In this post, we’ll go over everything you need (complete with examples) on how to write a case study. 

We will show you ho to think about a case study, what medium you should consider using and what aspects and data need to go into a case study.

In a world of increased online competition, the case study is a pretty powerful tool.

How?

Increasingly companies and entrepreneurs have come to realize how an SEO-rich case study can establish authority and differentiate themselves in their field.

You write a case study because you want to help your intended audience (ie your potential customer) to understand a specific methodology in how you can help solve their problems.

It is a research design that provides a reader with comprehensive and in-depth knowledge by way of revealing a problem, affording background information, and a description of either an existing or proposed solution.

A case study can also be defined as a form of encouragement put in writing, to motivate a reader to figure out a solution.

As someone tasked to write a case study, your objective is to relate to the reader using your experience or knowledge in dealing with or handling the problem or situation.

What Is A Case Study?

A case study describes a specific challenge a business has faced, and the solution they’ve chosen to solve it.

Case studies can vary greatly in length, forum and focus on a number of details related to the initial challenge and applied solution, and can be presented in various forms like:

• ebook
• video
• blog post
• podcast
• infographic

It’s common for a case study to tell the story of a successful business partnership between a vendor and a client.

Perhaps the success you’re highlighting is in the number of leads your client generated, customers closed, or revenue gained.

When done correctly, these case study examples of your work can show the positive impact your business has on existing or previous customers and help you attract new clients.

The History of the Case Study

People have been using case study’s to convince people since the dawn of time.

The earliest Roman and Greek orators used case studies effectively to try and convince their fellow citizens that they are the right person to lead them into battle or a reform.

The ancient ruins of Paestum Italy remains of religious buildings of the ancient Greek domination.

However, the modern case study dates back to the early nineteenth century.

It was first used not so much as a tool for persuasion but a method to do scientific research.

Say what now?

Of courses, there is some debate over where the case study originated, but it is generally accepted that the methodology adopted for writing such studies originated with French economist and sociologist Pierre Guillaume Frédéric Le Play.

He is believed to have created what is known as the modern case study method in 1829 to better examine his statistical data.

From Le Play’s methodology came the written documents we know today as case studies.

The case study method caught on and scientists all around the world began using Le Play’s methods for testing their own theories and hypotheses before publishing the results.

By the middle-to-late nineteenth century, case studies were used as teaching tools for developing new theories and hypotheses.

By the start of the twentieth century, entrepreneurs began looking at using the case study to develop their own theories and ideas.

Today, the case study is a document that is no longer confined to just developing theories and hypotheses.

It is a document that also makes a case for a particular solution to a given problem.

This is where it is most valuable as SEO-rich online content.

When To Write A Case Study

This is what you really want to know, right?

A case study is feasible when you need to build and collect information about a subject in the real world.

It is not hypothetical.

It is not purely academic.

It is not some pretend situation.

This is something that ACTUALLY happened!

Writing a case study varies from one need to another.

I will be discussing the essential steps on how to do it right.

But there are no uniform or fixed criteria when to write a case study, and the reason is that your subject or its scope may compel you to write multiple case studies.

You may write one complicated and extensive case study to explore and showcase a single topic in the most comprehensive way possible.

On the other hand, you may have to go for multiple case studies if there’s a need to compare various subjects or issues in the research problem.

Before you proceed in writing a case study, you need to embrace these initial steps first:

• Identify the specific issue or situation on which to write.
• Obtain information about the issue or situation.
• Do a comprehensive analysis of the aspects, factors, and elements that influence the issue or situation.
• Figure out the solution that you intend to promote or implement.
• Get the necessary information that will back your explanation on why the solution is effective or otherwise.

The only way for you to successfully write a compelling case study with accurate and factual content is by following those initial steps.

Protip: You can write your case study using a narrative style.

The highlight is the exploration of the case from different angles.

You will analyze the meaning and implications through either a textual or discourse strategy.

Why Use Dramatic Structure in a Case Study

Aristotle was the first person – or at least the first person to document – dramatic structure which is essentially how a play should be constructed.

Now I know what you’re thinking…

Why do I care about dramatic structure.

Didn’t you just tell me that a case study is something that actually happened?

Not a dramatic play?

Yes… That’s true.

But where do you think the dramatic structure came from?

That’s right… it was taken from real life!

Dramatic structure is simply a form of storytelling… and so is a case study.

Aristotle theorized in his writings “Poetics” that a single whole action “has a beginning, a middle, and an end.”

Since Aristotle’s time, this ‘Three Act Structure ‘has been used in all types of storytelling and should be applied to case studies.

1. Act 1 – there is the setup of the action.The inciting incident is the initial problem that the character (aka your client) faced.
2. Act II is the confrontation or the rising action. This is the main body of the case study.
3. Act III is the climate and conclusion aka how you solved the problem!

Remarkable this structure of storytelling hasn’t really changed since Aristotle’s time.

What is the case study’s objective?

All business case studies are designed to demonstrate the value of your product or services, but they can focus on several different client objectives.

Your first step when writing a case study is to determine the objective or goal of the subject you’re featuring.

In other words, what will the client have succeeded in doing by the end of the piece?

The client objective you focus on will depend on what you want to prove to your future customers as a result of publishing this case study.

Your case study can focus on one of the following client objectives:

• Lowering business costs
• Make your client more profitable
• Generating more leads
• Expanding into a new market
• Increase operational efficiency
• Increase market share

Establish the case study medium

Next, you’ll determine the object of your case study, you need to decide how best to tell the story of your client.

Case studies don’t have to be simple, written one-pagers which can be tedious to read.

Using different media in your case study can allow you to promote case study on different channels such as:

• Youtube
• Facebook
• Instagram

Here are some different case study mediums to consider:

Written Case Study

This is the most common type of case study.

If your case study is in depth with lots of facts, figures and nuances then having a written case study might be the best.

The best way to write a case study is to post it on your website but it also come in the form of a downloadable ebook or in an email.

Video Case Study

Plan on meeting with the client and shooting an interview.

Seeing the subject, in person, talk about the service you provided them can go a long way in the eyes of your potential customers.

Youtube is the second largest search engine after Google and it would be silly not to get exposure through video.

Infographic Case Study

Use pictures in the form of an infographic to tell your success story can be an effective way of showcasing your case study but it can also be difficult to get the information across if you don’t plan accordingly.

You’ll need to really think through how to convey the message in an interesting and visually appealing way.

Benefits to Offer Your Case Study Candidate

Here are four potential benefits you can promise your case study candidate to gain their approval.

Brand Exposure

Explain to your subject whom this case study will be exposed to, and how this exposure can help increase their brand awareness both in and beyond their own industry.

Employee Recognition

Allow your subject to provide quotes with credits back to specific employees.

When this is an option to them, their brand isn’t the only thing expanding its reach — their employees can get their name out there, too.

Website Traffic

Everybody wants and needs more website traffic.

A case study can help with your SEO efforts if written in a compelling and interesting way.

Case studies are very sharable content (everybody likes a success story) and so it’s more likely that you can get social shares.

Describing the Issue/Situation

There is nothing to go on if you fail to describe the issue or situation in detail. The only time a reader gives value to your work is when he or she understands the issue or situation from which a solution is to be proposed or implemented.

Although describing the issue or problem seems to be the easiest step in the case study, you still can end up failing to explain it to the reader in a comprehensive manner.

Eponia is a Virtual and Augmented Reality studio that had to convey the benefits of their services to a variety of professions that didn’t understand this advanced technology or how it could help them do their jobs.

The challenge was to convey a complex topic in a way that was concise and easy to understand.

For example, with Eponia, we had to make sure the differences between virtual reality and augmented reality were clearly laid out to the reader.

Protip: Make sure you don’t use industry jargon and if you do, define what you mean.

Conveying complex topics isn’t always best done by somebody within the company. One reason Eponia, came to us because they felt that they were too close to the technology and couldn’t accurately explain it to someone outside of their industry.

Significance of a Background

Background describes the existence of the issue or problem. It tells the reader why the problem exists.

It is the information you unveiled to allow the reader to understand what the case study is trying to showcase. The background is crucial in the success of the case study because it deals with the facts.

You must obtain the information from credible sources.

It also includes the use of audio and video files, charts, graphs, images, and tables. Don’t forget quotations from authorities and resource persons.

Theoretical Framework

Although a case study emphasizes the concrete details and information instead of general theories, there must be a correlation of theory to what happens in the real world.

The last thing you want is a case study that contains nothing more than a written description of what your target audience already know. Your research must be ideally integrated into the existing knowledge about the subject.

A theoretical framework’s objectives include:

• To showcase how the theory explains the issue or situation of the study
• To expound the theory by way of unveiling new ideas
• To create a challenge by exploring a case which proves that certain established assumptions don’t necessarily fit

Another critical part of the case study is the incorporation of an established and widely accepted academic source. You can do so by carrying out a literature review. The literature you plan to cite must be in a lot of ways related to the subject.

The theoretical framework requires the identification of key concepts, ideas, and theories. All those things will serve as your guide to an accurate interpretation of your data.

Data Collection

There is a bevy of research methods at your disposal when it comes to data collection. Current case studies emphasize and lean towards qualitative data.

For example:

• interview
• analysis of primary and secondary data sources
• observations

But you cannot undermine the significance of quantitative data, too. You must incorporate both qualitative and quantitative data to come up with a comprehensive understanding of the case, including its context.

Case Analysis

This is where the rubber meets the road.

A compelling case study requires bringing together all the aspects of the issue or situation.

The goal is to showcase the subject in the most transparent way possible.

Case analysis refers to the way you report the findings. Accordingly, your conclusions are reliant upon the research you conducted.

It is common for most case studies to have a structure resembling that of a thesis or scientific paper.

A case study structured that way would have different chapters for the discussion of the problem, methods used, and the results.

Whenever possible use data to backup your report and findings. This will make your case study that much stronger.

When one Senior Care Centre hired Eponia for an event they had three times the normal turnout.

These facts are important to include as they showcase the results.

Protip: Make sure the benefits have been clearly laid out and the results of your actions.

If sales rose by 28% make sure you say that. If employee satisfaction went up by 42% make sure you include that in your case study.

The Devil is in the Details

The concept of a case study revolves around telling a story of a current issue, problem, or situation that has been addressed.

The reason why you are writing about it is to showcase the proof and the methods used to come up with a solution.

You must embrace a writing style that focuses on the details.

You must ensure that you provide a comprehensive yet easy-to-understand guide to the readers, making them feel that they are part of the issue or situation.

If you still need some help there are some templates that can get you started. These templates will hopefully kick-start some ideas on how to proceed.

1. Venngage.com
2. Hubspot.com
3. Visme.co
4. CoSchedule.com
5. Slideuplift.com
6. Templatelab.com

Last Thoughts on Case Studies

Creating a case study can be time-consuming and challenging, but it’s definitely worth it as it shows your potential customers how you’ve helped people in the past.

People always connect with real-world situations rather than simple one-way marketing messages.

It provides great social proof.

And people reading the case study can see themselves in the customer’s shoes and can see you solve their problems.

And there is nothing more powerful than that!

If you need help with your case study, please don’t hesitate to reach out and we’ll be more than happy to help you create an impactful case study.