Case Study Content

Template

Case Study Template for B2B Teams

Ten sections in the order a buyer reads them, what to write in each, and the interview questions that fill them. Copy it, fill in the blanks, and cut it to one page for sales.

Updated

A case study does its real work when no one from your team is in the room: a buyer reads it alone, then forwards it to the people who have to sign off. This template is built for that reader. Each section answers a question they ask, in the order they ask it: is this company like us, was their problem our problem, why did they pick this, how painful was rollout, and what did they get.

Fill in the blanks from a recorded customer interview, not from memory. Every claim should trace back to something the customer said and agreed to publish.

Copy the template

Paste it into a doc, fill each blank and replace each “Write:” line with the customer's story, and delete the section labels before you design the final version.

Case study template

HEADLINE
How ________ (customer) ________ (outcome) in ________ (timeframe)

AT A GLANCE
Company: ________
Industry: ________
Company size (employees or revenue band): ________
Region: ________
Team using the product: ________
Use case, in a few words: ________
Key results, each with its timeframe: ________

THE CHALLENGE
Write: how the team worked before, in plain terms.
Write: what it cost them (time, money, risk or missed targets).
Write: one concrete moment that shows the problem.
Write: why it had to be fixed now.

WHY THEY CHOSE YOU
Write: what else they considered (a category, an in-house build, or doing nothing).
Write: what they were worried about, and what settled it.
Write: what tipped the decision.

THE SOLUTION
Write: the first thing the team started doing differently, and why it mattered.
Write: the second change.
Write: the third change, if there is one.

IMPLEMENTATION
Time from signing to day-to-day use: ________
Roles involved on the customer's side, and how much of their time it took: ________
One thing your team did during rollout that made the difference: ________

RESULTS
Metric: ________   Before: ________   After: ________   Over: ________   Source: ________
Metric: ________   Before: ________   After: ________   Over: ________   Source: ________
Metric: ________   Before: ________   After: ________   Over: ________   Source: ________
Write: one sentence on what the results meant for the business.

CUSTOMER QUOTE
Write: one sentence from the interview, in the customer's own words.
Name, role, company: ________

WHAT'S NEXT
Write: expansion, new teams or new use cases since launch, or what they plan next.

CALL TO ACTION
Write: one next step, such as seeing the product handle this use case or asking to speak with this customer.

Section by section

What each section is for, what to put in it, the question to ask the customer that fills it, and the mistake that empties it. For a full interview script, see case study interview questions that surface specific proof.

  1. Section 1

    Headline

    Tells the right reader, in one line, that this story is about someone like them getting a result they want.

    What to write

    • The customer's name, the outcome, and the timeframe, in the form “How (customer) (got outcome) in (timeframe)”.
    • The outcome in the customer's terms (hours back, deals closed, audits passed), not your feature's name.

    Ask the customer

    • If you told a peer about this in one sentence, what would you say changed?

    Avoid: A headline about your product (“Customer chooses Product”) says nothing about what the reader gets.

  2. Section 2

    At a glance

    Lets a buyer judge in seconds whether this customer looks like them: industry, size, region, use case.

    What to write

    • Company, industry, size band, region, the team that uses the product, and the use case.
    • Two or three headline results, each with its timeframe, repeated from the Results section.

    Ask the customer

    • Which team uses it day to day, and roughly how many people are on it?

    Avoid: Leaving size and industry out. A buyer who can't tell whether the customer is a peer discounts the whole story.

  3. Section 3

    The challenge

    The before-state, written so a reader with the same problem recognises their own week in it.

    What to write

    • What the team was doing before, what it cost them (time, money, risk, missed targets) and why it couldn't wait.
    • One concrete scene: the report that took a weekend, the deal lost on a security review.

    Ask the customer

    • Walk me through how this worked before. What did a bad week look like?
    • What made you decide to fix it now rather than next year?

    Avoid: Opening with the customer's company history. Start with the problem; the At a glance box carries the background.

  4. Section 4

    Why they chose you

    Answers the vendor-selection question a late-stage buyer is quietly asking, without naming competitors.

    What to write

    • What else they considered (a category, an in-house build, doing nothing) and what tipped the decision.
    • The doubt they had going in, and what settled it.

    Ask the customer

    • What other options did you look at, and what made you pick this one?
    • What were you worried about before you signed?

    Avoid: Naming and criticising a competitor. Describe the alternative by type instead (“a spreadsheet process”, “a larger suite”).

  5. Section 5

    The solution

    Shows what changed in how the team works, not what the product can do.

    What to write

    • The two or three things they now do differently, in the order they started doing them.
    • Only the features that caused those changes, named in passing.

    Ask the customer

    • What does your team do now that it didn't do before? What did it stop doing?

    Avoid: A feature tour. If a sentence would fit on your product page, it doesn't belong here.

  6. Section 6

    Implementation

    Removes the rollout objection: how long it took, who had to be involved, what it cost the customer's team.

    What to write

    • Time from signing to live use, who on the customer's side was involved, and how much of their time it took.
    • One thing your team did during rollout that made the difference.

    Ask the customer

    • How long from signing to your team using it day to day?
    • Who had to be involved on your side, and how much of their week did it take?

    Avoid: Skipping it. Rollout risk is often the last objection in a deal, and most case studies never address it.

  7. Section 7

    Results

    The proof a champion forwards to the buying committee: before and after, with a timeframe and a source.

    What to write

    • Each result as a before, an after and a timeframe: what the metric was, what it is now, and over how long.
    • Where each number comes from (the customer's dashboard, their finance team, their own estimate) and say which.
    • One result for each person who signs off: time for the team, cost for finance, risk for IT or legal.

    Ask the customer

    • What did you measure before you started, and what does it read now?
    • If you had to defend renewing this to your CFO, what would you show them?

    Avoid: Unsourced percentages and vague wins (“significant improvement”). Only publish numbers the customer gave you and approved.

  8. Section 8

    Customer quote

    One attributed sentence in the customer's own words that does what a number can't: says how it felt.

    What to write

    • A sentence from the interview transcript, lightly trimmed, with the speaker's name, role and company.
    • Pick the line about the change in their work, not praise for your company.

    Ask the customer

    • What would you tell someone in your role who's where you were a year ago?

    Avoid: A quote written by marketing and sent for sign-off. Buyers can tell, and it reads like an ad.

  9. Section 9

    What's next

    Proves the value lasted past the first months: expansion, new teams, new uses.

    What to write

    • Seats added, a second team rolled out, a new use case, or what they plan to do next.

    Ask the customer

    • Has the way you use it grown since you started? What's next for it?

    Avoid: Ending on the launch. A story that stops at go-live leaves the buyer wondering about year two.

  10. Section 10

    Call to action

    Asks for the one next step that fits where the reader is in their decision.

    What to write

    • One action, matched to the reader: talk to sales, see a demo of this use case, or ask to speak to this customer.

    Ask the customer

    • Would you take a reference call from a prospect in your industry?

    Avoid: Three competing buttons. Pick one ask.

The one-page version for sales

Reps rarely send the full story mid-deal. Make a one-page cut from the same draft, keeping only:

  1. Headline
  2. At a glance
  3. The challenge, cut to two sentences
  4. Results, the two or three numbers that matter most to this buyer
  5. Customer quote
  6. Call to action

Choose the results for the person who will read it: a finance reader wants cost and payback, an operator wants time saved, IT wants rollout effort and risk. The one-page case study format goes through each block, and the ROI summary one-pager covers the version built for the CFO.

Before you publish

  • Agree what the customer will let you publish (name, logo, numbers) before the interview, not after the draft.
  • Record and transcribe the interview, so every quote and number traces back to something the customer said.
  • Give every result a timeframe and a source, and drop any number the customer won't stand behind in writing.
  • Send the customer the draft with the proof points marked, and ask what they need changed rather than whether they approve.
  • Get written approval from the person quoted and from whoever signs off on external communications at the customer.
  • For video or a photo, have a signed release that covers every place you plan to use it.
  • Make a one-page cut for sales and tell reps which deals it fits.

Approval is where specifics most often get cut. See getting customer approval without losing specificity for how to keep them.

Questions

How long should a case study be?

As long as the ten sections need and no longer. The full version on your site can run a page or two; the one-page cut for sales calls and proposals keeps only the headline, the snapshot, the challenge in brief, the results, the quote and one next step. Write the full version first, then cut it down.

What if the customer won't share numbers?

Ask whether they will share a before-and-after in another unit: hours, steps, headcount, or days to close. Where they agree to a figure only as their own estimate, attribute it as one. If nothing can be published, lean on the challenge, the implementation detail and an attributed quote; never fill the gap with a number they didn't give you.

Can I publish an anonymous case study?

Yes, but describe the customer precisely in the At a glance box (industry, size band, region, team) so a buyer can still judge whether it's a peer. An anonymous story with a vague description proves very little.

Should a case study name competitors?

Usually not. Describe what the customer considered by type (“a larger all-in-one suite”, “an in-house tool”) and what tipped the decision. That answers the buyer's question without starting a fight, and it's easier for the customer to approve.

Is this template for written or video case studies?

Both. The sections are the same; in a video, the interview answers carry the challenge, solution and results, and the At a glance box and numbers go on screen as captions.

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