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How to Write a Business Case (Template Included)

ProjectManager

Table of Contents

What is a business case, how to write a business case, business case template, watch our business case training video, key elements of a business case, how projectmanager helps with your business case.

A business case is a project management document that explains how the benefits of a project overweigh its costs and why it should be executed. Business cases are prepared during the project initiation phase and their purpose is to include all the project’s objectives, costs and benefits to convince stakeholders of its value.

A business case is an important project document to prove to your client, customer or stakeholder that the project proposal you’re pitching is a sound investment. Below, we illustrate the steps to writing one that will sway them.

The need for a business case is that it collects the financial appraisal, proposal, strategy and marketing plan in one document and offers a full look at how the project will benefit the organization. Once your business case is approved by the project stakeholders, you can begin the project planning phase.

Projects fail without having a solid business case to rest on, as this project document is the base for the project charter and project plan. But if a project business case is not anchored to reality, and doesn’t address a need that aligns with the larger business objectives of the organization, then it is irrelevant.

how to build a business case study

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Use this free Business Case Template for Word to manage your projects better.

The research you’ll need to create a strong business case is the why, what, how and who of your project. This must be clearly communicated. The elements of your business case will address the why but in greater detail. Think of the business case as a document that is created during the project initiation phase but will be used as a reference throughout the project life cycle.

Whether you’re starting a new project or mid-way through one, take time to write up a business case to justify the project expenditure by identifying the business benefits your project will deliver and that your stakeholders are most interested in reaping from the work. The following four steps will show you how to write a business case.

Step 1: Identify the Business Problem

Projects aren’t created for projects’ sake. They should always be aligned with business goals . Usually, they’re initiated to solve a specific business problem or create a business opportunity.

You should “Lead with the need.” Your first job is to figure out what that problem or opportunity is, describe it, find out where it comes from and then address the time frame needed to deal with it.

This can be a simple statement but is best articulated with some research into the economic climate and the competitive landscape to justify the timing of the project.

Step 2: Identify the Alternative Solutions

How do you know whether the project you’re undertaking is the best possible solution to the problem defined above? Naturally, prioritizing projects is hard, and the path to success is not paved with unfounded assumptions.

One way to narrow down the focus to make the right solution clear is to follow these six steps (after the relevant research, of course):

  • Note the alternative solutions.
  • For each solution, quantify its benefits.
  • Also, forecast the costs involved in each solution.
  • Then figure out its feasibility .
  • Discern the risks and issues associated with each solution.
  • Finally, document all this in your business case.

Step 3: Recommend a Preferred Solution

You’ll next need to rank the solutions, but before doing that it’s best to set up criteria, maybe have a scoring mechanism such as a decision matrix to help you prioritize the solutions to best choose the right one.

Some methodologies you can apply include:

  • Depending on the solution’s cost and benefit , give it a score of 1-10.
  • Base your score on what’s important to you.
  • Add more complexity to your ranking to cover all bases.

Regardless of your approach, once you’ve added up your numbers, the best solution to your problem will become evident. Again, you’ll want to have this process also documented in your business case.

Step 4: Describe the Implementation Approach

So, you’ve identified your business problem or opportunity and how to reach it, now you have to convince your stakeholders that you’re right and have the best way to implement a process to achieve your goals. That’s why documentation is so important; it offers a practical path to solve the core problem you identified.

Now, it’s not just an exercise to appease senior leadership. Who knows what you might uncover in the research you put into exploring the underlying problem and determining alternative solutions? You might save the organization millions with an alternate solution than the one initially proposed. When you put in the work on a strong business case, you’re able to get your sponsors or organizational leadership on board with you and have a clear vision as to how to ensure the delivery of the business benefits they expect.

Our business case template for Word is the perfect tool to start writing a business case. It has 9 key business case areas you can customize as needed. Download the template for free and follow the steps below to create a great business case for all your projects.

Free Business Case Template for Word

One of the key steps to starting a business case is to have a business case checklist. The following is a detailed outline to follow when developing your business case. You can choose which of these elements are the most relevant to your project stakeholders and add them to our business case template. Then once your business case is approved, start managing your projects with a robust project management software such as ProjectManager.

1. Executive Summary

The executive summary is a short version of each section of your business case. It’s used to give stakeholders a quick overview of your project.

2. Project Definition

This section is meant to provide general information about your projects, such as the business objectives that will be achieved and the project plan outline.

3. Vision, Goals and Objectives

First, you have to figure out what you’re trying to do and what is the problem you want to solve. You’ll need to define your project vision, goals and objectives. This will help you shape your project scope and identify project deliverables.

4. Project Scope

The project scope determines all the tasks and deliverables that will be executed in your project to reach your business objectives.

5. Background Information

Here you can provide a context for your project, explaining the problem that it’s meant to solve, and how it aligns with your organization’s vision and strategic plan.

6. Success Criteria and Stakeholder Requirements

Depending on what kind of project you’re working on, the quality requirements will differ, but they are critical to the project’s success. Collect all of them, figure out what determines if you’ve successfully met them and report on the results .

7. Project Plan

It’s time to create the project plan. Figure out the tasks you’ll have to take to get the project done. You can use a work breakdown structure template  to make sure you are through. Once you have all the tasks collected, estimate how long it will take to complete each one.

Project management software makes creating a project plan significantly easier. ProjectManager can upload your work breakdown structure template and all your tasks are populated in our tool. You can organize them according to your production cycle with our kanban board view, or use our Gantt chart view to create a project schedule.

kanban card moving into next column on the board

8. Project Budget

Your budget is an estimate of everything in your project plan and what it will cost to complete the project over the scheduled time allotted.

9. Project Schedule

Make a timeline for the project by estimating how long it will take to get each task completed. For a more impactful project schedule , use a tool to make a Gantt chart, and print it out. This will provide that extra flourish of data visualization and skill that Excel sheets lack.

10. Project Governance

Project governance refers to all the project management rules and procedures that apply to your project. For example, it defines the roles and responsibilities of the project team members and the framework for decision-making.

11. Communication Plan

Have milestones for check-ins and status updates, as well as determine how stakeholders will stay aware of the progress over the project life cycle.

12. Progress Reports

Have a plan in place to monitor and track your progress during the project to compare planned to actual progress. There are project tracking tools that can help you monitor progress and performance.

Again, using a project management tool improves your ability to see what’s happening in your project. ProjectManager has tracking tools like dashboards and status reports that give you a high-level view and more detail, respectively. Unlike light-weight apps that make you set up a dashboard, ours is embedded in the tool. Better still, our cloud-based software gives you real-time data for more insightful decision-making. Also, get reports on more than just status updates, but timesheets, workload, portfolio status and much more, all with just one click. Then filter the reports and share them with stakeholders to keep them updated.

ProjectManager’s dashboard view, which shows six key metrics on a project

13. Financial Appraisal

This is a very important section of your business case because this is where you explain how the financial benefits outweigh the project costs . Compare the financial costs and benefits of your project. You can do this by doing a sensitivity analysis and a cost-benefit analysis.

14. Market Assessment

Research your market, competitors and industry, to find opportunities and threats

15. Competitor Analysis

Identify direct and indirect competitors and do an assessment of their products, strengths, competitive advantages and their business strategy.

16. SWOT Analysis

A SWOT analysis helps you identify your organization’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. The strengths and weaknesses are internal, while the opportunities and threats are external.

17. Marketing Strategy

Describe your product, distribution channels, pricing, target customers among other aspects of your marketing plan or strategy.

18. Risk Assessment

There are many risk categories that can impact your project. The first step to mitigating them is to identify and analyze the risks associated with your project activities.

ProjectManager , an award-winning project management software, can collect and assemble all the various data you’ll be collecting, and then easily share it both with your team and project sponsors.

Once you have a spreadsheet with all your tasks listed, you can import it into our software. Then it’s instantly populated into a Gantt chart . Simply set the duration for each of the tasks, add any dependencies, and your project is now spread across a timeline. You can set milestones, but there is so much more you can do.

Gantt chart from ProjectManager

You have a project plan now, and from the online Gantt chart, you can assign team members to tasks. Then they can comment directly on the tasks they’re working on, adding as many documents and images as needed, fostering a collaborative environment. You can track their progress and change task durations as needed by dragging and dropping the start and end dates.

But that’s only a taste of what ProjectManager offers. We have kanban boards that visualize your workflow and a real-time dashboard that tracks six project metrics for the most accurate view of your project possible.

Try ProjectManager and see for yourself with this 30-day free trial .

If you want more business case advice, take a moment to watch Jennifer Bridges, PMP, in this short training video. She explains the steps you have to take in order to write a good business case.

Here’s a screenshot for your reference.

how writing a business case for your project is good business strategy

Transcription:

Today we’re talking about how to write a business case. Well, over the past few years, we’ve seen the market, or maybe organizations, companies or even projects, move away from doing business cases. But, these days, companies, organizations, and those same projects are scrutinizing the investments and they’re really seeking a rate of return.

So now, think of the business case as your opportunity to package your project, your idea, your opportunity, and show what it means and what the benefits are and how other people can benefit.

We want to take a look today to see what’s in the business case and how to write one. I want to be clear that when you look for information on a business case, it’s not a briefcase.

Someone called the other day and they were confused because they were looking for something, and they kept pulling up briefcases. That’s not what we’re talking about today. What we’re talking about are business cases, and they include information about your strategies, about your goals. It is your business proposal. It has your business outline, your business strategy, and even your marketing plan.

Why Do You Need a Business Case?

And so, why is that so important today? Again, companies are seeking not only their project managers but their team members to have a better understanding of business and more of an idea business acumen. So this business case provides the justification for the proposed business change or plan. It outlines the allocation of capital that you may be seeking and the resources required to implement it. Then, it can be an action plan . It may just serve as a unified vision. And then it also provides the decision-makers with different options.

So let’s look more at the steps required to put these business cases together. There are four main steps. One, you want to research your market. Really look at what’s out there, where are the needs, where are the gaps that you can serve? Look at your competition. How are they approaching this, and how can you maybe provide some other alternatives?

You want to compare and finalize different approaches that you can use to go to market. Then you compile that data and you present strategies, your goals and other options to be considered.

And then you literally document it.

So what does the document look like? Well, there are templates out there today. The components vary, but these are the common ones. And then these are what I consider essential. So there’s the executive summary. This is just a summary of your company, what your management team may look like, a summary of your product and service and your market.

The business description gives a little bit more history about your company and the mission statement and really what your company is about and how this product or service fits in.

Then, you outline the details of the product or service that you’re looking to either expand or roll out or implement. You may even include in their patents may be that you have pending or other trademarks.

Then, you want to identify and lay out your marketing strategy. Like, how are you gonna take this to your customers? Are you going to have a brick-and-mortar store? Are you gonna do this online? And, what are your plans to take it to market?

You also want to include detailed information about your competitor analysis. How are they doing things? And, how are you planning on, I guess, beating your competition?

You also want to look at and identify your SWOT. And the SWOT is your strength. What are the strengths that you have in going to market? And where are the weaknesses? Maybe some of your gaps. And further, where are your opportunities and maybe threats that you need to plan for? Then the overview of the operation includes operational information like your production, even human resources, information about the day-to-day operations of your company.

And then, your financial plan includes your profit statement, your profit and loss, any of your financials, any collateral that you may have, and any kind of investments that you may be seeking.

So these are the components of your business case. This is why it’s so important. And if you need a tool that can help you manage and track this process, then sign up for our software now at ProjectManager .

Click here to browse ProjectManager's free templates

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How to Write a Great Business Case

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  • Case Teaching

C ase studies are powerful teaching tools. “When you have a good case, and students who are well prepared to learn and to teach each other, you get some magical moments that students will never forget,” says James L. Heskett, UPS Foundation Professor of Business Logistics, emeritus, at Harvard Business School (HBS). “They will remember the lessons they learn in that class discussion and apply them 20 years later.”

Yet, for many educators who want to pen their own case, the act of writing a great business case seldom comes easily or naturally. For starters, it’s time consuming. Case writers can spend substantial time visiting companies, securing a willing site, conducting interviews, observing operations, collecting data, reviewing notes, writing the case, revising the narrative, ensuring that teaching points come through, and then getting executives to approve the finished product.

The question, then, becomes: Where do you begin? How do you approach case writing? How do you decide which company to use as the subject of the case? And what distinguishes a well-written case from a mediocre one?

We asked three expert HBS case writers—who collectively have written and supported hundreds of cases—to share their insights on how to write a great business case study that will inspire passionate classroom discussion and transmit key educational concepts.

Insights from James L. Heskett

UPS Foundation Professor of Business Logistics, Emeritus, Harvard Business School

Keep your eyes open for a great business issue.

“I’m always on the prowl for new case material. Whenever I’m reading or consulting, I look for interesting people doing interesting things and facing interesting challenges. For instance, I was reading a magazine and came across a story about how Shouldice Hospital treated patients undergoing surgery to fix inguinal hernias—how patients would get up from the operating table and walk away on the arm of the surgeon.

6 QUALITIES OF GREAT CASE WRITERS

Comfort with ambiguity, since cases may have more than one “right” answer

Command of the topic or subject at hand

Ability to relate to the case protagonists

Enthusiasm for the case teaching method

Capacity for finding the drama in a business situation and making it feel personal to students

Build relationships with executives.

“When writing a case, it’s helpful to start as high in the organization as possible. It helps assure mid-level managers that they can share the information you need with an outsider. It also helps when it comes to getting the case cleared for use. Serving on corporate boards can help in building relationships with senior executives, but there are other ways to make those connections. For instance, you can approach speakers at business conferences if you think their presentations could form the basis for a good business case. If you want to write about a company where you don’t have any personal connections, you can always check with your colleagues to see if any of them have a personal relationship with the CEO or sit on a board where they could introduce you to the right person who would be able to facilitate the case. My colleagues and I make a lot of these introductions for each other.”

“If you make the case into a crossword puzzle that takes five hours to solve, it’s not really fair to the students and will most likely cause them to lose focus.” James L. Heskett

Skip the curveballs and focus on key issues.

“Cases don’t have to be obvious. As a pedagogical objective, you might want students to look beyond a superficial issue to say this is the underlying topic that we need to address, and these are the questions we need to pose. Still, I think it’s unhelpful if cases contain real curveballs where ‘unlocking’ the case depends on finding some small piece of information hidden in an exhibit. Give students a break! They may have to read and digest three cases per day, so they probably won’t be able to devote more than a couple of hours to each one. If you make the case into a crossword puzzle that takes five hours to solve, it’s not really fair to the students and will most likely cause them to lose focus.”

Build a discussion plan while writing the case.

“In case method teaching, the teacher is not in complete control. Students teach each other and learn from each other. On any given day, there will likely be somebody in the room who knows more about the company featured in the case than the professor does. So a professor can’t walk into the classroom and expect to impose a lesson plan that goes in a strict linear way from A to B to C to D. The case ought to be written to allow students to jump from A to D and then come back later to B if that’s how the discussion plays out. At the same time, the case should be structured so that the instructor can collect student comments on a board, organizing them as a coherent set of related ideas, and then deliver a 5-to-10-minute summary that communicates whatever essential concepts the case has covered. This summation can be a very powerful teaching and learning experience.”

Focus on quality over quantity.

“Cases don’t have to be too long. Some good cases are only two or three pages. Students may give more scrutiny to these brief cases than they would a 20-page case.”

Advice from Benson P. Shapiro

Malcolm P. McNair Professor of Marketing, Emeritus, Harvard Business School

Take out the chaff in advance.

“You don’t want students to spend too much time separating the wheat from the chaff. If a case has 12 pages of text and 10 pages of exhibits, even the smartest MBA students will likely lose interest. Writers who try to capture a situation from every angle and in every detail end up with sprawling narratives that usually do not make a good case. When writing cases, you need to set good, strong boundaries. Avoid superfluous, flowery, or poetic material that may contain interesting anecdotes or factoids, but that could distract readers from the case’s core topics. Include only those important and useful details that can help students make decisions and understand key issues that the case explores.”

Work in layers and metaphors—subtly.

“The best cases work on multiple levels. A case should focus on a specific situation—for example, whether or not to introduce a certain product. But it should also serve as a metaphor for broader issues in the background: How do we think about introducing new products? Are we introducing enough products? Are new product introductions a source of competitive advantage in our industry? How should we organize and manage new product development? You want the case to encourage students to think broadly about the various cultural, financial, and strategic impacts that managerial decisions have on a company.”

“Writers who try to capture a situation from every angle and in every detail end up with sprawling narratives that usually do not make a good case.” Benson P. Shapiro

Encourage emotional engagement.

“Case writing is an interesting literary form—it needs to be very engaging, but also educational. Great cases revolve around points of contention on which intelligent people can hold different points of view: What should you do? Why? How do you get it done? Ideally, students should have to choose between two very attractive alternatives or two terrible alternatives. The best cases involve questions that get students emotionally engaged so that they really care about choices and outcomes. When you see students physically leaning forward and following what their peers are saying, you know that they have a visceral feel for the importance of the subject. When you hear them debating after class— You were out in left field! You missed what was really important here! —that’s how you can tell you succeeded in developing a great case.”

Lessons from Carin-Isabel Knoop

Executive Director of the Case Research & Writing Group, Harvard Business School

Don’t forget the classroom component.

“Cases are deliberately incomplete documents. What a case writer leaves out of a case is often just as important as what he or she puts into it. Cases are designed to be completed through classroom instruction and discussion. While drafting the case, try to develop the classroom process in parallel. Work on the assignment questions and classroom content. Keep in mind that the case should be able to adapt to your classroom and course needs.”

Hone your elevator pitch.

“Before getting started, always have clear, succinct learning objectives in mind. Don’t start developing the case until you are able to summarize these objectives in less than five minutes.”

Case writing is a relationship, not a transaction.

When choosing a case site, be clear with executives that you are developing a teaching tool and that you will require their time and candor—and eventually their data. Put them at ease, and manage the authorization process, right from the start. Indicate that quotes will be cleared before publication and there will be time for individual review. During the creation process, ask their advice. This creates a process of engagement and helps bring home that this is a pedagogical tool, not gotcha journalism. At HBS, we oftentimes invite someone from the company to attend class. Finally, once the case is done, stay in touch with your case protagonists. They will move to other organizations and spread the good word about their experience with case writing.

Invite disagreement in case discussions.

“The case study method is based on participant-centered learning. The students all start from the same base of 11 (or however many) pages in the case, but they bring different knowledge and experiences into the classroom. So they can take the same facts and disagree about what course of action to pursue. We want students to behave like decision makers, and it can be painful to make decisions. Some critics deride the case teaching method as being unrealistic, but someone who just lectures about marketing doesn’t help students realize how difficult it is to choose between two plausible options to meet the same marketing objectives. For students, a big part of the education process is learning from discussions with classmates who think differently and advocate for different solutions. Witnessing a robust case discussion reminds us of the potential for collective learning to emerge from contrasting views.”

“Faculty don’t just write cases for teaching purposes, they write them to learn.” Carin-Isabel Knoop

The Case Writing Process Is a Worthy Effort

Researching, writing, and publishing cases is well worth the time and effort. “The case research and writing process is important for faculty development,” Knoop adds. “While developing field cases, faculty go to site visits and meet with decision makers. The case writing process helps connect scholars to practitioners and practitioners to the academic world. Faculty case writers get to explore and test how their academic theories work in practice. So faculty don’t just write cases for teaching purposes, they write them to learn. The case method is an integral part of faculty development.”

There’s another big bonus to becoming a case writer, especially for younger educators. “Young business instructors face a credibility gap with their students,” says Heskett. “It’s not uncommon to have MBA students in a class who have more experience than the instructor on a particular subject. Once you go into the field and write a case, you will know more about that subject than anyone else in the class. A primary way for professors to establish their credibility on a topic is to have written the case the class is discussing that day.”

James L. Heskett

James L. Heskett is UPS Foundation Professor of Business Logistics, emeritus, at Harvard Business School. He completed his Ph.D. at the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University, and has been a faculty member at The Ohio State University as well as president of Logistics Systems, Inc. Since 2000, he has authored a blog on Harvard Business School’s Working Knowledge website .

Benson P. Shapiro

Benson P. Shapiro is the Malcolm P. McNair Professor of Marketing, emeritus, at Harvard Business School where he taught full time from 1970 to 1997. Since 1997, Shapiro has concentrated his professional time on consulting, giving speeches, serving on boards, and writing. He continues to teach at Harvard and has taught in many executive programs and has chaired the Sustainable Marketing Leadership for Mid-Sized Firms Program.

Carin-Isabel Knoop

Carin-Isabel Knoop is the executive director of the Case Research & Writing Group at Harvard Business School. She is also coauthor of Compassionate Management of Mental Health in the Modern Workplace .

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CASE TEACHING

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how to build a business case study

How to Write a Case Study: Bookmarkable Guide & Template

Braden Becker

Published: November 30, 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.

  • How to Format 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.

how to build a business case study

Free Case Study Templates

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

  • Data-Driven Case Study Template
  • Product-Specific Case Study Template
  • General Case Study Template

You're all set!

Click this link to access this resource at any time.

Why write a case study? 

I know, you’re thinking “ Okay, but why do I need to write one of these? ” The truth is that while case studies are a huge undertaking, they are powerful marketing tools that allow you to demonstrate the value of your product to potential customers using real-world examples. Here are a few reasons why you should write case studies. 

1. Explain Complex Topics or Concepts

Case studies give you the space to break down complex concepts, ideas, and strategies and show how they can be applied in a practical way. You can use real-world examples, like an existing client, and use their story to create a compelling narrative that shows how your product solved their issue and how those strategies can be repeated to help other customers get similar successful results.  

2. Show Expertise

Case studies are a great way to demonstrate your knowledge and expertise on a given topic or industry. This is where you get the opportunity to show off your problem-solving skills and how you’ve generated successful outcomes for clients you’ve worked with. 

3. Build Trust and Credibility

In addition to showing off the attributes above, case studies are an excellent way to build credibility. They’re often filled with data and thoroughly researched, which shows readers you’ve done your homework. They can have confidence in the solutions you’ve presented because they’ve read through as you’ve explained the problem and outlined step-by-step what it took to solve it. All of these elements working together enable you to build trust with potential customers.

4. Create Social Proof

Using existing clients that have seen success working with your brand builds social proof . People are more likely to choose your brand if they know that others have found success working with you. Case studies do just that — putting your success on display for potential customers to see. 

All of these attributes work together to help you gain more clients. Plus you can even use quotes from customers featured in these studies and repurpose them in other marketing content. Now that you know more about the benefits of producing a case study, let’s check out how long these documents should be. 

How long should a case study be?

The length of a case study will vary depending on the complexity of the project or topic discussed. However, as a general guideline, case studies typically range from 500 to 1,500 words. 

Whatever length you choose, it should provide a clear understanding of the challenge, the solution you implemented, and the results achieved. This may be easier said than done, but it's important to strike a balance between providing enough detail to make the case study informative and concise enough to keep the reader's interest.

The primary goal here is to effectively communicate the key points and takeaways of the case study. It’s worth noting that this shouldn’t be a wall of text. Use headings, subheadings, bullet points, charts, and other graphics to break up the content and make it more scannable for readers. We’ve also seen brands incorporate video elements into case studies listed on their site for a more engaging experience. 

Ultimately, the length of your case study should be determined by the amount of information necessary to convey the story and its impact without becoming too long. Next, let’s look at some templates to take the guesswork out of creating one. 

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

Do you have a specific product or service that you’re trying to sell, but not enough reviews or success stories? This Product Specific case study template will help.

This template relies less on metrics, and more on highlighting the customer’s experience and satisfaction. As you follow the template instructions, you’ll be prompted to speak more about the benefits of the specific product, rather than your team’s process for working with the customer.

4. Bold Social Media Business Case Study Template

case study templates: bold social media business

You can find templates that represent different niches, industries, or strategies that your business has found success in — like a bold social media business case study template.

In this template, you can tell the story of how your social media marketing strategy has helped you or your client through collaboration or sale of your service. Customize it to reflect the different marketing channels used in your business and show off how well your business has been able to boost traffic, engagement, follows, and more.

5. Lead Generation Business Case Study Template

case study templates: lead generation business

It’s important to note that not every case study has to be the product of a sale or customer story, sometimes they can be informative lessons that your own business has experienced. A great example of this is the Lead Generation Business case study template.

If you’re looking to share operational successes regarding how your team has improved processes or content, you should include the stories of different team members involved, how the solution was found, and how it has made a difference in the work your business does.

Now that we’ve discussed different templates and ideas for how to use them, let’s break down how to create your own case study with one.

  • Get started with case study templates.
  • Determine the case study's objective.
  • Establish a case study medium.
  • Find the right case study candidate.
  • Contact your candidate for permission to write about them.
  • Ensure you have all the resources you need to proceed once you get a response.
  • Download a case study email template.
  • Define the process you want to follow with the client.
  • Ensure you're asking the right questions.
  • Layout your case study format.
  • Publish and promote your case study.

1. Get started with case study templates.

Telling your customer's story is a delicate process — you need to highlight their success while naturally incorporating your business into their story.

If you're just getting started with case studies, we recommend you download HubSpot's Case Study Templates we mentioned before to kickstart the process.

2. Determine the case study's objective.

All business case studies are designed to demonstrate the value of your services, but they can focus on several different client objectives.

Your first step when writing a case study is to determine the objective or goal of the subject you're featuring. In other words, what will the client have succeeded in doing by the end of the piece?

The client objective you focus on will depend on what you want to prove to your future customers as a result of publishing this case study.

Your case study can focus on one of the following client objectives:

  • Complying with government regulation
  • Lowering business costs
  • Becoming profitable
  • Generating more leads
  • Closing on more customers
  • Generating more revenue
  • Expanding into a new market
  • Becoming more sustainable or energy-efficient

3. Establish a case study medium.

Next, you'll determine the medium in which you'll create the case study. In other words, how will you tell this story?

Case studies don't have to be simple, written one-pagers. Using different media in your case study can allow you to promote your final piece on different channels. For example, while a written case study might just live on your website and get featured in a Facebook post, you can post an infographic case study on Pinterest and a video case study on your YouTube channel.

Here are some different case study mediums to consider:

Written Case Study

Consider writing this case study in the form of an ebook and converting it to a downloadable PDF. Then, gate the PDF behind a landing page and form for readers to fill out before downloading the piece, allowing this case study to generate leads for your business.

Video Case Study

Plan on meeting with the client and shooting an interview. Seeing the subject, in person, talk about the service you provided them can go a long way in the eyes of your potential customers.

Infographic Case Study

Use the long, vertical format of an infographic to tell your success story from top to bottom. As you progress down the infographic, emphasize major KPIs using bigger text and charts that show the successes your client has had since working with you.

Podcast Case Study

Podcasts are a platform for you to have a candid conversation with your client. This type of case study can sound more real and human to your audience — they'll know the partnership between you and your client was a genuine success.

4. Find the right case study candidate.

Writing about your previous projects requires more than picking a client and telling a story. You need permission, quotes, and a plan. To start, here are a few things to look for in potential candidates.

Product Knowledge

It helps to select a customer who's well-versed in the logistics of your product or service. That way, he or she can better speak to the value of what you offer in a way that makes sense for future customers.

Remarkable Results

Clients that have seen the best results are going to make the strongest case studies. If their own businesses have seen an exemplary ROI from your product or service, they're more likely to convey the enthusiasm that you want prospects to feel, too.

One part of this step is to choose clients who have experienced unexpected success from your product or service. When you've provided non-traditional customers — in industries that you don't usually work with, for example — with positive results, it can help to remove doubts from prospects.

Recognizable Names

While small companies can have powerful stories, bigger or more notable brands tend to lend credibility to your own. In fact, 89% of consumers say they'll buy from a brand they already recognize over a competitor, especially if they already follow them on social media.

Customers that came to you after working with a competitor help highlight your competitive advantage and might even sway decisions in your favor.

5. Contact your candidate for permission to write about them.

To get the case study candidate involved, you have to set the stage for clear and open communication. That means outlining expectations and a timeline right away — not having those is one of the biggest culprits in delayed case study creation.

Most importantly at this point, however, is getting your subject's approval. When first reaching out to your case study candidate, provide them with the case study's objective and format — both of which you will have come up with in the first two steps above.

To get this initial permission from your subject, put yourself in their shoes — what would they want out of this case study? Although you're writing this for your own company's benefit, your subject is far more interested in the benefit it has for them.

Benefits to Offer Your Case Study Candidate

Here are four potential benefits you can promise your case study candidate to gain their approval.

Brand Exposure

Explain to your subject to whom this case study will be exposed, and how this exposure can help increase their brand awareness both in and beyond their own industry. In the B2B sector, brand awareness can be hard to collect outside one's own market, making case studies particularly useful to a client looking to expand their name's reach.

Employee Exposure

Allow your subject to provide quotes with credits back to specific employees. When this is an option for them, their brand isn't the only thing expanding its reach — their employees can get their name out there, too. This presents your subject with networking and career development opportunities they might not have otherwise.

Product Discount

This is a more tangible incentive you can offer your case study candidate, especially if they're a current customer of yours. If they agree to be your subject, offer them a product discount — or a free trial of another product — as a thank-you for their help creating your case study.

Backlinks and Website Traffic

Here's a benefit that is sure to resonate with your subject's marketing team: If you publish your case study on your website, and your study links back to your subject's website — known as a "backlink" — this small gesture can give them website traffic from visitors who click through to your subject's website.

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.

case study format: results

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.

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  • The beginner’s guide to writing an effe ...

The beginner’s guide to writing an effective business case

Julia Martins contributor headshot

Nearly every project needs to be approved—whether that means getting the simple go-ahead from your team or gaining the support of an executive stakeholder. You may be familiar with using a project plan or project charter to propose a new initiative and get the green light for a project. But if your proposed project represents a significant business investment, you may need to build a business case.

If you’ve never written a business case, we’re here to help. With a few resources and a little planning, you can write a business case that will help you get the resources and support you need to manage a successful project.

What is a business case?

A business case is a document that explains the value or benefits your company will gain if you pursue a significant business investment or initiative. This initiative can be anything from the messaging for a new product or feature launch, a proposal to increase spend on a current initiative, or a significant investment with a new agency or contractor—to name a few. A compelling business case will outline the expected benefits of this significant investment decision. Key stakeholders will use the business case you provide to determine whether or not to move forward with an initiative.

If you’ve never created a business case, it may sound similar to other early project planning documentation. Here’s how it stacks up:

The difference between a business case and business plan

A  business case  is a proposal for a new strategy or large initiative. It should outline the business needs and benefits your company will receive from pursuing this opportunity.

A  business plan , on the other hand, is an outline for a totally new business. Typically, you’d draft a business plan to map out your business strategy, your mission and vision statements, and how you’re planning on getting there. There may be a case where you create a business plan for an already-existing business, but you’d only do so if you’re trying to take your business in a significantly new direction.

Business case vs. executive summary

Business case vs. project charter.

If you need to create an elevator pitch for your project but you don’t quite need the full business case treatment, you might need a project charter. Much like a business case, a project charter outlines key details of an initiative. Specifically, a project charter will cover three main elements of your project: project objectives, project scope, and key project stakeholders. Your management team will then use the project charter to approve further project development.

Do you need a business case?

Not every project needs a business case—or even a project charter. Plan to build a business case only for initiatives or investments that will require significant business resources. If you’re working on a smaller initiative, consider creating a project charter to pitch your project idea to relevant stakeholders.

Even if you don’t need to pitch your project to any stakeholders, you should be ready to answer basic questions about your proposed project, like:

What is this project’s purpose?

Why are we working on this project?

How does this project connect to organizational goals and objectives?

Which metrics will we use to measure the success of the project ?

Who is working on this project?

When is this project going to be completed?

5 steps for creating and pitching a business case

Your business case shouldn’t just include key facts and figures—it should also tell a story of why pursuing a particular investment or initiative is a good idea for your business. When in doubt, avoid jargon and be brief—but always focus on communicating the value of the project. If this is your first time creating a business case, don’t worry. Follow these five steps to create a solid one.

1. Gather input

You don’t have to write a business case on your own. Instead, make sure appropriate team members and stakeholders are contributing to the relevant sections. For example, the IT team should be involved in any tooling and timeline decisions, while the finance team should review any budget and risk management sections. If you’re creating a business case to propose a new initiative, product line, or customer persona, make sure you also consult subject matter experts.

2. Plan to write your business case out of order

Some of the first things that appear in your business case—like your executive summary—should actually be drafted last, when you have all of the resources and information to make an informed suggestion. Your executive summary will present all of your findings and make a recommendation for the business based on a variety of factors. By gathering all of those details first—like project purpose, financial information, and project risk—you can ensure your executive summary has all of the relevant information.

3. Build your business case incrementally

A business case describes a significant investment for your company. Similarly, simply writing a business case is a significant investment of your time. Not every initiative is right for your business—so make sure you’re checking your work with stakeholders as you go. You don’t want to sink hours and weeks into this document only for it to be rejected by executive stakeholders right off the bat.

Consider doing a “soft launch” with an outline of your business case to your project sponsor or an executive stakeholder you have a good relationship with to confirm this initiative is something you should pursue. Then, as you build the different sections of your business case, check back in with your key stakeholders to confirm there are no deal-breakers.

4. Refine the document

As you create sections of your business case, you may need to go back and refine other sections. For example, once you’ve finished doing a cost-benefit analysis with your financial team, make sure you update any budget-related project risks.

Before presenting your business case, do a final read through with key stakeholders to look for any sections that can be further refined. At this stage, you’ll also want to write the executive summary that goes at the top of the document. Depending on the length of your business case, your executive summary should be one to two pages long.

5. Present the business case

The final step is to actually present your business case. Start with a quick elevator pitch that answers the what, why, and how of your proposal. Think of this presentation as your chance to explain the current business need, how your proposal addresses the need, and what the business benefits are. Make sure to address any risks or concerns you think your audience would have.

Don’t go through your business case page by page. Instead, share the document with stakeholders before the presentation so they have a chance to read through it ahead of time. Then, after your presentation, share the document again so stakeholders can dig into details.

A business case checklist

Start with the why.

The first section of the business case is your chance to make a compelling argument about the new project. Make sure you draft an argument that appeals to your audience’s interests and needs. Despite being the first section in your business case, this should be the last section you write. In addition to including the  traditional elements of an executive summary , make sure you answer:

What business problem is your project solving?  This is your chance to explain why your project is important and why executive stakeholders should consider pursuing this opportunity.

What is your business objective ?  What happens at the end of a successful project? How will you measure success—and what does a successful project mean for your business?

How does this business case fit into your overall company business strategy plan?  Make sure your proposed business case is connected to important  company goals . The initiative proposed in your business case should move the needle towards your company's  vision statement .

Outline financials and the return on investment

At this point in your business case, you should outline the project finance fundamentals. Don’t expect to create this section on your own—you should draft this in partnership with your company’s finance team. In particular, this section should answer:

How much will this project cost?  Even if the initiative is completely new to your company, do some research to estimate the project costs.

What does each individual component of the project cost?  In addition to estimating the total overall cost, break down the different project costs. For example, you might have project costs for new tools and resources, competitive intelligence resourcing, agency costs, etc.

What is the expected return on investment (ROI)?  You’ve talked about the costs—now talk about how your company will benefit from this initiative. Make sure to explain how you calculated the ROI, too.

How will this project impact cash flow?  Cash flow is the amount of money being transferred into and out of your business. Significant investments are going to cost a lot of money, so they’ll negatively impact cash flow—but you should also expect a high ROI, which will positively impact cash flow.

What is the sensitivity analysis?  Sensitivity analysis is a summary of how uncertain your numbers are. There will be a variety of variables that impact your business case. Make sure to explain what those variables are, and how that could impact your projections.

Preview project details

Your business case is proposing a new initiative. In addition to the financial risks, take some time to preview project details. For example, your business case should include:

Your  project objectives  and  key project deliverables .  What will happen at the end of the project? What are you expecting to create or deliver once the project is over?

Your  project plan .  A project plan is a blueprint of the key elements your team needs to accomplish in order to successfully achieve your project goals.

The  project scope .  What are the boundaries of your project? What exact goals, deliverables, and deadlines will you be working towards?

A list of relevant  project stakeholders .  Who are the important project stakeholders and key decision makers for this work? This can include the members of the project team that would be working on this initiative, executive stakeholders who would sponsor the project, and any external stakeholders who might be involved.

A general  project roadmap  in a Gantt-chart like view.  At this stage in the process, you don’t need to provide a detailed project timeline, but you should outline a general sense of when each project stage will happen in relation to the others. To do this, create a project roadmap in  Gantt-chart like software . Make sure to include any important  project milestones  in your roadmap as well.

Any important project dependencies.  Is there anything that would get in the way of this project getting started? Does this work rely on any other work that’s currently in flight?

Discuss project risks

Once you’ve outlined the financial impact and important project details, make sure you include any potential project risks. If you haven’t already, create a  project risk management plan  for your business case. Project risk management isn’t the process of eliminating risk—instead, it’s about identifying, analyzing, and proactively responding to any potential project risks. Clearly defining each project risk and how that risk might impact your project can best equip you and the project team to manage and avoid those risks.

In the risk section of your business case, include:

A risk analysis of any potential project risks.  What is the risk? How likely is it to happen? What is the priority level of this risk?

What, if any, assumptions you are making.  In project risk management, assumptions are anything you think will be true about the project, without those details being guaranteed facts. Basing project decisions around an assumption can open your project up to risk. Make sure you ratify every project assumption to avoid jeopardizing project success.

Any comparable alternatives in the market.  If you’re writing a business case to pitch a new product or angle in the market, evaluate anything that already exists. Could the alternative impact your financial assessment or project success?

Develop an action plan

In the final section of your business case, outline how you will turn this business case into an actionable project. This section should answer questions like:

How will decisions be made?  Who is responsible for the project? Who is the project sponsor? If you haven’t already, consider creating a  RACI chart  to outline project responsibilities.

How will progress be measured and reported?  Not every project stakeholder needs to be notified of every project change. Outline key parts of your project communication plan , as well as how you’ll communicate  project status updates .

What is the next course of action?  If the management team ratifies this business case, what next steps will you take to put this into action?

Bring your business case to life

You’ve built a solid business case and it’s been ratified—congratulations! The next step is to bring your business case to life. It can be intimidating to  initiate large-scale change , and implementing your business case is no exception.

If you haven’t already, make sure you have a  project management tool  in place to manage and organize your new initiative. With a central source of truth to track who’s doing what by when, share status updates, and keep project stakeholders in the loop, you can turn a great business case into a successful project.

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How To Write the Perfect Business Case

How to write a business case

Why do too many projects fail to deliver their objectives even though project management best practices appear to be used? Project management is naturally complicated, but it can be disastrous if you don’t have sufficient buy-in from the right parties. Writing a strong and complete business case can make all the difference.

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In this how-to guide you will discover,

  • What is a business case?

Why you need a business case

  • Is the project worth doing?

When to use a business case

How to write a business case, the business case template, a business case example, 1. the executive summary, 2. the finance section, 3. the project definition, 4. project organization, managing the business case, making the case, frequently asked questions, what is a business case.

A business case is developed during the early stages of a project and outlines the why, what, how, and who necessary to decide if it is worthwhile continuing a project. One of the first things you need to know when starting a new project are the benefits of the proposed business change and how to communicate those benefits to the business.

While the project proposal focuses on why you want a project, it will only contain an outline of the project:

  • business vision
  • business need
  • expected benefits
  • strategic fit
  • products produced
  • broad estimates of time and cost
  • and impact on the organization

In contrast, the business case, which is first developed during the project initiation phase , contains much more detail. It should be reviewed by the project sponsor and key stakeholders before being accepted, rejected, canceled, deferred, or revised.

Depending on the scale of the business change, the business case may need further development as part of a detailed investigation. Therefore, it should be developed incrementally so that time and resources aren’t unnecessarily wasted on the impractical.

Preparing the business case involves an assessment of:

  • Business problem or opportunity
  • Costs including investment appraisal
  • Technical solutions
  • Impact on operations
  • Organizational capability to deliver the project outcomes

These project issues are an important part of the business case. They express the problems with the current situation and demonstrate the benefits of the new business vision.

The business case brings together the benefits, disadvantages, costs , and risks of the current situation and future vision so that executive management can decide if the project should go ahead.

Many projects start life as a walk in the fog, which is fine in itself, but never see the light of day or stumble along aimlessly for too long because the clarity of scope , time-scale, cost, and benefits are not defined adequately during the first stages of the project.

Is the project worth doing

Why are you starting a project? Chances are you’re doing it because you need to solve a problem.

Usually, the problem is something that gets in the way of achieving your goals . So, it seems a project is about achieving goals and your goals won’t be realized unless you deal with the problem (or opportunity or circumstance.)

If a project is worth doing you need to answer 4 simple questions:

  • What is your goal?
  • What’s stopping you from reaching the goal?
  • How much change is needed to overcome the problem?
  • Are you certain this will solve the problem?

Can you answer these questions quickly? Do you have evidence to support or refute your assumptions?

If not, it may not be worth starting a project.

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The business case is needed when resources or expenditure on a project has to be justified. Approval is usually sought from the project sponsor and other interested parties. For instance, the finance function may authorize funds and the IT department provide resources.

The purpose of the business case is communication. Therefore, each section should be written in the parlance of the intended audience.

Moreover, it should only contain enough information to help decision making. When writing a business case keep the following in mind:

  • Be brief and convey only the essentials.
  • Make it interesting, clear, and concise.
  • Eliminate conjecture and minimize jargon.
  • Describe your vision of the future.
  • Demonstrate the value and benefits the project brings to the business.
  • Ensure consistent style and readability.

The project sponsor is responsible for preparing the business case. However, all appropriate team members should contribute to its development. Likewise, subject matter experts from other functions ― finance, HR, IT, service delivery, and so on ― can provide specialist information.

Those writing the business case should have a thorough understanding of the project’s aims and be able to merge the varied and potentially complex plans into one document using the following business case template.

What follows are the four steps to writing a business case template for your project. It includes the following four sections:

  • Executive Summary
  • Project Definition
  • Project Organization

This example of a business case is a simplified version for a small company with few staff. The bigger the project, the bigger the risk, which means the more detail you will need to provide for your investors and stakeholders.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

In 2021, retail e-Commerce revenue reached 768 billion US dollars. People are expecting more digital experiences and want to interact and purchase what they need online.

Our current website is just a static page with no interaction available to possible customers. With a website upgrade to incorporate an e-Commerce store, we can entice users to purchase all their training online, in return increasing productivity and efficiency within the office. An estimated $25,000 could be saved a year through this upgrade.

1.1 Financial Appraisal

The expected cost of the new website is $15,000 with a $500 annual maintenance fee.

The training costs of the staff is estimated at $2,000, but the reduction of administration and manual handling of orders is estimated to save $25,000 annually.

1.2 Sensitivity Analysis

The alternatives include:

  • Maintaining the current system, which costs $25,000 annually to maintain and run.
  • Upgrading the website, but not including an e-Commerce store. This would cost $6,000, but the cost of processing the orders is still $25,000.
  • Outsourcing the training purchases to a third-party site, which would cost between $49.99 - $100 per month. In the long run this would cost more and offer less development scope.

2. PROJECT DEFINITION

2.1 Background information

The World is digitizing and we, as a business, must keep up with consumer demand if we are to remain one of the most sought-after training providers.

Since 2020 and the outbreak of Covid-19, many more people have been working remotely and wish to access their training requirements online. We need to update our systems to provide our customers with a purely online system that can provide them with their required training courses in a virtual environment, from purchase through to attendance. This new e-Commerce website is the first step in this process.

2.2 Business Objective

The goal is to provide an online platform where customers can purchase their training requirements.

The solution is to build an e-Commerce website.

This syncs with the business strategy, as it will increase efficiency and profits.

2.3 Benefits and Limitations

The benefits of this project far out-weigh the negatives. They include:

  • Improvement in the quality of customer service and user journey
  • Increased conversion rate through streamlined processes
  • Cost savings through efficiencies
  • Reduced working capital
  • Increase in revenue generated
  • Remain competitive in a digital world.

The limitations of this project remain with staffing, as we do not have a web designer or developer within our company, meaning this will still have to be outsourced if anything arises at a future date.

2.4 Option Identification & Selection

Options for the e-Commerce site include the following:

  • WordPress website with WooCommerce store
  • All-in-one website hosted on e-Commerce platform such as Shopify
  • Use of third-party payment system, such as Stripe, PayPal, or Worldpay
  • Ability to take payments directly through the website and acting as controller and processor of user’s sensitive data
  • Inclusion of a blog
  • Integration of CRM platform.

2.5 Scope, Impact, and interdependencies

The website will be built independently from the current site, so will not affect any current processes or user experience.

2.6 Outline Plan

The website will be built by an external agency and will take around 6 months to complete and push live.

One month before going live the staff will undertake essential training.

2.7 Market Assessment

Since retail e-Commerce has risen to $768 billion US Dollars, it’s time we also made the move to online sales.

2.8 Risk Assessment

The project will be completed out of house.

2.9 Project Approach

The project will be managed out of house.

2.10 Purchasing Strategy

We will enter a contractual agreement with the creative agency. Attached is a copy of the proposed contract.

3. PROJECT ORGANIZATION

3.1 Project Governance

Project will be managed by the agency and in-house by the Centre Executive.

3.2 Progress Reporting

The agency will report to the Centre Executive.

Depending on the length of the business case you may want to include a high-level summary of the project.

The executive summary is the first section of the business case and the last written. It is a short summary of the entire business case. It succinctly conveys vital information about the project and communicates the entire story to the reader.

First impressions are important. Get this right!

The finance section of an effective business case is primarily for those who approve funding. The finance function will be interested in this plus the first half of the project definition.

Financial appraisal.

When you prepare the financial appraisal seek advice on content and presentation from the finance function. In the case of capital developments, consult subject matter experts.

The purpose of a financial appraisal is to:

  • Identify the financial implications for the project
  • Compare project costs against the forecast benefits
  • Ensure the project is affordable
  • Assess value for money
  • Predict cash flow.

Sensitivity analysis.

Sensitivity analysis concerns project risk and looks at alternative futures by measuring the impact on project outcomes or assumptions of changing values in which there is uncertainty.

In effect, sensitivity analysis lets the project accountant experiment with possible scenarios.

This is the largest part of the business case and is for the project sponsor, stakeholders, and project team. It answers most of the why, what, and how questions about your project.

Background information.

The purpose of this section is to give a clear introduction to the business case and project. It should contain a brief overview of the reasons why the project or business change has come about: the problem, opportunity, or change of circumstances.

If necessary, refer to related programs, projects, studies, or business plans.

Business objective.

This part describes why you are doing the project. The business objective answers the following questions:

  • What is needed to overcome the problem?
  • How will the project support the business strategy?

Benefits and limitations.

The benefits and limitations section describes the financial and non-financial benefits in turn. The purpose is to explain why you need a project.

For instance, to:

  • Improve quality
  • Save costs through efficiencies
  • Reduce working capital
  • Generate revenue
  • Remain competitive
  • Improve customer service
  • Align to corporate strategy

The business case should also include any limitations since these present potential risk to the project.

Option identification and selection.

Identify the potential solutions to the problem and describe them in enough detail for the reader to understand.

For instance, if the business case and proposed solution makes use of technology, make sure to explain how the technology is used and define the terms used in a glossary. Since most problems have multiple solutions an option appraisal is often needed. This will explore the potential solutions and recommend the best option.

When writing the initial business case, the option appraisal is likely to contain a long list of options and will cover many possibilities. As the project continues a few options will be rejected. The final business case may contain three to five options ― the short list ― that includes a do nothing or benchmark option.

Scope, impact, and interdependencies.

This section of the business case template describes the work needed to deliver the business objective and identifies those business functions affected by the project.

Moreover, the project scope, impact, and interdependencies section should state the project’s scope and boundaries. It describes what is included and what is excluded plus the key interdependencies with other projects. It is important for the business case to consider the failure of other interrelated projects and show how such dependencies make impact benefits.

Outline plan.

The outline plan provides a summary of the main activities and overall timescale ― project schedule ― for the project.

A project should be divided into stages with the decisions to make preceding each stage. Use this section to answer the following questions:

  • What is required?
  • How is it done?
  • Who does what?
  • When will things happen?

This outline plan lists the major deliverables and includes a brief project description plus accountabilities for each activity.

Market assessment.

It is important that the business case provides its readers with a thorough assessment of the business context ― the market assessment. In other words, make the underlying business interests explicit.

Therefore, the market assessment should show a complete understanding of the marketplace in which your business operates.

A good starting point is the inclusions of a PESTLE ― political, economic, sociological, technological, legal, and environmental ― analysis.

Risk assessment.

The risk assessment summarizes the significant project risks and opportunities and how they are managed. Include any risks that could arise from your project, as well as the organization’s ability to deliver change.

This section answers the following questions:

  • What risks are involved?
  • What are the consequences of a risk happening?
  • What opportunities may emerge?
  • What plans are in place to deal with the risks?
  • Every project should include a risk log

When writing a business case, make sure this is included as it explains how risk and opportunity are managed.

Project approach.

The project approach describes how the project is tackled. That is, the way in which work is done to deliver the project.

For instance, a project with much of the work contracted out is likely to take a different approach to a project that develops an in-house solution.

Purchasing strategy.

This section describes how a project is to be financed and whether a decision to buy, lease, or outsource should be taken by the organization before purchasing.

Moreover, the purchasing strategy should describe the purchasing process used. A formal procurement process may save time and money and reduce project risk.

The last section of the business case template is of most interest to the project manager, project team, and managers responsible for delivering work to the project. This project organization section describes how the project is set up.

Project governance.

This section of the business case template shows the reader how the project is structured and the different levels of decision-making. Usually, a business will already have implemented a project governance framework that will support the project through each stage.

If your organization does not use a structured project management process framework use this section to include:

  • Roles and responsibilities (RACI Chart)
  • Project tolerances
  • Project standards
  • Review points
  • How decisions are made.

Progress reporting.

Finally, the business case should define how project progress is recorded and the project board updated on project performance. Usually, the project manager does this by preparing a concise progress report or highlight report at regular intervals.

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The completed business case provides structure for the project and project organization throughout the project lifecycle . Therefore, it should be used routinely for reference and not consigned to the shelf.

Accordingly, the project sponsor and project board should review and update the business case at key stages to check that the project remains viable and the reasons for doing it are still valid. Ideally, the review should take place before starting a new stage to avoid unnecessary investment in time and money.

In this article we showed you how to write a business case. We covered a lot of ground and may give the impression that the resulting business case is a large and unwieldy document.

This is not the case.

A business case should be concise and to the point. For small projects it may run to a few pages. For larger projects and complex business change endeavors the document will be large.

Therefore, be sure to keep the intended audience in mind when preparing each section and include supporting information in an appendix.

For instance, the option appraisal section may summarize each option with the details contained elsewhere for reference.

To conclude, the purpose of a business case is to outline the business rationale for undertaking a project and to provide a means to continually assess and evaluate project progress.

What is the difference between a business case and a business plan?

The focus of the business case is an action, which is usually the purchase of capital equipment or a service. In comparison, the focus of the business plan is to outline the future of a business proposal, it’s margins, revenue growth over several years and what the business goals and strategies will encompass.

What should be included in a business case?

Writing a business case can seem like a daunting task, which is why we have provided you with a business case template and example to help you make a start.

The four sections include:

What is a business case template?

A business case template provides you with a structure and format to present your case to relevant stakeholders and investors. It’s essential that this document communicate the essence of your project’s goals and benefits, while aligning with the company’s strategies and objectives.

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How to write a business case: tips, resources and examples.

Business case studies, presentations and charts

In business, resources are finite, and opportunities come at a cost. In pursuing profit and growth, organisations continually ask themselves several questions: What projects should we invest in? What products or services should we offer? How do we best utilise resources? The answers are not simple, and they need to be supported by research, facts, and figures. To facilitate decision-making, research, facts, and data that support certain decisions are presented as a business case. 

Business cases are critical pieces of project documentation that outline a business problem and provide options to solve it. The aim of a business case is to convince decision-makers that a particular course of action will result in the best outcome for an organisation.

Business cases need to be created daily within organizations. They have consequences for the individual presenting it, the department and the business at large. As such, it’s critical to understand how to create and present them effectively. Here, you will discover the different types of business cases, how to write a business case and how to present one. You will also find an example of a business case and resources to help you create your own. 

Business case basics

Business cases have characteristics that are similar to other types of organisational documentation. Below is information on what business cases are (and what they are not) and the different types of business cases you can produce.

What is a business case?

Every day, hundreds of different projects take place within organisations around the world. Of these projects, many are business-as-usual (BAU). BAU projects are projects the business carries out as part of their everyday activities. Outside of these, there are also special projects that don’t form part of an organisation’s everyday activities but are still critical. These projects may require a business case to be created.

A business case will help decision-makers understand why a special project needs to be completed and how they should do so.

Why create a business case?

Business cases perform two important functions. Firstly, they help organisations understand project options and what each will cost in terms of time, money and opportunities lost or gained. 

Secondly, they show decision-makers that there is rigour behind certain courses of action. For example, a business case might show that two IT systems have been analysed but that a certain provider will fit the business’s requirements better. Business cases show that decisions are based on research and facts, as opposed to one person’s opinion. They can help businesses justify their spending, as well as help to protect project leads if something goes wrong.

How is a business case different from a business plan?

Business cases and business plans both help to convince key decision-makers to proceed with a certain course of action. Yet, there are critical differences between a business case and a business plan:

Business cases and project plans both present details of certain projects. Yet, there are important differences:

What are the different types of business cases?

For any business case, there are numerous stakeholders who want to have their say. These stakeholders come from different departments within a business and have different interests in the project. For example, a representative from the finance team might be most interested in whether the business can afford the project, whereas someone from the management team might be more interested in whether his or her team can deliver the project. 

Catering to the differing and sometimes conflicting interests that various stakeholders can have requires a sound business case structure. One model that provides this structure is the Five Cases Model, which stipulates that a business case must be presented from five different perspectives: strategic, economic, commercial, financial and management.

Business Cases from Different Perspectives: The Five Case Model

How is a business case different from a project plan?

1. the strategic case.

The aim of the strategic case is to make a case for change and show how it strategically aligns with the direction of the business. To do this, you align your project’s goals and objectives with those of the business. 

To present the strongest possible strategic case, outline the business problem to be solved, detail the scope of what you are trying to achieve, and describe the benefits and risks. Explain how a particular process, if successful, would contribute positively to the business overall. 

2. The Economic Case

The aim of the economic case is to identify which of the options you are presenting provides the best value to the business, including broader considerations, such as social and environmental effects. This is important if you are presenting a case for a project that the public will interact with, such as developing a product or building a structure. 

To present the best possible economic case, show that you’ve appraised multiple options (i.e. created a long list), ruled out options based on cost and value (i.e. created a shortlist), and then explored, in detail, what each remaining option provides.

3. The Commercial Case

The commercial case is the next logical step after the economic case. When looking at a project from this perspective, show that you can procure suppliers (or internal resources) and that you can do so fairly and cost-effectively. =

To present the best commercial case, anticipate the resources you need and then factor in any contingencies that might occur within the delivery of the project.

4. The Financial Case

When thinking from a financial case perspective, show that the business can afford to fund the preferred option you are presenting. 

To do so, demonstrate that you have analysed the capital, revenue and whole-of-life costs of your preferred option. Do so in a structured manner, such as by using a profit and loss analysis or other financial ratio analysis.

5. The Management Case

Lastly, the management case needs to show managerial stakeholders that adequate plans are in place for the delivery, monitoring and evaluation of your preferred option. 

To do this, present a plan for how your preferred option will be project managed in accordance with best practices, and also show that independent assurance is available if required. For example, consider contract management and how to ensure benefits are realised and human resources are used fairly and appropriately.

When considering how to write your business case, the Five Cases Model is useful, as it considers the perspectives of different stakeholders. Using the Five Cases Model will ensure you present a balanced business case and support agreement on your preferred option more quickly. 

How to write a business case

Business cases are critical documents within organisations and can steer strategic decision-making. As such, it’s important to understand how to write a business case in a structured, professional manner. Here is a list of what should be included in a business case, followed by a detailed description of each.

  • Executive summary
  • Background information
  • Project definition
  • Business Requirements
  • Option presentation and evaluation
  • Presentation of preferred option
  • Strategic alignment
  • Project implementation plan
  • Financial Analysis
  • Resources required
  • Authorisations

1. Executive summary

Business cases can become hundred-plus-page documents, so it’s important to begin with an executive summary. The executive summary should include a brief description of the business problem, options presented and the preferred option.

2. Background information

Many people will have a stake in your business case, and many may have little or no context for the project. As such, you need to provide background information on the project. Background information might include why the project needs to take place, similar projects that have taken place, and what has happened in the lead up to preparing the business case. 

3. Project definition

In this section, outline all of the critical details of your project. Describe your project and include details on the business problem that it will solve. 

4. Business requirements

For any given project, there will be a number of business requirements. For example, did the business have preferred suppliers to work with? Did they have a budget? Did they need a return to be realised within a certain amount of time? Specify these requirements and how your project will meet them.

5. Option presentation and evaluation

The purpose of this section is to show stakeholders that you have researched different options and selected the best one for your business. 

Some business cases may require that you conduct research, present a long list of options and then create a shorter list (and a final selection) based on certain criteria. For other business cases, all you will need to do is write a short description of options. What is appropriate will depend on the scale of the project. 

Regardless of how you present options, show that you have evaluated them based on the criteria you have been provided. For example, you might look at the price for software, or you might consider price and features. Whatever criteria you are using, make sure you apply it equally to all options to show that you have reached a rational conclusion.

6. Presentation of preferred option

Present your preferred option. Detail why you have selected it and why it best meets the evaluation criteria. Show how it meets business requirements. 

7. Strategic alignment  

For projects within smaller organisations, it might be obvious how the project aligns with the strategic objectives of a business. For example, a business case for an EFTPOS machine within a restaurant allows customers to pay for their food, so it has a direct correlation with the business’s cash flow. However, for larger organisations, the alignment between a particular project and the company’s objectives may not be so clear. 

The strategic alignment section is your chance to demonstrate how your project actively contributes to your company’s broader business and strategy plans. 

8. Benefits

The benefits section is crucial in a business case. Outline the clear benefits of your chosen option. 

The benefits you outline should be two-fold. Firstly, they should discuss why the project should proceed in general. Secondly, they should outline the benefits of what you are recommending, so as to convince stakeholders it is the right option going forward. 

Often, people are concerned that if they present the risks of a project in too much detail, decision-markers won’t decide to move forward with a project. This isn’t true. All projects involve risks, and as part of the due diligence in writing your business case, you need to present them honestly and fairly. 

In this section, present the risks, including the likelihood that these risks might eventuate. 

10. Project implementation plan

To approve a project, stakeholders want a clear vision of how the project will be implemented. Detail this plan here. 

Give stakeholders a brief insight into how the project will proceed, which stakeholders need to be involved, what resources are required and a timeline.  

11. Financial analysis

The financial analysis section of your business plan is critical in demonstrating that the project is affordable to the business, that they can fund it, and that it will deliver financial value in the short and long term. 

Depending on the scale of your project, a simple analysis may be required, or conversely, you may need to go into detail and present forecasts and other financial reports. 

12. Resources required

In this section, include all resources, including physical assets, intellectual resources, human resources and financial resources that your project will need. 

13. Authorisations

The authorisations section details who needs to sign off on what and at what stage. 

14. Appendices

The appendices house important information that doesn’t belong in the body of your business case, such as more detailed research on the options you’ve presented, further analysis of risks and benefits, or more in-depth financial models or project plans. 

Business cases are important business documents and require a detailed structure to ensure they function as they should. Including the sections detailed above will give you the best chance of creating a successful business case. 

How to present a business case

Learning how to write a business case is only the first step. The next critical step is presenting it to stakeholders.

Six Tips for Presenting Your Business Case Successfully

6 Tips for Presenting Your Business Case Successfully

Follow the steps below to successfully present a business case:

1. Find the right delivery mode

Finding the right delivery mode will ensure that your business case is well received by decision-makers. Think about how your decision-makers like to be engaged. Would it make sense to send them the business case file first and then present the highlights to them? Or do you want them to view your presentation with no prior knowledge of your business case? Here, consider what presentation medium you use. For example, would a short video introduction work best? Alternatively, will you use PowerPoint? If you use PowerPoint, how can you do so in a way that’s convincing while providing the right amount of detail? Do you need to practice your presentation before you deliver it? Ensuring that you have all of these elements right is the first step in presenting your business case.

2. Prepare an elevator pitch

Senior stakeholders are time-poor, so it’s critical to have a short, sharp elevator pitch that summarises your business case. This is important, as not everyone has time to read the business case. Ensure you have the basics covered with your elevator pitch so stakeholders can make an informed decision.

3. Create a hook

Your business case will contain many critical facts and figures. To engage your stakeholders, you will need to translate them into an emotional story. The story you create around your business case will differ from your elevator pitch. It will include how the project will benefit people. For example, you might talk about how much easier life will be for employees with a new type of software or all the happy families who will enjoy an apartment block. Creating a connection through emotion will help you make an impact and be memorable when presenting your business case.

4. Begin with the business need

Every business case should address a business problem. To get stakeholder buy-in for your business case, start by reminding them of what this problem is so they will have greater incentive to hear about your solution.

5. Make it interactive

Interactive presentations are more engaging and memorable. As such, view and deliver your business case as a discussion. To do this, regularly ask questions to specific stakeholders, and ensure you proactively answer any questions asked to you. Also, if you make your presentation interactive, you won’t have to rely as much on your slides, which will make you appear more confident.

5. Follow up

Following up after your business case presentation is important, as not everyone may have had time to ask questions or felt comfortable doing so. Follow up individually, if possible, to ensure stakeholders have the opportunity to privately voice their concerns. Understanding how to present a business case is as important as knowing how to write a business case. If you follow the steps described above, you will have a higher chance of success.

Business case resources

When learning how to write a business case, it’s helpful to have best-practice templates to work with. Here are some resources you can use:

Smartsheet 

Smartsheet  provides numerous business case templates, including one-page business case templates, construction and project management business case templates, and a PowerPoint business case template.

Safety and quality

The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare provides a solid template for healthcare (and general) business cases.

The importance of your business case

Business cases have significant impacts on organisations. They help steer everything from small decisions to those that change the course of organisations forever. Learning how to craft best-practice business cases can set you up to be effective and efficient when you prepare them in the future.

Learning how to write successful business cases is one part of what success looks like as an executive in modern organisations. Broaden your horizons and opportunities with an Online Master of Business Administration from James Cook University. Learn more here .

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Storydoc

12 Steps to Create a Business Case Study That Converts

Learn how to make a case study presentation. Know how to write and structure it, and measure its business value. Plus examples & samples.

how to build a business case study

Dominika Krukowska

10 minute read

How to create a case study

Short answer

What are the steps to create a case study.

  • Determine a customer use case
  • Go over existing clients that meet the use case
  • Reach out to the clients that you know are happy with your solution
  • Set success criteria or KPIs
  • Set measurements
  • Set time period for observation
  • Conduct post interview to assess results
  • Get data from client - or process data you own
  • Write case study based on interview and data
  • Design case study
  • Get client’s approval
  • Distribute case study

Most case studies inform rather than engage. They earn yawns rather than trust.

A great product or service is only half the battle; the other half is telling its story effectively.

The problem is most case studies are written to inform instead of telling a story. They are dry as a biscuit in the sun. Throwing numbers and company info at prospects won’t make them care, let alone trust you.

Unfortunately most companies don’t realize they're sitting on a gold mine of compelling narratives - their customer success stories.

Not sharing these tales results in missed opportunities, lower brand credibility, and, ultimately, fewer conversions.

Let me take you on a short guide on how to turn your client victories into captivating business case studies that constantly bring you loyal customers.

Let’s see how to uncover your case study material, how to write irresistible success stories, and how to track their engagement and business impact.

Let’s get started!

How to prepare for creating a case study?

Every customer success story is a marketing powerhouse just waiting for you to unlock its potential.

12 steps for creating impactful case studies:

1. Determine a customer use case

Begin by highlighting a problem that your product or service solved for a customer. This scenario should resonate with potential customers facing similar challenges, ensuring your case study feels relevant and impactful to your target audience.

2. Go over existing clients that meet the use case

Once you've defined the use case, scan your existing client list for a standout example. You're looking for someone who's experienced tangible success with your solution, ideally in a way that's inspiring, unexpected, or dramatic.

3. Reach out to the clients that you know are happy with your solution

When you've found a good match, get in touch. Clients who are genuinely delighted with your service will typically be eager to share their experience, and their enthusiasm can give your case study real authenticity and appeal.

Approaching clients with a request to participate in a case study is not trivial. It requires mutual trust and a good working relationship.

Knowing this full well, our CEO Itai Amoza had this tip to give you:

“Always be grateful to your clients. They are doing you a big favor and you shouldn't take this for granted. Aside from thanking them, offering perks like a discount, a bigger package, or even just exposing their brands to your customers can make them feel you really appreciate they have taken the time to do this with you. "

—Itai Amoza, Storydoc Founder and CEO

Itai Amoza

4. Set success criteria or KPIs

Before diving into the creation process, define what success looks like. Setting clear KPIs will provide concrete, measurable outcomes to demonstrate the effectiveness of your solution.

5. Set measurements

How will you quantify success? Will it be revenue growth? Customer retention ? Decide on the metrics that best align with your defined KPIs and use case.

6. Set time period for observation

Choose a timeframe that's long enough to demonstrate meaningful results, but not so long that the end of your case study feels disconnected from its start. This period should be relevant to your chosen metrics and reasonable within your industry.

7. Conduct post interview to assess results

Once your observation period is over, interview the client to gather their personal insights and feedback. Their perspective can add depth to your data, providing a richer, more complete picture of their experience.

8. Get data from client - or process data you own

Get relevant data from the client or use your own data to validate your story. Remember, this is not just about showcasing positive numbers, but about demonstrating real, meaningful impact on the client’s business.

9. Write the case study based on interview and data

Create a compelling narrative that weaves together your client’s voice, your data, and your solution. Use clear, relatable language to make your case study accessible and engaging.

10. Design the case study

Pay close attention to visual presentation. Use images, graphs, or infographics to make your data digestible and your narrative visually engaging. A well-made case study design can captivate audiences who might not engage with a text-heavy document.

11. Get client’s approval

Before you distribute your case study, make sure your client is happy with how their story is told. Their approval not only maintains a positive relationship, but also validates the truth of your case study.

12. Distribute the case study

Now it’s time to share your case study! Use platforms like LinkedIn and email to reach potential customers with similar profiles.

If you rely a lot on case studies to oil your sales prospecting cascades, don’t miss out on Storydoc’s case study creator . It lets you make amazing, easily shareable and trackable interactive case studies.

But beyond that it makes your distribution and tracking a breeze by connecting with your CRM and letting you send, track, and personalize your case studies directly from there.

Here's what our Salesforce integration looks like:

Storydoc Salesforce integration

How to write an impactful case study

A customer success story is much more than a recital of benefits and features. It's the narrative of a journey a customer embarked upon with your product or service, overcoming challenges, and reaching their goals along the way.

Contrary to popular belief, these narratives aren't always about monetary gains. Surprisingly, a Gartner study found that only 13% of case studies showcased clear return on investment (ROI) figures.

Instead, these narratives capture the value and positive impact your offerings have on customers.

They play a dual role: for prospects , they showcase real-life instances of your solution at work, aiding informed purchasing decisions. For existing customers , they act as testimonials, validating their choice and accelerating their learning curve.

However, crafting an impactful customer success story that resonates with prospects is an art few have mastered. Research by Gartner reveals that over 90% of case studies miss the mark.

4-step guide for writing compelling customer success stories

This short guide is based on Gartner's content framework . You can dig deeper into the ins and outs by reading our full guide on how to write a case study .

1. Take an audience-centric approach

First, identify your target audience. Understand their challenges and desires, then find potent stories that address these issues in an engaging manner.

Use tools like customer reviews, sales team insights, surveys, and industry trends to comprehend your audience's concerns and needs.

2. Have a clear storyline

Your story should have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Starting with the customer's problem, then detailing your solution's implementation, and concluding with the positive results achieved.

The spotlight should be on the customer's journey and the value they derived, rather than just your product's features.

Here's our recommended storyline structure:

How to write a presentation storyline that creates interest

3. Include relatable elements

Stories that form a personal connection are the most effective. Make your story more relatable by identifying story elements that mirror your prospects' circumstances and demonstrating how your solution can help resolve these issues.

4. Show data-driven results

Use quantifiable metrics like increased sales, improved efficiency, or reduced costs to demonstrate your product's efficacy. Comparing these results with industry standards can further emphasize your product's impact.

Including such data in your customer success stories can significantly reinforce your offering's credibility.

Tips and best practices for creating a case study

Crafting an effective business case study requires more than just laying out the facts. It's about strategically weaving together your narrative to engage, convince, and convert your audience.

Below are some tips and best practices to guide you in creating a business case study.

1. Start with a strong hook

Just like the opening scene of a blockbuster movie, your business case study should begin with a strong hook to instantly capture your audience’s attention.

This could be a compelling quote from the client, a surprising statistic, or a provocative question related to the problem you’re addressing.

Here's an example of an intro slide:

Case study intro slide

2. Use visuals to support your content

An image can save the need to say a thousand words. Use graphs, charts, infographics, or photographs to supplement your text and bring more clarity with less words.

This not only makes your customer success story more engaging but also makes it easier for readers to quickly grasp the key points.

3. Provide an interactive experience

Making your case study interactive will increase its engagement. Consider embedding interactive elements such as videos, calculators, or clickable tabs to enrich the reader's experience.

All this is easily available to you when creating a case study with Storydoc.

Here are some examples of interactive components you can use:

Interactive Storydoc components

4. Make it easy for readers to share your case studies

In the age of digital content, sharing should be as effortless as a click. And this is where Storydoc shines. Unlike static downloadable docs, Storydoc allows your readers to easily share your case studies using social buttons and an email form.

Making this process as simple and hassle-free as possible increases the possibility of your case studies getting shared with the world.

Here's a short guide on how to share your presentations with Storydoc:

Sharing Storydoc presentations

5. Deliver critical messages directly from clients

Include quotes from the client that highlight the benefits and impact of your solution. Authentic testimonials can significantly enhance your case study's credibility and persuasive power.

Here’s an example I like of a testimonial slide:

Case study testimonials slide

6. Be fanatical about clear and concise writing

Avoid industry jargon and keep your language simple and straightforward. The aim is to communicate your customer success story clearly and concisely, making it easy to understand and follow by all readers, regardless of their background.

7. Include a Call to Action (CTA)

Lastly, always include a CTA at the end of your business case study.

This could prompt the reader to contact your sales team, learn more about your product, download a free trial, or any other action that progresses them through your sales funnel.

Here’s how one of our clients added a calendar to book a meeting as their CTA:

Storydoc deck with embedded cale

How to measure case study business value?

Creating a compelling case study is just half of the equation. To truly harness its power, it's crucial to track and measure its performance effectively.

But if you’re using PDFs or PowerPoints for your case studies you’re flying blind. And if you house your case studies on your website you need to set up custom events on Google Analytics 4 or another third party tracking tool.

If you want out-of-the-box tracking and analytics you have Storydoc. You get practical and timely insights into your case study engagement and conversion from the first second it’s published.

Simply send your decks and Storydoc will track every touchpoint , filling your analytics dashboard with real-time customer data.

Here's some of the tracking you get:

1. Engagement metrics

These reveal how users are interacting with your case study. Key metrics include the number of views, time spent on the page, scroll depth, reading completion, and interactions with interactive elements.

High engagement indicates that your customer success story is resonating with your audience.

2. Conversion metrics

Your case study should have a clear call-to-action (CTA), such as booking a demo, signing up, or downloading a resource.

The number of users who take this action is your conversion rate. A high conversion rate suggests that your case study is persuasive and compelling enough to drive action.

3. Lead generation

If your case study is gated (i.e., requires users to fill out a form to access), you can track how many leads it generates. The quality of these leads—how well they align with your target audience—is equally, if not more, important.

Check out this demo of Storydoc analytics dashboard:

Storydoc analytics pa

How to design a business case study?

Your case study design is an integral part of the narrative , and a powerful tool that can either underscore your findings or undermine them. As such, it requires careful consideration and strategic decision-making.

Here are 3 common case study design approaches:

1) Design for a website

Creating a case study directly on your website? Now that's an exciting prospect.

Imagine bringing your case study to life with interactive features, painting vivid stories with data visualization tools, and creating an immersive experience for your audience. The sky's the limit with what you can do.

But here's the problem: it's no walk in the park. This approach needs you to roll up your sleeves and manage this project. It will involve your product marketing team, design team, and developers. No way around it.

It’s like guiding a delivery truck to your destination through confusing alleyways. You know how to get there, but telling it to someone else on the phone and on a tight schedule makes it super frustrating.

2) Design for PDFs

PDFs is a common way to design and distribute case studies. They allow you a free canvas for arranging your content according to your exact vision. But there's a catch…

PDFs offer a horrible reading experience. They were originally meant for print so they were built for one fixed (an A4 paper). That’s not how people consume content in the digital age.

Sure you get full control over visuals and typography, but your audience will hate it. They will struggle to read it on their computer. And on their phone? No way.

Bad content experience is the reason we built Storydoc. So don’t kill engagement with PDF case studies. There’s a better way.

3) Design with Storydoc

Storydoc is an intuitive drag-and-drop case study designer tool powered by AI. You’ll turn hours of design into minutes with smart slides and templates built based on what works in the real world and guided by AI.

You won't need to fuss over code or design intricacies; instead, you can focus on what truly matters - the content of your case study.

It’s a simple and magical way to design captivating content with a powerful narrative at its heart.

You don’t just want your case study to inform, do you? You want it to engage, build trust, and convert prospects to clients. That’s what Storydoc does for you.

Grab a case study template

Starting a business case study from scratch can be daunting, like staring at a blank canvas waiting for inspiration to strike.

But, you can bypass the initial jitters by simply using case study templates .

These templates have been designed for engagement based on real-world insights from over 100K presentation sessions and tried-and-tested for any device. They also come with built-in tracking and analytics.

how to build a business case study

Hi, I'm Dominika, Content Specialist at Storydoc. As a creative professional with experience in fashion, I'm here to show you how to amplify your brand message through the power of storytelling and eye-catching visuals.

how to build a business case study

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Business growth

Marketing tips

16 case study examples (+ 3 templates to make your own)

Hero image with an icon representing a case study

I like to think of case studies as a business's version of a resume. It highlights what the business can do, lends credibility to its offer, and contains only the positive bullet points that paint it in the best light possible.

Imagine if the guy running your favorite taco truck followed you home so that he could "really dig into how that burrito changed your life." I see the value in the practice. People naturally prefer a tried-and-true burrito just as they prefer tried-and-true products or services.

To help you showcase your success and flesh out your burrito questionnaire, I've put together some case study examples and key takeaways.

What is a case study?

A case study is an in-depth analysis of how your business, product, or service has helped past clients. It can be a document, a webpage, or a slide deck that showcases measurable, real-life results.

For example, if you're a SaaS company, you can analyze your customers' results after a few months of using your product to measure its effectiveness. You can then turn this analysis into a case study that further proves to potential customers what your product can do and how it can help them overcome their challenges.

It changes the narrative from "I promise that we can do X and Y for you" to "Here's what we've done for businesses like yours, and we can do it for you, too."

16 case study examples 

While most case studies follow the same structure, quite a few try to break the mold and create something unique. Some businesses lean heavily on design and presentation, while others pursue a detailed, stat-oriented approach. Some businesses try to mix both.

There's no set formula to follow, but I've found that the best case studies utilize impactful design to engage readers and leverage statistics and case details to drive the point home. A case study typically highlights the companies, the challenges, the solution, and the results. The examples below will help inspire you to do it, too.

1. .css-1l9i3yq-Link[class][class][class][class][class]{all:unset;box-sizing:border-box;-webkit-text-fill-color:currentColor;cursor:pointer;}.css-1l9i3yq-Link[class][class][class][class][class]{all:unset;box-sizing:border-box;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;cursor:pointer;-webkit-transition:all 300ms ease-in-out;transition:all 300ms ease-in-out;outline-offset:1px;-webkit-text-fill-color:currentColor;outline:1px solid transparent;}.css-1l9i3yq-Link[class][class][class][class][class][data-color='ocean']{color:#3d4592;}.css-1l9i3yq-Link[class][class][class][class][class][data-color='ocean']:hover{color:#2b2358;}.css-1l9i3yq-Link[class][class][class][class][class][data-color='ocean']:focus{color:#3d4592;outline-color:#3d4592;}.css-1l9i3yq-Link[class][class][class][class][class][data-color='white']{color:#fffdf9;}.css-1l9i3yq-Link[class][class][class][class][class][data-color='white']:hover{color:#a8a5a0;}.css-1l9i3yq-Link[class][class][class][class][class][data-color='white']:focus{color:#fffdf9;outline-color:#fffdf9;}.css-1l9i3yq-Link[class][class][class][class][class][data-color='primary']{color:#3d4592;}.css-1l9i3yq-Link[class][class][class][class][class][data-color='primary']:hover{color:#2b2358;}.css-1l9i3yq-Link[class][class][class][class][class][data-color='primary']:focus{color:#3d4592;outline-color:#3d4592;}.css-1l9i3yq-Link[class][class][class][class][class][data-color='secondary']{color:#fffdf9;}.css-1l9i3yq-Link[class][class][class][class][class][data-color='secondary']:hover{color:#a8a5a0;}.css-1l9i3yq-Link[class][class][class][class][class][data-color='secondary']:focus{color:#fffdf9;outline-color:#fffdf9;}.css-1l9i3yq-Link[class][class][class][class][class][data-weight='inherit']{font-weight:inherit;}.css-1l9i3yq-Link[class][class][class][class][class][data-weight='normal']{font-weight:400;}.css-1l9i3yq-Link[class][class][class][class][class][data-weight='bold']{font-weight:700;} Volcanica Coffee and AdRoll

On top of a background of coffee beans, a block of text with percentage growth statistics for how AdRoll nitro-fueled Volcanica coffee.

People love a good farm-to-table coffee story, and boy am I one of them. But I've shared this case study with you for more reasons than my love of coffee. I enjoyed this study because it was written as though it was a letter.

In this case study, the founder of Volcanica Coffee talks about the journey from founding the company to personally struggling with learning and applying digital marketing to finding and enlisting AdRoll's services.

It felt more authentic, less about AdRoll showcasing their worth and more like a testimonial from a grateful and appreciative client. After the story, the case study wraps up with successes, milestones, and achievements. Note that quite a few percentages are prominently displayed at the top, providing supporting evidence that backs up an inspiring story.

Takeaway: Highlight your goals and measurable results to draw the reader in and provide concise, easily digestible information.

2. Taylor Guitars and Airtable

Screenshot of the Taylor Guitars and Airtable case study, with the title: Taylor Guitars brings more music into the world with Airtable

This Airtable case study on Taylor Guitars comes as close as one can to an optimal structure. It features a video that represents the artistic nature of the client, highlighting key achievements and dissecting each element of Airtable's influence.

It also supplements each section with a testimonial or quote from the client, using their insights as a catalyst for the case study's narrative. For example, the case study quotes the social media manager and project manager's insights regarding team-wide communication and access before explaining in greater detail.

Takeaway: Highlight pain points your business solves for its client, and explore that influence in greater detail.

3. EndeavourX and Figma

Screenshot of the Endeavour and Figma case study, showing a bulleted list about why EndeavourX chose Figma followed by an image of EndeavourX's workspace on Figma

My favorite part of Figma's case study is highlighting why EndeavourX chose its solution. You'll notice an entire section on what Figma does for teams and then specifically for EndeavourX.

It also places a heavy emphasis on numbers and stats. The study, as brief as it is, still manages to pack in a lot of compelling statistics about what's possible with Figma.

Takeaway: Showcase the "how" and "why" of your product's differentiators and how they benefit your customers.

4. ActiveCampaign and Zapier

Screenshot of Zapier's case study with ActiveCampaign, showing three data visualizations on purple backgrounds

Zapier's case study leans heavily on design, using graphics to present statistics and goals in a manner that not only remains consistent with the branding but also actively pushes it forward, drawing users' eyes to the information most important to them. 

The graphics, emphasis on branding elements, and cause/effect style tell the story without requiring long, drawn-out copy that risks boring readers. Instead, the cause and effect are concisely portrayed alongside the client company's information for a brief and easily scannable case study.

Takeaway: Lean on design to call attention to the most important elements of your case study, and make sure it stays consistent with your branding.

5. Ironclad and OpenAI

Screenshot of a video from the Ironclad and OpenAI case study showing the Ironclad AI Assist feature

In true OpenAI fashion, this case study is a block of text. There's a distinct lack of imagery, but the study features a narrated video walking readers through the product.

The lack of imagery and color may not be the most inviting, but utilizing video format is commendable. It helps thoroughly communicate how OpenAI supported Ironclad in a way that allows the user to sit back, relax, listen, and be impressed. 

Takeaway: Get creative with the media you implement in your case study. Videos can be a very powerful addition when a case study requires more detailed storytelling.

6. Shopify and GitHub

Screenshot of the Shopify and GitHub case study, with the title "Shopify keeps pushing ecommerce forward with help from GitHub tools," followed by a photo of a plant and a Shopify bag on a table on a dark background

GitHub's case study on Shopify is a light read. It addresses client pain points and discusses the different aspects its product considers and improves for clients. It touches on workflow issues, internal systems, automation, and security. It does a great job of representing what one company can do with GitHub.

To drive the point home, the case study features colorful quote callouts from the Shopify team, sharing their insights and perspectives on the partnership, the key issues, and how they were addressed.

Takeaway: Leverage quotes to boost the authoritativeness and trustworthiness of your case study. 

7 . Audible and Contentful

Screenshot of the Audible and Contentful case study showing images of titles on Audible

Contentful's case study on Audible features almost every element a case study should. It includes not one but two videos and clearly outlines the challenge, solution, and outcome before diving deeper into what Contentful did for Audible. The language is simple, and the writing is heavy with quotes and personal insights.

This case study is a uniquely original experience. The fact that the companies in question are perhaps two of the most creative brands out there may be the reason. I expected nothing short of a detailed analysis, a compelling story, and video content. 

Takeaway: Inject some brand voice into the case study, and create assets that tell the story for you.

8 . Zoom and Asana

Screenshot of Zoom and Asana's case study on a navy blue background and an image of someone sitting on a Zoom call at a desk with the title "Zoom saves 133 work weeks per year with Asana"

Asana's case study on Zoom is longer than the average piece and features detailed data on Zoom's growth since 2020. Instead of relying on imagery and graphics, it features several quotes and testimonials. 

It's designed to be direct, informative, and promotional. At some point, the case study reads more like a feature list. There were a few sections that felt a tad too promotional for my liking, but to each their own burrito.

Takeaway: Maintain a balance between promotional and informative. You want to showcase the high-level goals your product helped achieve without losing the reader.

9 . Hickies and Mailchimp

Screenshot of the Hickies and Mailchimp case study with the title in a fun orange font, followed by a paragraph of text and a photo of a couple sitting on a couch looking at each other and smiling

I've always been a fan of Mailchimp's comic-like branding, and this case study does an excellent job of sticking to their tradition of making information easy to understand, casual, and inviting.

It features a short video that briefly covers Hickies as a company and Mailchimp's efforts to serve its needs for customer relationships and education processes. Overall, this case study is a concise overview of the partnership that manages to convey success data and tell a story at the same time. What sets it apart is that it does so in a uniquely colorful and brand-consistent manner.

Takeaway: Be concise to provide as much value in as little text as possible.

10. NVIDIA and Workday

Screenshot of NVIDIA and Workday's case study with a photo of a group of people standing around a tall desk and smiling and the title "NVIDIA hires game changers"

The gaming industry is notoriously difficult to recruit for, as it requires a very specific set of skills and experience. This case study focuses on how Workday was able to help fill that recruitment gap for NVIDIA, one of the biggest names in the gaming world.

Though it doesn't feature videos or graphics, this case study stood out to me in how it structures information like "key products used" to give readers insight into which tools helped achieve these results.

Takeaway: If your company offers multiple products or services, outline exactly which ones were involved in your case study, so readers can assess each tool.

11. KFC and Contentful

Screenshot of KFC and Contentful's case study showing the outcome of the study, showing two stats: 43% increase in YoY digital sales and 50%+ increase in AU digital sales YoY

I'm personally not a big KFC fan, but that's only because I refuse to eat out of a bucket. My aversion to the bucket format aside, Contentful follows its consistent case study format in this one, outlining challenges, solutions, and outcomes before diving into the nitty-gritty details of the project.

Say what you will about KFC, but their primary product (chicken) does present a unique opportunity for wordplay like "Continuing to march to the beat of a digital-first drum(stick)" or "Delivering deep-fried goodness to every channel."

Takeaway: Inject humor into your case study if there's room for it and if it fits your brand. 

12. Intuit and Twilio

Screenshot of the Intuit and Twilio case study on a dark background with three small, light green icons illustrating three important data points

Twilio does an excellent job of delivering achievements at the very beginning of the case study and going into detail in this two-minute read. While there aren't many graphics, the way quotes from the Intuit team are implemented adds a certain flair to the study and breaks up the sections nicely.

It's simple, concise, and manages to fit a lot of information in easily digestible sections.

Takeaway: Make sure each section is long enough to inform but brief enough to avoid boring readers. Break down information for each section, and don't go into so much detail that you lose the reader halfway through.

13. Spotify and Salesforce

Screenshot of Spotify and Salesforce's case study showing a still of a video with the title "Automation keeps Spotify's ad business growing year over year"

Salesforce created a video that accurately summarizes the key points of the case study. Beyond that, the page itself is very light on content, and sections are as short as one paragraph.

I especially like how information is broken down into "What you need to know," "Why it matters," and "What the difference looks like." I'm not ashamed of being spoon-fed information. When it's structured so well and so simply, it makes for an entertaining read.

Takeaway: Invest in videos that capture and promote your partnership with your case study subject. Video content plays a promotional role that extends beyond the case study in social media and marketing initiatives .

14. Benchling and Airtable

Screenshot of the Benchling and Airtable case study with the title: How Benchling achieves scientific breakthroughs via efficiency

Benchling is an impressive entity in its own right. Biotech R&D and health care nuances go right over my head. But the research and digging I've been doing in the name of these burritos (case studies) revealed that these products are immensely complex. 

And that's precisely why this case study deserves a read—it succeeds at explaining a complex project that readers outside the industry wouldn't know much about.

Takeaway: Simplify complex information, and walk readers through the company's operations and how your business helped streamline them.

15. Chipotle and Hubble

Screenshot of the Chipotle and Hubble case study with the title "Mexican food chain replaces Discoverer with Hubble and sees major efficiency improvements," followed by a photo of the outside of a Chipotle restaurant

The concision of this case study is refreshing. It features two sections—the challenge and the solution—all in 316 words. This goes to show that your case study doesn't necessarily need to be a four-figure investment with video shoots and studio time. 

Sometimes, the message is simple and short enough to convey in a handful of paragraphs.

Takeaway: Consider what you should include instead of what you can include. Assess the time, resources, and effort you're able and willing to invest in a case study, and choose which elements you want to include from there.

16. Hudl and Zapier

Screenshot of Hudl and Zapier's case study, showing data visualizations at the bottom, two photos of people playing sports on the top right , and a quote from the Hudl team on the topleft

I may be biased, but I'm a big fan of seeing metrics and achievements represented in branded graphics. It can be a jarring experience to navigate a website, then visit a case study page and feel as though you've gone to a completely different website.

The Zapier format provides nuggets of high-level insights, milestones, and achievements, as well as the challenge, solution, and results. My favorite part of this case study is how it's supplemented with a blog post detailing how Hudl uses Zapier automation to build a seamless user experience.

The case study is essentially the summary, and the blog article is the detailed analysis that provides context beyond X achievement or Y goal.

Takeaway: Keep your case study concise and informative. Create other resources to provide context under your blog, media or press, and product pages.

3 case study templates

Now that you've had your fill of case studies (if that's possible), I've got just what you need: an infinite number of case studies, which you can create yourself with these case study templates.

Case study template 1

Screenshot of Zapier's first case study template, with the title and three spots for data callouts at the top on a light peach-colored background, followed by a place to write the main success of the case study on a dark green background

If you've got a quick hit of stats you want to show off, try this template. The opening section gives space for a short summary and three visually appealing stats you can highlight, followed by a headline and body where you can break the case study down more thoroughly. This one's pretty simple, with only sections for solutions and results, but you can easily continue the formatting to add more sections as needed.

Case study template 2

Screenshot of Zapier's second case study template, with the title, objectives, and overview on a dark blue background with an orange strip in the middle with a place to write the main success of the case study

For a case study template with a little more detail, use this one. Opening with a striking cover page for a quick overview, this one goes on to include context, stakeholders, challenges, multiple quote callouts, and quick-hit stats. 

Case study template 3

Screenshot of Zapier's third case study template, with the places for title, objectives, and about the business on a dark green background followed by three spots for data callouts in orange boxes

Whether you want a little structural variation or just like a nice dark green, this template has similar components to the last template but is designed to help tell a story. Move from the client overview through a description of your company before getting to the details of how you fixed said company's problems.

Tips for writing a case study

Examples are all well and good, but you don't learn how to make a burrito just by watching tutorials on YouTube without knowing what any of the ingredients are. You could , but it probably wouldn't be all that good.

Writing a good case study comes down to a mix of creativity, branding, and the capacity to invest in the project. With those details in mind, here are some case study tips to follow:

Have an objective: Define your objective by identifying the challenge, solution, and results. Assess your work with the client and focus on the most prominent wins. You're speaking to multiple businesses and industries through the case study, so make sure you know what you want to say to them.

Focus on persuasive data: Growth percentages and measurable results are your best friends. Extract your most compelling data and highlight it in your case study.

Use eye-grabbing graphics: Branded design goes a long way in accurately representing your brand and retaining readers as they review the study. Leverage unique and eye-catching graphics to keep readers engaged. 

Simplify data presentation: Some industries are more complex than others, and sometimes, data can be difficult to understand at a glance. Make sure you present your data in the simplest way possible. Make it concise, informative, and easy to understand.

Use automation to drive results for your case study

A case study example is a source of inspiration you can leverage to determine how to best position your brand's work. Find your unique angle, and refine it over time to help your business stand out. Ask anyone: the best burrito in town doesn't just appear at the number one spot. They find their angle (usually the house sauce) and leverage it to stand out.

In fact, with the right technology, it can be refined to work better . Explore how Zapier's automation features can help drive results for your case study by making your case study a part of a developed workflow that creates a user journey through your website, your case studies, and into the pipeline.

Case study FAQ

Got your case study template? Great—it's time to gather the team for an awkward semi-vague data collection task. While you do that, here are some case study quick answers for you to skim through while you contemplate what to call your team meeting.

What is an example of a case study?

An example of a case study is when a software company analyzes its results from a client project and creates a webpage, presentation, or document that focuses on high-level results, challenges, and solutions in an attempt to showcase effectiveness and promote the software.

How do you write a case study?

To write a good case study, you should have an objective, identify persuasive and compelling data, leverage graphics, and simplify data. Case studies typically include an analysis of the challenge, solution, and results of the partnership.

What is the format of a case study?

While case studies don't have a set format, they're often portrayed as reports or essays that inform readers about the partnership and its results. 

Related reading:

How Hudl uses automation to create a seamless user experience

How to make your case studies high-stakes—and why it matters

How experts write case studies that convert, not bore

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Hachem Ramki

Hachem is a writer and digital marketer from Montreal. After graduating with a degree in English, Hachem spent seven years traveling around the world before moving to Canada. When he's not writing, he enjoys Basketball, Dungeons and Dragons, and playing music for friends and family.

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Business Case Study: A Guide to Creating Captivating Customer Stories

Sharing case studies with your target audience is a powerful way to reinforce the value of your products or services.

When well written as a captivating customer story, that value transfers over to the reader and helps them identify with the incorporated challenge. It will also show them solutions and potential outcomes that are successful.

If you are not already using these case studies to enhance your marketing strategy, it is time to start.

In other words, you need to create captivating case studies, or customer stories, that sell your brand, product, or service for you through the real-life experiences of another.

While one strategy may be to create a case study template to save time, a more beneficial approach is to tailor each customer story, avoiding the one-size-fits-all approach.

Below you will find helpful information on why this is necessary and how to craft your own case studies that read more like a story than a reiteration of facts and results.

What Is a Business Case Study?

A business case study is a summary of a real-life business scenario where steps are taken to solve a problem effectively. 

Also called customer stories, they show how your business has made a real and significant impact on your customers. These scenarios can help show potential customers what your brand is able to do for them.

Differently than an advertisement or press release, it should focus mainly on the customer’s journey, not on the company. 

A case study is a story about how the customer overcame certain problems or challenges thanks to your products or services. At its core, it is an in-depth analysis of problems and solutions. It examines the challenges and presents answers that tie back to your company.

How Can Case Studies Benefit Your Brand?

Consumers have become very savvy and today’s modern consumer wants to do their own research and make decisions without a salesperson or advertisement telling them what to think or what to buy. 

Around 96% of people in the U.S. shop online and more than 63% do online research prior to making a purchase. This opens the door for your brand to put educational material in the hands of consumers, providing them with the information they need to make informed decisions regarding your business.

Case studies can be extremely beneficial for this purpose in a number of ways.

Put your product or service value into action

The case study walks the reader through the conflict the customer experienced, what they tried, and how they ultimately used your product or service to solve it. A good case study is an engaging story that is very relatable – and that is what makes it so effective.

It takes the reader on a very specific journey that is centered around using a specific service or product. It takes that value and puts it into action. This is what your prospective customers need to see because they can then envision how your product or service will work for them.

Highlight the benefits and features of your product or service

Nearly every product or service has several specific benefits and features. 

Each of our customers may use your product in a different way, taking advantage of those features and benefits. Case studies that are focused on a particular feature can show how your customer benefitted from it and how they used it. 

This gives you more real-world illustrations for the application of your product or service.

Elicit trust and credibility using peer influence

The best marketing strategy that a business can have is word of mouth. 

Customers in the United States are far more likely to purchase from a brand that someone they know has recommended. Word-of-mouth marketing is what marketers work hard for, what they seek, and what can propel a brand from obscurity into a household name.

Many other types of content are typically self-serving, but case studies are all about the customer. When an actual customer opens their mouth, they become a third-party brand endorsement which encourages trust and loyalty.

Any type of endorsement has some value, and case studies are no different. The more details you provide, the more qualified leads you will attract, and the more customers you will have.

Attract qualified leads and convert more

Research surrounding case studies and related types of peer recommendations shows that they are very effective in not only attracting customers but attracting the right types of customers.

 97% of B2B customers rely on peer-recommended content, including case studies, citing them as the most reliable type of content. When it comes to consumers, 88% trust case studies and other types of peer-recommended material as much as they trust recommendations from their family or friends.

Incorporating case studies into your marketing campaigns and customer onboarding trails will allow your prospects to see real-world scenarios showing how your products are being used to solve real problems. 

If a customer or prospective customer is having trouble in a certain area, one of your representatives or salespeople can refer to the case study that lines up the best with the prospect’s problem. The prospect can then see how others have handled the problem by utilizing your products or services.

Main Types of Case Studies for Business

A business case study is not just a generalized term, a one size fits all marketing ploy. It is a highly specialized type of content that can breathe new life into your brand and become a vital part of your business strategy.

There are four main types of case studies:

Critical Instance Case Study

This type of study answers cause-and-effect questions. It examines a situation in a very detailed manner with a key characteristic of avoiding generalization and universal assertions.

Cumulative Case Study

This type of study aggregates information from several sources that occurred at different times.

Exploratory Case Study

Also known as a pilot case study, this is a condensed version that precedes a more in-depth analysis. It is primarily used to aid in determining types of measurement and identifying questions before launching the main research.

Illustrative Case Study

This type of study is mostly focused on being descriptive and is the type that is most commonly associated with case studies. It outlines the problem, usually one or two situations to illustrate the challenge, then move on to the solution.

Within each of these types, one or more areas of business may be explored, including:

  • Growth Plan or Strategy
  • Industry Landscape & Competitor Dynamics
  • Market Entry or Expansion
  • Merger, Acquisition, or Joint Venture
  • New Product 
  • Pricing Optimization
  • Profitability Optimization
  • Start-Up or Early Stage Venture

There are also types of case studies that are developed internally and used to analyze various areas of the organization, market, or industry. They are used to assess problems within a company and find viable solutions. 

These are not used for marketing purposes. Instead, they are used as a way for a business to maximize profitability, optimize growth, and determine the suitability of an industry for entry or exit.

The Anatomy of a Business Case Study

A business case study is a narrative that showcases your company’s success. Similar to any story, it comprises essential elements that engage readers and guide them toward a desired action. 

Let’s explore the key components of a case study and how to create a captivating narrative.

Introduction: The beginning of the journey

Start with an intriguing introduction that hooks the reader and sets the stage for the story. Provide a glimpse of what lies ahead, arousing curiosity and interest. 

This section should establish the context and outline the problem your customer faced.

The Middle: Unfolding the story

The middle section is where the main story unfolds. Introduce the customer as the protagonist, and outline the challenges or problems they encountered. Demonstrate how they discovered your company and its product or service as a potential solution. 

Engage the reader by allowing them to empathize with the customer’s struggles and envision themselves in a similar situation.

The End: A satisfactory conclusion

Conclude the case study with a strong ending that ties everything together. Highlight the successful outcome achieved by the customer through their collaboration with your company. 

Emphasize the specific areas of improvement, such as increased profitability, enhanced production, or accelerated growth. 

This section should inspire readers and leave them with a clear call to action.

How to Produce a Case Study: A Step-by-Step Guide

As we’ve shown so far, case studies can be an effective tool to showcase your business’s success and build credibility with your audience. 

Here’s a comprehensive guide on how to produce a compelling case study:

1. Selecting candidates

Start by identifying customers who have expressed satisfaction with your solution. 

Look for feedback on social media, emails, phone calls, or video chats. Reach out to them via email, explaining that you’d like to feature their success story in a case study. 

Ask about their experience with your product or service, how they discovered your business, and the results they achieved.

2. Conducting interviews

Once you’ve chosen suitable candidates, inform them about their selection. 

Set up an interview either in person, over the phone, or through a video call. Explain that you value their partnership and that they only need to answer a few questions—assure them that their picture won’t be used. 

Seek permission to publish their name and relevant business information. Ensure you have formal authorization to publish their information.

During the interview, ask questions such as:

  • What challenges did you face before using our solution?
  • How did you discover our business?
  • What made you choose our solution?
  • Were there any implementation difficulties? How did you overcome them?
  • What results did you achieve after using our solution?
  • How did your business transform as a result?

3. Organizing information

After conducting interviews, you’ll have a wealth of information to organize. You can structure the content in the following manner:

  • Title: Create an intriguing title that highlights your customer’s achievement and your solution.
  • Abstract: Summarize the case study in two to four lines.
  • The Customer: Introduce the customer and provide an overview of their business.
  • The Challenge: Explain the specific challenges the customer faced.
  • The Solution: Describe how your solution addressed their needs.
  • The Results: Present concrete results using numbers and statistics.
  • Quotations: Include impactful quotes from the customer.
  • Images and Graphics: Use photos or graphics to illustrate key points.

4. Engaging with storytelling

To make your case study more interesting and engaging, incorporate storytelling techniques. 

Instead of focusing solely on your brand, make your customer the protagonist. Use the hero’s journey narrative structure to captivate your audience. Highlight the moment of struggle, the mentor (your business) that helped, the journey to overcome obstacles, and the ultimate transformation that occurred. 

This approach will create a stronger emotional connection with your audience.

5. Using interactive content

Interactive features encourage active participation from your audience and increase the chances of them progressing through the buyer’s journey. 

Interactive maps, graphs, and sheets can improve the data visualization in the case study. Using such features also demonstrates your commitment to providing valuable content and helping build trust with your audience.

6. Finalizing and distributing the case study

Once you have created the content, seek approval from the featured customer. 

Determine the appropriate platform to release the case study based on your target audience’s preferences and behaviors. 

Consider adding it to a dedicated page on your website, blog posts, landing pages, or social media campaigns.

12 Tips for Crafting Impactful Customer Stories

The more detailed your case story is, the more likely it will become to resonate with your target audience. Let’s move this conversation to a new level by looking into some tips to develop a great structure for your customer story.

1. Be authentic

Use conversational language and avoid jargon or buzzwords. Communicate in a way that resonates with your audience and fosters a genuine connection.

2. Understand your audience

Consider your target audience’s interests and pain points. Address their concerns and demonstrate how your product or service addresses their specific needs.

Create a profile of your ideal customer and write the case study specifically for them. Consider what their pain points are and how your solution could impact their business.

3. Point out key features

Highlight one or two key features of your offering that played a significant role in solving the customer’s problem. Clearly articulate how these features made a difference.

4. Show value

Illustrate the value your product or service brings beyond the immediate solution. Explain how it positively impacts the customer’s bottom line, productivity, or overall business objectives.

5. Choose a focus

Identify three key takeaways you want readers to glean from the case study. Ensure these points are effectively conveyed throughout the story, aligning with your strategic messaging.

6. Utilize data and statistics

Incorporate verifiable data, dollar amounts, and measurable statistics whenever possible. These elements enhance credibility and reinforce the impact of your solution.

Incorporate specific numbers and statistics to lend credibility to your case study. Instead of vague statements, provide tangible results based on real data.

7. Highlight humanity

Make the story relatable by showcasing the human side of the situation. Share personal anecdotes or experiences that humanize the challenges and victories.

8. Include customer quotes

Whenever feasible, include quotes from the customer to add authenticity and provide a personal touch to the case study.

9. Avoid direct praise

While testimonials are valuable, refrain from overtly praising your own company within the case study. Let the customer’s success story speak for itself.

10. Keep it simple and easy to read

Use a format that is easy to read, with short paragraphs, white space, and images to break up the text. Utilize bulleted lists and emphasize key points with bold or italicized text.

Format your case study in a visually appealing way, using headers, bullet lists, and bold text to guide the reader’s attention. Include images to enhance comprehension and engagement.

11. Repurpose your case studies

Extend the reach of your case studies by repurposing them into different formats. Turn them into blog posts, social media teasers, infographics, or emails to engage with different audiences.

Explore different formats for your case study, such as interviews, videos, podcasts, or infographics. This allows you to reach a wider audience and cater to different preferences.

12. Make your case study easy to find

Implement a strategy to ensure your case studies are easy to find. Place them prominently on your website, optimize them for search engines, and promote them through various channels to maximize exposure.

Ensure that your case studies are easily accessible to prospective customers. Create a dedicated page on your website or include them in your resources section. Promote them through social media and email marketing to maximize visibility.

Successful Case Study Examples

A beneficial way to begin creating your own case studies is to look at other offerings already out there. From these, you can discover what you like or dislike about them and tailor a strategy for how to present yours in an engaging and captivating way befitting your particular brand voice . Here are a few to get you started.

How 6Connex Doubled Their Traffic and Increased Their CTR by 25% In Just One Year

Seeking to gain a status of higher authority within the exploding virtual events industry, 6Connex examined the content they were currently offering, assessed performance, and began to refine their SEO strategy.

The marketing team concluded that what they needed was more long-form content to meet the goal of providing customers with in-depth information to further position them as an authority in their field.

Partnering with Rock Content’s WriterAccess, 6Connex outsourced their blog writing to experienced content creators already knowledgeable in event planning. These content creators took over the numerous tasks of writing SEO-strategized blog posts, creating authoritative long-form content in less time than it would have taken their in-house marketing team.

As a result, 6Connex saw a doubling of web traffic, a 35% boost in page views, and a 25% increase in click-through rates (CTRs).

What stands out in this case study is the way in which it is told.

It provides a glimpse of how the need for long-form content arose, how they sought to resolve it efficiently, and future plans to continue a consistent offering of authoritative content going forward.

Overall, the case study shows how working with Rock Content’s WriterAccess is a complementary addition to their own in-house efforts to improve SEO and position themselves as an authority in the virtual events planning industry.

A few things to take away from this case study and to incorporate into your own include:

  • Show the value of your product or service, as this one shows the value of WriterAccess services.
  • Mention your product or service early on in the case study and provide a way for readers to learn more (e.g., anchor text with a link).
  • Make it more personal by incorporating quotes (in this case, the informative quotes come directly from the marketing coordinator). By including customer quotes, it shows that you reached out to the client directly and included important parts of that interview to tell the story.
  • Avoid direct praise for your company, product, or service. Remember, case studies are about the customer, not you.
  • Make your case study simple and easy to read.
  •  Insert visuals showcasing the achieved results.
  • Insert a CTA at the bottom of your case study that ties in with the services and results of the case study itself.

Korn Ferry Engages Audiences and Improves User Experience with Data-Driven Content

Global organizational consulting firm Korn Ferry consists of three business lines, all of which require their own unique content. This task alone challenged their in-house marketing team, stretching them thin when attempting to create insightful content for each one. Another issue facing the firm was how to capture more information about potential leads.

This case study lays out the marketing challenges faced by Korn Ferry in a storytelling fashion, relatable to others in a similar position.

Many companies face the challenge of generating new leads and obtaining more information about prospects to fuel their marketing strategy. Because of this, viewers will naturally want to keep reading to find out how Korn Ferry sought out a solution.

That solution turned out to be partnering with Ion to create more interactive content to drive engagement. This interactive content included quizzes, calculators, and more. They also were able to improve the audience experience for one of their white papers by breaking it up into interactive chapters. By doing so, they could better ascertain which parts were receiving the most attention.

Overall, the addition of interactive content provided a way to collect more data about their audience, find high-quality leads, and improve the overall user experience.

Examples of key takeaways from this case study include;

  • Mention the key result in the title of the case study to entice curiosity and a desire to keep reading.
  • Point out key features of the service or product (Ion) and what the customer is able to accomplish with them.
  • Provide details surrounding how the client worked with the product or service to achieve its goals.
  • Structure a case study in a way that guides the reader through the story. For example, start with information on the company, then segway into the challenge, the content, and the data that led to successful outcomes (e.g., more useful marketing communications). Break up the text with a mix of headings and subheadings.
  • Show the value of the product or service and what the customer accomplished by using it.

Create Compelling Case Studies with WriterAccess

Case studies can serve as an effective and robust tool to showcase your company’s ability to help customers achieve success. There is, however, a skill to crafting such compelling and captivating case studies that speak to your target audience and help them see themselves in a similar type of situation.

For help with the writing of these beneficial marketing tools and any other content, you may need, your company and marketing team can easily partner with WriterAccess and its range of experienced writers.

To experience how the process works, explore our talented pool of writers, and see first-hand the type of content we can produce, sign up for our expansive 14-day free trial today.

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Some virtual care companies putting patient data at risk, new study finds

Canadian researchers have patient privacy concerns as industry grows post-covid.

how to build a business case study

Social Sharing

This story is part of CBC Health's Second Opinion, a weekly analysis of health and medical science news emailed to subscribers on Saturday mornings. If you haven't subscribed yet, you can do that by  clicking here .

If you visit a doctor virtually through a commercial app, the information you submit in the app could be used to promote a particular drug or service, says the leader of a new Canadian study involving industry insiders.

The industry insiders "were concerned that care might not be designed to be the best care for patients, but rather might be designed to increase uptake of the drug or vaccine to meet the pharmaceutical company objectives," said Dr. Sheryl Spithoff, a physician and scientist at Women's College Hospital in Toronto.

Virtual care took off as a convenient way to access health care during the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing patients to consult with a doctor by videoconference, phone call or text.

It's estimated that more than one in five adults in Canada —  or 6.5 million people — don't have a family physician or nurse practitioner they can see regularly, and virtual care is helping to fill the void.

But the study's researchers and others who work in the medical field have raised concerns that some virtual care companies aren't adequately protecting patients' private health information from being used by drug companies and shared with third parties that want to market products and services.

A female doctor with long, brown hair standing in a medical office.

Spithoff co-authored the study in this week's BMJ Open , based on interviews with 18 individuals employed or affiliated with the Canadian virtual care industry between October 2021 and January 2022. The researchers also analyzed 31 privacy documents from the websites of more than a dozen companies.

The for-profit virtual care industry valued patient data and "appears to view data as a revenue stream," the researchers found.

One employee with a virtual care platform told the researchers that the platform, "at the behest of the pharmaceutical company, would conduct 'A/B testing' by putting out a new version of software to a percentage of patients to see if the new version improved uptake of the drug."

how to build a business case study

Many virtual care apps pushing products, selling personal data, research finds

Concerns about how data might be shared.

Matthew Herder, director of the Health Law Institute at Dalhousie University in Halifax, said he hopes the study draws the public's attention to what's behind some of these platforms.

"All of this is happening because of a business model that sees value in collecting that data and using it in a variety of ways that have little to do with patient care and more to do in building up the assets of that company," Herder said.

Bearded man standing in front of a chalkboard.

Other industry insiders were concerned about how data, such as browsing information, might be shared with third parties such as Google and Meta, the owner of Facebook, for marketing purposes, Spithoff said.

The study's authors said companies placed data in three categories:

  • Registration data, such as name, email address and date of birth.
  • User data, such as how, when and where you use the website, on what device and your internet protocol or IP address.
  • De-identified personal health information, such as removing the name and date of birth and modifying the postal code.

Some companies considered the first two categories as assets that could be monetized, employees told the researchers.

  • Many Canadians welcomed virtual health care. Where does it fit in the system now?
  • Virtual urgent care didn't divert Ontario patients from ER visits during pandemic, study suggests

Not all of the companies treated the third category the same way. Some used personal health information only for the primary purpose of a patient's virtual exchange with a physician, while others used it for commercial reasons, sharing analytics or de-identified information with third parties.

The study's authors said while each individual data point may not provide much information, advertisers and data analytic companies amalgamate data from browsing history and social media accounts to provide insights into an individual's mental health status, for example.

One study participant described how a partnership for targeted ads might work: "If an individual is coming through our service looking for mental health resources, how can we lean them into some of our partnerships with corporate counselling services?"

how to build a business case study

Nurses’ union says virtual care is a move toward privatization of health care

Conflict-of-interest questions.

Lorian Hardcastle, an associate professor of law and medicine at the University of Calgary, studied  uptake of virtual care in 2020. She highlighted issues of continuity of care, privacy legislation and consent policies.

Since then, she said, uptake in virtual care accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I think that the commercialization of the health-care system raises concerns around conflicts of interest between what is best for patients on the one hand and then on the other hand, what has the best return for shareholders," said Hardcastle, who was not involved in the BMJ Open study.

A woman with long brown hair wearing a blouse and jacket.

Hardcastle said it is helpful to have industry insiders acknowledge problems that health professionals and academics have expressed about commercialization.

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, which funded the study, said in an email that privately funded health professionals are generally considered to be conducting commercial activities.

Hospitals, long-term care facilities and home care services that are publicly funded are not considered to be engaged in commercial activities and are covered by provincial privacy legislation, the office said. Health information falls into many categories and may be subject to different privacy laws across various jurisdictions.

Hardcastle also suggested that self-regulatory bodies, such as provincial colleges of physicians and surgeons, may need to revisit policies around relationships between health providers and industry.

Virtual care industry responds

CBC News heard from some Canadian virtual care companies that said they take the privacy of individuals seriously.

"Patient data is only used with patients' explicit consent and only when it's required for health-care interactions between a patient and a doctor," a spokesperson for virtual care platform Maple said. "We do not exploit patient data for marketing or commercial gain."

  • Is virtual care a cure for Canada's battered health-care system?

In a statement, Rocket Doctor said it is important to note that the company "does not do any of the things listed by the researchers as common in the telehealth industry."

Telus said that all of the data collected from its virtual care service is treated as personal health information.

"Telus Health doesn't receive any funds from pharmaceutical companies for our virtual care service and we do not sell any patient data collected," said Pamela Snively, the company's chief data and trust officer.

Source of information hard to pin down

Hardcastle said it may be difficult for some people to distinguish between receiving reliable and accurate information from a health-care provider on an app and getting services marketed to them that the health provider may or may not find useful.

"Your family doctor isn't trying to collect superfluous information in order to market services to you," she said.

Some provinces and territories pay for the virtual services. In other cases, patients pay themselves or are covered by employer or private insurance.

  • Patients tapping into alternative care options, but N.S. emergency departments still face challenges

Nova Scotia's government, for example, has a contract with Maple to provide residents without a primary care provider with unlimited virtual visits. Those who do have a regular provider can have two visits per year paid for by the province.

Tara Sampalli, senior scientific director at Nova Scotia Health Innovation Hub, said the province's contract with Maple means residents' data can't be used in other ways, such as by third-party providers.

The province doesn't have that level of control over other providers of virtual care, said Sampalli, who holds a PhD in health informatics.

Calls for an opt-out choice

Herder, of Dalhousie University, said users should be able to easily opt out of having their data used for commercial purposes. He also said that if the data doesn't represent the full diversity of Canada, algorithms shaping clinical decision-making could be racially biased.

Spithoff said while patient awareness is important, patients aren't in a position to fix this problem.

  • 140,000 Nova Scotians are waiting for a family doctor. Can virtual care help?

"We need better legislation, regulation, and we need better funding for primary care," she said. "Or people can get virtual care integrated into their offline care."

Spithoff and her co-authors said self-regulation by the industry is unlikely to lead to change. 

The researchers acknowledged they were limited to publicly available documents and that they did not interview those affiliated with the third-party advertisers.

how to build a business case study

Canadian Medical Association calls for health-care system overhaul

Corrections.

  • An earlier version of this story suggested that all health professionals conduct commercial activities under federal legislation. In fact, some publicly funded health services are not commercial and are covered by various other legislation. Feb 12, 2024 6:11 PM ET

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

how to build a business case study

Amina Zafar covers medical sciences and health topics, including infectious diseases, for CBC News. She holds an undergraduate degree in environmental science and a master's in journalism.

With files from CBC's Christine Birak

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Generative AI will first be successfully scaled in business operations

Curt Mueller

February 5, 2024 Generative AI (gen AI) had an exciting year in 2023. This year, claims of its transformative potential will be tested as organizations attempt to scale gen-AI-powered activities. The aim will be to make gen AI part of the fabric and architecture of business operations in a way that measurably moves the dial on business performance. We estimate that gen AI could offer savings opportunities of $1.4 trillion to $2.6 trillion across operations functions, including customer service, R&D, manufacturing, supply chain, and procurement, alongside its impact on the back office .

This will be harder than much of the coverage of gen AI—so far—may have led some to believe. Amid the declarations and promises, we offer some practical ideas for putting gen AI to work in your business.

AI’s potential spans the 4Cs

Gen AI applications span several archetypes of capabilities that reside, at least partially, in the scope of operations functions. These include the 4Cs:

  • Concision. New capabilities in concision have equipped gen AI to interpret large corpuses of unstructured data to identify and summarize relevant answers in service and analysis contexts.
  • Creative content. Gen AI’s potential handling of creative content can enable the rapid tailoring of complex and structured documents to specific needs and contexts.
  • Customer engagement. Out-of-the-box copilots powered by gen AI can guide customers through their personalized journeys in the realm of customer engagement.
  • Coding and software. New capabilities in coding and software promise swifter migration from legacy systems at scale.

Persuasive examples already exist. The customer support function of a South American telecommunications company used conversational AI to prioritize its higher-value clients while promoting self-service. By automating a proportion of its contact activity and consolidating redundant platforms, the company reduced operational expenditures by roughly $80 million. Elsewhere, a gen-AI-powered learning platform led to onboarding surveys reporting improved onboarding experience by some 35 percent. Another business reduced financial planning and analysis costs by more than $6 million through use of a sophisticated gen-AI-powered research assistant that automatically pulls information from multiple sources, synthesizes knowledge, and presents it for human verification.

Operations: The realm of tangible testing

Operations functions are an attractive area for introducing gen AI, because these functions typically have well-established measurement and reporting processes, which make it easier to see the impact of decisions such as how much time a supervisor saves or how much more efficient a particular stage of process has become. Smart businesses will experiment with gen AI in operations, analyze the results, and then carefully apply what they have learned to more complex scenarios. Despite some of the lofty claims made in 2023, most businesses will experience no silver bullet or lightning strike but instead testing, learning, and iterative progress.

For example, at manufacturing plants where shift reports are routinely handed over between shifts, gen AI has the potential to reduce delivery time for these reports by 50 to 70 percent. Organizations can apply gen AI to such workaday but business-performance-enhancing tasks. Those that do so will have live case studies from which to learn and on which to build. Then they can apply the resulting knowledge and know-how to refinements in inventory, scheduling, and the use of raw materials.

Avoiding ‘pilot purgatory’

As in past digital transformations, the best practices for introducing generative AI will involve setting up governance structures; drafting, updating, and socializing transformation road maps; and establishing an indefatigable communications strategy. Creating value from gen AI requires tackling operational readiness challenges as much as grappling with new technologies. This is the familiar terrain of capability building and change management: developing new capabilities in IT and tech, managing risk and reputation, and monitoring regulatory matters. It is critical here to have a strong relationship between operations leaders and tech leaders, as is true for any successful change program.

Companies can benefit from addressing the deployment of gen AI as a transformation, not merely a technological advance. This calls for focusing on the business challenge, not the technology itself. In other words, companies identify the exact business challenge gen AI could address and then verify that a more efficient solution cannot already come from traditional AI, internal rules, or organizational shifts. Deploying gen AI for its own sake will not yield tangible business results and could even become a fruitless distraction.

Building the right team

Quick-win use cases deliver value and excitement, and they prevent efforts from becoming “just another IT project.” Lighthouse use cases foster trust and alleviate organizational concerns while paving the way for more advanced gen AI applications. They also provide the business with a secure space in which to learn and formulate the right questions.

A core team with the right complementary skill set to steer gen AI pilot projects should have expertise in business operations, technology, and change management. Again, the key stages will be familiar to many: clarifying stakeholders’ roles and responsibilities, identifying and elevating domain experts. And as with any major change in ways of working, the chances of success are vastly greater when project leaders involve the front line early and often. When projects are derailed, the most common reason is by a failure of the project leaders to take people with them, and gen-AI-powered projects will be no different.

Involving the right people

Any venture that aims to scale gen AI will involve legal, privacy, and governance issues . Those responsible for addressing these issues need to be on board, and the company should tap their expertise to inform the road map for scaling gen AI. A significant introduction of gen AI is likely to require new controls, training modules, and more. For more examples of current and possible applications for GenAI, and the inherent risks, listen to our recent podcast here.

When it comes to talent, most organizations will likely benefit from upskilling existing tech roles to include emerging gen AI skills, such as prompt engineering. Developing separate roles may be less of a priority, though external hiring in key areas may be necessary. Knowing when to hire and when to train internally for gen AI success is a value creating decision-making skill that leaders will need to master at pace.

Familiar questions

Though companies’ answers will differ, the business questions remain the same: How will a gen AI transformation get us to market faster or enhance productivity and efficiency? What new set of capabilities do we need within the workforce to make the most of the opportunity? How do we measure gen AI’s return on investment?

As companies begin experimenting with use cases, answers to these questions will begin to emerge in the very near future, and many of the success measures already exist. Over the coming years, we will see whether the excitement in 2023 was overdone or gen AI becomes a critical, game-changing tool of the magnitude of, say, data analytics. In the meantime, businesses and their leaders have work to do and choices to make as they test ideas and search for value through the smart application of these new technologies.

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How Machine Learning Will Transform Supply Chain Management

  • Narendra Agrawal,
  • Morris A. Cohen,
  • Rohan Deshpande,
  • Vinayak Deshpande

how to build a business case study

Businesses need better planning to make their supply chains more agile and resilient. After explaining the shortcomings of traditional planning systems, the authors describe their new approach, optimal machine learning (OML), which has proved effective in a range of industries. A central feature is its decision-support engine that can process a vast amount of historical and current supply-and-demand data, take into account a company’s priorities, and rapidly produce recommendations for ideal production quantities, shipping arrangements, and so on. The authors explain the underpinnings of OML and provide concrete examples of how two large companies implemented it and improved their supply chains’ performance.

It does a better job of using data and forecasts to make decisions.

Idea in Brief

The problem.

Flawed planning methods make it extremely difficult for companies to protect themselves against supply chain disruptions.

A new approach, called optimal machine learning (OML), can enable better decisions, without the mystery surrounding the planning recommendations produced by current machine-learning models.

The Elements

OML relies on a decision-support engine that connects input data directly to supply chain decisions and takes into account a firm’s performance priorities. Other features are a “digital twin” representation of the entire supply chain and a data storage system that integrates information throughout the supply chain and allows for quick data access and updating.

The Covid-19 pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, trade wars, and other events in recent years have disrupted supply chains and highlighted the critical need for businesses to improve planning in order to be more agile and resilient. Yet companies struggle with this challenge. One major cause is flawed forecasting, which results in delivery delays, inventory levels that are woefully out of sync with demand, and disappointing financial performance. Those consequences are hardly surprising. After all, how can inventory and production decisions be made effectively when demand forecasts are widely off?

  • Narendra Agrawal is the Benjamin and Mae Swig Professor of Information Systems and Analytics at Santa Clara University’s Leavey School of Business.
  • Morris A. Cohen is the Panasonic Professor Emeritus of Manufacturing & Logistics at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. He is also the founder of AD3 Analytics, a start-up that developed the OML methodology for supply chain management.
  • Rohan Deshpande is a machine learning scientist at Cerebras Systems and a former chief technology officer at AD3 Analytics.
  • Vinayak Deshpande is the Mann Family Distinguished Professor of Operations at the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School.

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Trump-loving truckers refusing to drive to nyc after his $355 million fraud ruling.

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Trump-supporting truckers are saying they are refusing to drive to New York City after the former president was slapped with a $355 million fine in his fraud case last week.

A conservative social media influencer and trucker who goes by Chicago Ray posted a video clip in which he claims that some of his colleagues are going to stop making deliveries to New York City to protest the ruling, issued in Manhattan Supreme court on Friday .

“I’ve been on the radio talking to drivers for about the past hour and I’ve talked to about ten drivers … and they’re going to start refusing loads to New York City starting on Monday,” Ray said in the video from inside his truck .

He said he’s already spoken to some drivers that work with him who told their boss they won’t go to The Big Apple.

Truckers have said they will refuse to make deliveries to New York City, according to one driver.

“I don’t know how far across the country this is or how many truckers are going to start denying loads going to New York City, but I’ll tell you what — you f–k around and find out,” Ray said.

The trucker said their bosses “ain’t gonna care if we deny the loads — we’ll just go somewhere else.”

“Do you know how f—king hard it is to get into New York City with one of these motherf—ckers?” he said, referring to his truck. “Man, f—k that. “

Ray claimed that 95% of truckers support the former president in the X post, which has been viewed more than 4.6 million times and received more than 50,000 likes since Friday night.

Donald Trump.

Some voiced their support for the boycott online.

“Do it! Let us know how we can help! You’re NOT alone in this fight!” one user wrote in response.

“We stand with the truckers,” wrote another.

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron ordered that Trump pay a $355 million fine for inflated his net worth by billions over a decade to receive favorable loans from banks. 

Chicago Ray said he spoke to a number of truck drivers who told their bosses they wouldn't be going to New York.

He’s additionally barred from serving as an officer or director of any company in New York for three years, the judge ruled.

Trump, like Chicago Ray, has blasted the case as “election interference” by his political opponents, and predicted other fall out for NYC, as he said at a rally Saturday that other businesses will leave the city after his ruling.

Share this article:

Truckers have said they will refuse to make deliveries to New York City, according to one driver.

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    6 QUALITIES OF GREAT CASE WRITERS. Curiosity. Comfort with ambiguity, since cases may have more than one "right" answer. Command of the topic or subject at hand. Ability to relate to the case protagonists. Enthusiasm for the case teaching method. Capacity for finding the drama in a business situation and making it feel personal to students.

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    Published: November 30, 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. Sure, you could say that you're great at X or that you're way ahead of the competition when it comes to Y.

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