A new customer rarely asks what you can do. They ask whether you have done it for someone like them. A one-page case study answers that question in two minutes, and it can be written from a single job in an afternoon.
This article is for an owner or manager of a small company who has satisfied customers but nothing to show a new one. If you only need a short quote from a happy customer, start with asking happy customers for a testimonial. A case study goes one step further: it tells the story behind the quote.
Choose the job
Pick one job that is finished, recent enough to remember and easy to explain. Three tests help:
- There is a clear before and after. Something was slow, costly, missing or unreliable, and now it is not.
- A future customer would recognise the problem. A job that looks like your typical work is worth more than an unusual one.
- The customer is likely to say yes. Choose someone who was pleased and who is not bound by strict confidentiality rules.
The biggest customer is often a poor choice. Their approval takes longer, and their job may be too different from what most new customers need.
Write four short paragraphs
Keep the whole page to about 300 to 400 words. Each paragraph does one thing.
- The problem. Who the customer is (in a phrase, such as "a family-run building supplier with eight staff") and what was going wrong, in their own words where possible.
- What we did. The two or three main steps, in plain language. Leave out tool names unless the reader needs them to judge the work.
- The result. What changed, with one number if you have it, and one sentence from the customer if they are happy to give it.
- What happens next. Whether the work continues, and who a reader should contact if their problem looks similar.
Write in short sentences and avoid praise of your own company. The facts should carry the page.
Use one number as proof
One honest number is stronger than five vague claims. Good candidates are time saved per week, orders handled per day, days from enquiry to answer or the share of invoices paid on time.
Check the number before you use it:
- It comes from the customer's own records or from something both sides can see, not from your estimate.
- You state the period it covers, for example "in the three months after launch".
- You compare it with a clear starting point, such as the same measure before the work began.
If no reliable number exists, say what changed in plain words instead of inventing one. "The owner now reads one sheet instead of three spreadsheets" is a fair result.
Ask for permission first
Never publish a customer's name, logo, quote or figures without their agreement. A short request by email is enough:
- Say what you would like to publish and where, for example on your website and in proposals.
- Attach the draft so they can see every word.
- Ask them to reply with "yes", or to mark changes.
- Offer to make the customer anonymous if they prefer.
- Keep their reply with the case study file.
Allow them to withdraw later. If they do, remove the page promptly and tell them it is done.
Where to use it
A finished case study is useful in several places:
- As a page on your website, linked from the service it describes.
- As an attachment to proposals, next to your one-page proposal.
- In a reply to an enquiry that sounds like the story in the case study.
- In a short post or newsletter item with a link to the full page.
Review it once a year. If the numbers are old or the customer has changed, update it or retire it.
Common mistakes
- Starting with your company instead of the customer's problem
- Using a number nobody can check
- Writing "we delivered a world-class solution" instead of saying what was delivered
- Publishing before the customer has read the final text
- Telling three jobs in one page, so none is clear
- Waiting for a perfect job and writing nothing
Checklist
- One finished job with a clear before and after
- Four short paragraphs, about 300 to 400 words
- One number with its source and period
- The customer's written agreement saved with the file
- A named place where the page will be used
- A date to review it next year
Sources
- Practical guidance based on common small-business marketing practice, offered as a planning aid. The structure, length and wording are starting points to adapt to your own company. No client results or market figures are claimed in this article.
