• Hubspot Blog
  • HubSpot.com

Oh no! We couldn't find anything like that.

Try another search, and we'll give it our best shot.

How to Write a Case Study: Bookmarkable Guide & Template

Braden Becker

Published: January 12, 2023

Earning the trust of prospective customers can be a struggle. Before you can even begin to expect to earn their business, you need to demonstrate your ability to deliver on what your product or service promises.

company conducting case study with candidate after learning how to write a case study

Sure, you could say that you're great at X or that you're way ahead of the competition when it comes to Y. But at the end of the day, what you really need to win new business is cold, hard proof.

One of the best ways to prove your worth is through a compelling case study. In fact, HubSpot’s 2020 State of Marketing report found that case studies are so compelling that they are the fifth most commonly used type of content used by marketers.

Download Now: 3 Free Case Study Templates

Below, I'll walk you through what a case study is, how to prepare for writing one, what you need to include in it, and how it can be an effective tactic. To jump to different areas of this post, click on the links below to automatically scroll.

Case Study Definition

Case study templates, how to write a case study.

Business Case Study Examples

A case study is a specific challenge a business has faced, and the solution they've chosen to solve it. Case studies can vary greatly in length and focus on several details related to the initial challenge and applied solution, and can be presented in various forms like a video, white paper, blog post, etc.

In professional settings, 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. Any one of these key performance indicators (KPIs) are examples of your company's services in action.

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

To help you arm your prospects with information they can trust, we've put together a step-by-step guide on how to create effective case studies for your business with free case study templates for creating your own.

Tell us a little about yourself below to gain access today:

And to give you more options, we’ll highlight some useful templates that serve different needs. But remember, there are endless possibilities when it comes to demonstrating the work your business has done.

1. General Case Study Template

case study templates: general

Additionally, a backlink from you increases your subject's page authority in the eyes of Google. This helps them rank more highly in search engine results and collect traffic from readers who are already looking for information about their industry.

6. Ensure you have all the resources you need to proceed once you get a response.

So you know what you’re going to offer your candidate, it’s time that you prepare the resources needed for if and when they agree to participate, like a case study release form and success story letter.

Let's break those two down.

Case Study Release Form

This document can vary, depending on factors like the size of your business, the nature of your work, and what you intend to do with the case studies once they are completed. That said, you should typically aim to include the following in the Case Study Release Form:

  • A clear explanation of why you are creating this case study and how it will be used.
  • A statement defining the information and potentially trademarked information you expect to include about the company — things like names, logos, job titles, and pictures.
  • An explanation of what you expect from the participant, beyond the completion of the case study. For example, is this customer willing to act as a reference or share feedback, and do you have permission to pass contact information along for these purposes?
  • A note about compensation.

Success Story Letter

As noted in the sample email, this document serves as an outline for the entire case study process. Other than a brief explanation of how the customer will benefit from case study participation, you'll want to be sure to define the following steps in the Success Story Letter.

7. Download a case study email template.

While you gathered your resources, your candidate has gotten time to read over the proposal. When your candidate approves of your case study, it's time to send them a release form.

A case study release form tells you what you'll need from your chosen subject, like permission to use any brand names and share the project information publicly. Kick-off this process with an email that runs through exactly what they can expect from you, as well as what you need from them. To give you an idea of what that might look like, check out this sample email:

sample case study email release form template

8. Define the process you want to follow with the client.

Before you can begin the case study, you have to have a clear outline of the case study process with your client. An example of an effective outline would include the following information.

The Acceptance

First, you'll need to receive internal approval from the company's marketing team. Once approved, the Release Form should be signed and returned to you. It's also a good time to determine a timeline that meets the needs and capabilities of both teams.

The Questionnaire

To ensure that you have a productive interview — which is one of the best ways to collect information for the case study — you'll want to ask the participant to complete a questionnaire before this conversation. That will provide your team with the necessary foundation to organize the interview, and get the most out of it.

The Interview

Once the questionnaire is completed, someone on your team should reach out to the participant to schedule a 30- to 60-minute interview, which should include a series of custom questions related to the customer's experience with your product or service.

The Draft Review

After the case study is composed, you'll want to send a draft to the customer, allowing an opportunity to give you feedback and edits.

The Final Approval

Once any necessary edits are completed, send a revised copy of the case study to the customer for final approval.

Once the case study goes live — on your website or elsewhere — it's best to contact the customer with a link to the page where the case study lives. Don't be afraid to ask your participants to share these links with their own networks, as it not only demonstrates your ability to deliver positive results and impressive growth, as well.

9. Ensure you're asking the right questions.

Before you execute the questionnaire and actual interview, make sure you're setting yourself up for success. A strong case study results from being prepared to ask the right questions. What do those look like? Here are a few examples to get you started:

  • What are your goals?
  • What challenges were you experiencing before purchasing our product or service?
  • What made our product or service stand out against our competitors?
  • What did your decision-making process look like?
  • How have you benefited from using our product or service? (Where applicable, always ask for data.)

Keep in mind that the questionnaire is designed to help you gain insights into what sort of strong, success-focused questions to ask during the actual interview. And once you get to that stage, we recommend that you follow the "Golden Rule of Interviewing." Sounds fancy, right? It's actually quite simple — ask open-ended questions.

If you're looking to craft a compelling story, "yes" or "no" answers won't provide the details you need. Focus on questions that invite elaboration, such as, "Can you describe ...?" or, "Tell me about ..."

In terms of the interview structure, we recommend categorizing the questions and flowing them into six specific sections that will mirror a successful case study format. Combined, they'll allow you to gather enough information to put together a rich, comprehensive study.

Open with the customer's business.

The goal of this section is to generate a better understanding of the company's current challenges and goals, and how they fit into the landscape of their industry. Sample questions might include:

  • How long have you been in business?
  • How many employees do you have?
  • What are some of the objectives of your department at this time?

Cite a problem or pain point.

To tell a compelling story, you need context. That helps match the customer's need with your solution. Sample questions might include:

  • What challenges and objectives led you to look for a solution?
  • What might have happened if you did not identify a solution?
  • Did you explore other solutions before this that did not work out? If so, what happened?

Discuss the decision process.

Exploring how the customer decided to work with you helps to guide potential customers through their own decision-making processes. Sample questions might include:

  • How did you hear about our product or service?
  • Who was involved in the selection process?
  • What was most important to you when evaluating your options?

Explain how a solution was implemented.

The focus here should be placed on the customer's experience during the onboarding process. Sample questions might include:

  • How long did it take to get up and running?
  • Did that meet your expectations?
  • Who was involved in the process?

Explain how the solution works.

The goal of this section is to better understand how the customer is using your product or service. Sample questions might include:

  • Is there a particular aspect of the product or service that you rely on most?
  • Who is using the product or service?

End with the results.

In this section, you want to uncover impressive measurable outcomes — the more numbers, the better. Sample questions might include:

  • How is the product or service helping you save time and increase productivity?
  • In what ways does that enhance your competitive advantage?
  • How much have you increased metrics X, Y, and Z?

10. Lay out your case study format.

When it comes time to take all of the information you've collected and actually turn it into something, it's easy to feel overwhelmed. Where should you start? What should you include? What's the best way to structure it?

To help you get a handle on this step, it's important to first understand that there is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to the ways you can present a case study. They can be very visual, which you'll see in some of the examples we've included below, and can sometimes be communicated mostly through video or photos, with a bit of accompanying text.

Here are the sections we suggest, which we'll cover in more detail down below:

  • Title: Keep it short. Develop a succinct but interesting project name you can give the work you did with your subject.
  • Subtitle: Use this copy to briefly elaborate on the accomplishment. What was done? The case study itself will explain how you got there.
  • Executive Summary : A 2-4 sentence summary of the entire story. You'll want to follow it with 2-3 bullet points that display metrics showcasing success.
  • About the Subject: An introduction to the person or company you served, which can be pulled from a LinkedIn Business profile or client website.
  • Challenges and Objectives: A 2-3 paragraph description of the customer's challenges, before using your product or service. This section should also include the goals or objectives the customer set out to achieve.
  • How Product/Service Helped: A 2-3 paragraph section that describes how your product or service provided a solution to their problem.
  • Results: A 2-3 paragraph testimonial that proves how your product or service specifically benefited the person or company and helped achieve its goals. Include numbers to quantify your contributions.
  • Supporting Visuals or Quotes: Pick one or two powerful quotes that you would feature at the bottom of the sections above, as well as a visual that supports the story you are telling.
  • Future Plans: Everyone likes an epilogue. Comment on what's ahead for your case study subject, whether or not those plans involve you.
  • Call to Action (CTA): Not every case study needs a CTA, but putting a passive one at the end of your case study can encourage your readers to take an action on your website after learning about the work you've done.

When laying out your case study, focus on conveying the information you've gathered in the most clear and concise way possible. Make it easy to scan and comprehend, and be sure to provide an attractive call-to-action at the bottom — that should provide readers an opportunity to learn more about your product or service.

11. Publish and promote your case study.

Once you've completed your case study, it's time to publish and promote it. Some case study formats have pretty obvious promotional outlets — a video case study can go on YouTube, just as an infographic case study can go on Pinterest.

But there are still other ways to publish and promote your case study. Here are a couple of ideas:

Lead Gen in a Blog Post

As stated earlier in this article, written case studies make terrific lead-generators if you convert them into a downloadable format, like a PDF. To generate leads from your case study, consider writing a blog post that tells an abbreviated story of your client's success and asking readers to fill out a form with their name and email address if they'd like to read the rest in your PDF.

Then, promote this blog post on social media, through a Facebook post or a tweet.

Published as a Page on Your Website

As a growing business, you might need to display your case study out in the open to gain the trust of your target audience.

Rather than gating it behind a landing page, publish your case study to its own page on your website, and direct people here from your homepage with a "Case Studies" or "Testimonials" button along your homepage's top navigation bar.

Format for a Case Study

The traditional case study format includes the following parts: a title and subtitle, a client profile, a summary of the customer’s challenges and objectives, an account of how your solution helped, and a description of the results. You might also want to include supporting visuals and quotes, future plans, and calls-to-action.

case study format: title

Image Source

The title is one of the most important parts of your case study. It should draw readers in while succinctly describing the potential benefits of working with your company. To that end, your title should:

  • State the name of your custome r. Right away, the reader must learn which company used your products and services. This is especially important if your customer has a recognizable brand. If you work with individuals and not companies, you may omit the name and go with professional titles: “A Marketer…”, “A CFO…”, and so forth.
  • State which product your customer used . Even if you only offer one product or service, or if your company name is the same as your product name, you should still include the name of your solution. That way, readers who are not familiar with your business can become aware of what you sell.
  • Allude to the results achieved . You don’t necessarily need to provide hard numbers, but the title needs to represent the benefits, quickly. That way, if a reader doesn’t stay to read, they can walk away with the most essential information: Your product works.

The example above, “Crunch Fitness Increases Leads and Signups With HubSpot,” achieves all three — without being wordy. Keeping your title short and sweet is also essential.

2. Subtitle

case study format: subtitle

Your subtitle is another essential part of your case study — don’t skip it, even if you think you’ve done the work with the title. In this section, include a brief summary of the challenges your customer was facing before they began to use your products and services. Then, drive the point home by reiterating the benefits your customer experienced by working with you.

The above example reads:

“Crunch Fitness was franchising rapidly when COVID-19 forced fitness clubs around the world to close their doors. But the company stayed agile by using HubSpot to increase leads and free trial signups.”

We like that the case study team expressed the urgency of the problem — opening more locations in the midst of a pandemic — and placed the focus on the customer’s ability to stay agile.

3. Executive Summary

case study format: executive summary

The executive summary should provide a snapshot of your customer, their challenges, and the benefits they enjoyed from working with you. Think it’s too much? Think again — the purpose of the case study is to emphasize, again and again, how well your product works.

The good news is that depending on your design, the executive summary can be mixed with the subtitle or with the “About the Company” section. Many times, this section doesn’t need an explicit “Executive Summary” subheading. You do need, however, to provide a convenient snapshot for readers to scan.

In the above example, ADP included information about its customer in a scannable bullet-point format, then provided two sections: “Business Challenge” and “How ADP Helped.” We love how simple and easy the format is to follow for those who are unfamiliar with ADP or its typical customer.

4. About the Company

case study format: about the company

Readers need to know and understand who your customer is. This is important for several reasons: It helps your reader potentially relate to your customer, it defines your ideal client profile (which is essential to deter poor-fit prospects who might have reached out without knowing they were a poor fit), and it gives your customer an indirect boon by subtly promoting their products and services.

Feel free to keep this section as simple as possible. You can simply copy and paste information from the company’s LinkedIn, use a quote directly from your customer, or take a more creative storytelling approach.

In the above example, HubSpot included one paragraph of description for Crunch Fitness and a few bullet points. Below, ADP tells the story of its customer using an engaging, personable technique that effectively draws readers in.

case study format: storytelling about the business

5. Challenges and Objectives

case study format: challenges and objectives

The challenges and objectives section of your case study is the place to lay out, in detail, the difficulties your customer faced prior to working with you — and what they hoped to achieve when they enlisted your help.

In this section, you can be as brief or as descriptive as you’d like, but remember: Stress the urgency of the situation. Don’t understate how much your customer needed your solution (but don’t exaggerate and lie, either). Provide contextual information as necessary. For instance, the pandemic and societal factors may have contributed to the urgency of the need.

Take the above example from design consultancy IDEO:

“Educational opportunities for adults have become difficult to access in the United States, just when they’re needed most. To counter this trend, IDEO helped the city of South Bend and the Drucker Institute launch Bendable, a community-powered platform that connects people with opportunities to learn with and from each other.”

We love how IDEO mentions the difficulties the United States faces at large, the efforts its customer is taking to address these issues, and the steps IDEO took to help.

6. How Product/Service Helped

case study format: how the service helped

This is where you get your product or service to shine. Cover the specific benefits that your customer enjoyed and the features they gleaned the most use out of. You can also go into detail about how you worked with and for your customer. Maybe you met several times before choosing the right solution, or you consulted with external agencies to create the best package for them.

Whatever the case may be, try to illustrate how easy and pain-free it is to work with the representatives at your company. After all, potential customers aren’t looking to just purchase a product. They’re looking for a dependable provider that will strive to exceed their expectations.

In the above example, IDEO describes how it partnered with research institutes and spoke with learners to create Bendable, a free educational platform. We love how it shows its proactivity and thoroughness. It makes potential customers feel that IDEO might do something similar for them.

The results are essential, and the best part is that you don’t need to write the entirety of the case study before sharing them. Like HubSpot, IDEO, and ADP, you can include the results right below the subtitle or executive summary. Use data and numbers to substantiate the success of your efforts, but if you don’t have numbers, you can provide quotes from your customers.

We can’t overstate the importance of the results. In fact, if you wanted to create a short case study, you could include your title, challenge, solution (how your product helped), and result.

8. Supporting Visuals or Quotes

case study format: quote

Let your customer speak for themselves by including quotes from the representatives who directly interfaced with your company.

Visuals can also help, even if they’re stock images. On one side, they can help you convey your customer’s industry, and on the other, they can indirectly convey your successes. For instance, a picture of a happy professional — even if they’re not your customer — will communicate that your product can lead to a happy client.

In this example from IDEO, we see a man standing in a boat. IDEO’s customer is neither the man pictured nor the manufacturer of the boat, but rather Conservation International, an environmental organization. This imagery provides a visually pleasing pattern interrupt to the page, while still conveying what the case study is about.

9. Future Plans

This is optional, but including future plans can help you close on a more positive, personable note than if you were to simply include a quote or the results. In this space, you can show that your product will remain in your customer’s tech stack for years to come, or that your services will continue to be instrumental to your customer’s success.

Alternatively, if you work only on time-bound projects, you can allude to the positive impact your customer will continue to see, even after years of the end of the contract.

10. Call to Action (CTA)

case study format: call to action

Not every case study needs a CTA, but we’d still encourage it. Putting one at the end of your case study will encourage your readers to take an action on your website after learning about the work you've done.

It will also make it easier for them to reach out, if they’re ready to start immediately. You don’t want to lose business just because they have to scroll all the way back up to reach out to your team.

To help you visualize this case study outline, check out the case study template below, which can also be downloaded here .

You drove the results, made the connection, set the expectations, used the questionnaire to conduct a successful interview, and boiled down your findings into a compelling story. And after all of that, you're left with a little piece of sales enabling gold — a case study.

To show you what a well-executed final product looks like, have a look at some of these marketing case study examples.

1. "Shopify Uses HubSpot CRM to Transform High Volume Sales Organization," by HubSpot

What's interesting about this case study is the way it leads with the customer. This reflects a major HubSpot value, which is to always solve for the customer first. The copy leads with a brief description of why Shopify uses HubSpot and is accompanied by a short video and some basic statistics on the company.

Notice that this case study uses mixed media. Yes, there is a short video, but it's elaborated upon in the additional text on the page. So, while case studies can use one or the other, don't be afraid to combine written copy with visuals to emphasize the project's success.

2. "New England Journal of Medicine," by Corey McPherson Nash

When branding and design studio Corey McPherson Nash showcases its work, it makes sense for it to be visual — after all, that's what they do. So in building the case study for the studio's work on the New England Journal of Medicine's integrated advertising campaign — a project that included the goal of promoting the client's digital presence — Corey McPherson Nash showed its audience what it did, rather than purely telling it.

Notice that the case study does include some light written copy — which includes the major points we've suggested — but lets the visuals do the talking, allowing users to really absorb the studio's services.

3. "Designing the Future of Urban Farming," by IDEO

Here's a design company that knows how to lead with simplicity in its case studies. As soon as the visitor arrives at the page, he or she is greeted with a big, bold photo, and two very simple columns of text — "The Challenge" and "The Outcome."

Immediately, IDEO has communicated two of the case study's major pillars. And while that's great — the company created a solution for vertical farming startup INFARM's challenge — it doesn't stop there. As the user scrolls down, those pillars are elaborated upon with comprehensive (but not overwhelming) copy that outlines what that process looked like, replete with quotes and additional visuals.

4. "Secure Wi-Fi Wins Big for Tournament," by WatchGuard

Then, there are the cases when visuals can tell almost the entire story — when executed correctly. Network security provider WatchGuard can do that through this video, which tells the story of how its services enhanced the attendee and vendor experience at the Windmill Ultimate Frisbee tournament.

5. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Boosts Social Media Engagement and Brand Awareness with HubSpot

In the case study above , HubSpot uses photos, videos, screenshots, and helpful stats to tell the story of how the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame used the bot, CRM, and social media tools to gain brand awareness.

6. Small Desk Plant Business Ups Sales by 30% With Trello

This case study from Trello is straightforward and easy to understand. It begins by explaining the background of the company that decided to use it, what its goals were, and how it planned to use Trello to help them.

It then goes on to discuss how the software was implemented and what tasks and teams benefited from it. Towards the end, it explains the sales results that came from implementing the software and includes quotes from decision-makers at the company that implemented it.

7. Facebook's Mercedes Benz Success Story

Facebook's Success Stories page hosts a number of well-designed and easy-to-understand case studies that visually and editorially get to the bottom line quickly.

Each study begins with key stats that draw the reader in. Then it's organized by highlighting a problem or goal in the introduction, the process the company took to reach its goals, and the results. Then, in the end, Facebook notes the tools used in the case study.

Showcasing Your Work

You work hard at what you do. Now, it's time to show it to the world — and, perhaps more important, to potential customers. Before you show off the projects that make you the proudest, we hope you follow these important steps that will help you effectively communicate that work and leave all parties feeling good about it.

Editor's Note: This blog post was originally published in February 2017 but was updated for comprehensiveness and freshness in July 2021.

New Call-to-action

Don't forget to share this post!

Related articles.

How to Write a Listicle [+ Examples and Ideas]

How to Write a Listicle [+ Examples and Ideas]

28 Case Study Examples Every Marketer Should See

28 Case Study Examples Every Marketer Should See

What Is a White Paper? [FAQs]

What Is a White Paper? [FAQs]

What is an Advertorial? 8 Examples to Help You Write One

What is an Advertorial? 8 Examples to Help You Write One

How to Create Marketing Offers That Don't Fall Flat

How to Create Marketing Offers That Don't Fall Flat

20 Creative Ways To Repurpose Content

20 Creative Ways To Repurpose Content

How to Market an Ebook: Don't Let Your Content Offers Collect Dust

How to Market an Ebook: Don't Let Your Content Offers Collect Dust

16 Important Ways to Use Case Studies in Your Marketing

16 Important Ways to Use Case Studies in Your Marketing

10 Pieces of Content Your Audience Really Wants to See [New Data]

10 Pieces of Content Your Audience Really Wants to See [New Data]

11 Ways to Make Your Blog Post Interactive

11 Ways to Make Your Blog Post Interactive

Showcase your company's success using these free case study templates.

  • Content Types

project case study format

Presentations Keep your audience engaged.

project case study format

Documents Formalize your branding.

project case study format

Videos Add movement to your brand.

project case study format

Infographics Share information visually.

project case study format

Printables Create content for printing.

project case study format

Charts and Graphs Bring life to your data.

project case study format

Social Media Graphics Create scroll-stopping content.

project case study format

Mockups Create high-quality mockups in seconds.

project case study format

Branded Templates new Get a bundle of templates that match your brand.

  • Features & Assets

Interactivity

Integrations

Data Widgets

Collaborations

Presenter Studio

Free Educational Resources See All

project case study format

Visme Video Tutorials Watch videos on how to use Visme.

project case study format

Ebooks Read in-depth knowledge for your industry.

project case study format

Graphic Design Videos Learn design principles & best practices.

project case study format

Live Webinars Interact with the experts live.

project case study format

Free Online Courses Get certified with free online courses.

Our Blog See All

  • Presentations

Video & Animations

  • Digital Marketing
  • Infographics
  • Design for Business

Data Visualization

  • Design Inspiration

For Teams All Teams

project case study format

Agencies & Consulting Manage multiple brands.

project case study format

Education Use Visme in the classroom.

project case study format

Nonprofit Bring life to your cause.

project case study format

Enterprises Create visual content at scale.

  • Perfect For These Roles

project case study format

Marketers Creative content that shines.

project case study format

Human Resources Improve internal communication.

project case study format

Sales Teams Close more deals with your content.

project case study format

Training Development Create interactive training content.

Templates See All

project case study format

Presentations 1000+ layouts and themes.

project case study format

Chart & Maps Get data visualization ideas.

project case study format

Social Media Graphics Browse templates for every platform.

project case study format

Infographics Find the right format for your information.

project case study format

Documents Templates for every business document.

project case study format

Videos & GIFs Find the perfect preanimated template.

Branded Templates Get a bundle of templates that match your brand.

  • Other Templates

Website Graphics

Survey Results

  • Case Studies
  • Sign Up Free
  • Free Educational Resources
  • Most Recent
  • Data Visualizations
  • Video & Animation
  • Visual Thinking
  • Product Updates
  • Visme Webinars

How to Create a Case Study + 14 Case Study Templates

How to Create a Case Study + 14 Case Study Templates

Written by: Brian Nuckols

An illustration of a man pointing to a case study inside a manila folder.

When it comes to high impact marketing content, case studies are at the top of the list for helping show off your brand’s stuff. 

In this post, I’ve put together a few high-level case study design tips as well as 14 professionally designed case study templates that you can use to start designing beautiful case studies today. 

Let’s begin! 

Here’s a short selection of 12 easy-to-edit case study templates you can edit, share and download with Visme. View more templates below:

project case study format

What is a Case Study?

A case study is a way for you to demonstrate the success you’ve already had with existing clients. When you create a case study, you explore how previous clients have used your product or service to reach their goals. 

In particular, a case study highlights a specific challenge or goal one of your clients was struggling with before they discovered your product. 

It then demonstrates how your work has assisted them on the journey towards overcoming the challenge or accomplishing the goal. 

A case study’s outcome is typically to share the story of a company’s growth or highlight the increase of metrics the company tracks to understand success. 

The case study includes an analysis of a campaign or project that goes through a few steps from identifying the problem to how you implemented the solution. 

How to Write a Case Study

When it comes to adding irresistible design to your content from the start, using a helpful tool is a great start. Sign up for a free Visme account and start highlighting your own client success stories using one of our case study templates today. 

Also, while you’re beginning to transition your case study workflow to include a professional design tool, it’s helpful to review some high level principles you can incorporate into your case study. 

We’ll start by reviewing some of the critical style tips and structural elements to include in your case study before progressing to a more detailed design section. 

An infographic sharing three style tips for case studies.

Pinpoint Your Main Message

When designing an impactful case study, it’s essential to stay clear on the metrics that you’re highlighting. The process of overcoming business challenges is a dynamic process with many moving parts. 

If you do not stay focused on what matters in your case study, you risk obscuring the big win your client experienced by using your product or service. 

This is why you need to focus on a single message or metric. This is often called the north star metric . 

The north star metric is the single most crucial rate, count or ratio that helped your client move closer towards their goals or overcame an obstacle. 

While north star metrics are context dependent, a useful heuristic you can utilize is to figure out the most predictive metric of your client’s long term success. 

In the template I’ll highlight below, cost per lead was the north star metric that The College for Adult Learning needed to optimize. 

Build relationships with customers and drive sales growth

  • Reach out to prospects with impressive pitch decks and proposals that convert
  • Monitor clients' level of engagement to see what they are most interested in
  • Build a winning sales playbook to maximize your sales team's efficiency

Sign up. It’s free.

project case study format

Use Emotionally Rich Language 

Recently researchers at Presado did an interesting study to understand the types of language that help readers take action. They broke the content included in marketing assets into several categories, including functional, emotional and descriptive. 

In the most successful pieces of content, the researchers found that emotionally coded words were present in 61% of the content’s total volume.

This research shows the benefit of using emotionally engaging content in your case study. While it’s essential to focus on the concrete evidence of how you helped your client get from where they started to a successful outcome, do not forget to highlight the emotional journey. 

A diagram showcasing marketing language and the emotions it evokes.

Use Data For Concrete Evidence 

Once you’ve decided on the north star metric to highlight and you choose the emotional response you want to reinforce in your case study, it’s important to use actual data from the project to share the concrete results your product helped to achieve. 

To make sure your audience can follow your line of thinking, make sure the data in your case study is precise. If you track data across time, your readers must know whether you chose to track by month or years. 

If there are any apparent trends, you can use color to highlight specific areas in a chart. 

If you want to dig deeper into using data to tell compelling stories, check out our video data storytelling tips to improve your charts and graphs. 

project case study format

In the template below, The College for Adult Learning case study is an excellent example of how these elements can work together. 

Cost per lead was a critical north star metric, so we chose to emphasize the increase in revenue and a decrease in cost per lead. 

Additionally, the background section uses emotionally rich language by highlighting how the school helps students get ahead with their career goals. Also, the factual data is the centerpiece of this page in the case study.

If you’re ready to share how you impacted a client, use the College for Adult Learning case study template right now! 

College for Adult Learning case study template available for customization in Visme.

Include All Necessary Parts of a Case Study

After you’ve interviewed your client and you’re getting ready to start writing, it’s important to remember each piece you need to cover.

All good case studies consist of five parts: Introduction, Challenge, Solution, Benefit and Result.

An informational infographic template showcasing parts of a case study available to customize in Visme.

While you don’t necessarily need to label each section like that, be sure that the flow makes sense and covers each section fully to give your audience the full scope of your case study.

14 Case Study Templates

Now that we have explored some of the high level strategies you can use to create a business case study, we will transition to 14 case study design templates you can use with Visme. 

1. Fuji Xerox Australia Case Study Template

A blue and white case study template available to be customized in Visme.

Use the Fuji Xerox case study template to showcase the concrete results you achieved for your clients. It has sections where you can explain the goals you started with and the results you achieved. 

2. College for Adult Learning Case Study Template

College for Adult Learning case study template available for customization in Visme.

As we’ve explored already, the College for Adult Learning template has sections where you can embrace a data driven storytelling approach while also connecting with your audience using emotionally rich language. 

Utilize the professionally designed business case study to connect with your audience. 

3. Intel Case Study Template

Orange and white case study template available for customization in Visme.

The Intel case study has beautiful visual elements and gives you space to share the project’s context and the goals you set out to achieve. It also allows you to get concrete with the results you achieved. 

You can always use the Visme Brand Kit to incorporate your unique brand colors into this stunning design. 

4. Bit.ly Case Study Template

Orange and teal case study template available for customization in Visme.

Bit.ly is a marketing product that helps brands track how they are doing with campaign results. The bit.ly business case study template showcases how they drove impressive results for an eCommerce business. 

You can modify the professionally designed case study template to illustrate the key results you drive for your clients. 

5. NVISIONCenters Case Study Template

Blue and purple case study template available for customization in Visme.

The NVISIONCenters case study template is an excellent example of how powerful it is to pair beautiful designs with the results you generate for your clients. In this case study, we see how you can transform your past accomplishments into a powerful marketing asset. 

6. Adobe Case Study Template

Yellow and black case study template available for customization in Visme.

The Adobe case study is an exciting example of a business case study because it does a great job illustrating how you can use a specific result to create a powerful marketing asset. 

Adobe had a particular goal of branding to position itself as a leader for the future of digital marketing. LinkedIn sponsored messages was an effective tactic to drive the outcome Adobe needed. 

You can use the Adobe case study template to demonstrate the success of your most effective tactics. 

7. Inkjet Wholesale Case Study Template

A colorful case study template available for customization in Visme.

The Inkjet wholesale case study template is an excellent choice if you want to experiment with your case study’s visual element. The roadmap to objectives diagram is a powerful graphic that illustrates the journey of a successful campaign. 

8. Neutrogena Case Study Template

Blue and white case study template available for customization in Visme.

If you have a strong visual brand to tell your case study’s story with visuals, the Neutrogena template is a great choice. It is already designed with plenty of space to highlight your visuals. 

When it is all said and done, you have the results section to complete a successful client partnership story.

9. Weebly Case Study Template

Neutral case study template available for customization in Visme.

The Weebly case study template is your choice if you want to add visual flair to your case study. The beautiful layout is a testament to the power of pairing minimal design with an exciting statistic. 

10. Patagonia Case Study Template

Bright pink and purple case study template available for customization in Visme.

The Patagonia case study is a perfect example of how crucial it is to make design choices based on your brand’s unique personality. 

It is a fantastic choice if you have a project to showcase featuring a brand with a distinct brand aesthetic.  

11. Think With Google Case Study Template

Red and white case study template available for customization in Visme.

The Think With Google case study template tells the story of a mobile game that needed to create more engagement on their app. 

It is a visually impactful case study design template that you can use to tell a compelling story about your results. 

12. Kleenex Case Study Template

Beige case study template available for customization in Visme.

This case study template is the perfect way to show off search marketing results for a client or other highly specific KPIs that you managed to accomplish.

Insert the initial challenge followed by your company’s solution and adjust the included data visualization tools to showcase your specific results.

13. Customer Experience Presentation Case Study Template

Orange and purple case study presentation template available for customization in Visme.

The presentation case study template is an excellent choice for blending beautiful visual elements with the ability to give detailed information about the results you generated, as well as showcasing that data in a unique format. 

If you are ready to show how the unique features of your product or service drove real world business results then it is a good choice for your case study. 

14. Webinar Presentation Case Study Template

Purple, pink and blue case study presentation available for customization in Visme.

One small business saw incredible results when using Visme to optimize their webinar workflow. They saved 100 hours of their precious time by incorporating our collaborative design tools. 

We designed the small business template using those results as an example. When you have an eye catching effect to showcase to your audience, you can use this template as a starting point. 

Case Study Design Tips

Now that we’ve explored the 14 templates you can use with Visme to create your case study, let’s take a look at some practical design tips that will take your content to the next level. 

Infographic sharing six case study design tips.

Be Brief In Your Case Study 

In discussions about writing with style, brevity is a common topic. However, it’s also an important design principle. 

Brevity in design is when you find the best way to perform your intended objective in as few steps as possible. 

When designing your case study, make sure you do not add extraneous visual elements where they are not needed. Instead, think of the effect you want to have on your reader and try to do it simply. 

Describe Your Vision Clearly

Earlier in this article, I wrote about the north star metric, your case study’s emotional effect and using data to make the case study concrete. Your design choices should serve to reinforce these primary goals. 

Clarity in design is when all of the visual elements add up to a whole. 

A great example of this is in the small business case study template where the shapes, typography and color scheme all emphasize the main idea that Visme helps the reader save time. 

Blue and purple presentation slide showcasing the highlight of a case study.

Create A Consistent Style 

Visual consistency is a fundamental design principle that you can not afford to ignore in your case study. It will help you increase readability and make sure your audience does not get frustrated with jarring visual elements. 

In short, a consistent style is when you use a uniform color scheme, typography and the same kinds of visual elements throughout the case study. 

Use A Case Study Template For Readability

Readability is a crucial element of design, especially for case studies that are experienced on mobile devices. Contrast is an impactful readability principle. 

Make sure any contrasting colors you chose are easy on the eye and your reader does not have to strain to read your case study. 

Use Proper Alignment In Your Case Study 

Alignment is one of the principles of design that sets professionally designed business case study templates apart. Great designers have an intuitive eye for the mathematically based ratios of proximity invisible in sound design and an eyesore in lousy design. 

The good news is that you do not have to be a mathematician nor a professional designer to have a perfect alignment for your case study. Visme utilizes an easy to use drag and drop design tool that helps you achieve proper alignment in your case study. 

Let Your Brand Personality Speak

When we make intentional design decisions, we want to create a positive emotional experience for our audience. One of the best ways to do that is to make decisions that showcase your brand’s unique personality .

Is the case study you are creating like a well dressed business person who is serious, trustworthy and capable of doing a great job? Is it more like an extravert at a party bouncing from person to person lighting up the room? 

There is no right answer, but you need to infuse your viewpoint into the case study you create if you want to create a unique design. 

Start Designing Your Case Study Today 

A professionally designed case study template will help you create a stunning case study. While reviewing some high level design strategies is an important step, a tool like Visme will help you make a real impact on your audience.

If you’re ready to create your next case study, get started with Visme today .

Design beautiful visual content you can be proud of.

project case study format

Recommended content for you:

15+ Invoice Templates That Will Make Clients Take Your Business Seriously

Speak Loudly. Speak Visually.

Receive weekly practical tips on how to communicate visually, right in your inbox.

Please leave this field empty.

Create Stunning Content!

Design visual brand experiences for your business whether you are a seasoned designer or a total novice.

project case study format

About the Author

Brian Nuckols is a writer working in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He enjoys communicating visionary ideas in clear, action oriented language. When he’s not working on content for a transformative company you can find him analyzing dreams, creating music, and writing poetry.

project case study format

We use essential cookies to make Venngage work. By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts.

Manage Cookies

Cookies and similar technologies collect certain information about how you’re using our website. Some of them are essential, and without them you wouldn’t be able to use Venngage. But others are optional, and you get to choose whether we use them or not.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

These cookies are always on, as they’re essential for making Venngage work, and making it safe. Without these cookies, services you’ve asked for can’t be provided.

Show cookie providers

  • Google Login

Functionality Cookies

These cookies help us provide enhanced functionality and personalisation, and remember your settings. They may be set by us or by third party providers.

Performance Cookies

These cookies help us analyze how many people are using Venngage, where they come from and how they're using it. If you opt out of these cookies, we can’t get feedback to make Venngage better for you and all our users.

  • Google Analytics

Targeting Cookies

These cookies are set by our advertising partners to track your activity and show you relevant Venngage ads on other sites as you browse the internet.

  • Google Tag Manager
  • Infographics
  • Graphic Design
  • Graphs and Charts
  • Data Visualization
  • Human Resources
  • Training and Development
  • Beginner Guides

Blog Graphic Design

15+ Professional Case Study Examples [Design Tips + Templates]

By Alice Corner , Jan 12, 2023

Venngage case study examples

Let me ask you a question: Have you ever bought something — within the last 10 years or so — without reading its reviews or without a recommendation or prior experience of using it?

If the answer is no — or at least, rarely — you get my point.

For businesses selling consumer goods, having raving reviews is a good way to get more customers. The same thing applies to B2B and/or SaaS businesses — but for this type of business, besides regular, short reviews, having a detailed case study can help tremendously.

Case studies are an incredibly effective form of marketing that you can use to help promote your product and plan your marketing strategy effectively. You can also use it as a form of customer analysis or as a sales tool to inspire potential customers.

So what does a case study look like and how can you create one? In this article, I’m going to list over 15 marketing case study examples, case study tips, and case study templates to help you create a case study that converts.

Bold Social Media Business Case Study Template

Click to jump ahead:

Sales Case Study Examples

Simple case study examples, business case study examples.

What is a case study?

A case study is a research method to gain a better understanding of a subject or process. Case studies involve in-depth research into a given subject, in order to understand its functionality and successes.

In the context of a business, however, case studies take customer success stories and explore how they use your product to help them achieve their business goals.

Case Study Definition LinkedIn Post

As well as being valuable marketing tools, case studies are a good way to evaluate your product as it allows you to objectively examine how others are using it.

It’s also a good way to interview your customers about why they work with you.

Related: What is a Case Study? [+6 Types of Case Studies]

What is a marketing case study?

A marketing case study is a type of marketing where you use your existing customers as an example of what your product or services can achieve. You can also create case studies of internal, successful marketing projects.

Here’s an example of a marketing case study template:

marketing case study example

Return to Table of Contents

Marketing case study examples

Marketing case studies are incredibly useful for showing your marketing successes. Every successful marketing campaign relies on influencing a consumer’s behavior, and a great case study can be a great way to spotlight your biggest wins.

In the marketing case study examples below, a variety of designs and techniques to create impactful and effective case studies.

Show off impressive results with a bold marketing case study

Case studies are meant to show off your successes, so make sure you feature your positive results prominently. Using bold and bright colors as well as contrasting shapes, large bold fonts, and simple icons is a great way to highlight your wins.

In well-written case study examples like the one below, the big wins are highlighted on the second page with a bright orange color and are highlighted in circles.

Making the important data stand out is especially important when attracting a prospective customer with marketing case studies.

Light simplebusiness case study template

Use a simple but clear layout in your case study

Using a simple layout in your case study can be incredibly effective, like in the example of a case study below.

Keeping a clean white background, and using slim lines to help separate the sections is an easy way to format your case study.

Making the information clear helps draw attention to the important results, and it helps improve the  accessibility of the design .

Business case study examples like this would sit nicely within a larger report, with a consistent layout throughout.

Modern lead Generaton Business Case Study Template

Use visuals and icons to create an engaging and branded business case study

Nobody wants to read pages and pages of text — and that’s why Venngage wants to help you communicate your ideas visually.

Using icons, graphics, photos, or patterns helps create a much more engaging design. 

With this Blue Cap case study icons, colors, and impactful pattern designs have been used to create an engaging design that catches your eye.

Social Media Business Case Study template

Use a monochromatic color palette to create a professional and clean case study

Let your research shine by using a monochromatic and minimalistic color palette.

By sticking to one color, and leaving lots of blank space you can ensure your design doesn’t distract a potential customer from your case study content.

Color combination examples

In this case study on Polygon Media, the design is simple and professional, and the layout allows the prospective customer to follow the flow of information.

The gradient effect on the left-hand column helps break up the white background and adds an interesting visual effect.

Gray Lead Generation Business Case Study Template

Did you know you can generate an accessible color palette with Venngage? Try our free accessible color palette generator today and create a case study that delivers and looks pleasant to the eye:

Venngage's accessible color palette generator

Add long term goals in your case study

When creating a case study it’s a great idea to look at both the short term and the long term goals of the company to gain the best understanding possible of the insights they provide.

Short-term goals will be what the company or person hopes to achieve in the next few months, and long-term goals are what the company hopes to achieve in the next few years.

Check out this modern pattern design example of a case study below:

Lead generation business case study template

In this case study example, the short and long-term goals are clearly distinguished by light blue boxes and placed side by side so that they are easy to compare.

Lead generation case study example short term goals

Use a strong introductory paragraph to outline the overall strategy and goals before outlining the specific short-term and long-term goals to help with clarity.

This strategy can also be handy when creating a consulting case study.

Use data to make concrete points about your sales and successes

When conducting any sort of research stats, facts, and figures are like gold dust (aka, really valuable).

Being able to quantify your findings is important to help understand the information fully. Saying sales increased 10% is much more effective than saying sales increased.

In sales case study examples, like this one, the key data and findings can be presented with icons. This contributes to the potential customer’s better understanding of the report.

They can clearly comprehend the information and it shows that the case study has been well researched.

Vibrant Content Marketing Case Study Template

Use emotive, persuasive, or action based language in your marketing case study

Create a compelling case study by using emotive, persuasive and action-based language when customizing your case study template.

Case study example pursuasive language

In this well-written case study example, we can see that phrases such as “Results that Speak Volumes” and “Drive Sales” have been used.

Using persuasive language like you would in a blog post. It helps inspire potential customers to take action now.

Bold Content Marketing Case Study Template

Keep your potential customers in mind when creating a customer case study for marketing

82% of marketers use case studies in their marketing  because it’s such an effective tool to help quickly gain customers’ trust and to showcase the potential of your product.

Why are case studies such an important tool in content marketing?

By writing a case study you’re telling potential customers that they can trust you because you’re showing them that other people do.

Not only that, but if you have a SaaS product, business case studies are a great way to show how other people are effectively using your product in their company.

In this case study, Network is demonstrating how their product has been used by Vortex Co. with great success; instantly showing other potential customers that their tool works and is worth using.

Teal Social Media Business Case Study Template

Related: 10+ Case Study Infographic Templates That Convert

Case studies are particularly effective as a sales technique.

A sales case study is like an extended customer testimonial, not only sharing opinions of your product – but showcasing the results you helped your customer achieve.

Make impactful statistics pop in your sales case study

Writing a case study doesn’t mean using text as the only medium for sharing results.

You should use icons to highlight areas of your research that are particularly interesting or relevant, like in this example of a case study:

Coral content marketing case study template.jpg

Icons are a great way to help summarize information quickly and can act as visual cues to help draw the customer’s attention to certain areas of the page.

In some of the business case study examples above, icons are used to represent the impressive areas of growth and are presented in a way that grabs your attention.

Use high contrast shapes and colors to draw attention to key information in your sales case study

Help the key information stand out within your case study by using high contrast shapes and colors.

Use a complementary or contrasting color, or use a shape such as a rectangle or a circle for maximum impact.

Blue case study example case growth

This design has used dark blue rectangles to help separate the information and make it easier to read.

Coupled with icons and strong statistics, this information stands out on the page and is easily digestible and retainable for a potential customer.

Blue Content Marketing Case Study Tempalte

Less is often more, and this is especially true when it comes to creating designs. Whilst you want to create a professional-looking, well-written and design case study – there’s no need to overcomplicate things.

These simple case study examples show that smart clean designs and informative content can be an effective way to showcase your successes.

Use colors and fonts to create a professional-looking case study

Business case studies shouldn’t be boring. In fact, they should be beautifully and professionally designed.

This means the normal rules of design apply. Use fonts, colors, and icons to create an interesting and visually appealing case study.

In this case study example, we can see how multiple fonts have been used to help differentiate between the headers and content, as well as complementary colors and eye-catching icons.

Blue Simple Business Case Study Template

Whether you’re a B2B or B2C company, business case studies can be a powerful resource to help with your sales, marketing, and even internal departmental awareness.

Business and business management case studies should encompass strategic insights alongside anecdotal and qualitative findings, like in the business case study examples below.

Conduct a B2B case study by researching the company holistically

When it comes to writing a case study, make sure you approach the company holistically and analyze everything from their social media to their sales.

Think about every avenue your product or service has been of use to your case study company, and ask them about the impact this has had on their wider company goals.

Venngage orange marketing case study example

In business case study examples like the one above, we can see that the company has been thought about holistically simply by the use of icons.

By combining social media icons with icons that show in-person communication we know that this is a well-researched and thorough case study.

This case study report example could also be used within an annual or end-of-year report.

Highlight the key takeaway from your marketing case study

To create a compelling case study, identify the key takeaways from your research. Use catchy language to sum up this information in a sentence, and present this sentence at the top of your page.

This is “at a glance” information and it allows people to gain a top-level understanding of the content immediately. 

Purple SAAS Business Case Study Template

You can use a large, bold, contrasting font to help this information stand out from the page and provide interest.

Learn  how to choose fonts  effectively with our Venngage guide and once you’ve done that.

Upload your fonts and  brand colors  to Venngage using the  My Brand Kit  tool and see them automatically applied to your designs.

The heading is the ideal place to put the most impactful information, as this is the first thing that people will read.

In this example, the stat of “Increase[d] lead quality by 90%” is used as the header. It makes customers want to read more to find out how exactly lead quality was increased by such a massive amount.

Purple SAAS Business Case Study Template Header

If you’re conducting an in-person interview, you could highlight a direct quote or insight provided by your interview subject.

Pick out a catchy sentence or phrase, or the key piece of information your interview subject provided and use that as a way to draw a potential customer in.

Use charts to visualize data in your business case studies

Charts are an excellent way to visualize data and to bring statistics and information to life. Charts make information easier to understand and to illustrate trends or patterns.

Making charts is even easier with Venngage.

In this consulting case study example, we can see that a chart has been used to demonstrate the difference in lead value within the Lead Elves case study.

Adding a chart here helps break up the information and add visual value to the case study. 

Red SAAS Business Case Study Template

Using charts in your case study can also be useful if you’re creating a project management case study.

You could use a Gantt chart or a project timeline to show how you have managed the project successfully.

event marketing project management gantt chart example

Use direct quotes to build trust in your marketing case study

To add an extra layer of authenticity you can include a direct quote from your customer within your case study.

According to research from Nielsen , 92% of people will trust a recommendation from a peer and 70% trust recommendations even if they’re from somebody they don’t know.

Case study peer recommendation quote

So if you have a customer or client who can’t stop singing your praises, make sure you get a direct quote from them and include it in your case study.

You can either lift part of the conversation or interview, or you can specifically request a quote. Make sure to ask for permission before using the quote.

Contrast Lead Generation Business Case Study Template

This design uses a bright contrasting speech bubble to show that it includes a direct quote, and helps the quote stand out from the rest of the text.

This will help draw the customer’s attention directly to the quote, in turn influencing them to use your product or service.

Case Study Examples Summary

Once you have created your case study, it’s best practice to update your examples on a regular basis to include up-to-date statistics, data, and information.

You should update your business case study examples often if you are sharing them on your website.

It’s also important that your case study sits within your brand guidelines – find out how Venngage’s My Brand Kit tool can help you create consistently branded case study templates.

Case studies are important marketing tools – but they shouldn’t be the only tool in your toolbox. Content marketing is also a valuable way to earn consumer trust.

Case Study FAQ

Why should you write a case study.

Case studies are an effective marketing technique to engage potential customers and help build trust.

By producing case studies featuring your current clients or customers, you are showcasing how your tool or product can be used. You’re also showing that other people endorse your product.

In addition to being a good way to gather positive testimonials from existing customers, business case studies are good educational resources and can be shared amongst your company or team, and used as a reference for future projects.

How should you write a case study?

To create a great case study, you should think strategically. The first step, before starting your case study research, is to think about what you aim to learn or what you aim to prove.

You might be aiming to learn how a company makes sales or develops a new product. If this is the case, base your questions around this.

You can learn more about writing a case study  from our extensive guide.

Some good questions you could ask would be:

You might also enjoy:

best marketing strategies blog link

12 Essential Consulting Templates For Marketing, Planning and Branding

best marketing strategies blog link

Best Marketing Strategies for Consultants and Freelancers in 2019 [Study + Infographic]

How to Write a Case Study (+10 Examples & Free Template!)

Kristen McCormick

Ah, the case study: One of the most important pieces of marketing content for a business, and yet all too often, also the most boring. The problem with this is, lose a reader and you lose a customer. It doesn’t have to be this way!

marketing case study template

In this guide, I’m going to show you how to write a case study that prospects will actually want to read. An attractive , inspiring , and convincing case study that turns readers into customers.

Table of contents

What is a case study.

How long should a case study be?

A case study is a self-contained story about how a real customer overcame their problems using your products or services. Notice how I used the word story. Marketers are obsessed with the notion of “storytelling” (usually without actually telling stories), but a good case study is a story with protagonist (your customer) who has a problem but who wins out in the end.

what is a case study - example of intercom case study

This case study example by Intercom puts faces to the name of their protagonist, Atlassian.

By the end of a case study, the reader should be able to visualize themselves as the hero of their own story. They should be able to relate to the problems of your featured customer, and see themselves achieving their own goals by using your product or service.

Why write a business case study?

Case studies may not be as sexy as a viral blog post, and as such they’re often overlooked in favor of other content formats. This begs the question – why create marketing case studies at all?

The answer is because they’re really effective.

how to write a case study - chart showing case studies as most trusted content

This varies by industry (a kitchen remodeling business could probably tell their whole story in pictures while a software invoicing solution, not so much), but here are some guidelines:

What a marketing case study is NOT

A case study is an on-brand, data-driven, objective resource for potential customers to gain confidence in your business. Here is what they are not.

How to write a case study: steps & format

Now that we’re clear on what a marketing case study is (and isn’t), as well as why you should be producing them, let’s talk about how to actually write a case study worth reading.

marketing case study template

Click to view full-size.

A case study example

Let’s go into the details on each one of the steps above, using a fictional example. Our business is Kumbo Digital and our client is Currigate.

1. Start with a clear headline

This should be like a newspaper headline that gives the most important information. A subtitle with supporting details or a customer quote is optional.

Currigate Plugs $12k in Profit Leaks with Kumbo Digital

2. Provide a snapshot

There should be a section at the top with the important details. This includes

3. Introduce the client

Share one to two sentences with your customer’s name, industry, location, and a highlight.

Currigate is a software service that offers highly customizable subscription packages to banks, brokers, and investors in the mortgage lending market. 

4. State the problem, consequences, & hesitations

Explain the issue the customer was facing or the goal they were having a hard time reaching—as well as the negative outcomes.

While this high level of customization is what sets Currigate apart from its competitors, it also requires multiple applications with disparate data and heavy manual work. Account owners were spending so much time manage invoicing, there was little left over to build relationships with clients, stay on top of overages, and upsell. This was leading to leaks in profitability and a weakening of customer service. 

Include customer quotes as well as any hesitancies they had with using a product or service like yours.

“We were getting in our own way,” said Melanie Grigham, Currigate’s VP of Operations. “Our customer relationships were starting to falter, and we knew we had to do something. But the thought of manipulating just one of our data sources—let alone all seven—was scary. There were so many random connections in place and so much confidential information, we couldn’t risk it all breaking.”

5. Describe the solution

Share how the customer found your business and why they chose you.

Grigham learned about Kumbo Digital through none other than Google research and decided to get in touch. “The thought of explaining the whole thing felt daunting, but I was relieved to hear [the rep] finishing my sentences for me!”

Include which specific product or service they chose, how it was implemented, and how the customer used it. Stay brief!

After learning the details of the situation, the Kumbo team proposed a custom solution that would integrate all of the data sources into one dashboard. “I was hesitant at first, but they showed me a small scale example which helped me to understand a little more about how it would work. I appreciated their patience with me as I took some time to make a decision.” Grigham finally went with it. The dashboard took three weeks to implement and the data migration took just under a day.

6. Share the results & benefits

Share how the client used your product/service, what the results were, and the benefits. Include direct quotes and clear evidence (statistical data, before-and-after images, time-lapse videos, etc.)

With the new platform, Currigate’s account managers could access all seven data sources—as well as generate, track, send, and approve invoices—all in one place. Time spent invoicing went from days to hours, freeing up time for them to engage with customers and work toward strategic goals. “Our staff are less bogged down to the point where they’re asking to take on more clients—which is unheard of.” The redesigned and simplified product catalog (206 product codes instead of 1,024) has also made it easier for them to upsell as well as recommend combinations for specific needs. “Sometimes our new clients don’t know what they want, and this is perfect for giving them a starting point.” In addition, Currigate was able to identify $12,403 worth of overages they wouldn’t have caught otherwise. “Now, we can be sure that their customers are being billed appropriately (which is great for us) and receiving the services best fit for their dynamic needs (which is great for them). It’s a win-win.”

7. Conclude with words of advice and a CTA

Share where the client is headed, any additional quotes or praise, and/or their advice for similar potential clients.

Today, Currigate’s unique subscription model is as strong as ever. It’s even considering opening up to new markets. “We never thought we’d reach this point so soon—we thought new markets was years down the line,” said Melanie. When asked what advice she had for other businesses like hers, she talked about mixing faith and facts. “You’ve got to do your research to find a trusted provider, but at the end of the day, it all comes down to a leap of faith, and sometimes you just have to do it.”

Finish off with a CTA to contact your business and/or a link to view more case studies.

Tips on how to write a case study that prospects will want to read

Alright, so that was a basic example of a case study, but there’s more to it than just the words that comprise it. Here are eight tips to write a great case study that prospects will want to read and that will help close deals.

1. Make it as easy as possible for the client

Just like when asking for reviews , it’s important to make the process as clear and easy as possible for the client. When you reach out, ask if you can use their story of achievement as a case study for your business.

Make the details as clear as possible, including:

The clearer the picture you paint for them, the more receptive they’ll be to sharing their time with you.

2. Include a prominent snapshot with the results

While a good case study is like a story, you don’t want to hold out on your reader until the end. You want them to know the results right off the bat, then they can read further to find out how those results were achieved. In the example below, the overall picture is made clear with the title ( The Loot Box Uses Ad Factory and Content Marketing to Drive Sales ) and the three stats below it.

how to write a case study - make results clear

Image source

3. Choose an interesting angle

Apart from kitchen remodeling and website makeovers, it can be hard to make a case study compelling. But there is always room for creativity.

The more compelling your angle, the better the story. The better the story, the more engaging your case study will be. In Mailchimp’s case study example below, the customer name (Good Dye Young), compelling headline , and expressive image all work together to give this case study life.

how to write a case study - mailchimp example

4. But make it relatable to all prospects

Your angle is the “hook” that will catch your audience’s attention, but it’s essential that ALL prospects can relate to and identify with the problems encountered by your case study’s “protagonist.” This means catering to your core demographics and target markets , and solving the problems most commonly experienced by your customers.

The same Mailchimp case study example above finishes off with an “advice for other small businesses” section:

how to write a case study - mailchimp example with advice section

5. Make them visually appealing (and consistent)

We already know that case studies aren’t the most exciting reads, so don’t make it worse by throwing a bunch of text and numbers onto a page. A good case study is skimmable, visual, and organized.

example of clean business case study

6. Be the supporting character, not the hero

Your company should always be positioned as a helping hand that helped the real hero of the story—your client—overcome their obstacle. There are two reasons this approach is so effective. Firstly, you want your audience to visualize themselves as the protagonist of the case study. This is much more difficult if you won’t stop talking about how great your company or product is. Secondly, adopting a more humble tone can help increase your credibility in the mind of the reader.

how to write a case study - shopify examples

7. Let your clients tell their own story

As a storyteller, it’s your job to craft a compelling narrative about how your featured client triumphed over the forces of evil using your product or service, but that doesn’t mean your protagonist doesn’t have their own voice.

Let them tell the story in their own words and then incorporate direct quotes into your narrative. This will break up your text, increase credibility, and make your protagonist a tangible character that readers can relate to. Take an interview style format and use paraphrasing and annotations so the text isn’t repetitive. Set up the segue and create room for your client’s quote, and let them do the rest.

View the full case study example here.

8. Have realistic expectations

Yes, we want to create a useful, helpful resource for prospective customers, but let’s be real—nobody’s winning a Pulitzer for a case study, and it won’t be going viral on social media, no matter how well-written it is.

Case studies are little more than tools to be used by either self-motivated prospects researching your company, or by sales professionals as tools to help convince prospects to convert. Nothing more. They’re designed for audiences that are already strongly considering becoming your customers, which is a smaller but more qualified group of people than your general audience.

So don’t be disheartened if your case study content doesn’t attract as much traffic or engagement as your best or even average content. They’re not meant to. But that doesn’t mean you should stop creating them or start obsessing over how to improve them.

Business case study examples

Here are some business case study examples that put the tips in this guide into play.

Call us biased, but LOCALiQ’s case study format is pretty rad. What we like about it:

marketing case study examples - localiq

Read this case study example.

You saw a sneak peek of this above! What we like about it:

After the “Good Dye Young” example earlier, how could we not include another Mailchimp case study? What we like about it:

marketing case study examples - mailchimp

Wrike takes the case study snapshot to the next level in this example. What we like about it:

marketing case study examples - wrike

Our final marketing case study example comes from Slintel, a go-to-market intelligence software. What we like about it:

marketing case study examples - slintel

View full case study here

Marketing case study templates

To make things easy for you, I’ve compiled the tips and examples into a marketing case study template, in document form, that you can use to write your own.

Use these case study examples & tips to get started with your own

No two businesses are alike, and case studies vary widely in terms of style, tone, and format . One thing that all marketing case studies share, however, is their purpose – to convince prospects that doing business with you is a good idea. With these case study steps, tips, examples, and templates, you’ll be well on your way to producing stories your prospects will actually want to read.

Meet The Author

Kristen mccormick.

Kristen is the Senior Managing Editor at WordStream, where she helps businesses to make sense of their online marketing and advertising. She specializes in SEO and copywriting and finds life to be exponentially more delightful on a bicycle.

See other posts by Kristen McCormick

project case study format

More Articles Like This

How to Create an Editorial Calendar (Tips, Tools, & Free Template!)

How to Create an Editorial Calendar (Tips, Tools, & Free Template!)

Hit your content marketing goals with these pro tips, free tools, and a Trello template!

How to Measure Content Marketing ROI Right: Metrics, Math & Mistakes to Avoid

How to Measure Content Marketing ROI Right: Metrics, Math & Mistakes to Avoid

Metrics, mistakes to avoid, and examples to help you get the most out of your content marketing efforts.

7 Steps to Generate Leads With Gated Content (+Examples)

7 Steps to Generate Leads With Gated Content (+Examples)

Tap into one of the easiest, most cost-effective ways to generate leads for your business.

Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.

wordstream google ads performance grader

Sign up for our weekly newsletter!

Related articles.

The 4 Stages of a Supremely Successful Content Marketing Funnel

The 4 Stages of a Supremely Successful Content Marketing Funnel

15+ Project Case Study Examples & Templates

Project case study examples templates, what is a case study, components of an effective project case study, 15+ project case study examples and templates, 1. project case study template, 2. free project case study template, 3. case study of successful complex it projects, 4. a case study in project management, 5. involve users or fail: an it project case study, 6. sample engineering case study, 7. business case study sample, 8. project case study example, 9. construction project case study, 10. low impact development construction case study, 11. case study for a waterfront development:, 12. housing demonstration case study, 13. case studies of housing and community redevelopment, 14. case study for an urban housing rehabilitation and partnerships, 15. incremental housing project, 16. small community housing project case study, writing a project case studies for your portfolio, 1. problems, 2. solutions.

project case study template

free project case study template

1. Start Writing About Your Case Studies

2. organize and include captions in your images/thumbnails, 3. write in your voice, 4. write like you are writing a magazine feature, 5. proofread, more design, 9+ case brief examples - pdf examples, free 8+ real estate market analysis examples & templates ..., 50+ report examples - pdf, free 34+ financial analysis examples & samples in pdf google ..., 9+ business systems analysis examples - pdf examples, 11+ handover report examples - pdf, docs, word examples, 8+ case summary examples - doc, pdf examples, 13+ business analysis report examples - pdf, word examples, 7+ medical case study templates and examples examples, 8+ clinical case study templates and templates examples, 6+ quantitative analysis examples - pdf examples, 14+ concept notes examples - pdf examples, related articles.

Tobias van Schneider

Oct 17, 2018

How to Write Project Case Studies for Your Portfolio

Writing case studies might be the most dreaded part of building a design portfolio. after all the work and time it takes curating projects, designing pages, saving out images, etc., who wants to actually sit down and explain it all but next to your about page , case studies are the most important part of your portfolio..

Aside from showing your experience and skill, case studies give your potential client or employer an idea of how you work and think. I mean, case studies are basically the whole point of building a portfolio — which is why Semplice ( my company) was built around just that. Especially with more complex work such as UX design, a case study is a must to explain your work. Of course, your case study approach depends on your personal style and goals, but I generally recommend these rules when creating your project pages.

1. Write down your case studies before you do almost anything else

I know this is not as fun as designing your website but like most things in life, it helps to get the hardest task out of the way first. Near the end of the project you will just want to press that launch button, so anything you write at that time will be rushed and lazy. Or even worse, you will hit a wall and procrastinate launching the whole thing.

Write about your projects as early as you can, even if you have to adjust the copy slightly later to fit your final page layout. I usually just put all my thoughts in Evernote or a Google Doc. Think of your project in phases and start with Phase 1, which is usually the ideation or exploration phase. Write down your thoughts, and then continue to Phase 2. Don’t bother with images just yet, this is just for you to help you get it all down.

If inspiration strikes otherwise, so be it. But in most cases you will thank yourself later by doing this first.

2. Keep it brief & caption everything

People are usually scanning your projects to get a general idea of your skills and the way you work. Don’t write a novel, just share a short paragraph or two that makes your project interesting and relatable to your reader.

I’ve read research that says one of the first things people read in a newspaper are the little captions underneath the images. Think of your case study the same way. If someone scrolls through your case study and only reads the little 1–2 sentence captions, they should still understand your project. Focus on the captions first, and then fill in any lengthier content.

3. Include the right details

It all depends on your personal style and you don’t need to literally copy/paste this format, but your case study should loosely follow this outline or provide this information:

Name of client, what they do & their location: Give your reader context and write a quick sentence about what this project or product is all about. This will show your experience and interest in specific types of clients or design work. Naming the location will also help if you want to make it clear you work with clients all over, as opposed to just your hometown.

Goal for the project: What did the client ask you to do? What was the briefing? What was the main challenge and measure of success? Did you have a certain idea or expectation for the project when you began?

Your experience: Anything interesting to share about your process for this project? Did you take a unique angle or notice some surprising insight? Do you have some early sketches we can see? Why did you choose that approach? Ask yourself WHY WHY WHY a thousand times, and then answer those questions.

The outcome: Did you feel proud of the result? Did it exceed your expectations? Did it increase the client’s sales by 2000%? Don’t get too technical or share some crazy analytics report (and definitely do not make anything up), just include a brief sentence or two that shares how the project was successful. A case study should ideally be a success story. If it’s not, tell us why the project is still valuable or meaningful (maybe the client didn’t choose your favorite concept for example, but you still love the work you did) and what you learned from it.

Again, it doesn’t need to be some stiff, clinical report. Just set everything up for the reader so they can fully appreciate what went into the project and how you approach your work.

4. Give credit & explain your role

This is especially important if it was a team project. If I just see a list of names without their roles, I might be a little suspicious about what you actually did on this project. But whether or not this was a team project, it’s helpful for us to understand what role you played. This could be as simple as listing “art direction & design” beside the project summary. Forgetting this detail is crucial and can mean the difference between getting hired or not.

“We should finish reading with a sense of your personality and design process.”

5. Write in your voice

You and your client might know what they mean, but acronyms and buzzwords only distance your reader. Don’t try to impress with lofty language, just share your work in your own voice and be as clear as possible. We should finish reading with a sense of your personality and design process.

Whatever you do, don’t just copy/paste words about your client’s product from their website. The shift in voice will be obvious only make you seem lazy.

6. Don’t image dump

I’ve seen countless portfolios that either don’t include a case study at all or just have one sentence with a bunch of photos below for the reader to sort out on their own. That doesn’t sell your work the way it deserves. (Plus no copy = bad SEO, if you care about that.)

Consider a layout that lets you include a sentence or two beside each image, so you can explain your process and give us insight into what we’re seeing. A bunch of photos on a page might look pretty, but as almost every company in our “How to Get a Job at X” series has voiced, it’s not enough. Your potential employer or client needs context. We need to understand who you are, how you work and how you might contribute to our team/culture.

7. Think of each case study like a magazine feature

This goes for your content and layout. Using a similar page template for your case studies is fine, but you should at least adjust it to fit the project and look of the work.

Think of the way magazine articles are laid out. They’re designed to fully immerse you in the piece and create an experience. They include photos at specific places to illustrate a point or bring a scene to life. They use pull quotes to pique your interest or point out an especially memorable part of the story. They break up paragraphs with photos, but take care to not disrupt your reading experience.

This is why Semplice allows designers to create fully branded case studies — meaning you can design every piece of your page to fit the project’s look and feel, from the navigation down to the footer. Every project is different and your case studies should be too.

I could go on and on, but when it comes down to it, no one-size-fits-all solution works for case studies. It all depends on you, your project, style and the kind of work you do. As we say in this article about writing as a designer (good tips in there as well), just remember to write for that one person on the other side of the screen. It’s one person hiring you for the job after all — and often that person is a recruiter or someone who’s not necessarily a designer like you. Design your portfolio and write your case studies with your reader in mind, and you’ll be one step closer to doing the work you want to do.

Read more portfolio tips here and be sure to check out the Semplice Showcase for design portfolio inspiration.

Featured article image by Liz Wells

Thank you for reading!

Want to learn more about me? I’m Tobias is a Designer & Maker + Co-Founder of Semplice , a portfolio platform for designers. Also host of the show NTMY — Previously Art Director & Design Lead at Spotify.

More from Tobias van Schneider

Self-taught Designer & Maker. Un-Employed. Founder of https://www.semplice.com/ Formerly Spotify — More About me: http://www.vanschneider.com

About Help Terms Privacy

Get the Medium app

A button that says 'Download on the App Store', and if clicked it will lead you to the iOS App store

Tobias van Schneider

Text to speech

project case study format

Free case study template with step-by-step guide and examples

February 20, 2023

Case Study Template

About 73% of B2B companies produce case studies  for their content marketing purposes. Also, 47% of them find case studies to be their most successful content types.

So what’s a marketing case study?

Simply put, a marketing case study (or a customer success story ) is an advertorial for your business.

However, it doesn’t look or read like an advertisement.

Instead, it reads more like the story of how a company solved a problem using a particular solution provider or service. The most essential purpose of a marketing case study is to convince the reader that they can solve their problem just as the company in the case study did use the proposed solution.

Each time you want to push a lead further down your sales funnel or when you have a client that needs just a little more convincing to convert, you can send them a case study.

Let’s see a simple case study writing process and some tips to make your case studies more effective. We’ll also look at some good case study examples and formats.

Download a free case study template

Fill out the form below to get instant access to our case study template.

To save an editable copy, follow these simple steps:

Get the free case study template

A step-by-step process for writing a case study.

Here’s a simple 5-step process you can use to write your marketing case studies.

Step #1:  Choose a company (or client) to feature in your case study

The first step to writing a case study is to pick a company to feature in it. This case study “candidate” can be any company or client you serve.

If you serve multiple audiences, choose a candidate from each. For example, at Filestage , we primarily serve two types of businesses:

So, if we had to do a case study at Filestage, we could choose any of these audiences to feature in our case study.

In fact, we can even drill one level deeper into our selection process of case study candidates.

For instance, we can select one case study candidate for our agency customers that create only graphic content. Moreover, one case study candidate for our agency customers that create only video content.

Likewise, from our company customers, we can select different case study candidates based on the company size, its industry and so on.

Later, when we have a prospect that fits in the video production agency profile, we’ll send them the video agency case study. Or, if we have a 3-person startup prospect, we’ll show them our startup case study.

Because Facebook serves multiple audiences, it has created a mix of case studies  featuring all the audiences it serves:

Image 2018 08 30 at 4.03.51 PM

Step #2:  Ask the company or client if they’re OK to be featured in a case study

You can’t feature a client in a case study unless they allow you to do so.

Besides, you also need information and quotes from the clients to use in your case studies.

So after identifying a few case study candidates, email them seeking their permission to feature them in a case study.

If you’re an agency looking to create a project case study, use this case study permission seeking template:

Thanks so much for choosing us to work on your project X. We thoroughly enjoyed working on it.

I was wondering if you’d be open to letting us do a case study on your experience of working with us.

If you’re okay, I’ll send you a few questions that you can answer to help us create the case study. I’m happy to do the interview on phone if that’s what you prefer.

Alternatively, if you’re a SaaS or IT solution provider wanting to write client success stories, use this client success story permission seeking template:

Thanks so much for choosing our service for your X needs at Company X.

I was wondering if you’d be open to letting us do a success story on your experience of working with our solution.

If you’re okay, I’ll send you a few questions that you can answer to help us create the case study. I’m happy to do the interview on phone, if that’s what you prefer.

Step #3:  Prepare the case study interview questions

When preparing a questionnaire to send to your case study candidates, always remember to ask for only the information that just the client can give. Don’t ask questions you can find the answers to yourself.

Most importantly, the information you need from your clients for your case studies includes the different thoughts that they had when they were looking for a solution like yours, considering your solution (or service), comparing it with the alternatives, and the reason for choosing your company/agency over the other options.

Here are seven case study client interview questions that cover all this information:

Step #4:  Write your case study

After you’ve all the data from your client, you’re all set to write your case study.

Here are the sections that most standard case studies support: (Note: You DON’T HAVE to use the labels to introduce the different parts in your case study. But you should write your case study copy in the same order.)

Headline:  A case study’s headline must be benefit-driven and non-salesly. Typically, most case study headlines take one of these two templates:

1. How Company X used [Solution] to [Get Key Result]

2. Company X: [Result]

A case study’s headline must only communicate the most important benefit the client got from the solution/service.

For instance, Filestage helps clients boost productivity, save time , deliver faster and so on. However, for one case study headline, only one of these benefits should be included (based on the client’s fundamental need).

Customer background:  This is a 3-6 sentence section that introduces the featured company. Talk about the products or services the company offers, its team size (if it makes sense), its location, and target customers.

Challenges: This section introduces and explains the featured company’s challenges as they relate to the products or services you sell. Here, you should talk about the impact that the difficulties had on the company’s business. Pick 2-3 key challenges. Use many client quotes from your interview to beef up this section.

Journey: Here, talk about how the featured company realized the gravity of the challenge(s) they faced and how they struggled to resolve them. Discuss how they moved closer to finding the solution (your product or service) to their challenges. Give details about their shortlisting criteria and evaluation process. Again, use many of the client’s quotes to make this section more relatable.

Solution:  This is the part where you introduce your solution or service and explain its key features and benefits that help with the challenges the featured company faced.

Implementation/onboarding: Here, talk about how easy or simple your solution’s implementation (or the onboarding process) was.

Results: This is where you talk about the results your solution or service got for the client. Always, match the results your solution or service got with the company’s challenges, otherwise, the readers might feel lost.

For example, a common challenge Filestage’s customers face is the time lost in feedback loops. So as a result, our case study could say, “ With Filestage, Company X brought down their average feedback time by 70% “. Having a number for this section makes sense.

Step #5: Seek approval from the client

After your case study is ready, show it to the client to get your client’s approval . Here’s a simple case study approval email template you can use.

Thanks so much for working with us on the case study.

Just finished working on the draft — you can preview it here [link].

Please let me know if you need any changes. If not, we’ll go ahead with the publishing.

Thanks once again for making the time.

So those are all the steps to writing a winning case study.

A few quick case study writing tips

If you follow the case study writing steps from above, you’ll have a head start. However, if you want to make them more effective, follow these case study writing tips:

Some excellent case study examples

Here are three simple yet very effective marketing case study examples. You’ll be surprised to see that although the different case studies look different, they’re more or less using the same case study format from above.

Nielsen: Collaborating across 100 countries for better consumer insights

This Gsuite case study follows the same structure as listed above. It starts with the company’s introduction followed by the challenges, journey, and solution all the way up to the results. When you check out this case study, pay attention to the snappy subheads that introduce the different sections.

Image 2018 08 30 at 4.36.11 PM

Case Study: How Weebly Saved “a Million” Hours on Content Production and Achieved a 3X ROI

This Contently case study also follows the traditional case study format. It also uses the typical labels like Challenge  and Solution. In addition to the common case study elements, Contently has also included a call to action to guide the leads on their next step.

Image 2018 08 30 at 4.41.42 PM

Banco MAIS works with IBM Business Partner Habber Tec to implement the IBM Business Process Manager on Cloud Service

This IBM case study also follows the traditional case study template. It’s bold and colorful and makes some great use of the sidebar (or the case study snapshot) with client’s quotes, call to action, and results.

Image 2018 08 30 at 5.01.17 PM

Following the same template as these companies, even you’ll be able to write excellent marketing case studies.

A few engaging case study formats

Most companies that produce case studies publish them as blog posts on their websites inside the “case study” category.

But you add much more life to your customer success stories by using different formats. Here are three of them.

C ustom-designed PDFs:  Once you’ve got an approved case study copy, instead of uploading it to your website, send it to a graphic designer to make it beautiful. A good designer can bring your case study to life by adding slick fonts, branding, colors, callout boxes, quotes, icons, images, and more.

If you don’t have the time or budget, you can use some catchy editable text graphics templates from Canva  and repurpose them as beautiful visual case studies. You can then embed your case study PDFs on your website.

Custom case study website pages: If you use a page builder, or if you’ve access to a web designer and developer, consider building custom case study pages.  Creating a custom page for your case study lets you add rich visual elements to it. Just look at this beautiful case study page  from DesignStudio:

Image 2018 08 30 at 1.35.34 PM

It has gorgeous images, videos, interactive elements, sliders … and creates a visual splash.

Video case studies: Agreed: Creating a video case study is a completely new game, but it has some great benefits. To start with, just a 2-minute video case study can convey more information than even a 10000-word case study might fail to share.

Look at this super-fun video case study from Zendesk to get an idea:

Once your marketing case studies are ready, put up a case studies page on your website that lists all of them.

Add a link to this page in your website’s footer or under your menu’s resources’ tab. Also, promote your case studies in your lead generation email campaigns. And don’t forget to tell your sales team about your case studies as they’ll be the one sharing it the most with their best leads.

Have you written any marketing case studies for your company? Drop them in the comments – we’d love to take a look!

Are you interested in other templates?

Max Benz

Get marketing tips, trends, and inspiration in your inbox

Everything you need to create your best work, delivered from our brains to yours every other Wednesday.

Get Access to ALL Templates & Editors for Just $2 a month.

pricing crown

FREE 11+ Project Case Study Templates in PDF | MS Word

During that period of time, you can start gathering information on the organization and its project that you’re working on. You can segregate the complete project into different parts and ask questions like how important is the project, what is the location from where you can gather and collect the details and information, how each team member is going to work in the project.

project case study

Table of Content

1. design project and case study, 2. retail project case study, 3. development project case study, 4. college project case study, 5. project case study reports, 6. it project case study, 7. power project case study, 8. waste water project case study, 9. economy project case study, 10. construction of highway project case study, 11. energy project case study, 12. practicing project management case study, 5 steps to create the project case study, what are areas that you can investigate to make case study project successful, how do you use case study project in the business organization, how do the project case study works, why do you need the project case study.

design project and case study

Step 1: Start writing down the Case Studies

Step 2: keep it brief and short, step 3: including the right details, step 4: write in your words, step 5: thinking of each case study, more in project templates.

Get access to ALL Templates, Designs & Documents

487+ FREE & Premium Project - Download NOW

Beautifully Designed, Easily Editable Templates to Get your Work Done Faster & Smarter.

Get access to ALL Templates, Designs & Documents

Create powerful business content together.

Case Study Template | Desktop and Mobile Views

BONUS : Read the case study how-to guide .

Case Study Template

Share this URL

Good case studies tell a compelling story to potential clients of how your company rose to the occasion. The Case Study Template will help you showcase your company’s credibility in solving a particularly challenging client problem and prove to potential clients that you have what it takes to perform well. Specifically, case studies can help you:

Xtensio is your team space for beautiful living documents. Create , manage and share business collateral, easily. Join the 116,499 changemakers.

Paperless documents

Xtensio templates and examples

Join a Free Live Demo

Case study examples you can customize

backpack co case study

How to create an effective Case Study with Xtensio

Do not forget

Follow along step-by-step with the Case Study how-to guide .

What is a case study?

An effective case study is a great way to show potential clients, customers, and stakeholders how valuable your product or service is by explaining how your business solved a particularly challenging client problem.

Marketing case studies examine a single client situation in-depth and provide a detailed analysis of how your organization resolved the challenge.

The best case studies not only tell a story about your company but also contain some hard measurable metrics. This allows you to highlight your successes in a way that will make an ideal potential customer become your customer. Essentially, a case study is an effective way to learn about your business and a great marketing tool.

When looking for potential projects to use for a case study, look for ones that:

The most important element of your case study is that it must show a real-life example to relate to your target client. While a good case study showcases your company, a great case study makes the reader want to start a conversation with you.

What information should be included in a case study?

The first thing to consider is who will be reading your case studies. Messages and their delivery resonate differently, depending on who is on the receiving end. For example, a thirty-something software entrepreneur will measure success differently than a fifty-something CEO of a large corporation. Understanding your target audience will help you tell your case study in a way that will effectively speak to them.

When gathering information for your case study, interview happy customers and ask questions to your potential case study subject that align with the story you are trying to tell. No case study will be the same, and your questions will vary from client to client.

Before you contact the customer, consider interview questions so you have an idea of what you need to produce a compelling case study demonstrating your potential to succeed.

At the end of the information-gathering process, you should have a solid understanding of the following to outline how your product was the best solution for the customers’ particular challenge:

Some questions to ask your client during the initial interview:

Don’t forget to talk to your colleagues and get their perspectives on the project when writing your case study. You may also want to include some quotes from internal stakeholders or project leads to make an even more compelling case study.

How do you write a case study?

When writing a case study, make sure you know who you’re talking to. Your audience, i.e. who would be interested in your product or service, should be your main focus when you create a case study. Once you’ve compiled your facts, format the story so that it will appeal to potential customers.

The format and content of case study templates vary, but in general, your business case study should look like a strong landing page: brief, pictorial, and engaging.

Xtensio’s case study template includes instructional copy to show you everything you need to know to create a real-life example of your company’s strengths. The template is organized into sections and modules designed to make your case study flow like a well-planned story and we’ve broken the template into three main sections: the snapshot, the body and the footer. 

The Snapshot

This section is designed to give a quick overview of your story and prompt readers to want to learn more. Consider it an executive summary, a book cover, or a brief description in an online store. It should have enough information to grab a potential customer’s attention, but not so much that they will stop reading. Include client details, the project name, and a brief description of the problem, as well as quantitative metrics that demonstrate your accomplishment.

You can also include the date the case study was originally published here to help potential customers identify if your product or service is a good fit for them right now. 

This section is the meat of your case study and will focus on customer results. Like any good story, it will have a beginning, a middle and an end. Classic western storytelling uses a pretty standard formula that includes a problem, the approach taken to solve it, the solution and the end results. The body of Xtensio’s case study template is divided into four key areas that align to these story elements: the Challenge, the Approach, the Solution and the Results. Here, make sure you explain using your product for a certain use case and describe how your service helped the client.

To close your case study, end with a short paragraph about who your company is, as well as your contact information. This is handy if your business case study becomes separated from your company’s website information somehow.

If you plan on sharing the case study online, make sure to add the links to your website and social media handles, using our social media module. If you are planning to print, then don’t forget to spell out the name of your website and/or add a contact phone number and email address.

Invite feedback and participation by your colleagues and the client by inviting them to collaborate on the case study template in real-time. Once you are satisfied with your case study, you can add it to your website, share it on your social channels, use it in presentations, or send out emails to potential clients. You can also download a pdf version that can be printed and shared. 

More templates related to case study:

Technology Company Fact Sheet Example

See how Xtensio can help your business

consulting tools

Product Management

Build and launch products and services successfully.

startup tools

Engage buyers more and close sales faster.

marketing-tools

Create, share and manage key collateral easily.

innovation tools

Deliver better experiences.

Used by the world’s top businesses.

116,499 users and counting..

Logos of top businesses that use Xtensio: Dropbox, Disney, Adobe, Google

Jerome Katz

Professor of Entrepreneurship @

St. Louis University

Testimonial from Jake Peters

Jake Peters

Testimonial from Robin Bramman

Robin Bramman

Founder and Chief Brand Mixologist @

Testimonial from Olakunle

Olakunle Oladehin

Executive Director @

Everybody Dance Now!

Testimonial from Aaron

Aaron Friedland

The Walking School Bus

Testimonial from Anna

Anna Yunker

Content Strategist @

Aztek Digital Agency

Testimonial from Robin Eyre

Trailblazer360

Testimonial from Adam

Stephen Paterson

Chief Product Officer @

AND Digital

Frequently asked questions

Xtensio is the quickest and easiest way for teams to create, share and manage all of their business documents together. Create pitches, sales sheets, reports, case studies, agendas and more. Add images, videos, tables, buttons and other interactive modules. Drag and drop, resize, change backgrounds, colors. Share a link. Present a digital slideshow. Export a PDF/PNG.

A folio is a live webpage, a full-screen digital slideshow presentation and an exportable PDF/PNG document all-in-one.  Folios are responsive, collaborative and completely customizable. Start from an  instructional template , editable example or a blank folio to build all your business documents and presentations with the ease of a web builder. Add team members and guests to work together in real-time on the cloud. Changes instantly sync to the live version of the folio so both internal and external stakeholders are always up-to-date. Folios are the next generation of flexible documents and presentations.

Unlike other presentation or document creators, Xtensio works like a web builder so you can easily drag and drop interactive content, customize the layout, and change colors, fonts, backgrounds to get professional-looking business content out the door quickly, without needing a designer. You can collaborate with team members and guests to work together in real-time on the cloud. And the flexibility to share folios as live web links, digital slideshow presentations or exportable PDF/PNGs means you don’t have to jump between tools when creating different deliverables. Check out this page to see how Xtensio outpaces the competition.

Yes. All Xtensio plans include 128 bit SSL encryption and backups to ensure your data is secure. Here’s more on the range of sharing options on Xtensio, from completely private to public.

Yes. You can try out Xtensio’s editor and any template without creating an account. To save your work, collaborate with your team and access other premium features, you can upgrade and create an account. Plans start at $8 per month.

By upgrading to our premium plans, you’ll have a private, branded workspace with your own URL where you, your team members and guests can create and collaborate on multiple presentations and documents. You’ll be able to lock branding across your deliverables with the team style guide, streamline the creation process with custom templates, unlock exports, add password protection and customize individual shared links, and view folio stats to stay updated on all of your projects. Here’s more about our premium plans .

The case study template allows you to tell the story of how your company brings clients effective results. Highlight measurable metrics that can easily demonstrate success, like sales and cost savings. An effective case study will capture interest, establish your brand as thought leaders and focus your future decision-making.

Yes! We have a couple of case study examples above that you can use as a starting point for your own. If you find a style you like, use it for your inspiration. Just click on one of the examples or save it as a folio and start editing.

Living documents such as Xtensio’s case study template allow you to instantly sync your entire team throughout the process of writing a case study and reviewing it with your team and client. The document can easily be updated. The best way to share a strong case study is simply sending the live link. You can also add collaborators to work in real-time. And the customizable link keeps both internal and external colleagues up-to-date as your case studies evolve.

Yes! You can invite as many people as you’d like to collaborate on your case studies, ensuring your whole team is aligned in real-time.  Here’s more on real-time collaboration .

When you’re ready to share your case study, choose between presenting it as a full-screen digital slideshow, sending it as a responsive web link or exporting it as a PDF or PNG  (premium feature) . Learn more about the different ways to share your folios in this tutorial video .

We do! There are a number of different templates, examples and resources to guide you through the process of promoting and growing your business.Check out our  Marketing toolbox  and our  Business Development toolbox  to find more tools and resources.

Beautiful living documents , built like web pages.

User

116,499 users and counting…

Photo

IMAGES

  1. 49 Free Case Study Templates ( + Case Study Format Examples + )

    project case study format

  2. 49 Free Case Study Templates ( + Case Study Format Examples + )

    project case study format

  3. 10+ Project Case Study Examples in PDF

    project case study format

  4. Sample Case Studies Used In Research

    project case study format

  5. 49 Free Case Study Templates ( + Case Study Format Examples + )

    project case study format

  6. Case study template

    project case study format

VIDEO

  1. Project 1 Case Study

  2. Business Case Study Presentation Format || wowTemplates

  3. Case Study Writing

  4. How to Find Case Studies, How to Create Case Studies, Canva

  5. PROJECT CASE STUDY 1-12 Group 4

  6. Case Study Presentation- 2C

COMMENTS

  1. How to Write a Case Study: Bookmarkable Guide & Template

    Uncover what you need to create effective case studies for your business, and grab a free case study template to help you get started.

  2. How to Create a Case Study + 14 Case Study Templates

    After you've interviewed your client and you're getting ready to start writing, it's important to remember each piece you need to cover. All

  3. 15+ Case Study Examples, Design Tips & Templates

    How should you write a case study? · Why do you use our tool or service? · How often do you use our tool or service? · What does the process of

  4. How to Write a Case Study (+10 Examples & Free Template!)

    The problem with this is, lose a reader and you lose a customer. It doesn't have to be this way! marketing case study template. In this guide, I

  5. 11+ Project Case Study Examples in PDF

    Include the description of the client and their problem, the project's objectives, how you came about the case, and the results. Indicate the challenges and

  6. 15+ Project Case Study Examples & Templates

    Writing a Project Case Studies for Your Portfolio · 1. Start Writing About Your Case Studies · 2. Organize and Include Captions in Your Images/Thumbnails · 3.

  7. How to Write Project Case Studies for Your Portfolio

    Writing case studies might be the most dreaded part of building a design portfolio. After all the work and time it takes curating projects

  8. Free Case Study Template With Step-By-Step Guide

    We'll also look at some good case study examples and formats. ... If you're an agency looking to create a project case study, use this case

  9. FREE 11+ Project Case Study Templates in PDF

    5 Steps to create the Project Case Study · Step 1: Start writing down the Case Studies · Step 2: Keep it brief and Short · Step 3: Including the Right Details.

  10. Case Study Template [FREE]

    What information should be included in a case study? · The client's initial challenge · Why did the client choose your company · Your company's