How to Write a Case Study That Wins Clients

Here’s a quick case study on bad case studies:

Problem: No one reads them

Cause: Obfuscation through hypertechnical lexicon

Solution: You, reading this blog. Nice choice.

Client case studies can be one of your most powerful marketing tools if they're a great read. However, too often, case studies end up sounding like dry internal reports. They check all the boxes but forget the one thing that matters: 

Making the reader want to work with you.

Here’s how to write case studies that don’t just inform, they convert:

1. Start with the problem, not the company bio

Your reader is skimming. If the first paragraph is a detailed company background, you’ve already lost them. Start where it hurts: The challenge your client was facing.

Try this instead:

“Client X needed to reduce manufacturing delays by 30% without adding headcount. They’d tried six solutions. None of them stuck.”

2. Tell a story, not a timeline

You’re not just reporting what happened. You’re showing how your team thinks, adapts, and solves. Storytelling makes your work relatable and easier to remember.

Focus on:

• The stakes: Why it mattered

• The decision points: Why you chose the path you did

• The outcome: What improved and why it mattered

3. Get specific about results

“Improved efficiency” is vague. “Cut QA time by 42%” is persuasive. Even better if you can pair that stat with a quote or visual that reinforces it.

Pro tip: Include before/after comparisons or charts. Readers trust data they can see.

4. Highlight your thinking, not just your tools

Clients don’t hire you for software. They hire you for insight. A strong case study shows how your team approached the challenge, not just what platform you used to solve it.

Example:

“We used [Tool X], but what really moved the needle was adjusting the internal QA schedule to reduce bottlenecks across teams.”

5. Include a quote that actually says something

A generic “They were great to work with” won’t move the needle. The best client quotes show emotional relief, strategic clarity, or measurable improvement.

Great quotes sound like: “I used to spend two hours a day just chasing updates. Now I don’t even think about it, and our error rate dropped 50%.”

6. Use formatting that invites the skim

Most readers won’t read every word. Use headers, bullets, bolding, and spacing to guide their attention where you want it to go.

Try a structure we always recommend:

• Client: Who are they

• Challenge: What they were dealing with

• Solution: What you did and why

• Results: What changed

• Quote: From the client

• CTA: Work with us

7. End with momentum

Don’t trail off. Close with a short, confident CTA that invites the reader to imagine their version of this success story.

Want help turning your wins into case studies? At Borrowed Pen, we write case studies that speak your clients’ language. Whether you’ve got the data or just a client name and a great result, we’ll help you turn it into a story worth sharing. Let’s talk case studies.