the intrinsic value of case studies in terms of customer research, customer engagement, loyalty, and also retention?

Don’t have a strategy yet for using case studies to market your business? Watch our free 5-min training and download our PDF worksheet .

The more engaging your case study is, the better. It is important to choose an interesting customer for the next case study. Have any of your customers used the services you offer on a particularly difficult or unusual problem?

Think outside the box when searching for someone to serve as the basis for a case study. The more engaging your story, the better it is to be heard.

This is why it’s important to consider where your case study will fit within your customer journey and have a strategy for using case studies to market your business.

Once you’ve worked out which angles will speak to prospective clients, and you’ve identified which client(s) would be best suited to profile, it’s time to plan your case study blog post.

How to write a case study in 7 steps

Here at Simple Creative Marketing, we developed the “7P Framework” for writing compelling case studies.

Here’s a video walking through each of the 7 P’s of our case study framework.

Prefer to read? Not a problem. Let’s break down what each “P” stands for. While case studies can be shaped differently,  the following components are a must in any client success story.

1. Punchy Headline – Case study title

The title creates the first impression of your study, and it should be able to reflect the accomplishments or use case of your product effectively. You can even use the client/consumer’s to make it more authentic.

Here are some examples of case study titles that we came up with for our clients:

• How Ally Nitschke Quit Her Day Job And Went Full-Time On Her Coaching Business In Just Five Months

Reducing Bento’s Bookkeeping Time to 5 Minutes Per Month

• How eCommerce Growth agency hit growth targets consistently for 3 months straight and achieved a 76.57% profit margin

2. Profile – About the Client’s Company

The next step in your case study is to turn on the lights and set the stage. Since the story is not about you but the client, a brief introduction to your client’s world helps the audience connect and identify your target audience and relate with the challenges accordingly.

This is also a great opportunity for you to let your readers know what type of clients you typically work with. For instance by stating clearly that the client being profiled is a 6-figure course creator that immediately lets readers know that’s who you serve.

3. Problem Statement – Describe The Challenges

Moving forward with the case study story, describe each problem in a few paragraphs and state the challenges faced by the client before they opted for your product/service.

Keep in mind not to deviate from the subject of your study. When talking about the challenges that your client faced it’s important to provide the context in the form of statistics, stories, and quotes.

You can consider this the “before” snapshot of what was happening before the client discovered your product or service.

This is the background context that really makes the final case study valuable to a prospective client during their research phase i.e. when they are evaluating whether or not to engage your company for a problem that they’re looking to solve.

For example, in a case study that we did for Bean Ninjas client Bento , we painted the picture of how the founder was struggling with poor quality work of their previous bookkeeping service.

The best way to identify the actual challenges a client experienced is to interview them.

We like using Zoom because it’s a great way for clients to speak directly with our team members, so they can be much more thorough in describing what they experienced. We’ve also found video or voice interviews to be far more effective than email interviews as we can ask for clarification and go much deeper during the calls.

These calls also double as customer research calls as often clients will reveal valuable insights that can go straight to sales and marketing teams.

4. Process – Share the Solutions your company provides

After introducing the customer’s problems in your case study it’s time to define the measures you took to resolve the issues.

This is your company’s time to shine!

This is the part where you explain and demonstrate  ‘how you made their journey simple’. What was the methodology or process that you used to provide an effective and remarkable solution for the client?

We recommend you don’t hold back and share enough of your process to provide evidence that you have a repeatable system for producing results and solving your customer’s challenge.

You can always slide in some of your strategies that benefited your client. It enables customers to gain a better understanding of your client’s experience as well as the impact of your work.

One of the best ways to go about it is to show screenshots of the relevant analytics and marketing dashboards that back up your claims of success. Visuals like this can really add to the story.

5. Payoff – Describe the final Outcome

The result is the end goal, or even the champion, of your case study, and it should be given due importance.

Show how your solutions led your client/customer to achieve their targeted goals. The outcome should speak of the benefits your client has received after hiring you.

Example: As a marketing strategist, you can talk about the improved traffic statistics from before you started to how they improved after implementing the customized solutions.

6. Praise – Client Testimonial

Focus on what your happy client has to say.

Your case study isn’t complete without what your customer has to say about your services.

Everyone has their way of storytelling, and who can be the better narrator than your client themself?

Adding client quotes lends credibility to your case studies.

Adding a call to action at the end of your case study article can help encourage your readers to take the desired action.

You could include a call-to-action button in every case study that includes a form for people to sign up or subscribe, create an account, request a demo, book a call, buy something, etc.

How to write a case study specifically for marketing

As mentioned earlier, case studies have become one of the most effective content strategies to boost leads and sales for business owners. However, only a few businesses understand how to go about their case studies effectively.

There are   many ways to create a marketing case study , but you should always keep an eye on these markers:

1. Highlight the Key Takeaway

You should describe the key takeaways and a summary of the outcome when writing a case study. Use engaging language for summarising this information in a single sentence. You could also include this part as the header of the case study.

This is where you get more particular about the subject.

2. Be Realistic About the Case Study’s Objectives

Provide prospective customers with a valuable, beneficial resource that’s also fair.

Depending upon the type of marketing case study you want to create, keeping honest and achievable goals is necessary. It maintains fair competition and promises loyalty to your customers.

3. Identify a Compelling Angle for Your Case Study

What you do is unique, so should be your content. A case study can be an excellent   lead magnet — all it takes taking some time out to chat with your client.

Collect all the information and get creative with it – but remain truthful. Understand what a case study is and what it isn’t. It’s not a sales pitch. It is a success story.

Example: What are the most popular ways that your goods or services are used? Are your services being used by any of your clients to address complicated or unusual problems?

Using a template is an excellent way to go about a case study. It also gives a structure to your inputs.

Also, case study templates easily summarise details and can be used as visual prompts to help the reader skim through it and grasp the relevant information as needed.

Templates also add uniformity to the content of your case study and help keep a check on the length, data points, information to be included. As a result, you don’t miss out on anything important in your case studies, and your readers get a complete package.

Want our case study process and email templates in free PDF download?  Download our Winning Case Studies guide .

Case study writing tips

• Tell a success story – Your case study should be able to tell the story of success. A story that the audience can relate to and would want you to replicate for them.
• One Challenge at a time – You should mention all the challenges without confusing the readers. Talk about each challenge one by one and bring out the solutions accordingly.
• Promise Results – Your audience seeks trust and loyalty along with an effective marketing strategy. Your business case study must provide promising examples of how you helped your client overcome the challenges and excel in the market.
• Don’t forget keywords – Keywords are the real players in the world of content marketing. No matter what type of marketing you do, keywords matter. Keywords determine whether people looking for businesses online can find your YouTube videos, read your posts, or visit your website. While using keywords might sound forced in your case studies, using related, long-tail keywords does help. Also, people tend to search a lot for ‘case study,’ so ensure you include that in your title and content.
• For instance, a title can be ‘Case Study: How XYZ scaled their organic content to 1 million users in a year.’ This would help your content rank for search queries such as ‘content marketing case study’, or ‘organic traffic case study’, etc.

You’re too busy to interview clients and write your own stories. Are case study writing services worth it?

Today, business case study writing services are one of the most in-demand services. They provide quality content writing & publishing for time-poor business owners.

A service that provides well-written case studies can help set you apart in a highly competitive market and show potential clients how you are different from the competition.

More significantly, they free up more time, from research to writing to optimising – all of it so you can focus on sales, customer support, or building your team.

Interested in hiring us to write case studies for your company? Check out our done-for-you packages .

Where to from here?

Hopefully, you now have a better idea of what to include in your written case study and how it can help grow your business.

A well-written case study blog will help prospective customers to understand your process and value proposition so that they can make their decision about working with you.

A well-written case study is a valuable tool in your content marketing strategy .

A compelling case study will include the following elements:

• A persuasive and compelling case study of a successful company
• The story behind the success, including why this particular company was successful
• How this case study is relevant to your business and what you can learn from it
• Details of the methods used in building a successful campaign

(Featured image photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash )

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• How to Generate Customer Case Studies Using AI

Are you ready to simplify and significantly speed up your customer case studies creation process? With AI, particularly an AI case study generator , this seemingly daunting task can now be streamlined, making it phenomenally faster and more efficient than ever. But why consider AI to generate your case studies in the first place? The answer lies in the ability of AI to analyze data and turn it into detailed, compelling narratives that not only save time but also enhance the quality of your content.

In this blog, we’ll walk you through how an AI case study generator, and other tools like ChatGPT, can transform your approach to creating these influential marketing assets. Ready to dive in and explore how to leverage AI to create impactful customer case studies that resonate with your audience? Here’s everything we will cover.

What is an AI case study generator?

Step 1: selecting the right ai tool for case studies, step 2: gathering and inputting data, step 3: generating and refining case studies, leveraging ai-generated case studies for business growth.

An AI case study generator is a sophisticated tool that leverages artificial intelligence to automate the creation of detailed, insightful customer case studies. These AI content generators simplify the process, turning what is traditionally a time-intensive task into roughly a 15-minute activity. By simply inputting key data about products or services, company backgrounds, and the specific challenges and solutions involved, these tools can produce rich narratives that showcase the effectiveness of a business’s offerings.

Now, there are tons of options when it comes to picking the right AI tool for any kind of content creation. Of course, there are chat engines like ChatGPT. There are dedicated AI case study generators. There are AI content creation platforms offering the best of both worlds with pre-built templates and AI Chat, like Narrato, offering you more flexibility. But how do you decide which one would work best for you? Here are a few things to consider.

Evaluating different AI tools

When choosing an AI case study generator, consider factors such as ease of use, customization options, integration capabilities, and the quality of the output. It’s beneficial to select a tool that aligns with your firm’s technical capabilities and business needs. Tools like Narrato’s AI case study generator not only provide exceptional ease of use with pre-built and custom AI template options but also include integration with other apps, tools, and CMSes, amplifying their utility and efficiency.

Custom templates and automation features

Personalization is key in engaging prospective clients and customers. AI tools that offer customizable AI templates and content templates allow businesses to craft case studies that resonate more deeply with their target audience. Automation features can also streamline the creation process, from data input to final edits, which ensures quicker turnaround times and frees up resources for other strategic activities. For instance, editing your case studies on Narrato is a breeze, thanks to the in-line AI assistant that lets you shorten, expand, summarize, or rewrite text with a click. You can also provide prompts for any custom changes you want. These capabilities are crucial to make your process even more streamlined.

Integration with existing systems

To maximize efficiency and coherence in your content strategy, the selected AI tool should seamlessly integrate with existing content management systems, CRM platforms, and other marketing tools. This integration allows for automatic data flow and updates, which makes it easier to keep track of the most recent and relevant business outcomes and customer insights. As a result, it reinforces the accuracy and credibility of your marketing efforts.

Once you have narrowed down on the AI tool you want to use, the next step is understanding what kind of input the AI needs to generate a meaningful, coherent customer case study. Customer case studies are meant to be inspiring stories with a lot of data and statistics that prove how useful your product or service has been in solving a customer’s problems. For the AI case study generator tool to weave a story around these facts and figures, your input to the tool must be logical, comprehensive, and complete.

Determining relevant data for your case studies

To create persuasive and impactful customer case studies using AI, it‘s crucial to begin by gathering the right data. The data you choose to use directly affects the completeness and authenticity of the generated case study. Start by focusing on key aspects such as a backstory of customer challenges, the product or service offered, and the specific outcomes achieved with the product.

Equally essential are metrics and statistics that prove the effectiveness of your solutions. If your customer says their sales increased after using your offerings, get numbers from them – by how much did their sales increase? If they say they have been able to cut down costs, ask them if they can provide a percentage reduction in costs.

In fact, if you are using an AI case study generator like Narrato, these are exactly the details that the AI template asks you for, ensuring that you provide structured and complete information

By extracting such aligned and relevant data, you ensure that your AI tool can generate a persuasive case study with tangible outcomes.

Effective techniques for inputting data into AI tools

When inputting data into AI tools to generate customer case studies, clarity and detail are paramount. To effectively transfer information into the AI tool, start with a structured format that breaks down the information into clear segments like background information, problem statement, solutions provided, and the impacts observed. This is particualrly important if you are using a tool like ChatGPT where you need to provide your own prompt. As for AI templates like the one above, the input fields are already organized for you.

Use succinct, jargon-free language that directly represents the situation and outcomes, making the information digestible for AI processing. Including direct quotes from customers and specific statistical improvements can enrich the narrative created by the AI, giving your case studies a more authentic and relatable touch.

Using the right ChatGPT prompts for case study generation

The efficacy of an AI-generated case study with ChatGPT or Narrato’s AI Chat partially hinges on the prompts you use. You can enhance the output significantly by crafting detailed ChatGPT prompts for content creation that guide the AI in prioritizing the most relevant aspects of your data.

For instance, your prompts should include specifics about the industry, real challenges encountered by users, precise descriptions of the implemented solutions, and the tangible benefits the client received. This tailored prompting helps the AI to not only structure the information logically but also embellish the narrative with nuances that are pertinent to the case study.

Here’s an example of a good ChatGPT prompt for a customer case study.

Write a compelling case study that highlights the success and impact of [product/service name’s] features on the [team or business aspect] of [client name], using the information provided below:

Client’s challenge or problem for solving: [Introduce the problem presented by the client]. Talk about how this challenge affected their business operations and add specific information that highlights the urgency and importance of addressing this issue.

Product or service description: [Describe what your product/service does]. Discuss why this solution perfectly matched what the client needed.

Solution offered: [Describe the solution offered by your product/service]. Emphasize the products or services utilized, the method of implementation, and any distinctive strategies that played a crucial role in addressing the client’s problem.

Outcome achieved: [Spell out the outcome achieved by the client in detail, complete with facts and figures]. Provide a summary of the significant outcomes [Client Name] witnessed after adopting our solution. Pay attention to the measurable results and demonstrate how these outcomes effectively resolved their biggest challenges.

With your detailed prompts ready, you can use any generative AI tool like ChatGPT or Narrato’s AI Chat to generate the first draft of your customer case study. Better still, you can create a custom AI template on Narrato with your prompt, in which the prompt is saved as a reusable template with input variables of your choice.

The next step in case study writing with AI would be to generate the first draft. The first draft generated by AI must also be reviewed, fact-checked, and edited for better accuracy and for adding your personal touch where necessary.

Using AI to generate initial case study drafts

The initial drafts of case studies generated by AI like Narrato’s AI case study generator will be based on the input data and prompts provided. The AI tool takes the fragmented data and weaves it into a coherent preliminary draft that outlines the customer’s journey with the product or service. Here’s an example of what the first draft of a case study generated using Narrato AI case study generator could look like.

Narrato also gives you the option to save your brand voice on the platform and apply it to AI-generated content, ensuring that from the very first draft itself, the content aligns with your brand’s style and identity.

Also note, that the more detailed your input is, the longer and more comprehensive the case study will be. So make sure to add all the information you can in your input data.

This also goes for tools like ChatGPT or AI Chat on Narrato. Let’s take a look at what these tools can give us, using the prompt we crafted above.

As you can see, with simple tweaks to the prompt describing the challenges, solutions, and outcomes, we get a detailed 500+ word case study from Narrato’s AI Chat, which is quite impressive.

Even though these initial drafts are typically robust, they serve ideally as a foundation that will need further refinement to meet specific branding and storytelling norms your company follows.

Editing and refining AI-generated content

Now the critical phase of editing begins. This step is crucial to transform the AI-generated narrative into a polished, company-specific case study in your style. During this phase, you can refine the language to match your brand’s voice, enrich the story with more client specifics, and perhaps integrate additional qualitative data or quotes that highlight the customer’s positive experience. Such revisions ensure that the case study aligns with your marketing goals and resonates more deeply with your target audience.

Narrato’s AI writer makes the task of editing content easier as well. The in-line AI writing assistant on the platform lets you rewrite, shorten, expand, or improve text with one click. You can even make custom changes to the text using the Ask AI option.

The style guide automation feature on Narrato is also very helpful in this regard. This feature lets you save your brand guidelines for writing style, punctuation, use of certain terms abbreviations, etc. with automated checks on content. Editors can easily refer to the style guide suggestions and apply them with a click for faster editing and ensuring the content aligns with your brand’s standards.

Ensuring authenticity and accuracy

The cornerstone of a compelling case study is its authenticity and accuracy in portraying a customer’s experience. After refining the content, it’s imperative to verify all the facts, outcomes, and client statements mentioned in the case study. Consult with the client if possible, to confirm their testimonial and the results stated. Ensuring that your case studies reflect true stories accurately not only bolsters your brand’s credibility but also builds trust with potential customers, making your marketing efforts more worthwhile.

With all that said, here are a few pointers on why AI-generated case studies are a good marketing asset to add to your plan and how their effectiveness can be gauged.

Using case studies in marketing strategies

Case studies are not just stories; they are powerful marketing tools. When generated efficiently using AI, they provide a deep dive into real-world applications of your products or services, demonstrating their impact in a tangible way. For businesses, this means showcasing how your solutions solve actual problems, highlighting customer satisfaction, and providing measurable outcomes that speak volumes to prospects.

By narratively presenting the before and after scenarios, AI-generated case studies make a compelling argument for the effectiveness of your offerings. These case studies can be strategically placed across various marketing channels – your websites, social media, email campaigns – to enhance visibility and credibility, driving higher engagement and eventually boosting conversion rates.

Measuring the impact of AI-generated case studies

The influence of AI-generated case studies on business growth is also quantifiable. You can track a variety of metrics to assess their effectiveness, including website traffic, engagement rates, and lead conversion metrics directly related to the case study content.

Additionally, analyzing how these case studies contribute to your site’s SEO rankings and your business’s social media engagement offers insights into their broader impact. You can use analytics tools like Google Analytics or LinkedIn Analytics to monitor the increase in page views or the time visitors spend on case study pages and posts.

Moreover, gathering feedback through direct customer surveys regarding the helpfulness of these studies in decision-making processes can provide invaluable data, allowing you to continuously refine your approach.

To make your customer case studies all the more effective for your business, enclose a clear call to action, inviting readers to learn more about your services or contact you for further details. This transforms the case study from a passive piece of content to an active tool in your marketing arsenal.

In the modern-day marketing landscape, AI-powered tools have become indispensable, and that is true when it comes to crafting compelling customer case studies too. AI case study generators not only save ample time but also enhance the quality of the output, making intricate case study crafting a straightforward task.

Utilizing an AI case study generator, such as Narrato AI, allows businesses to generate detailed, data-driven narratives that resonate deeply with potential customers. With their ability to infuse AI-generated content with a human touch, these tools ensure that each case study is not only informative but also captivating to the audience. The process is simplified into a few steps: inputting necessary data, selecting the tone, and refining the final output, which mitigates the traditional challenges associated with case study production.

Whether you aim to boost SEO, enhance customer engagement, or vividly showcase product success through dynamic storytelling, AI case study generators stand ready as your go-to solution.

Neelam Goswami is an engineer turned writer, currently working as a Content Specialist. She has always had an affinity to writing and loves creating simple-to-read pieces for everyone to enjoy.

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No B2B Writing Portfolio? No Problem! Here’s How to Build One, Even if You Haven’t Written for a “Real” Client Yet By Steve Slaunwhite

Imagine you’re on a Zoom call with a potential client. You’re excited! After all, you could be minutes away from landing a great-paying gig.

Then, the worst-case scenario unfolds.

The client asks you, “Can you send us examples of your B2B writing? We’re especially interested in seeing a blog article and, ideally, a marketing email.”

Oh, shoot , you think. I don’t have those types of writing samples. What do I do now?

You might still be able to land the gig by sending them related writing samples or pointing them to your wonderfully written website.

But let’s face it. The chances of that client hiring you just went way down.

50% of B2B Clients Will Ask for Samples

When writers ask me how to break into B2B writing, I often say many clients won’t ask to see samples. Instead, they’ll review the content you’ve written for your own freelance business. (Your website, blog posts, pitch emails, and so on.)

But, just as many will ask for examples of your best B2B writing. And if you don’t have any, well … you’re … I’ll let you finish that sentence!

If you want to break into the fun and lucrative world of B2B writing, having a portfolio will give you a HUGE advantage.

“But how the heck do I get one without any clients?” you might ask. You write them! I’ll give you a shortcut in just a moment. But first, let’s review the types of samples you need.

Below is the “dream” portfolio, based on the most common writing samples B2B clients request when interviewing a freelance writer.

Most B2B marketing takes an educational (rather than salesy) approach. That’s why B2B companies love articles. In fact, a B2B company might need upward of 100 per year. Why so many? They use them for e-newsletters, blog posts, social media posts, and placed articles in the trades.

So, you definitely want a solid B2B article in your portfolio.

These are great gigs, by the way. You can typically charge $500–$1,250 each. (B2B companies tend to pay significantly more for articles than B2C companies.)

And having one of these in your portfolio also indicates to a client that you can probably write long-form content, such as e-books and white papers — projects that typically pay $4,500 and up.

2. Marketing Email

No sector does more email marketing than B2B. Annual surveys of B2B marketing directors (conducted by MarketingProfs and the Content Marketing Institute) consistently reveal that email is a favorite channel. I often joke that if you tried to take email away from a B2B marketing director, you’d do so with them kicking and screaming!

When you write for a B2B company, you’ll be crafting all types of emails: promotional, follow-up, nurturing, outreach, you name it. A typical fee for a series of five emails is around $2,000. It’s not unusual to get one of those gigs from the same client each month.

The best kind of email for your portfolio is one that promotes a lead-generation offer, such as a free webinar or e-book. If a potential client sees that you can write one of those, you’re in!

3. Product Description Page

When you get a moment, review a few B2B company websites. You’ll soon notice just how robust many of them are, often with dozens of pages. I have a client whose site features more than 32, half of which are product description pages.

Just as the name implies, a product description page provides a detailed and persuasive presentation of a product (or service), its features and benefits, and how to buy. These pages are crucial linchpins in the B2B marketing funnel.

The typical fee you can charge for one of these pages is $750–$1,500.

If you can show a client an example of your product description writing, you’ll gain the edge over other writers they may be considering.

4. Case Study

Also known as “customer success stories,” case studies are a heck of a lot of fun to write. You get to interview one of your client’s customers, tell their story in the form of a compelling article, and get paid around $2,000 for the privilege.

What’s not to like!

If a potential client is talking to you about writing a case study, they’ll definitely want to see an example. You will NOT get the gig without one.

The problem is, getting a case study in your portfolio when you’ve never been hired to write one before seems impossible. But there is a way. (More on that in a bit.)

The bottom line is, if you want to handle this type of project, you need a sample to show.

5. Social Media Sponsored Post (Advertisement)

The next time you’re on Facebook or LinkedIn, notice how often sponsored posts roll up your timeline. These are popular forms of advertising for B2B companies. They use sponsored posts to showcase products and services, promote offers, and generate leads.

Writing one is both fun and challenging. In just a few words, you need to gain attention and motivate the reader to click Learn More , Register , Buy Now , or whatever the call to action may be.

But if you can show a potential client evidence that you can write an effective sponsored post, their eyes will light up. B2B marketers are under constant pressure to get results from these types of ads.

So, make sure one is in your portfolio.

Okay, that’s the dream portfolio you want — a portfolio that, in my opinion, will double your chances of landing great clients. So, get writing!

And if you’re looking for help …

A Shortcut to Building an Awesome B2B Portfolio

Take a course or training program that includes portfolio-building assignments. Ideally, one where you can create B2B writing samples like those I just described.

Ensure that, during the program, you’ll get expert feedback on your assignments, so your B2B writing samples are top-notch and likely to impress clients.

You also want your samples to look good from a design perspective. (Sending clients a raw Word or Google Doc sends the wrong message.)

There’s another good reason to jump into a training program that features portfolio building. You learn by doing .

By actually writing a real-world case study, product description page, marketing email, social media sponsored post, and article, you rapidly become a better, more skilled B2B writer.

Double Your Chances of Landing the Client

Now let’s return to the scenario I started with earlier. You’re talking to a potential client. They ask to see an example of a case study and marketing email you wrote.

But this time you confidently respond, “Sure. I’ll email those to you right now.”

By being able to say that, you’ve just doubled your chances of landing that client.

My advice? Give yourself that advantage.

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How to Write a Use Case for Products (+ Template)

A use case allows you to imagine how a potential customer might use your product—in the ways you intend and in ways that surprise you.

When launching a new product, your vision for its use might differ from how customers actually use it. George Nissen, the gymnast who invented the modern trampoline, probably didn’t expect his exercise equipment would become a popular children’s toy. In other words, he probably didn’t foresee this use case —a product development framework that helps identify target audiences and hone in on your product’s value.

What is a use case?

A use case is a detailed description of how something is used to achieve a specific goal. For example, the use case for your refrigerator is storing food at low temperatures to prevent spoilage.

Formal use cases are commonly used in software development to map out how a hypothetical user will interact with a new feature. Other industries create use cases to identify key audiences and develop products that satisfy their needs.

How use cases work in software development 

In the tech industry, a use case is a detailed document outlining the steps a user takes to achieve a goal using a not-yet-developed product, typically a new software feature.

Different combinations of users, goals, and actions yield different scenarios, and the use case for a single product can include multiple scenarios. The goal of a tech use case is to ensure the software meets user goals and to anticipate potential issues.

For example, in a use case for a mobile banking app, one scenario might involve a user entering incorrect login credentials multiple times, locking them out of their account. By identifying this issue during product research and development , the developers could implement a feature that lets users reset their passwords securely before launch.

How use cases work in other industries

Use cases in industries that make physical products differ from those used in the world of software development. A use case for a physical product focuses less on pinpointing errors and more on understanding and connecting with the target audience.

Developers and marketers of physical products create use cases to identify problems their product will solve for different users. A use case for a new fridge might focus on an ergonomic handle that’s more comfortable for people with arthritis. This would involve asking people with arthritis to test the handle to ensure it meets their needs. Marketing materials could then use language and imagery appealing to this audience.

📖Read more: How To Find a Product to Sell: 16 Proven Methods

Benefits of use cases

Hone in on the product’s value, prioritize key features, gain marketing insights.

A good use case can help you do the following:

Because a use case outlines exactly how your product helps your target audience achieve their goals, it can assist in illustrating your product’s value. Although you don’t share your use case with customers, it informs your unique value proposition and marketing materials.

Exploring different use cases for your product can reveal new, unexpected values and audiences. For example, a desktop mini fridge initially intended for beverages might also appeal to those needing refrigeration for skin care products. In tech, these alternative scenarios describe situations where users “misuse” software—or use it in unexpected ways. By anticipating alternative scenarios for your product, you can provide product attributes that better serve your users.

Understanding how your audience uses your product helps you identify and prioritize essential features or benefits to meet customer needs. This can also help with project planning and budgeting by focusing resources on the most critical features.

The key benefits you identify also form the basis for test cases, which validate the efficacy of your product’s features.

Product marketing relies on use cases to convey a product’s value to various audiences. Tailoring the language in marketing materials to the target audience and their specific use of the product ensures the message resonates.

Aligning your messaging with how your audience views their challenge or problem can make it easier for them to see your product as a solution.

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How to write a use case for a product

• Select a user
• Describe the user’s goal
• Show how the product helps achieve this goal
• Identify key takeaways

In retail, a use case typically describes how a hypothetical customer interacts with and benefits from your product. You may need several use cases to cover various customer interactions. Our use case template can help you write your first one quickly and can provide a helpful framework for each additional use case.

Here’s how to write your first use case:

1. Select a user

Write a brief description of a hypothetical user from your target audience by asking, “Who is this product for?” Then create a use case for each user you identify.

For example, if your product is a collapsible bike helmet, the user might be an urban professional who rides their bike to a coworking space.

2. Describe the user’s goal

Once you’ve chosen a user, describe their goal or pain point related to your product. Focus on the user’s perspective, incorporating insights from customer feedback , surveys , or social listening . Capture how the user actually perceives their goal or pain point, not how you hope they see their pain point.

For the commuter cyclist, the pain point might be a typical helmet’s clunkiness. They want to stay safe, but their helmet doesn’t fit in their work bag, and there’s nowhere to store it at the coworking space. It’s also inconvenient when meeting friends for dinner after work.

3. Show how the product helps achieve this goal

Explain how the hypothetical user will use your product to solve their problem or achieve their goal. For a physical product, describe when and where they will use it and highlight the most important features or benefits.

There’s only one way to wear a bike helmet—on your head—but different users may be drawn to different features and use it in different settings. For instance, the commuter cyclist wears the collapsible helmet on their commute to the coworking space, then stashes it in their bag while working. They put it back on to meet friends for dinner, then stow it away once at the restaurant, repeating the process for the ride home.

4. Identify key takeaways

A use case isn’t something you write once and never look at again. Use it to help your marketing clearly demonstrate how your product can solve users’ challenges.

For instance, key takeaways from the commuter cyclist use case might include the need for a helmet small enough to fit in a messenger bag, work tote, or backpack. Since users frequently collapse and open the helmet, going from storage mode to biking mode and back again needs to be quick and easy. You can demonstrate this to potential customers in video ads on social media.

📖Read more: Types of Advertising: 14 Ways to Market a Product

Repeat this process for each target audience. You can then compile your product’s use cases into a single document to reference for promotional campaigns.

Product use case example

Most products have a variety of use cases. Consider the Slick Salve lip balm from skin care company Topicals . According to Roxana Ontiveros, product marketing lead at Tropicals, the balm was developed with multiple use cases in mind.

“It’s not only for a person who has existing dryness, but it’s also for people who are on Accutane,” she says. “And then it’s also a good use case for someone who maybe wants a cosmetic benefit. So they want something that’s kind of slick, kind of glossy.”

Even the name Slick Salve captures these different use cases: “Slick” describes the cosmetic appeal of glossy lips, while “salve” conveys its healing properties. For Roxana, use cases are an essential part of her goal of capturing as many audiences as possible while still being specific with the product storytelling and messaging.

What is a use case FAQ

What is the difference between a scenario and a use case.

In software development, a scenario (or use case instance) describes a single instance of a hypothetical user interacting with the product to achieve their goal. A use case diagram or document consists of various scenarios. In physical product development, the term use case is commonly employed instead of scenario.

What is the goal of a use case?

The goal of writing a use case is to outline how future users will use your product to meet their goals or needs, or solve their problems. A use case helps you identify target audiences and their needs for product development and marketing.

What is the difference between a use case and a case study?

A case study is a promotional document that tells the story of a real-life customer to prospective customers. A use case is an internal document that describes a hypothetical user and their goals.

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M.P.W., Master of Professional Writing, University of Southern California J.D., Case Western Reserve University School of Law B.A., English, University of Notre Dame

Patricia Chambers, an accomplished legal professional and educator with a robust background in business communication and marketing, joined the Department of Retailing at the University of South Carolina in fall 2024. She holds a J.D. from Case Western Reserve University School of Law, an M.P.W. from the University of Southern California, and a B.A. in English from the University of Notre Dame. Chambers was an assistant teaching professor at Bowling Green State University for a year prior to joining South Carolina. At BGSU, she taught the course effective business communication while serving on numerous faculty committees.

Before joining Bowling Green State University, Chambers served as a visiting instructor at Miami University, where she taught professional communication for business students. Her innovative and equity-based teaching methods fostered vibrant classroom environments, both in-person and online. Chambers was also actively involved in the English Department's steering committee and completed the New Faculty Teaching Enhancement Program.

Chambers' extensive teaching experience includes her role as a professor at Marymount California University, where she taught a wide range of business communication and marketing courses. She applied immersive, low-stakes/high-stakes pedagogy and developed real-world marketing projects that connected students with university athletics departments. Her leadership in faculty senate roles and curriculum development significantly contributed to the academic community at Marymount.

In addition to her academic career, Chambers has a wealth of experience in marketing and management. She served as the marketing director for Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud & Romo, where she strategized business development plans and managed extensive marketing activities. Chambers also held marketing roles at Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Sidley & Austin, demonstrating exceptional skills in business development and public relations.

Chambers' commitment to education and professional development is evident through her numerous certifications and memberships, including the National Council of Teachers of English and Sigma Beta Delta, Business Honor Society. She has presented at various conferences and workshops, sharing her expertise in teaching, equity and mindfulness.

Awards / Honors

Research interests, professional affiliations, book chapters, research publications.

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• Generative AI

ChatGPT Study Finds Training Data Doesn’t Match Real-World Use

Study reveals gap between ChatGPT's training data and real-world uses, highlighting need for careful AI implementation in content strategies.

• ChatGPT's training data mismatches its typical use cases.
• The tool struggles with current events and niche topics.
• Understand AI limitations and maintain human oversight.

A study by the Data Provenance Initiative, a collective of independent and academic researchers dedicated to data transparency, reveals a mismatch between ChatGPT’s training data and its typical use cases.

The study , which analyzed 14,000 web domains, found that ChatGPT’s training data primarily consists of news articles, encyclopedias, and social media content.

However, the most common real-world applications of the tool involve creative writing, brainstorming, and seeking explanations.

As the study states,

“Whereas news websites comprise nearly 40% of all tokens… fewer than 1% of ChatGPT queries appear to be related to news or current affairs.”

Diving deeper into usage patterns, the researchers analyzed a dataset called WildChat, containing 1 million user conversations with ChatGPT. They found that over 30% of these conversations involve creative compositions such as fictional story writing or role-playing.

This mismatch suggests that ChatGPT’s performance may vary depending on the specific task and its alignment with the tool’s training data.

Marketers should know that ChatGPT might struggle to generate content based on current events, industry-specific knowledge, or niche topics.

Adapting To ChatGPT’s Strengths & Limitations

Knowing what ChatGPT is trained on can help you align prompts with the tool’s strengths and limitations.

This means you may need to add more context, specify the desired tone and style, and break down complex tasks into smaller steps.

For AI-assisted content creation, leverage ChatGPT for tasks like ideating social posts or email subject lines. Reserve human expertise for complex, industry-specific content.

Use effective prompt engineering to optimize output. Always fact-check and edit AI-generated content to ensure quality.

AI tools can accelerate ideation and content creation but don’t expect perfection. Human review is essential for accuracy, brand consistency, and channel-specific copy.

Looking Ahead

This research highlights the need for marketers to be careful with AI tools like ChatGPT.

Understand what AI can and can’t do and combine it with human expertise. This combo can boost content strategies and help hit KPIs.

As the field evolves, we might see AI tools better tailored to real-world usage patterns.

Until then, remember that it assists but doesn’t replace expert judgment.

Featured Image: Emil Kazaryan /Shutterstock

Matt G. Southern, Senior News Writer, has been with Search Engine Journal since 2013. With a bachelor’s degree in communications, ...

The Use of Big Data Analytics in E-commerce Marketing: A Case Study of Morocco

• Conference paper
• First Online: 18 August 2024
• Cite this conference paper

• El Yousfi Hicham 24 ,
• Zrida Abdelilah 24 ,
• Najih Imane 24 &
• Imane Abdelghaffar 24  

Part of the book series: Information Systems Engineering and Management ((ISEM,volume 6))

Included in the following conference series:

• The International Workshop on Big Data and Business Intelligence

Big data analytics in e-commerce marketing is an evolving concept that alludes to injecting big data into e-commerce platforms’ ecosystem to gain a competitive advantage. The concept of Big data analytics is defined by the three V’s: high Variety, High Volume, and High Velocity according to Gartner Inc. that underscores the importance of leveraging data-driven insights in e-commerce marketing in Morocco, by effectively managing large volumes of data, processing information at high speeds, and handling diverse data types, Moroccan e-commerce businesses can unlock valuable insights, drive targeted marketing efforts, and achieve competitive advantages in the rapidly evolving digital marketplace.

This paper explores the utilization of big data analytics in e-commerce marketing, with a specific focus on the Moroccan market. In recent years, the e-commerce landscape in Morocco has witnessed significant growth, driven by increasing internet penetration and consumer adoption of digital technologies. As e-commerce businesses strive to remain competitive in this evolving market, the integration of big data analytics into marketing strategies has emerged as a crucial driver of success.

Understanding the motivations provides insight into this study's purpose, scope, and potential impact on both academic research and practical applications in the Moroccan e-commerce sector, despite the growing importance of e-commerce and big data analytics worldwide, there remains a scarcity of research focusing specifically on the Moroccan market. To adopt the technology of Big Data and to foster innovation and competitiveness in the sector, This study presents a case study analysis of the application of big data analytics in e-commerce marketing in Morocco, the complexity of the system increases, so too does the need for sophisticated information drawing on empirical data and theoretical frameworks. A comprehensive examination of a real-world e-commerce marketing campaign highlights the benefits, challenges, and implications of leveraging big data analytics for marketing purposes in the Moroccan context. The findings shed light on the effectiveness of big data analytics in enhancing customer segmentation, personalizing marketing communications, and optimizing marketing ROI. Furthermore, the study discusses the broader implications of these findings for e-commerce businesses in Morocco, offering insights into the future of data-driven marketing strategies in the region.

The article contributes to the academic literature by providing empirical data and theoretical insights specific to the Moroccan context, which can be a valuable resource for scholars, researchers, and students interested in e-commerce, big data analytics, and emerging markets.

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Hicham, E.Y., Abdelilah, Z., Imane, N., Abdelghaffar, I. (2024). The Use of Big Data Analytics in E-commerce Marketing: A Case Study of Morocco. In: Farhaoui, Y. (eds) Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, IOT and Block Chain in Healthcare: From Concepts to Applications. BDBI 2024. Information Systems Engineering and Management, vol 6. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-65018-5_40

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16 Important Ways to Use Case Studies in Your Marketing

Updated: September 08, 2020

Published: July 30, 2020

When you're thinking about investing in a product or service, what's the first thing you do?

Usually, it’s one or both of the following: You'll likely ask your friends whether they've tried the product or service, and if they have, whether they would recommend it. You'll also probably do some online research to see what others are saying about said product or service. Nowadays, 90% of consumers used the internet to find a local business in the last year , and 82% of consumers read online reviews. This shows that the majority of people are looking to peers to make a purchasing decision. Most customers know that a little online research could spare them from a bad experience and poor investment of your budget.

What Is a Marketing Case Study?

A case study is the analysis of a particular instance (or "case") of something to demonstrate quantifiable results as a result of the application of something. In marketing, case studies are used as social proof — to provide buyers with the context to determine whether they're making a good choice.

A marketing case study aims to persuade that a process, product, or service can solve a problem. Why? Because it has done so in the past. By including the quantitative and qualitative outcomes of the study, it appeals to logic while painting a picture of what success looks like for the buyer. Both of which can be powerful motivators and objection removers.

Why Use Case Studies?

In essence, case studies are an invaluable asset when it comes to establishing proof that what you're offering is valuable and of good quality.

According to HubSpot's State of Marketing Report 2020 , 13% of marketers name case studies as one of the primary forms of media used within their content strategy. This makes them the fifth most popular type of content, outshined only by visual content, blogs, and ebooks.

Okay, so you know case studies work. The question is, how  do they work? And how can you squeeze the most value out of them? 

When to Use a Case Study

Here are the ways you can market your case studies to get the most out of them.

As a Marketing or Sales Asset

1. use a case study template to create pdfs for email or downloads . .

Do not underestimate the value of providing social proof at just the right time in order to add value and earn their business. Case studies are extremely effective in the consideration stage of the buyer's journey when they are actively comparing solutions and providers to solve a problem they're experiencing. 

For this reason, case studies in an independent PDF format can be helpful in both marketing and sales. Marketers can use these PDFs as downloads in web content or email campaigns. Sales reps can utilize these assets in demonstrations, in a follow-up, or to overcome objections. 

The easiest way to create PDF case studies is by using a case study template . Doing so can decrease the amount of time you spend creating and designing your case study without sacrificing aesthetics. In addition, you can ensure that all your case studies follow a similar branded format. 

We've created a great case study template (and kit!) that's already locked and loaded for you to use. All you have to do is input your own text and change the fonts and colors to fit your brand. You can download it here .

On Your Website

2. have a dedicated case studies page..

You should have a webpage exclusively for housing your case studies. Whether you call this page "Case Studies, "Success Studies," or "Examples of Our Work," be sure it's easy for visitors to find.

Structure on that page is key: Initial challenges are clear for each case, as well as the goals, process, and results.

Get Inspired:  Google’s Think With Google is an example of a really well structured case study page. The copy is engaging, as are the goals, approach, and results.

3. Put case studies on your home page.

Give website visitors every chance you can to stumble upon evidence of happy customers. Your home page is the perfect place to do this.

There are a number of ways you can include case studies on your homepage. Here are a few examples:

• Customer quotes/testimonials
• A call-to-action (CTA) to view specific case studies
• A slide-in CTA that links to a case study
• A CTA leading to your case studies page

Get Inspired: Theresumator.com incorporates testimonials onto their homepage to strengthen their value proposition.

Bonus Tip: Get personal.

Marketing gurus across the world agree that personalised marketing is the future . You can make your case studies more powerful if you find ways to make them “match” the website visitors that are important to you.

People react to familiarity -- for instance, presenting someone from London with a case study from New York may not resonate as well as if you displayed a case study from the U.K. Or you could choose to tailor case studies by industry or company size to the visitor. At HubSpot, we call this "smart content."

Get Inspired: To help explain smart content, have a look at the example below. Here, we wanted to test whether including testimonials on landing pages influenced conversion rates in the U.K. The landing page on the left is the default landing page shown to visitors from non-U.K. IP addresses. For the landing page on the right, we used smart content to show testimonials to visitors coming from U.K. IP addresses.

4. Implement slide-in CTAs.

Pop-ups have a reputation for being annoying, but there are ways to implement that that won't irk your website visitors. These CTAs don't have to be huge, glaring pop-ups -- instead, relevant but discreet slide-in CTAs can work really well.

For example, why not test out a slide-in CTA on one of your product pages, with a link to a case study that profiles a customer who's seen great results using that product?

Get Inspired:  If you need some help on creating sliders for your website, check out this tutorial on creating slide-in CTAs .

5. Write blog posts about your case studies.

Once you publish a case study, the next logical step would be to write a blog post about it to expose your audience to it. The trick is to write about the case study in a way that identifies with your audience’s needs. So rather than titling your post “Company X: A Case Study," you might write about a specific hurdle, issue, or challenge the company overcame, and then use that company's case study to illustrate how the issues were addressed. It's important not  to center the blog post around your company, product, or service -- instead, the customer’s challenges and how they were overcome should take centre stage.

For example, if we had a case study that showed how one customer generated twice as many leads as a result of our marketing automation tool, our blog post might be something along the lines of: "How to Double Lead Flow With Marketing Automation [Case Study]." The blog post would then comprise of a mix of stats, practical tips, as well as some illustrative examples from our case study.

Get Inspired:   Check out this great example of a blog post from Moz , titled "How to Build Links to Your Blog – A Case Study."

6. Create videos from case studies.

Internet services are improving all the time, and as a result, people are consuming more and more video content. Prospects could be more likely to watch a video than they are to read a lengthy case study. If you have the budget, creating videos of your case studies is a really powerful way to communicate your value proposition.

Get Inspired: Check out one of our many video testimonials for some ideas on how to approach your own videos.

7. Use case studies on relevant landing pages.

Once you complete a case study, you'll have a bank of quotes and results you can pull from. Including quotes on product pages is especially interesting. If website visitors are reading your product pages, they are in a "consideration" mindset, meaning they are actively researching your products, perhaps with an intent to buy. Having customer quotes placed strategically on these pages is a great way to push them over the line and further down the funnel.

These quotes should be measured, results-based snippets, such as, “XX resulted in a 70% increase in blog subscribers in less an 6 months” rather than, “We are proud to be customers of XX, they really look after us."

Get Inspired: I really like the way HR Software company Workday incorporates video and testimonials into its solutions pages.

Off Your Website

8. post about case studies on social media..

Case studies make for perfect social sharing material. Here are a few examples of how you can leverage them on social:

• Share a link to a case study and tag the customer in the post. The trick here is to post your case studies in a way that attracts the right people to click through, rather than just a generic message like, “New Case Study ->> LINK." Make sure your status communicates clearly the challenge that was overcome or the goal that was achieved. It's also wise to include the main stats associated with the case study; for example, "2x lead flow," "125% increase in X," and so on.
• Update your cover image on Twitter/Facebook showing a happy customer. Our social media cover photo templates should help you with this!
• Add your case study to your list of publications on LinkedIn.
• Share your case studies in relevant LinkedIn Groups.
• Target your new case studies to relevant people on Facebook using dark posts. ( Learn about dark posts here. )

Get Inspired: MaRS Discovery District posts case studies on Twitter to push people towards a desired action.

9. Use case studies in your email marketing.

Case studies are particularly suited to email marketing when you have an industry-segmentable list. For example, if you have a case study from a client in the insurance industry, emailing your case study to your base of insurance-related contacts can be a really relevant addition to a lead nurturing campaign.

Case studies can also be very effective when used in product-specific lead nurture workflows in reactivating opportunities that have gone cold. They can be useful for re-engaging leads that have gone quiet and who were looking at specific areas of your product that the case study relates to.

Get Inspired: It's important that your lead nurture workflow content includes the appropriate content for where prospects are in the sales cycle. If you need help on how to do this, check out our post on how to map lead nurturing content to each stage in sales cycle .

Pro tip: When sending emails, don't forget about the impact a good email signature can make. Create your own using our free Email Signature Generator .

10. Incorporate case studies into your newsletters.

This idea is as good for your client relations as it is for gaining the attention of your prospects. Customers and clients love feeling as though they're part of a community. It’s human nature. Prospects warm to companies that look after their customers; companies whose customers are happy and proud to be part of something. Also, whether we are willing to admit it or not, people love to show off!

Get Inspired: Newsletters become stale over time. Give your newsletters a new lease of life with our guide on how to create newsletters that don't suck .

11. Equip your sales team with case studies.

Tailored content has become increasingly important to sales reps as they look to provide value on the sales call. It's estimated that consumers go through 70-90% of the buyer's journey before contacting a vendor. This means that the consumer is more knowledgeable than ever before. Sales reps no longer need to spend an entire call talking about the features and benefits. Sales has become more complex, and reps now need to be armed with content that addresses each stage of the buyer’s process. Case studies can be really useful when it comes to showing prospects how successful other people within a similar industry has benefited from your product or service.

Get Inspired: Case studies are just one type of content that helps your sales team sell. They don't always work by themselves, though. Check out our list of content types that help sales close more deals .

12. Sneak a case study into your email signature.

Include a link to a recent case study in your email signature. This is particularly useful for salespeople. Here's what my email signature looks like:

Get Inspired: Did you know that there are lots more ways you can use your email signature to support your marketing? Here are 10 clever suggestions for how you can do this.

13. Use case studies in training.

Having customer case studies is an invaluable asset to have when onboarding new employees. It aids developing their buy-in, belief in, and understanding of your offering.

Get Inspired: Have you completed our Inbound Certification course yet? During our classes, we use case studies to show how inbound marketing is applied in real life.

In Lead-Gen Content

14. include case studies in your lead gen efforts..

There are a number of offers you can create based off of your case studies, in the form of ebooks, templates, and more. For example you could put together an ebook titled “A step-by-step guide to reaching 10,000 blog subscribers in 3 months…just like XX did.” You could create a more in-depth version of the case study with access to detailed statistics as an offer. (And don’t forget, you can also u se quotes and statistics from case studies on the landing page promoting the ebook, which adds credibility and could increase your conversion rates.) Or, you could create a template based on your customer's approach to success.

Get Inspired:   If you think you need to be an awesome designer put together beautiful ebooks, think again. Create ebooks easily using these customisable ebook templates .

You can also use case studies to frame webinars that document how to be successful with X. Using case studies in webinars is great middle-of-the-funnel content and can really help move your leads further down the funnel towards becoming sales qualified leads.

Get Inspired: Webinars are really effective as part of a lead nurturing workflow. Make sure your next webinar is spot on by following these simple webinar tips.

15. Create a bank of evergreen presentations.

It’s important to build up a bank of evergreen content that employees across your organisation can use during presentations or demos. Case studies are perfect for this.

Put together a few slides on the highlights of the case study to stir people’s interest, and then make them available to your sales and customer-facing teams. It's helpful if the marketer who created the presentation is the one who presents it to anyone who might use them in the future. This ensures they can explain the presentation clearly and answer any questions that might arise.

Get Inspired: What to create presentations people want to use? Here's a list of tools to make your presentations great.

16. Create SlideShares based on case studies.

Following on from a few short slides, you could also put together a more detailed presentation of the case study and upload it to SlideShare. After all, not only is SlideShare SEO-friendly (because Google indexes each presentation), but there is a huge pre-existing audience on SlideShare of over 60 million users you can tap into. SlideShare presentations are also easy to embed and share, and allow you to capture leads directly from the slides via a lead capture form.

Get Inspired:   Want to generate more leads with SlideShare, but not sure how to get started? Check out this blog post .

Now that you understand the value of a marketing case study and the different ways that they can be used in your content marketing (and even sales) strategy, your next step is to think about what would convince your target audience to do business with you. 

Have you recently accomplished something big for a client? Do you have a process or product with demonstrable results? What do your potential clients hope that you'll do for them? 

The answers to those questions will help you craft compelling content for your case study. Then, all that's left is putting it into your audience's hands in formats they want to consume.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in January 2015 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

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