A case study is one customer's story, told with real details. It convinces the next customer more than any claim you make about yourself, because it shows instead of tells.
Pick the right customer
Choose a customer whose situation looks like the customers you want more of. A great result for an unusual client helps less than a good result for a typical one.
Ask early, while the result is fresh. Explain what you would share, where it would appear, and that they will approve it first.
Interview them
Twenty minutes on a call is enough. Ask about their situation, not your work.
- What was going on before we worked together?
- What had you already tried?
- Why did you choose us?
- What changed afterwards? Can you put a number on it?
- What would you tell someone in your situation?
Record the call, with permission, or take careful notes. Their exact words become your best quotes.
The structure
- A summary. Two lines with the customer, the problem and the result. Many readers stop here.
- The situation. Who they are and what was going wrong.
- The solution. What you did, in plain steps.
- The result. What changed, with numbers where you have them.
- A quote. In the customer's own words.
- A next step. How a reader like them can get the same.
A template
Greenleaf Café: from phone orders to online ordering in three weeks
Summary. A busy café was losing evening orders to a ringing phone. After moving orders online, it now takes about a third of its orders through its own site.
The situation. Greenleaf is a 30-seat café with a small team. In the evening rush, nobody could answer the phone, and delivery apps took a large share of each order.
What we did. Added ordering to their existing site, connected it to their till and trained the team in one session.
The result. About a third of orders now come through the site, with no app fees on those orders. Evening calls dropped sharply.
In their words. "We stopped choosing between the customer in front of us and the one on the phone." Ana, owner.
Next step. Run a café with the same problem? Write to us for a free 20-minute review.
Keep it honest
- Use real numbers, and say how they were measured.
- Do not round results up or pick the best day.
- If you have no numbers, use the honest details: a before and after, time saved, the customer's own words.
- Get the customer's approval on the final version.
A modest, true result builds more trust than a big claim people doubt.
Use it everywhere
Put the case study on your website, near the service it describes. Link to it in proposals and sales emails. Turn the story into a LinkedIn post. Pull the quote into a testimonial.
If you do not have a case study yet, start smaller. Ask for a testimonial after your next good result. Many case studies start as one good quote.