The Writing of a good Case Study

Wikipedia says that a case study (or case report), in social sciences and life sciences,  is a descriptive, exploratory or explanatory analysis of a person, group or event. In business, however, the main purpose of a case study is to convince the reader that the particular organization or individual can solve business problems in methodic, predictable and transparent way.

A case study should be crisp and to the point. It should outline the response provided in face of a crisis situation. A background of what led to this situation is also necessary. However,at the same time you should make the customer look good.You should never tread too far down path of his pains so that he looks like an idiot!

As with any content you need to give it the face of a story to hook your readers. Add liveliness, define characters and integrate multiple sub stories within. A realistic situation will always have unwanted glitches or bottlenecks. These are as important as the solutions.

Graphs, Infographics or pictorial representations all make the understanding easier. Using of bullet points is highly recommended. Leverage  customers current marketing message if possible.

Overall, break up the entire case study into a few subheadings as:

Title:
Should have ten words or fewer including the name of the company

Overview:
It should mention what industry and nature of work the customer is into.What is his vision that led him to look for a solution.Was there somebody specific who led this initiative.

Background:
Atleast three points of pain areas that the customer identified. What tactics did they  try to solve these initially. And  what was the big moment they decided to partner you. What are the top three things they love about your product or service.

Implementation:
The process of implementation should be crisply mentioned and who from the customers team helped you out.

Results:
Then we come to the final part.What specific problems has been addressed by you that other customers can relate to.Did this particular customer have any direct big win/big as a result.