Publishing case studies is one of the most effective B2B marketing tactics. This is not surprising, because such content is valued for describing the real experience of successful use of the product and acting as social proof.
Therefore, if you do not have enough facts, it is better to postpone writing it until better times. Otherwise, the reader will not believe the story of an abstract client who, with your help, achieved generalized high results. Of course, you can “think up” something on your own, but if you are convicted of this, it will be more difficult to regain the trust of the audience.
Your case should be useful and describe a solution to a common problem, not a highly specialized case. This is not the type of content that is read “just like that”. A potential customer, as it were, “trying on” the described situation for himself. Although readers may be interested in well-written cases that talk about solving non-standard problems and rare cases.
Keep this in mind, and it will be easier for you to choose a title, write an abstract and create a text structure.
Cases do not necessarily have to contain numbers in the conclusions. Often, the customer sets the task for the contractor to establish work processes, implement and configure something. Such experience is no less valuable. Therefore, if you do not have quantitative results of working with a client, this is not a reason to refuse to work on the material. Here is an example.
How to understand that you have a “ripe” topic for a case? Ask yourself or your colleagues a few questions:
If you answered yes to at least one of these points, you can proceed. By the way, sometimes a good case is not necessarily a success story. The ability to admit your mistakes and describe ways to correct them can inspire no less confidence. Therefore, anti-cases are now popular.
Some difficulties may arise here:
How we usually solve these problems:
When all the problematic points are settled, you can send a special questionnaire. It is convenient when you have a list of questions in advance for such a case and you can only change them slightly, depending on the specifics of the project. For example, the template from Ringostat is the basis, which we supplement with questions that are unique to a particular project.
As the saying goes: "The eyes are afraid, but the hands are doing." You have collected information, and now it needs to be organized. The easiest way to do this is when you already have the structure of the future text.
It is not necessary to blindly copy this diagram, but be aware that the reader usually expects to see answers to these questions in the case. You can write it in the form of a story, but you need to be sure that your storytelling is on top and you are not just “pouring water”.
It would be useful to see how experts in your or related fields write and format texts. A good example is case studies. We recommend that you read what they write. Although the information is in English, it is very useful and simply described.
Also, consider where the text will be published, on your blog or external resource. This will make the presentation different. In the first case, the user already knows about your product and is more loyal in advance. In the second, you need to write material that is as impartial as possible, but “catchy” to an audience that may never have heard of you or use the services of your competitors. Here is an example of this on the Vc.ru portal, which was written jointly with partners.
So, your text is ready. Now you need to check:
Do not forget that by publishing a case, you are positioning yourself as an expert, and you will be evaluated accordingly.
Sometimes, to write a good case, you need to involve other people who will help you notice the shortcomings:
Show the partner agency or client the finished text. It is advisable to specify the changes in writing, so that later there will be no claims to the material that you published. In this regard, Google Docs is convenient, in which you can provide other users with access, the ability to comment and correct the text.
Let's summarize what it takes to make a truly credible case.
Remember that no matter how valuable your experience is, no one wants to read a dry summary of facts. And most importantly, the case should contain useful information for the reader, and not be just a “wrapper” for your company's PR.
Case studies show customers how cool your business is: the competence of specialists, the workflow, the problems that you can solve. A good case proves expertise better than dull service descriptions. This is a powerful marketing tool, and you need to know how to use it. Let's figure out how to write case studies that will benefit the business.
We have a minimum of content on the site: a little about the services, a few words about the agency - and that's it. But we pretty much bother with cases - this is the main information that allows clients to understand how we can help.
For all the time we have been working, we have designed a hundred cases: for ourselves and clients, for placement on the site and PR. Successful and not so successful. Therefore, we know well how to write the right cases that will benefit the business. We share our experience with you: give advice, show cool examples.
Regardless of the direction of your business, the structure of cases will be plus or minus the same:
A good end to the case is a call to action. Like, let's do the same for you, please contact us. We made a template call on the site, which is automatically added to the end of each case.
It is not necessary to make a template. If you are not too lazy, write an individual call for each case - most likely, this will work better. But that's okay too
Before you start writing a case, we advise you to draw up a thesis plan. Just collect all the information in one document, think over the sequence of presentation and scatter the abstracts into the resulting sections. This is purely our editorial advice - it's easier to deal with a lot of information and not forget anything.
This section introduces the reader to the subject. Cases work best of all, in which the reader immediately understands: “Oh, yes, this is the same task as mine!”
Write a couple of paragraphs about the client - who contacted you, what he is known for, what he is good for. Praise your customers and show them from the good side - the coolness of counterparties says a lot about your business.
Then tell what problems the client had, why he contacted you. List the work you have done. If there is an expected or predictable result - you can specify it.
Example from our website:
No need to make huge descriptions for a whole page. The client and tasks can be described in a couple of paragraphs - this is an important, but not the most interesting part of the case
If the client has previously contacted other companies, and they failed to help, be sure to write about it. Such a detail will perfectly show the complexity of the project. But try not to impose your assessment of the situation on the reader - let him draw his own conclusion.
In our cases, we write a brief summary at the beginning - what we did, what results we got. So the reader immediately understands whether he is interested in this case or is it better to read another one. And then the standard scheme goes further: problem → solution → result.
If you like our case template - take it to your health =)
This is the most important and voluminous part of the case. It is by it that a potential client will judge your competence and approach to work.
How much to describe in detail - depends only on your desire. You can write an interesting case for a few paragraphs, or you can make a long detailed story with a description of each step.
Keep in mind that the shorter the case, the higher the chance that it will be read at all. If the project was simple, don't write it down to 100,500 pages. Briefly describe what you did and why. But if you have been conducting a large-scale study, building a business center, or doing something else complicated, it is a sin to hush up the details.
The storytelling format can be anything: a simple listing of facts, a step-by-step process, storytelling. It all depends on the audience and your ability to tell.
For example, for the recruiting agency Intella, we wrote short stories for a couple of minutes of reading.
Who were they looking for, what was the difficulty, how did they decide, where did they find it in the end - everything is short and concise
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Also, reviews from the client will fit well in this section. Ask them to tell you what they liked about your work, to voice the results. And try to get a detailed commentary. Testimonials like “It’s great, thank you” look unconvincing and don’t work well.
And don't be shy to tell me if something didn't work out for you. Explain why it happened, what conclusions you made, and how to prevent such situations in the future. This will not scare away potential customers, but on the contrary, it will show your honesty and openness. Everyone understands perfectly well that there is no business without jambs and failures.
We usually write a title to any text at the very end - when we already know exactly what is being discussed inside.
For cases, there are 2 successful header templates.
Explain the essence of the work. Describe in a few words what exactly you did. For example:
Show result. If you have a cool measurable result, you can put it right in the headline. Examples:
If the site design allows, you can combine both types. For example, the title shows the essence of the work, and the subtitle immediately reveals the result. This is how we do our cases.
In the tape you can immediately see the essence of the work and the result
If you worked with a well-known company, you can do a little promotion on it. Write the name of the client in the title - this will give the case extra weight:
Most companies write case studies like ordinary articles, which is convenient and fast. Also, such material can be placed on an external platform, and not only on your website.
Another option is to create a separate page template for your needs. We advise you to bother with this only when you have exactly decided on the structure and presentation of your cases. Write a couple of dozens of materials, draw up a perfect plan - and only then spend money and time on a template.
The Nimax agency draws up information about the client and the task according to a ready-made template: on the left is the logo, on the right is a neat text block and a link to the site
We also created a template - it saves time when designing. No need to think about what and how it should look like - just enter information into pre-prepared fields and that's it.
The third way to design a case is to make a new original design for each material. This approach is justified in areas where people "buy with their eyes" - for example, in design. Cases of designers and web developers should be beautiful in their own right - after all, this additionally shows the skill of companies.
The Func agency does not have two identically designed cases - each has its own layout and its own presentation. Such pages in themselves demonstrate the skill of the designer.
By the way, spending money on design and layout is optional. You can design your cases on a website builder - for example, on Tilda. There you can make a beautiful page without skills in design and web development. Everything is assembled from ready-made blocks like a constructor.
This is how we designed the case for Stereomarketing. It had a lot of small details, illustrations and comments - in the format of an article, it would have turned out to be porridge. With the help of Tilda, we put together a page in a day, which we are not ashamed to show to potential clients of the agency.
It turned out a neat and beautiful page: with examples, photo galleries and comments to clients
Find a balance between a cool wow design and an inconspicuous canvas of text. Making every case a work of art is justified only if your business is related to design. In other cases, just neatly formatted text, photos and screenshots will suffice.
The most obvious way to use cases is to create a “Portfolio” section on the site and throw all the work there. So site visitors will be able to learn more about your competence and approach to work.
But with the help of cases, you can also promote your business on external sites. If you have worked on a non-standard project or can boast of cool results, write a case article and publish it on some specialized site.
Our client, Kaiten Service, helps businesses organize team work and optimize the production process. The guys write case studies on projects from different niches and publish them on vc.ru. Such materials are seen by thousands of new people - and Kaiten receives a lot of transitions to the site and applications.
When writing a case for external placement, do not forget to briefly describe what you do in general. The local audience does not know your company, so you need to introduce yourself. And be sure to add a link to the site or contacts - so that interested readers can contact you.
The case does not have to be dry and boring. To make it read by as many people as possible, add a challenge, a provocation, a little yellowness. In we focused on an unexpected result - the dismissal of part of the staff. This caused a strong reaction from the audience, the case became viral and received a lot of views.
Of course, the material was not only about the dismissal - in it we showed all the work, cool results and a satisfied customer. As a result, one case provided Stereomarketing with orders for several months in advance.
By the way, we have . Read it if you want to publish the case in this media.
If you have few projects, then for all. At least for the first time, to gain a portfolio in which the client can get lost for an hour.
If there are already more than 10 completed projects, then there are two ways, both are good.
Tell about all projects. This is time consuming, and you need to think over the right navigation system - otherwise potential customers will not find anything. But a counter for 500 or 1000 completed projects will show your experience very convincingly.
Artemy Lebedev is following this path - there are almost 4,000 works on the studio's website, and new ones appear regularly
Choose only interesting ones. A well-known client, a non-standard task, a large-scale project, an outstanding result - your bros. To save time and effort, select projects that show your business from different angles: one case is about a large-scale project, another is about a difficult niche, the third is about tight deadlines, the fourth is about an unexpectedly cool result.
According to this principle, we wrote cases for the Intella agency. The guys have more than 1000 closed vacancies, and writing a story about each of them is very expensive and does not make sense.
Therefore, we have selected 20 interesting cases in which there is some kind of challenge. Each story stands out for something: special conditions from the client, a super-rare specialist, the need to act covertly, moving to another country, and so on.
When you have only 10 examples of work, finding the right one is pretty easy. When there are several tens or hundreds of them, potential customers will be lost in the list. Therefore, think over a system of categories and tags with which you can find a case on a topic of interest.
Look at an example of clear navigation - the portfolio of the IT-agency agency:
Works are sorted by areas and areas of activity - for example, you can quickly find cases on search promotion of online stores
Here is an example from our portfolio. We have fewer cases and fewer referrals, so navigation is not as cumbersome. For the first time, something like this will be enough for you:
Blitz tips for creating casesStandard Structure, which is suitable for most cases: who is the client → what task → what and how did you do it → what happened.
In the title, describe the essence of the work or show a cool result. If you've worked with a well-known company, include its name in the title - it will do you good.
At the end, put a call to action and indicate contacts. Don't force people who are interested in your work to look for ways to contact you.
Illustrate the case - show photos, screenshots, graphs. Include comments from staff members who worked on the project and client feedback to make the story more lively and compelling.
Remember that there are no cases without results. If you are talking about a long process that has not yet ended, show some intermediate result - what has changed in a month or six months of your work. If you continue to cooperate with the client, you can talk about plans for the future.
Don't forget to decorate the case nicely. Although the content is primary, they are still met by clothes. It is not necessary to make a work of design art with a bunch of animations - a neat enough design. Break the text into paragraphs, write headings, choose high-quality illustrations.
If you don’t want to spend money on the layout of a case template, you can design the material on Tilda or another website builder. There are no web development skills needed - the page is assembled from ready-made blocks like a constructor.
Cases do not have to be published only on your website. Write an interesting story about the project and offer it to thematic communities in social networks, blogs or the media. There are websites in every area of business that are happy to publish quality material. This is how a lot of new people get to know about your business.
A case can be made viral so that it gets maximum coverage. All PR techniques are suitable: provocation, the use of trends, the search for a common enemy. But don't overdo it - you're advertising your services, not just entertaining people.
Make it easy to navigate your portfolio- so that site visitors can easily find what they need.
We will select suitable projects, conduct interviews, write and design material. If necessary, we will agree on placement in the media.
We make cases that bring clients and money to the business, and do not just hang like a dead weight on the site.
Let's talk about your task.
Case (case-study) is an example of how you resolve a problematic business situation: yours or a client's. It serves as social proof, relieves fears of potential customers and promotes the product.
Describe the background information in detail:
Information about the customer. Tell readers about the client - who he is, what he does, why he decided to contact you.
Problem. Describe the situation with which the client came to you. Consider the cause of the problem, the pros and cons of the project. Perhaps the client has already tried to do something on his own or turned to other specialists.
Objective. Specify the final result that you planned to get.
Tasks. Outline ways to solve the problem. Show what methods you have chosen to achieve the goal.
Not all situations can be described by numbers. Ringostat blog editor Olga Feoktistova is sure that materials without quantitative results can also be useful and interesting. You can do without numbers even when introducing new or when setting up inefficient business processes.
Consistently present all your actions, confirm them with screenshots, tables and graphs. The case will be easier to read if the process is divided into several stages, which are accompanied by conclusions. So the client will see the benefit of every step you take.
Keep chronological order. Describe the difficulties, if any. The challenges you face give the project credibility and engage the reader. You prove your professionalism by revealing ways to solve problems.
If a team worked on the project, introduce it to your potential clients. Explain:
As you talk, insert customer feedback and comments from your experts in the form of sidebars. The live exchange will show how you organize the interaction.
The result can be presented in absolute or relative terms. Absolute values are expressed in rubles, pieces, tons, kilometers, users.
Specify exact numbers, but do not overdo it:
Complete the numbers and graphs with information:
A good end to the section will be an extended customer review: text or video.
The outcome of a case can be either successful or unsuccessful. Do not be afraid to write anti-cases - they are also part of your experience. You've already learned from failure and you're giving clients tips on how to avoid mistakes—for example, when promoting a summer camp for kids.
Create a small summary:
The reader who did not have the time or inclination to study the main text will quickly judge the outcome of the project by its conclusions.
Highlight the benefits received by your client. Consider who and how will be able to use your experience. If the reader is facing a similar problem, your tips and tricks for independent work will be useful to him. Finish the case with an invitation to cooperate, for example: “Do you want to achieve the same results? Get in touch!"
Before posting the text, check that:
Do you read cases of companies and specialists? Why? Write in the comments why the cases are interesting for you - it will be useful to everyone who will write them.
Winning the trust of potential customers is not easy. First you need to convince them of the validity of your promises. And only bare facts can help in this.
The best way to prove your value is to create a case. It can talk about the positive impact your offer has had on the business of existing or past customers.
To write a case, you need permission, quotes, and a plan. Here's what to look for when choosing a potential candidate:
Before you start working, you need to prepare the ground for communication. To do this, discuss expectations in advance and set deadlines.
The preparation of most cases is extended for an indefinite period of time because no deadlines have been set for clients, or all conditions have not been agreed. To avoid this, it is necessary to discuss organizational issues at the very beginning, and only then get to work.
To do this, you can send an email message with information about what the client should expect from , as well as what you expect from him. To facilitate communication, it is recommended to use the Case Study Consent Form and Success Story. What's this?
This document will vary depending on the size of your business, the type of activity and the purpose of the study. Here's what you need to pay special attention to:
When creating a Success Story, you need to pay attention to the following elements:
When compiling questionnaires and preparing interview questions, you need to make sure that you have done the maximum for future success. For research to be truly meaningful, it is important not just to ask questions, but to ask the right questions.
The following can be used in the questionnaire:
Remember that the questionnaire is designed to help you identify areas that you need to explore in more detail when conducting an interview.
When arranging a telephone interview, it is advisable to ask open-ended questions. If you want a compelling and useful story, yes-or-no questions will not suffice. Don't forget to ask clarifying questions: "Could you describe..." or "Tell me more about...".
To increase efficiency, it is recommended to break the interview into six parts: the client's business, the need to solve the problem, the decision-making process, the implementation, the solution in action, the result. Using these questions will allow you to collect enough information for a complete study. Here's what those sections might look like:
The purpose of this section is to better understand the current challenges and goals for the company and how they fit into the state of the industry.
Sample questions: How long have you been in this business? How many employees do you have? What are the current goals of your departments?
To create a good story, you need context. This will help you match the client's needs with your solution.
Sample questions: What problems and goals created the need to find a solution? What would happen if you didn't find a solution? Before working with us, did you apply solutions that did not work? If yes, what happened?
Understanding the decision-making process of existing customers will help you manage the decision-making processes of potential customers.
Sample questions: How did you hear about our product or service? Who was involved in the selection process? What was the most important thing for you when considering options?
In this section, attention should be paid to experience in the process of mastering a product or service.
Sample questions: How long did it take you to master the product or service? Did it meet your expectations? Who was involved in the process?
The purpose of this section is to better understand how a customer uses your product or service.
Sample questions: Is there any element of the product or service that you rely on the most? Who is using the product or service?
Here you need to pay attention to the impressive results and conclusions. The more numbers there are, the better.
Sample questions: How does the product or service help you save time and increase productivity? How has this affected your competitive advantage? How much did you manage to increase indicators A, B and C?
When it comes time to collect all the information received and write a case, it is easy to get confused. Where to begin? What to include? What structure to choose?
Remember that there is no recipe for the perfect case. But in any case, the format should be visual - using photos and videos.
Be sure to include the following items in your study:
So that you know what the result should be, it is useful to analyze the best cases from well-known brands. Some of the best examples can be found below.
All works of branding and design studio Corey McPherson Nash attract attention with bright visual elements. This is not surprising, because this is the scope of their professional activity. And the New England Journal of Medicine project was no exception. In it, the brand literally showed what results they managed to achieve.
This case differs in the way the client is represented in it. This approach is the credo of HubSpot: the customer always comes first. The study explains why Shopify uses HubSpot, complete with videos and statistics. Please note that this case combines different types of content.
IDEO knows a lot about simple cases. As soon as the user enters the page, he is greeted by a large photo and two simple columns with text: problem - solution. The whole process of cooperation is described in more detail and interestingly below.
In this case, the visual content (video) tells the whole story. It contains both information about the company and a description of the experience of working with Windmill Ultimate Frisbee.
When planning the content, you should try to present the collected information in the most understandable and simple way. Structure the text in a way that is easy to read, and be sure to add visuals and a call to action so that interested readers can learn more about your product or service.
The case is one of the most powerful tools that inspire confidence in the company from customers.
What does a customer want to see before placing an order? Concrete results in numbers, terms and profits that he can get.
Case studies can not only show what results can be achieved, but also motivate a potential client to place an order.
In this article, we will present our ideas on how a case should be in order to maximize its effectiveness.
In fact, the case can and should be used wherever there is a need for it. A good case will never be superfluous in any printed material or on the company's website.
Compare two headers:
Which of these headlines do you find more attractive?
The second heading motivates the reader to continue studying the material, especially if he is interested in purchasing the product.
Here we introduce the reader to the situation that the client faced before proceeding to solve the problem.
The text should clearly describe the problem from all sides. As well as the possible consequences of this problem.
We need to make the reader feel in the place of the company described in the case. He must feel and accept that he has the same problem that needs to be solved. Sometimes an urgent decision.
This can be called the most important part. What was done to solve the problem?
Describe in detail the product or service you used. Support information with numbers, graphs and tables.
Here you need to indicate what result you came to.
If you are describing a sales case, indicate in percentage terms how much sales have increased. In some projects, it will be more powerful to state the result in terms of money.
In the case when you were engaged in the promotion of sites, indicate the number of visitors "before" and "after" the use of the product / service.
An excellent addition or even reinforcement for the case will be a photo or video report on the work done. So that a potential client can clearly see what was done and how the work was carried out.
A product photo or a full-fledged presentation with the ability to independently switch slides will help the user understand the process and decide to work with you.
Even a well-written selling case can always be made even more selling.
Ask the head of the company about which the case is being written to leave a detailed review or write a letter of thanks. This will serve as an excellent reinforcement to the case itself.
By the way, you can use our checklist
What call to action can be used for ? Depends on your business.
If you sell products, you can direct the reader to the appropriate page on your site. In the case of the sale of services, indicate contacts for communication and motivate the user to contact you.
In any case, tell the user what to do next.
Case case - discord. There are no approved standards.
It is important to remember what you are for. To influence the reader's decision. So don't worry about size. Think about how to answer all the questions a potential client might have.
Show the result to which you can lead the client. Do it competently and without unnecessary "water". Prove that you can handle his task better than others.
A case is a powerful tool that can influence the client's decision to work with you.
More sales cases and loyal customers for you.
