One of the best marketing materials a business can produce is a case study. They help you build trust among potential clients and can push a lead from potential, to confirmed.
Case studies provide the perfect opportunity to prove to potential clients that your business has the capability to meet their needs and complete related projects successfully, in detail. The reader should be taken on a journey through the project, from start to finish, highlighting any issues and successes along the way, covering all aspects of the project.
Unfortunately, for some people writing content for their website can be time consuming, tedious, and challenging. Sometimes, you don’t even know where to start. You have a lot to say but don’t know how to say it. You want the audience to understand that you can handle their project, by showing them previous projects you’ve successfully completed.
The following steps aim to guide you through writing a high quality case study for your website, making the process quick and easy.
Brief Overview – Who? What? Where? When?
Before getting into the detail, it’s important to provide some basic information regarding the who, what, where, when, of the project. All this requires is no more than a sentence for each of the following areas. Here is a structure for you to try:
Title: Name of the project
Project: What did the project consist of?
Service: What service did you provide?
Client: Who was the project for?
Location: Where was the project completed?
Date: What was the date?
Duration: How long did the project last?
This will provide the reader with enough basic information to decide if this case study is similar to their desired project. This is of most use if your business provides multiple services and have case studies focusing on different services.
Tell the story
Once you’ve given your audience an overview, it’s time to begin the main body and get into the detail of the project and its outcomes.
You should start by elaborating more on the already mentioned items but in more detail. For example:
- When did you start the project?
- Why did the client need your services?
- How long did you have to complete the project?
- What services were used?
Once the reader has been provided with all of the information regarding what the project was for, it is time to talk about what happened during the project. You need to take the reader on a journey through the project. For example:
- What was the problem?
- How was this affecting the client?
- What was done to solve it?
- How was that solution implemented?
- Were there any issues? (If so, how were they resolved)
Use as much detail as you feel would be necessary for the reader to know, however not so much that they lose interest. The information needs to be detailed but concise. A big issue with case study copy is that irrelevant details can bore the reader and maybe even prevent them from truly digesting what it is the company does, resulting in the loss of that potential lead.
Following this, you want to highlight the outcome of the project. You want to tell the reader about how the project was a great success, how deadlines were met, how communication was thorough and most importantly, how did the client benefit from the work and service that was provided. This provides you, the writer, with the opportunity to shout about your achievements and why your service will be most beneficial your prospective client.
TOP TIP: Treat references to the service used during the project as call to actions (CTA’s) within the case study. That way if people want to find out more, they can link directly to that page on your website.
Testimonials or Recommendations
Finally, if you have obtained a testimonial or recommendation from the client you worked with for the project, this should definitely be included. However, if you don’t have one at hand and are unable to obtain one, it is not the end of the world.
It doesn’t need to be a long paragraph, and can be as little as a sentence from the client saying how their experience working with you was. The more testimonials and recommendations you have at your disposal the better, as this builds trust by showing the reader that others have had a successful time working with you.
… and that concludes your case study!
For further guidance, please download our Case Study Template, providing a clear structure for everything mentioned in this article. Simple fill in your details to get your FREE Case Study Template!
