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Case study request email templates
Learn to effectively use case studies as a B2B marketing tool with email templates and interview questions from LiveAgent. These resources help generate leads, build credibility, and showcase product value through client success stories.
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Case studies are a critical part of most B2B marketing strategies. They give you a chance to show your potential customers real-life examples of how your product was able to satisfy other customer’s needs, solve their problems, and ultimately help them achieve their business goals. Case studies go a long way in earning your prospects’ trust and validating that your product or service actually works. The following article outlines why case studies are an essential content marketing tool and provides helpful case study request email templates along with the basic case study interview questions to help you acquire case studies and success stories from your customers. With these resources and using case study templates , you can craft the perfect case study examples to get the most out of the customers’ experience.
Why use case studies in your marketing strategy?
- 13% of marketers name case studies as one of the primary forms of media used within their content strategy – this makes them the fifth most popular type of content, outshined only by visual content, blogs, and ebooks. ( HubSpot’s State of Marketing Report )
- Client case studies are the most popular self-promotional tactics used by marketing agency executives: 62.6% of respondents voted in favor of them being effective in generating leads. (eMarketer study)
- Case studies/ success stories rank as the third most influential content marketing type in the purchase process for both small businesses and large enterprises. ( B2B Technology Content Survey Report by Eccolo Media).
- 73% of consumers say case studies play an important role in their decision-making process. ( Content Preferences Survey Report )
Client case study request email templates
The formal case study request email.
[Company name] is currently building a library of case studies to include on our website. We’re looking for successful companies using [Product name] to solve interesting challenges, and your team immediately came to mind. Are you open to [Customer company name] being featured?
Your story will help inform our prospects about how they can benefit from using our product. I’d be happy to provide more details if you are potentially interested.
Either way, thank you for considering my request and thank you for being a loyal [COMPANY] customer.
Regards, [YOUR SIGNATURE]
The casual case study request email
Subject line: Can I feature you as a case study?
The subject line pretty much says everything, but I’d like to ask again. Can I feature you as a case study? I think our project had a lot of highlights, and I’m eager to get the word out about our great work together.
Specifically, I plan to dig into these main aspects:
[Aspect 1] [Aspect 2] [Aspect 3]
If being featured is OK with you, can we have a quick call on [date/ time] to discuss it in more detail? Or if that doesn’t work, I’m free on [date].
I look forward to chatting with you!
Cheers, [YOUR SIGNATURE]
Case study request email following a positive customer experience
I’m really glad to hear you had [positive experience with your company], and I was wondering whether you’d be interested in being featured as one of our customer success stories. I manage our case study initiatives and have the opportunity to showcase all the great stories from customers like you.
It should be a lightweight process – I will ask you roughly 10 – 15 questions via email or phone about your experience and results. This case study will include a blurb about your company and a link to your homepage (which hopefully will make your SEO team happy!)
Here’s an example of how it usually looks like: link to a case study example
If this is something you would be interested in, please let me know by responding to this email, or giving me a call at [number] to discuss it in more detail.
Best, [YOUR SIGNATURE]
Case study request email following a customer’s feedback
Thank you for the fantastic feedback – I’m thrilled to hear [Product name] is working well for you and that [Customer company name] is getting the results you’ve been looking for.
My team is actually in the process of building out our library of case studies, and I’d love to include your story. Happy to provide more details if you’re potentially interested.
In any case, thank you again, and I look forward to getting more updates on your progress.
Case study request email after reaching a milestone
I wanted to reach out to thank you for being a loyal [Company] customer for over [number] years now. I noticed you achieved your goal of [milestone] last month, and I wanted to congratulate you on your success!
I’d love to share your story using [Product name] with the world – I think it’s a great example of how our product + a dedicated team and a good strategy can achieve awesome results.
Are you open to being featured in a case study? If so, I’ll send along more details.
End-of-year case study request email
Happy Holidays!
As this year winds down, I wanted to say thank you for being a loyal [Company] customer and for your partnership using [Product/ Service] this year. You’ve achieved fantastic results in the time we’ve been working together, so I wanted to reach out to see if you’d be interested in being featured in a case study on our website.
Here’s how it would look like: link to a case study example
Either way, thank you once again for the chance to work with you, and I hope you have a warm and happy holiday season with your family and friends.
I’m looking forward to chatting soon in the new year!
Follow-up email after a customer has agreed to be featured in a case study
We’re thrilled to hear you’re interested in sharing your success story with [Product name]. My name is [Name], and I’ll be working directly with you on this case study.
I’ve attached an important document to this email that outlines the whole process, which includes [details of your case study process]. Typically, a case study will take about a week t complete from start-to-finish depending on availability and turnaround time of any revisions, and your involvement will require about 1 hour of your time.
Again, I’m excited to start the process with your team and learn more about your success with [Product name]!
In the meantime, please don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions. Happy to be a resource.
Business case study interview questions to ask your customers
To write a compelling case study/ success story filled with in-depth insights and data on how your product or service adds value – you need to be asking thoughtful questions – while also respecting the fact that your customers may not be able to spare much time to answer them. Here are some of the most common case study interview questions that you can use when conducting your own customer case study interviews.
Case study interview questions about their environment before purchasing your product
- What were you using before our product?
- What were the three major points of frustration you faced?
- What other challenges were you experiencing prior to using our product?
- What was the big “Aha!” moment when you decided you needed to try something new?
- How did you first hear about our product?
Case study interview questions about their decision-making process
- Which other products did you look at before deciding on using ours?
- What were you looking for in a solution?
- What made our solution stand out over others that you researched?
- What were the top reasons you selected our product?
- What feature of our product was most appealing?
Case study interview questions about their experience using your product
- How easy or hard was it to get started with our product?
- How long have you been using our product?
- How has our product helped you overcome the challenges you had before?
- What is your favorite feature or part of our product? Why?
- Can you tell me about the most positive experience you’ve had using our product?
Case study interview questions about their results with your product
- What results have you seen with our solution so far?
- Can you share any metrics/ KPIs that show the success you have enjoyed with our product?
- What have you been most impressed with?
- By using our product can you measure any reduced costs/ improvements in productivity/ increases in revenue?
- What is the single biggest reason you would recommend our product?
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Frequently Asked Questions
What should you definitely include in a case study.
When writing a case study email, it’s important to mention how the solution would help with the problems described. You can also provide links to the product/service, and do not forget to include the names of the team members who worked on the project.
What is the purpose of case study emails?
Case studies are a very effective way to build credibility for your business. They can help you explain your product or service benefits and demonstrate that you have real customers using your product/service.
How do you promote a case study?
You can promote a study through email or by giving it more visibility on your website, sharing it through your social media channels, and linking to it from your blogs.
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How to Write a Case Study: Bookmarkable Guide & Template
Updated: July 18, 2024
Published: June 13, 2012
Earning the trust of prospective customers can be a major challenge. Before you can expect to earn their business, you’ll need to demonstrate your ability to deliver on the promises of your product or service. The best way to win new business is with cold, hard proof.
A great way to prove your worth is through a compelling case study. HubSpot’s 2024 State of Marketing report found that case studies are so captivating that they were the fifth most commonly used type of content that marketers relied on.
That statistic still holds true in Forbes Advisor’s 2024 study, which adds that 78% of B2B businesses report using case studies and customer stories because they are “ crucial for demonstrating real-world value. ”
Having written these ever more frequently over the past ten years, I hope to serve as your guide through a process that can feel daunting, but I promise is worth the effort. Below, I'll walk you through what a case study is, how to prepare for writing one, what to include in it, and how it can be an effective tactic.
Table of Contents
Case Study Definition
- Why Write a Case Study?
- How Long Should a Case Study Be?
Case Study Templates
How to write a case study, case study format, business case study examples.
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
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A case study is coverage of 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, helping you attract new clients.
Why write a case study?
I know, it sounds like a huge endeavor — is it really worth it?
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, showing 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 demonstrates how your product solved their issue. Most importantly, it explains 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.
A robust case study instills confidence in the solutions you present because the reader has now vicariously experienced the problem — and they followed, step-by-step, what it took to solve it. These elements work together, enabling 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 — put your success on display for potential customers to see.
All of these attributes play together like an orchestra to help you gain more clients. Afterward, the case study acts as a reference. You can pull quotes from customers that were featured in these studies to repurpose them in other marketing content.
How long should a case study be?
Now that you’re more acquainted with the benefits of producing a case study, let’s explore how long these documents should 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. Make it attractive to dive into by using headings, subheadings, bullet points, charts, and other graphics to break up the content and make it more scannable for readers.
I’ve also seen more and more brands incorporate video elements into case studies listed on their site for a more engaging experience, which is highly recommended given that video is currently the best performing marketing content format.
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.
Backlinks and Website Traffic
Backlinks are a benefit sure to resonate with your subject‘s marketing team. When you publish your case study on your website, make sure that your study links back to your subject’s website. This is known as a “backlink.”
If your reader clicks the link in your case study, it takes your reader to the subject's website. Essentially, this small gesture gives them additional website traffic from visitors who have read your case study.
Additionally, a backlink from you increases your subject's page authority in the eyes of Google, which is growing in difficulty as AI infiltrates the internet.
This helps them rank more highly in search engine results. Landing higher on the SERP enables them to collect more traffic from searchers who are looking for information about your subject’s industry.
Once you know what you’re going to offer your candidate, go ahead and contact them to see if they are interested in featuring in a customer success story, with the promise of more details to follow.
6. Ensure you have all the resources you need to proceed before you get a response.
Now it’s time to prepare the resources needed for if — when! — they agree to participate. At the very least, you’ll need a case study release form and a 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 study once it is completed.
You’ll need permission to use any brand names and to share the project information publicly.
You should typically aim to include the following in your 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 be able to include about the company — things like names, logos, job titles, and pictures.
- An explanation of what you would 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? Do you have permission to pass contact information along for these purposes?
- A note about compensation.
Success Story Letter
This document serves as an outline for the entire case study process so your subject better understands the entire process they would be opting into.
You'll want to be sure to define the details outlined in your Case Study Release Form within your Success Story Letter. There are many details you’ll need to think about so that you can clearly explain what the process will be like.
7. 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.
This 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.
8. Download a case study email template.
You’ve gathered your resources, and soon your candidate will get to explore the exciting details of participating in your case study.
The case study release form communicates what you'll need from your chosen subject, and your success story letter outlines the process in its entirety.
Hopefully by now they’ve replied that they are interested in working with you on a customer success story. It’s time to send your case study email!
To give you an idea of what that might look like, check out this sample email.
In terms of the interview structure, I recommend categorizing the questions in a way that the answers flow 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, plus 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 needs 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?
It’s a smart idea to send a copy of your interview questions to your subject ahead of time so they can prepare strong answers and collect the numerical data you need from them.
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 useful, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. I always do, but I also know that it works out in the end, so I just jump on in and work it through.
So where should you start? What should you include? What's the best way to structure it?
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 through video or photos with a bit of accompanying text.
Here are the sections I’d suggest, and I'll cover these in more detail after #11 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, 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 to it from your homepage with a “Case Studies” or “Testimonials” button along your homepage's top navigation bar.
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.
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Showcase your company's success using these free case study templates.
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