Most case studies have four parts:
1. Situation — the opening section describes the rationale for the case study, including the client’s background, its current market position, and the areas of expertise that your company has contributed.
You may also mention why the client selected you this project, e.g. previous deployments, awards, industry recognition.
2. Problem — the following section states the main problem which needs to be resolved, such as system performance, market expansion requirements, or new government legislation.
3. Solution — this is heart of the document. It describes the solution in detail, how it was implemented, the impact on users, methodologies, and other factors that contributed to the overall deployment.
Many case studies use sidebars, charts and graphs to highlight key points.
4. Evaluation — in the final section, conclude the document by evaluating the solution’s impact (usually positive), discuss lessons learned, and the next steps to be taken.
Areas to Highlight
As mentioned earlier, a case study is a ‘soft-sell’ sales document. Its role is to highlight your abilities without resorting to ‘market-speak’ and sales clichés.
An effective approach to catch the reader’s attention (who is frequently a potential client) is to explore how the solution helped end-users and the target group.
Support your argument with direct quotes (with their names, if possible) from personnel who’ve adopted your system or use your services.
To make this work, concentrate on how the solution resolved one very specific issue and then build the case study around this.
Warning: don’t complicate the case study by addressing multiple issues – stick to one subject and explain how you solved the problem in measurable and quantifiable terms.
Support your case study with statistics, figures and tables.
Areas to focus on include:
Return on Investments — how did the investment in your product pay for itself. For example, it increased productivity by 50% within 2 months. Explain how you can substantiate this; otherwise, your argument loses credibility.
Cost Containment – how does the solution help companies contain costs? This area is very important as budgets are always a sensitive issue. If you can illustrate how another company who adopted your solution saved money then you’ll keep the reader’s interest.
Reducing Barriers — explain how your solution improves internal operations and assists management planning. For example, how does it fit into a system’s workflow and business procedures? Alternately, mention how your system integrates with other applications and business critical applications.
When compiling the final draft avoid making it too dry and overwhelming the reader with excessive figures. Rather, keep the tone light, easy-to-read while highlighting the key points.
Remember: case studies that oversell themselves by proposing to ‘solve all problems to all people’ aren’t read. No-one believes such claims.
Last Words
Perfecting your case study takes hard work. But, once you refine the words and polish the edges, you have a very powerful marketing tool.
Indeed, those who download your Case Study will keep it on file and use it as a reference.
Once this occurs, the reader sees you as a credible, trustworthy and reliable source of information — the type of company people want to do business with.
PS: Case Study Template Pack Strengthen your marketing toolkit with this Case Study Template Pack and quickly prepare professional and stylish case studies.
Click over here to look at the 3 very stylish templates, a case study tutorial, information gathering form and case study checklist.
http://www.klariti.com/templates/Case-Study-Template.shtml
Need help with your web writing? Click here for a Free Quote
Comments on this entry are closed.