The Components of an Effective Case Study

Case studies are a great and necessary piece of content for your brand. They validate the value of your company and serve as a strong testimonial to prospects and leads. The best part? They’re relatively easy to put together! Outlined below are all of the components that make up a great case study.

Research

A great case study can’t exist without the customer’s input and story of how they got where they are. If you’re at the point in the relationship where your customer is willing to do a case study, I’m going to assume you already have a good amount of information about them, but it can’t hurt to do an interview to gather the remaining details you’ll need to execute a compelling case study. This is your chance to ask your customer for solid data and actual numbers that validate both their success and how your product helped them reach that success.

Bonus: This serves as a good reminder to your customer of why your brand is so amazing!

After you’ve gathered the information you need, it’s time to put together the case study.

Executive Summary

This is where you’ll provide a high-level overview of the entire case study. Who the cucstomer is, the problem and challenges they were facing before they found you, and what you did to make them a happy customer. Don’t include the nitty gritty details here, but provide enough information to entice your reader to read more.

Challenges

This section should be all about the specific challenges your customer was facing. This is the section that your reader will relate to the most, so make sure you’re speaking to your buyer and talking about their pain points the way they would talk about them. Go into detail as much as you possibly can, and remember that this section is all about your customer—your chance to shine is coming up!

How You Helped

This is your moment to brag about your accomplishments with your customer. This section should include the specific things you did to help the customer overcome their challenges, and the results they saw from those efforts. This is your chance to showcase your product/service/solution, but make sure you’re relating how your product/service/solution solved your customer’s needs.

Conclusion

Wrap it up with any final thoughts from you or your customer. This is a good section to include a customer testimonial and describe where they’re at today because, after all, you had a part in helping them get there!

Promotion

Now that you have a shiny, new case study, it’s time to let the world know! The type of promotion you do will depend on who you wrote the case study for and what stage they’re at in the buyer’s journey. Some companies like to promote their case studies on their website for all to see, while others choose to keep them strictly for sales collateral that the sales team uses to seal deals. Others incorporate case studies into lead nurture or social promotion and target the appropriate leads—a good way to loop people back in.

However you decide to promote your case study, you should feel confident. You have done well enough for a customer to not only buy from you and have success, but they also trust you enough to let you tell others about their story. Be proud of your accomplishment, and whatever you do, don’t let your hard work go to waste!