Writing a case study page

Lead with the problem

The reader is scanning for their own situation. A case study opening with the outcome asks them to work backwards to find out whether it is relevant, and most will not bother before moving on.

So the first lines name the customer type, the problem and the constraint. A restaurant with three sites, no consistent booking system and a fortnight before the season started tells a reader immediately whether to keep reading.

That opening is also what makes the page findable, and what an answer engine can lift when somebody asks about a situation like it. Our page on answer-first writing covers why the shape that helps a hurried reader is the shape that survives being quoted.

The constraint is the interesting part

Anybody can describe a job that went smoothly. What demonstrates judgment is the part where something was difficult: the budget, the deadline, the thing you found when you opened the wall, the client who changed their mind.

Say what you decided and why, including the option you rejected. That reasoning is the closest thing to letting a prospective customer watch you work, and it is what separates a case study from a brochure.

It also handles the objection a reader is forming. Most people are not asking whether you can do the work; they are wondering what happens when it goes wrong.

Evidence, and what you may claim

Use real figures where you have them and permission to use them. Percentages and outcomes are claims about results, and our page on honest claims covers what has to be supportable.

Where you cannot publish figures, describe what changed in concrete terms. The kitchen was usable again by the Friday is evidence; a transformative result is not.

Never invent or estimate a number to make a case study stronger. Our page on what to keep off covers why case studies are the single most dangerous page type to embellish.

The shape that works

The arrangement below is what we would use for any trade. It is ordered by what the reader is deciding rather than by the order events happened in, which is the commonest structural mistake.

• Who the customer was, in type rather than by name if needed
• The problem, in their words
• The constraint that made it difficult
• What you decided, and what you rejected
• What you actually did
• The outcome, with real figures where permitted
• What you would tell somebody in the same position

Permission, before anything

Get written permission to name the customer, show the property and use any figures. A verbal yes on site is not enough when somebody later objects, and case studies are frequently read by the customer's competitors.

Offer an anonymized version. Plenty of customers who refuse to be named are happy for the work to be described, and a case study about a manufacturer in the Midlands is still persuasive.

Our page on images and copyright covers the photographs. Check for identifying detail you did not notice: signage, plates, documents and people in the background.

How many you need

Fewer than you think, chosen to cover the range of work you want more of. Three case studies across three different situations do more than a dozen describing the same job.

Pick the ones that represent work you want to repeat. A case study about a job you disliked will attract more of them, which is a real and frequently overlooked effect.

Then link each from the relevant service page. Our page on service pages covers where proof belongs, and a case study nobody reaches persuades nobody.

Keeping them honest over time

A case study describes a moment. Add the date, and where an outcome later changed, say so rather than leaving a claim that has quietly stopped being true.

Check the permissions still hold after a few years, particularly where a business has changed hands. The person who agreed may no longer be there and the new owner may object.

And remove any that no longer represent your work. A case study from a service you stopped offering attracts enquiries you have to turn down.