The case method began to be used in education relatively recently, but it is rapidly gaining popularity and demonstrates high efficiency.
The main difference between this method and traditional teaching methods is that the case does not have an unambiguously correct solution. Each student can offer the most optimal, in his opinion, way out of the proposed situation. In the case method, the emphasis is not on the result, but on finding solutions and discussing them.
Many students, faced with cases for the first time, do not know how to approach a task that is different from traditional and familiar tasks. We will understand what cases are, how to solve them and arrange them. But first, a little history.
Definition and history
case - from Latin case a problem or situation that needs to be addressed.
The solution of the case is not in the textbooks, it should be looked for only in your own head. Theory and practice, as you know, go side by side, but at the same time stand on different shores. Even if you take all the textbooks in the world, they do not contain descriptions of situations that happen in real life.
That's what the wise professors thought about Harvard university V 1924 year. It was simply impossible to train specialists in modern specialties using existing textbooks.
Then the university organized seminars where entrepreneurs and businessmen told students about the real problems that their companies faced. The students had to offer their own solution, which each chose individually.
This method of training quickly brought results. Thanks to case studies, graduates gained practical experience while still at the university and were well prepared to solve non-standard tasks.
If all over the world cases have become popular already in 50 -X years 20 century, then into the education system Russia this method came only after the millennium. Now case tasks are actively used in education, and it is simply irresponsible to underestimate their usefulness.
What goals does the consideration of case situations help to achieve in the framework of the educational process?
- Development of intellectual abilities;
- the ability to defend one's position with reason;
- resistance to stress;
- development of communication skills and the ability to work in a team.
Cases exist in almost all areas of knowledge. After all, problem situations arise and can be modeled in every profession: medicine, law, pedagogy, psychology, business analytics.
By the way! For our readers there is now a 10% discount on any kind of work
Cases in business
Case studies are actively used not only in education, but also in business. To attract new customers, a company can write a case based on a specific situation.
Example: A company is engaged in the demolition of buildings. In the case posted on the site, the task of demolishing an old power plant in the city of Tolochin is considered. A potential customer, having familiarized himself with the case, immediately sees how the work is going on, what equipment is used, how real practical problems are solved. In other words, this is a visual demonstration of the service in action.
Thus, the case is a powerful tool for promoting services and products. 
Another popular use of case studies is to use them in interviews. Instead of studying resumes, applicants are offered to go through a case interview and offer solutions to several situations, after which it immediately becomes clear whether the candidate is suitable for the position.
Here is an example of an interview case.
Situation: poetess Marina Tsvetaeva was left without work. She can translate from French and German, has a musical and philological education. You are her agent. What are your steps to successfully help Marina find a job? When solving the situation, you can use data from the biography of the poetess.
As you can see, such a task really does not have an unambiguous solution, but the ways to solve it will allow us to judge such qualities as the ability to negotiate and argue competently.
How to write and submit a case
Many people ask themselves the question: how to draw up a case? A case is a non-standard task, so you don’t have to adhere to strict rules when designing it. In other words, the design of a case is not such a serious task as the design of a term paper or diploma.
What should the case contain:
- Title. It is important that the heading reflects the essence of the case and gives an idea in advance about the situation that will be considered further.
- Description of the situation. It's like the "given" section in physics problems. To make the information easier to perceive, the situation can be broken down into points.
- Searching of decisions. Detailed description, analysis of ways to solve the case and choice the best option way out of the situation. Here you need to consider all possible options with an indication of the expected consequences.
- Description of the result. This paragraph describes the result of the action to resolve the problem. What happened, what happened and why.
It is recommended to choose a comfortable and easy to read font. In the design of the case, the use of illustrative materials is welcome: graphs, diagrams, videos, tables. Often cases are designed in the form of presentations.
Any experience is given by a difficult trial and error. Now you can avoid this by contacting our authors to complete the case. We will not only solve the tasks, but also help you draw up a document or a case presentation, which will only have to be submitted to the teacher for verification. Learn easily and get new experience with Zaochnik!
Case is there. The case is here... And the inexperienced minds that just came to freelancing sit and think - what is it? Everyone does, maybe me? Just to understand what it is first...
What is a case and why write it?
Case is a detailed description of the work on the project. Such a report in free form, which is written with the aim of:
A) show that you can do what you do;
B) show successful (or unsuccessful, this is also practiced) projects on which he worked;
C) brag about inventing a new feature or a new approach to work and show how it works;
The fact is that the services of a freelancer are most often impossible to “feel”. Well, the designer can show the drawn logo in his portfolio, the developer can take screenshots or give links to the sites he has made. Here it is, proof of their skill, their work is visible (and then, try to prove that it is not stolen).
But what about, for example, a specialist in website promotion, a marketer, an agency that sets up contextual advertising? And not only that - cases can be written by everyone who provides certain services. Even the repair companies.
A detailed description of the job, with photos, and even a video, is strong social proof, confirmation that you really know how to do what you are talking about.
Where to place?
Yes, anywhere. But usually cases are published:
On your website in the Portfolio section. This is just for those who, except in this way, cannot show their work. I would generally recommend writing small cases to everyone. Even designers. Do not show naked pictures, but describe how you worked on the project. It will be more interesting.
On your site's blog. This is often practiced by various Internet agencies. Articles - articles - case. For a change, and to show that someone really orders something from them.
On other sites for the purpose of self-promotion. Usually these are large profile publications. For example, marketers of all stripes are trying to cram their cases into Cossa. Sometimes interesting. Sometimes not so much. But another plus is that you can hear comments on the case from colleagues.
Can the same case be placed in two places at once?
Well, try it. But it is unlikely that the magazine will accept a publication from you that is already somewhere on the Internet. But upload it to the site and duplicate it on social networks - you are always welcome.
It's clear. Now to the point - how?
Not all case studies are written the same way. A lot of those that I read are frankly weak. Sometimes it's funny to read, especially from a novice who is clearly floating in the topic. I wanted to brag, but something went wrong ... Everyone either does the same, or he himself made a mistake and presents it as a feature ...
It is very difficult to write cases for those who are not naturally endowed with writing talent. When a person cannot express his thoughts and actions evenly and consistently, then it is not a case that turns out, but something horrible.
Nobody is interested in photos of the end result if you don't know how it all started and how it was done. Nude photos are useless without context. And your potential clients, to be honest, do not care what you ended up doing there for someone ... They need to see your approach. This is what you need to try to convey in your case: exactly how you work.
You should aim to show the 3 stages of your approach:
1. How do you define a problem
Usually a client comes to you with a problem that needs to be solved in the best possible way. But sometimes the task you're given doesn't solve the real problem. And your job is to identify that very problem, right? Explain how you handled the initial request to find out what problems the client is trying to solve. This may include client questionnaires or interviews, and possibly face-to-face meetings. An explanation of your troubleshooting process shows your experience and interest in the companies you work with.
2. How did you understand the problem
How does the problem affect the business? Will it kill the company or is it just an additional headache? How important is this to the company, and what have they already tried? By showing that you understand problems in a business context, you convince potential customers that you are responsive to their needs, rather than offering the same service to everyone.
3. How did you solve the problem
What are the business goals and how are you going to achieve them? What happens if it succeeds, and what happens if nothing works out? How did you agree with the client? That's the whole point of your work, so try to quantify what you've done for the business. Do not forget to include customer reviews in the case - whether they are satisfied with the result of working with you.
What to quantify in your case:
- How much time has passed
- How much does it cost
- What were the results
These three points should be clearly spelled out. For example: "Revenue increased by 20%" or "Conversion increased from 1% to 6%."
So how do you start writing? Before writing a case, you must know exactly what service you are going to advertise. If you have a track record of working in a particular industry or providing a particular service, that's fine. If you're looking to jump into a new industry or test new services, it's a good idea to get a few projects done for less than your typical fee. This is done only in order to write a case and replenish the portfolio.
You must study the specific cases for each type of service you offer and in any type of industry you are in. For a developer, this can be creating an application from scratch (from idea to execution) or reorganizing existing application(execution of tests and their transfer).
Case studies should also describe the problems you are facing. Don't rule out the negative aspects of the project, even if you didn't manage them! Everyone has difficulties, and if you have not had problems, then this is suspicious.
A case with a description of a negative experience is also a case. And this is often practiced by publishing "as a warning to others."
Have you written case studies yet?
When I was in my fourth year, we were told how to write cases, and we were asked to do a case-study at home. To be honest, I did not understand then what they wanted from me. In-depth interview - everything is clear: you need to find a few people and talk to them. A survey is the same: you distribute questionnaires, wait for them to be filled out, and then process the data. Even ethnographic research seemed complicated, but more or less transparent. A case study - what is it? What information do you need to find and what to do with it?
I failed the assignment and received a negative assessment. But my classmate did a great job. He took the story of one event, painted it inside and out, found photos, videos, other people's interviews, articles on the topic on the Internet, and put it all together.
My article will be useful for entrepreneurs who want to find new clients, as well as for copywriters who want to master new format. So, let's improve our skills and income?
What is a case: a brief excursion
As you already understood, cases are descriptions specific cases in a logical sequence. They are needed to educate people on real examples. It all started in the 1920s, when professors at Harvard Business School realized that dry theory was not enough for students and decided to add curriculum some life stories. In the future, the case method went into the academic environment and is now used in many areas, from accounting to psychology. Also in the hands of entrepreneurs, it has become a tool to attract an audience and make a profit.
In other words, today cases are required by everyone and everyone. Whatever you work - the ability to write them will come in handy. Especially if you work in the field of Internet marketing.
Cases are not just made up. They are needed to:
- show a successful project;
- highlight your strengths and weaknesses;
- optimize the workflow;
- make a name for yourself.
Do not think that cases are written only for selfish purposes. They show the real experience of one person or team, which can potentially help other people solve similar problems. This is very useful and desired view content, for which, in fact, they love it.
The secret of the popularity of cases is obvious. An excerpt from real life is always more interesting than a hundred times chewed information. Think for yourself, what would you open first of all: the on-duty rules for promotion in social networks or a text with the heading “How I got promoted on Instagram in 2 months and started earning from 20,000 on advertising”? That's the same.
Can I create a case from scratch?
I'd be lying if I said writing a case is easy. In fact, this is a job for a man-orchestra. It is necessary not only to write the material well, but also to present it competently. You must become not just an author, but also a designer, creative, analyst, storyteller, a bit of a humorist and, most importantly, an expert in the topic you write about.
In large companies, cases are developed by a whole team. One sits over the text, the other edits, the third selects the illustrations, the fourth typesets, the fifth brings coffee to everyone else. But there are also specialists who combine these skills. If you dream of creating completely original content or you simply don’t have the money to hire a staff of assistants, it’s really possible to learn everything.
Preparing to write a case
Before sorting out a case, collect all the information about it. Those who make a custom case need to interview the client and take from him materials that may be useful. For those who make a case for themselves, it is advisable to keep a chronicle of the event that will be described, and at the end, simply arrange it in an article.
Dutch professor Jamie Anderson from TiasNimbas Business School argues that writing a case should be led by a top manager of the company. This means that the customer can and should control the process. Do not hesitate to pester your client with questions and involve him in every possible way. In the end, you both work for the result.
3 fatal mistakes when writing a case
Inexperienced authors sometimes miscalculate. Most often this happens because they do not understand the essence of the work and do not know why to do it. Let's list the most common mistakes and never make them again.
Doubtful newsbreak
"God from the Machine"
Cases should demonstrate how youon one's owndeal with difficulties. If you originally had a wealthy patron who hired the staff and bought the ad, what would you be telling readers about? Is it about how to find a sponsor and captivate him with your idea - but this is a topic for a separate story.
Missing target audience
Do you work remotely, sit for 6 hours a day at the computer and earn 40 thousand? You will not surprise experienced colleagues with this. Have you signed a multi-million dollar contract with an Apple official? For twenty-year-old state students, this is, of course, very important information.
Think carefully about who you are addressing your message to. One wrong step - and your case will collect only 10 readers instead of 10,000. If you want to write on the first topic, contact not freelance luminaries, but newcomers who dream of outsourcing, but do not believe that you can get real money there. Take the second one - focus on top businessmen, and not on the middle and lower class. Feel your target audience.
Size doesn't matter
There are case studies that make up a full third of the dissertation, and there are notes that will take no more than 10 minutes to read. Conventionally, they can all be divided into:
- mini-cases (1-2 pages);
- condensed narratives (3–5 pages);
- full cases (from 20 pages and above)
It doesn't matter how much you write. Talk as much as you need to. Leaving out important facts for fear that your text will not be read is just as bad as inflating the number of characters for solidity. If you want to enlarge the text, do it at the expense of useful information. You feel that it would not hurt to reduce it - remove sentences and verbal constructions that do not carry a semantic load.
What will make you read your case to the end
The case is written in easy language. The reader should fly along it like a slippery hill (hello, Sugarman!), Forgetting about time. This is easy to achieve: clean out the verbal garbage and do not talk like a clerical rat.
There are many good cases with no frills, written in a clean info style. They are pleasant to read, you do not stumble over them and do not feel Finnish shame for the author. But if you want to become a real pro, this is not enough. A case becomes really beautiful when it is presented not as a neutral narrative, but as a compelling story. To captivate the public and become the author that customers will fight for, master storytelling .
How to do this is a topic for a separate article. For now, just know that if you work in this field, you will leave your competitors far behind.
Tell me about your disaster
When we sit down to write a case, the first thing we dance from is its general line. Traditionally, cases are divided into two types: a success story and the so-called fuck up - a serious defeat, a bummer, a failure. With the first one, everything is clear: we talk about how we got a cool result by doing this and that. Let's take a closer look at the second one.
If you've ever worked in sales, you know that it's not easy for customers to fool their brains. They no longer believe in fairy tales about superhuman businessmen, 100% positive reviews and flexible discount systems. They want facts, and preferably without embellishment. A case about your fail is a great chance to demonstrate that you can be wrong too, but at the same time you have the courage and conscientiousness to admit it.
To achieve the desired effect, the fak-up should have:
- a chronology of events that led you to failure;
- reasons why you did not get the desired result;
- a short guide of what you are going to do to fix the bugs;
- a few tips for readers that will insure them against such defeats
Sometimes fuck-ups hit the audience better than success stories. Only when you start writing for one client or for yourself, do not get carried away with them. If a business has one failure after another, then something is wrong with it. Try to have 10 success stories for every woeful confession.
What the case consists of: 5 main elements
Now that you understand what can and cannot be done in cases, let's talk about their structure. Let's start right away withheader.
A case is such a wonderful thing that you don’t need to come up with a complicated name for it. Just remember this pattern:
Don't forget about the teaser details as well. Use numbers (“How I launched a humorous public VKontakte and collected 10,000 subscribers in a week”), talk about material benefits (“How I went freelancing and began to earn 3 times more than in the office”), play with paradoxes (“ How I Destroyed My Business and Became a Millionaire. A little touch of "selling" doesn't hurt.
Introduction
The next important part of the case isleador the first paragraph. Remember that people will never waste time on text from the Internet if it does not generate interest from the very first seconds. Let's not blame them for this innocent feature - we'd better think about how to turn it to our advantage.
There are three ways to make readers fall in love with your case at first sight:
- immediately give them food for thought;
- play on emotions;
- start with a story that is impossible to tear yourself away from.
The case itself
That's all, you hooked a person by the heart. Now you can go tomain part. You don't have to demonstrate brilliant marketing skills here. Write the "body" of the text like a regular longread, but don't forget to mention the following elements:
- the task you have set for yourself;
- the steps you have taken to deal with it;
- problems that arose along the way;
- ways to solve them;
- result.
Conclusion
When the main part is ready, you can proceed toconclusion. What did you understand for yourself after what happened? How has the situation helped you become stronger/smarter/richer? What should readers learn from the above? Answer these three questions - and powerful conclusions are ready.
Call to action
The very last line, which in no case should be forgotten -call to action. We are being cunning if we pretend that we are writing a case only for the love of art. Our ultimate goal is to sell a product or to once again light up in front of the public. And this means that at the end of an exciting story, you should gently push the reader to the desired action. Like, repost, order a service - anything, depending on your intentions.
How to get the trust of a potential client? Everything starts on your initiative. First, you show that the product or service really has the promised properties, and then the person decides whether to open the wallet.
Of course, we can say that you are increasing sales very dramatically, and in terms of energy savings or the use of environmentally friendly materials, you have generally outstripped your competitors by a couple of light years. But these are just words. What you really need to win new customers is unequivocal, irrefutable proof.
One of better ways prove your advantage - make a convincing case, which clearly shows how your product or service helped the client. So how do you gather information for your potential buyers that they can trust? will help you step by step guide how to write a business case.
Instructions for creating a case
Step 1. Choose what to focus on
To give your sales reps a really valuable case, you need to choose a "candidate" - a situation that shows your business in the best possible light.
For example:
● Product knowledge. The more consumers know about your product, the better. Sales managers should be able to talk about the properties of the product that are valuable to the future buyer, and a detailed case will equip them with practical examples.
● Decent result. The strongest cases are from companies that have achieved impressive results. If your product or service really helped someone solve a problem or increase profits, then the potential customer will quickly become infected with the desire to contact you.
● Unexpected success. Cases that stand out from the big picture will help rid potential customers of any doubts. For example, when a positive result came faster or the effect was better than expected. Here, for example, is an interesting case study on the use of retargeting.
● Recognizable name. Big brands will help increase your credibility. How they do it, for example, the names of Optimism.ru clients in the descriptions of our services -.
● Customers coming from a competitor. The stories of the customers who ended up choosing you will highlight your competitive advantage and help others make the right decision to contact you.
Step 2. Get case participants
To present the experience of your company in the form of an attractive case, invite a satisfied client to work. Formulate your expectations from the case and agree on a work schedule in advance.
The main reason why the process of creating a case is usually delayed is that the client does not have a clear schedule or rights to access the necessary data (for example, a marketer does not have access to Google Analytics). Therefore, before you dive into the development of a case, make it a solid foundation.
To avoid delays, carefully ask the management of the client company if they want to reveal the results of working with you to the world. Then you can write an e-mail to someone who was directly involved in the project. Like that:
"Hello!
We are pleased to know that your management is interested in having you featured in our client's success story. I am the manager of this case, Vasily Ivanov. Attached to this letter you will find two important documents. Please review them and we can get started. The first document, key data for the case, please sign and send to us before we start collecting information for the case. This will be confirmation of participation.
The second document, the success story letter, is an outline of the process for creating the case.
Usually a case is prepared within 1-2 weeks, depending on how quickly we collect and process information.
When I receive your confirmation, I will send you an online questionnaire to help us create a unique case. Could you complete it by March 7th?
I'm excited to get started and learn more about your progress. You can contact me for any questions.
Sincerely, Vasily.
What is a “case release” and “success story letter”?
Let's start with the case release.
It includes:
● a clear explanation of why you are creating a case and how you will use it;
● information that you are going to include in the case - names, logos, numbers, positions, photographs, etc.;
● your intentions regarding the participation of the client in the work with the case, in addition to actually filling it out (is your client ready to link to the case on your site or share feedback with you; can you distribute your client's contact information in his interests?);
● information about remuneration. The content of this document may vary depending on the size of your business, industry, and what you intend to do with the completed case.
Success Story Letter
This is the outline of the whole process. It should briefly explain how the client will benefit from participation in the development of the case, and describe all the main stages.
● Acceptance. First, you need to get internal approval from the company's marketing team. They should then send you a signed release. At this stage, you need to determine a time schedule that will meet the needs and capabilities of both teams - yours and the client.
● Poll. To get a productive interview for an interesting business case, invite a client to participate in a telephone survey. This will give your team a foundation for the main interview from which you can get as much information as possible.
● Interview. After completing the survey sheet, you contact the client to schedule an interview. It can last half an hour, an hour or more. The purpose of the interview is to get answers to questions about the customer's experience with your product or service.
● Draft check. When the case is formed, a draft is sent to the client so that he can give feedback and make edits.
● final approval. After making all the necessary edits, the client checks the final version of the case and finally approves it.
When this plan begins to be implemented, it is best to follow it together with the client. Send him a link to the page in Google.Docs, where the draft case lives. It will be great if the client connects to the task.
Step 3. Ask the right questions
During the telephone survey and the main interview, you need to ask not just questions, but the _right_ questions.
To get started, you can ask by phone:
● What are your goals?
● What challenges did you face prior to purchasing our product?
● What makes our product different from the competition?
● How did your company decide to work with us?
● How did you succeed with our product or service (preferably with specific numbers if possible)?
Remember that the questionnaire is designed so that you can ask strong, success-oriented questions during the main interview.
The golden rule of an interview is to ask open-ended questions.
If you want to write a compelling story, yes and no answers will get you nowhere. Ask in such a way that the answers are broad, and you can supplement them with clarifying questions. The easiest start for a question is "Describe, please..." or "Tell me about...".
In order for the interview to give you all the information you need for a rich, comprehensive case (and not stretch for hours), try to keep it according to plan.
Structure of the interview:
1. Your client's business. The purpose of this section is to understand the company's current goals and challenges and where it fits in its industry.
Sample questions:
How long have you been in this business? How many employees do you have? What are your current goals?
2. Need for a solution. To write a compelling story, you need context. It will help you understand how the needs of the client and your solution are combined.
Sample questions:
What problems and goals led you to find a solution? What would happen if you didn't find a solution? Have you used other solutions that didn't work? If yes, what happened?
3. Decision making process. Find out how the client came to the decision to work with you, and this will help you understand how this process works for potential customers.
Sample questions:
How did you hear about our product or service? Who participated in the selection? What was the most important thing for you when evaluating the options?
4. Implementation. Focus on how the customer got started with your product.
Sample questions:
How long did it take you to get started? Were your expectations justified? Who was involved in the implementation process?
5. Solution in action. The purpose of this section is to better understand how a customer uses your product or service.
Sample questions:
Is there an aspect of our product or service that you rely on the most? Who exactly is using the product or service?
6. Results. At this stage, you need to find out what the impressive (and necessarily measurable!) result is. How more numbers, all the better.
Sample questions:
How does our product or service help you save time and increase productivity? How does our product enhance your competitive advantage? How much have parameters A, B, C improved?
Step 4. Present the case in an attractive way
It's time to take all the information received about how the client responds to your service and turn it into something - write a business case concise in form and capacious in content.
Where to begin? What to include in the case, and what can be omitted? How to structure a case?
1. Title. Make it short. Emphasize the most compelling advantage.
2. Resume. Start with the main thing - 2-4 sentences about the results of the work. It is good to supplement the resume with 2-3 indicators that demonstrate success (you can issue them with bullets).
3. About the company. Introduce your client's audience - a company or a person. Brief information can be taken from the company's website or from a profile on social networks.
4. Challenges. 2-3 paragraphs about the problems and challenges that the client faced before he began to use your product or service, as well as about the goals that the company set for itself.
5. How did your solution help the client. 2-3 paragraphs describing how your products or services solved the problem.
6. Client results. 2-3 paragraphs that prove that your product has had a significant impact on the company or person and helped achieve their goals. Add numbers to make your contribution to success measurable.
7. Additional illustrations, quotes. Choose one or two strong quotes to include in the conclusion. Photos of satisfied customers or infographics are also great additions to your story.
When you design your case, remember that the collected information must be conveyed in the most clear and concise way. The case should be easy to read and understand. Most importantly, don't forget to include a call to action at the end so that your audience has a chance to learn more about your products or services.
P.S. Text adapted from How to Create a Compelling Business Case Study: The Ultimate Guide & Template.
P.P.S. Some more useful information on the topic in our blog.
Cases are the most selling content. Customers who are almost ready to buy are interested in cases, readers who don’t even think about becoming customers share fascinating cases, competitors follow cases, cases are always interesting.
I often see difficulties in writing case studies, so in this article I decided to talk about the principles that I myself adhere to.
Why write case studies
With cases, you can:
- demonstrate your approach to work;
- give examples of niches in which you successfully work;
- show the results obtained on their projects;
- Explain with examples what you can do.
What to do, there is nothing to write a case
Many people think that they do not have cases. I am sure that when work becomes a chore, people simply do not notice that they have done something cool. If there were no brilliant results on the project, you can always describe the process or talk about some cool thing that you implemented.
Do not invent anything supernatural
While working at LeadMachine, I made case studies in the form of presentations that were tied to a fascinating story and a vivid metaphor. You can see: example 1 and example 2 on slideshare, but only works under VPN.
And it was cool, I still like those works. But now I realized that this is not so much needed. That is, you can come up with something cool and interesting, and it will be great, but if there is not enough time or skills for such things, you can simply clearly and transparently talk about your work.
For a case, it is enough to describe it according to a simple universal structure:
client → client problem / task → your work to solve the problem → result
And that's it. I assure you, this is enough to write a good case. But let's go over the best way to tell these points.
In the beginning, tell about the client and his problem
A couple of words are usually enough about the client - what kind of company, what it does, and sometimes - how they got to such a life that they had a problem that you had to solve.
And here with a problem/task it is more interesting. It is important to describe it in such a way that the reader understands that there was nowhere to endure.
First a life example, then a business one.
Let's say you have a weak elastic band on your socks. If you report it, it won't hurt anyone. If you tell me that you were wearing socks with a weak elastic band when you went on a first date with a girl from Tinder (and she turned out to be more beautiful than in the photo !!!), and you walked for an hour, and felt how the sock slipped and crumpled somewhere in the middle of the foot, and if you correct him, this scoundrel will slide down again in five minutes, and you will be embarrassed in front of a girl to adjust your socks all the time and you didn’t want to look like an idiot, so you spent a good hour in this state , the reader will feel your pain.
And now an example from email marketing Soldiers. In one case, we told how we set up reporting in Power Bi for the guys from banki.ru and deliberately described the problem in detail. Prior to our work, the managers of Banki.ru collected reports manually and in the form of Excel, it was dreary and incomprehensible. And when the reports appeared in Power Bi, you no longer had to upload and fill in anything by hand, and the reporting became understandable and beautiful.
So, in this case, I deliberately described the problem in great detail so that the reader understands that this process was really a pain in the ass:
And then they also showed an excel with a report:
Such a description of the problem helps to feel it well.
Then outline the process of work sequentially,
And then we talk about our work. It would seem that it’s easy to outline a chain of steps: we did the first, second, third - what could be simpler? But from a normal whole case, some random dismemberment is often made.
Therefore, just consistently describe your work step by step. If you can group steps, group them. For example, if you implemented an abandoned cart email, a welcome chain, and a chain of emails with a discount increase for a client, you can tell about them all in the “trigger mailings” block.
... in simple words,
Remember that you are writing a case for clients. Clients give you their money because they do not have your competencies. So tell plain language, no need for a lot of technical details:
…putting the reader into context
Sometimes in cases they forget about the reader and describe what happened as if all this time he was sitting with the narrator in the office at the next table. But no, I didn't sit. Therefore, tell the story in the light of the fact that the reader is not aware of your affairs. An example from a draft case (the very beginning of the case, there were no explanations before):
“In the constructor, you need to select one of the loan purposes, indicate the desired amount, loan term, the amount of the down payment and the monthly payment. Once you enter your passport details, you will be provided with your personal credit score…”
When it comes to passport data, the reader is like, “What? Passport details? You return to the previous sentence, you understand that there really was nothing about passport data, and you don’t understand where they came from. In this case, it was necessary to explain in more detail how the constructor works:
“In the constructor, the user fills in the data and receives loan offers. To do this, you need to indicate the purpose of the loan, the desired amount, the term of the loan, the amount of the down payment and the monthly payment. After filling in all the fields, the constructor displays a list of offers.
... and in a way that is easy to read.
Everyone knows that people don't read on the Internet. Remember that story when the software company hid $1,000 in a usage agreement? Only after 3,000 purchases did a guy show up who read the terms, found that thousand dollars, and came for the money. If you think that your case studies are being read much more carefully, you are flattering yourself. Not much. It's just that they are shorter and better laid out (not always), so it would be easier to find a thousand dollars.
If you want the client to read the case and understand what the essence of the project was, try to state the whole point in the subheadings. For example, this is how we implemented it in the Email Soldiers case:
Show result
A case is always a “before/before” story. In fact, any story is about “it was / became”: a sleeping beauty wakes up, a decent military man becomes the head of the underworld, a ghost wandering around the castle finds peace. If nothing has changed, then why say anything at all? If your work didn't affect anything, why did you do it?
However, there are options for how the result will look.
Result in numbers
The most impressive and curious result is in terms of money: thanks to our work, the client earns 2 million rubles more per month. But a) it is almost always an exaggeration and craftiness; b) it is almost never possible to publish such information because clients are not ready to disclose it.
The way out is to show a relative result: the number of transactions increased by 140%, profit doubled, etc.
In fact, it is worth critically evaluating all these results. Because if the company did not do content marketing, and then the agency came and did it, then it is clear to the fool that traffic will grow. But if you already did content marketing, and then came up with the idea of doing it even better, and the growth was small, but persistent, that's cool. And your case will not impress anyone, because the result is not expressed in large numbers.
The result in gaining new experience, overcoming difficulties
If the result cannot be expressed in numbers, then the case can be made bright by dwelling in detail on the difficulties overcome in the work. My colleagues and I call such cases process cases. For example, on the Email Soldiers blog, I published an article about the pains in which the presentation of the agency was born. There were no figures, but the case is interesting due to the story itself. At the end of the conclusion. Conclusions are a sign that we have realized something, learned something in the process of work, and this is our “was / has become”.
It is normal if there is no six-figure result in the case. Not normal - if at all it is not clear what you have achieved.
I call such cases process cases. The main thing that is important in them is to show the difficulties that you encountered and overcoming them. The story should feel the struggle, then it will be exciting, the case will be remembered, and you will look like professionals.
You can also add a customer review at the end of the case. It adds credibility, and the joy of the client is also an important result.
You don't need many results.
When the work is done well, you want to show it in all its glory and everything seems important. Then they begin to suffer from featureism - to talk about what is important for the project participants, and not important for the reader / client.
For example, you can explain how the compression mechanism works on your servers, but only specialists will understand you. If you say that the site page will load in half a second, it will be appreciated. Even better is to say that it will happen faster than the light bulb turns on after the switch is flipped.
Here is an example from the case of one agency. Guys, nothing personal, I just got you:
People are too lazy to delve into it. With rare exceptions, like the guy who got $1,000 for reading trems and conditions.
Do not do it this way. Focus on 1-3 important figures / achievements, then the result will be remembered better, and the case will be clearer: you did this and that, you got this result, simply and transparently. Save the list of all achievements for reporting to the client to sparkle with armor.
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