Write a one-page case study from one customer

What it does

A buyer believes a customer like them long before they believe you. A good case study is short, specific and in the customer’s words: where they were, why they decided, and what changed, with numbers they’ve agreed to share. One page. Most case studies fail by being long, vague and written by someone who wasn’t there.

What you need

• A customer in your aim with a result they can put a number on
• A 30-minute call with them, recorded and transcribed
• Their written OK on the draft

How it works

1. 1

   Pick a customer like your buyers

   Same kind of company as the buyers you want more of, with a result they can measure. A famous logo outside your aim helps less than a carrier your buyers have never heard of.

2. 2

   Interview them for 30 minutes

   Interview questions

   BEFORE
   1. What was going on before you started with us? What did it cost you?
   2. What had you tried already?
   
   THE DECISION
   3. What made you look for something now, and not six months earlier?
   4. What almost stopped you from going ahead?
   
   AFTER
   5. What's different now? What number moved, and by how much?
   6. What would you tell someone in your seat who's on the fence?

3. 3

   Draft it from the transcript

   Prompt for Claude or ChatGPT, with the transcript attached

   Here's the transcript of a 30-minute interview with [NAME], [TITLE] at [COMPANY], our customer.
   
   Write a one-page case study, under 350 words:
   - A headline with the result, in numbers, as they said it.
   - Before: where they were, in their words.
   - The decision: why now, and what almost stopped them.
   - After: what changed, with the numbers they gave.
   - Two or three short quotes, word for word from the transcript.
   
   Only use numbers and claims that are in the transcript. Mark anything I'd need to confirm with them as [CONFIRM].

4. 4

   Check every number with them

   Send them the draft. Ask them to confirm each number and approve each quote, in writing. Then add it to your proof ledger.

5. 5

   Put it where buyers decide

   A link in the follow-up after a sales call, one line of it in a cold email PS, and the two minutes in your pitch where proof goes (see write down your sales process).

What good looks like

One page, in the customer’s words, with numbers they approved, that a buyer like them reads to the end.

Mistakes to skip

• Writing it without talking to the customer.
• Polishing their quotes. Their words are the proof. Yours aren’t.
• Burying the number. If the result isn’t in the headline, most people never find it.