Treat case studies as powerful marketing materials. They sidestep buyers’ objections, win their trust and help you sell your products fast.

Let’s find how you can easily put together a case study that helps you increase product sales and maximize profits while keeping your customers informed and happy.

The Basic Elements of a Successful Case Study

The following are the basic elements of a successful case study. Use them exactly in the same order.

Identify the Customer
Identify the Problem
Solutions they tried and failed
How they come to know about your solution
How did they implement your solution
The results they achieved with your solution

Let’s take a closer look at each of them.

Identifying the Customer

Don’t hit around the bushes here. Name the names. Identify persons and businesses by name. If you don’t name names, your potential customers will trust you less. Your potential buyers have to identify themselves with people who have already tried your solutions.

Identifying the Problem

What problem do you solve? Identify the exact problem the customer was having. For examples,

Problem: Website visitors are not converting to paying customers.
Problem: The lawn mower produces funny noises and cuts grass unevenly.
Problem: The engine breaks down quite often.

Explain the problem in a small paragraph or two. If someone has a problem, others too will have exactly the same problem. This part helps your potential customers identify themselves with others who already had this particular problem. They will be interested in learning how this particular problem is solved.

Solutions they Tried and Failed

Tell one or more solutions they have tried. Briefly talk about the solutions they have tried or at least considered in the past. This part can be very short.

Your potential customers may already have tried the same solutions. They may be contemplating on using the same solutions. In any case, your potential buyers are eager to learn what you have to say.

How they Come to Know About Your Solution

Did a friend or a colleague told the customer about your solution? Did they come across an advertisement that attracted their attention? Briefly tell how they come across your solution and why they decided to give your solution a go.

How they Implemented Your Solution

Explain how they planned to implement your solution here. Briefly explaining the planning and implementation processes. Also tell what results they expected by implementing the solutions. This part can be one or two paragraphs long.

The Results they Achieved

This is the most important part. Explain the results they got.

Did they increase sales? If yes, by how much.
Did the lawn mower started cutting the grass more evenly and while making a lot less noise?
Did the engine break downs come down significantly?

Crunch the numbers wherever possible. [Before implementing the solution, only 4 in 1000 visitors would convert to paying customers. Now, we average 32 sales per 1000 visitors. That is much better returns on our advertising dollars. We are extremely happy.]

It is easy to write a case study of 1000 to 1500 words if you follow this structure.