Case study writing

The interview your account manager cannot do

Most case studies are written from the supplier's notes, and it shows. They describe the features delivered, not the problem the customer was losing sleep over. A buyer reading them learns what you did, but not why someone like them would care.

We interview the customer directly, and the account manager is not on the call. People speak more candidly to a third party: about the alternatives they considered, the doubts they had before signing, and what actually changed afterwards. Those three answers are the case study. Everything else is context.

Numbers the customer will put their name to

Inflated results are the quickest way to lose a referenceable customer. A case study claiming a 300 percent improvement that the customer never agreed to will be noticed, often when a prospect phones them to check. After that, they stop taking your calls.

Every figure in our drafts is either from the customer's own words in the interview or from data they have confirmed, and the approval round shows them each one in context. If the customer has no hard numbers, we use observable change instead, said their way. That is less dramatic and far more believable.

Approval takes time, especially at larger companies with communications or legal teams. We plan for it from the start and ask early whether the company can be named. An anonymised case study is weaker but still useful, and knowing early avoids writing the wrong version.