A case study is supposed to be an argument for a skeptical buyer to buy your product. However, most case studies fall flat because buyers don’t recognize their own situation in them. There’s usually too much jargon forced into the problem statement, too much product info jammed into the solution, too little detail of the results due to “confidentiality” and a quote that is so watered down its basically meaningless. In a word, fluff.
This post covers:
How to turn a stat into a headline that hooks the reader
How to use numbers to articulate the problem statement
How to keep your solution description from boring the reader to death
Why methodology matters more than product features.
How to present the results to stand up to scrutiny
How and where to incorporate customer quotes
How to create a headline that hooks the reader
The title of your case study is crucial because it’s basically the headline that hooks your buyer into reading the rest of it.
A format that works well is “How [customer] achieved [specific result] without [the painful alternative they avoided].”.
The “without” clause is the key. “How Asana cut review time by 60%” is a nice stat, but “How Asana cut review time by 60% without adding headcount” is an intriguing story, because it names the tradeoff the buyer thought was unavoidable. It keeps them reading.
How to articulate the problem statement
The problem statement describes the customer’s pre-transformation state, so you need your buyer to recognize themselves in it. Write it in 3 pieces, each with a stat attached: