Warning: The way I used to write case studies was a total waste of time

I used to write these long, feature-heavy case studies that basically read like product specs, then last year I switched to a single-page format focused only on the customer's problem and the dollar amount they saved. Has anyone else seen better engagement from stripping out the technical jargon and just telling the story?

3 comments

3 Comments

burns.jenny12d agoMost Upvoted

Stripping out the jargon was the best move I ever made with my case studies. I started doing the exact same thing about two years ago, kept it to one page, and focused hard on the numbers they actually cared about. The trick is to write it like you're telling a friend over coffee, not presenting to a boardroom. Clients started reading them all the way through and actually remembering the results, which never happened with my old long versions. If you haven't already, try adding a short quote from the customer right at the top, that small change boosted my engagement even more.

lily7012d ago

...and that's exactly why I quit trying to sound like a fancy consultant and started writing like a human being. @burns.jenny nailed it with that coffee test, now if only I could get my trucking logs to fit on one page too.

tara79312d ago

Used to roll my eyes at this whole "write like you talk" thing, figured it sounded unprofessional. Then I tried it on a case study for a manufacturing client, kept it under a page, put the customer quote right at the top like you said. That one piece of content got forwarded to their entire leadership team and landed me two more projects. The old version I wrote before that was five pages of fluff nobody finished. Now I won't write a case study any other way, the numbers do all the heavy lifting once you get out of your own way.