How To Write Case Studies on LinkedIn

Read time: 5 minutes

You haven’t heard from me for a while but I’m back.

I took a break from writing this newsletter in October because I was launching Saywhat - a software platform and community to help you build your business on LinkedIn.

We’re a small 2-person team and I had to practice what I preach about saying no.

After some reflection, I’m going to be changing a couple things:

1. I’m going to be talking about entrepreneurship and how to build an online business using content. Basically, how to become a Creator Entrepreneur

2. It’s going to be just one actionable tip each week

Why? Because:

1. I think you increasingly can’t rely on companies to look after you. 

2. In the spirit of leveling up your careers - creating content is one of the biggest opportunities to make money/have freedom in our generation and most people just shrug it off. I was one of them until last year.

3. I’ve been living and breathing this since I started posting on LinkedIn and working on Saywhat and I’ve met hundreds of people struggling to do it right.

If this isn’t for you, feel free to unsubscribe at the bottom of this email - no hard feelings at all.

The Silent Problem

Last week, I got asked a question by a new customer that I’ve probably heard a thousand times by now:

“I’ve been posting on LinkedIn for a year but I’m not getting any inbound leads. Why is it not working?”

My response was: “ok let’s look through your content together.”

What I often find is that they’ve never posted a client transformation case study.

That was true here too - they had only been posting broad educational content and had actually NEVER posted a client success story.

The difference between content that educates and content that sells is proof of transformation.

Why Buyers Buy

Why is this important?

Well ask yourself, what makes you buy things from people?

It usually comes down to two things: Proof and Trust

Ok, well what does proof mean?

Proof means that we want to see that the seller has delivered the results that we want to as many people as possible. 

That gives us more confidence they will be able to deliver the result to us.

Side note: Check out Alex Hormozi’s Value Equation: Buyers want a DREAM OUTCOME with the HIGHEST likelihood of success in the SHORTEST time with the LEAST effort.

So going back to your content, if you aren’t showing the results that you’ve helped other people get, why would someone have confidence to buy from you? 

Educational content can help you build trust, it doesn’t show your PROOF.

Ok, so you need to show proof.

Now lets talk about how.

There are several good formats, but I typically suggest getting started with my 6-part transformation case study framework.

The Proof Framework

1. Hook With A Transformation

Tell readers the outcome in the first sentence. They may only see your hook and your visual, so the case study needs to be clear in them alone.

2. Relatable Before Story

Paint a picture of your client's struggles. Your audience should see themselves in this struggle. I like to put ❌ here to naturally draw the eye to them.

3. Tangible Results

Make them tangible and measurable (e.g. earned $25,421 from their promotion). No vague results.

4. Your Role in The Journey

Show how your solution bridged the gap. Focus on specific actions and results.

5. Call To Action

Guide interested readers with a call-to-action, like a free trial or consultation. Ideally include some urgency and scarcity in the offer.

6. Visual

Show, don't just tell. Here’s an effective one by my friend Chris Donnelly. The visual is super important because you hook people with your text hook AND the visual.

Why? That’s what they see on their feed when they decide whether or not to stop and engage.

Proof in Action

Here are a few example that I’ve written that have worked well:

• Saywhat User Results: Why did it work? It has lots of results on one-page. Increases the reader’s confidence in me.

• Saywhat User Feedback: Why did it work? People love the authenticity. 

• Sufyan Case Study: Why did it work? He got a big result in a short period of time.

• Anonymous Case Study: Why use it? If your clients want to remain private (like a lot of coachees).

Your First Case Study

To help you get started, here is an AI prompt I use with Saywhat Collab (the only tool I use to write and edit LinkedIn posts now):

Just fill in the gaps and you’re ready to go.

When you shift from just educating to showing real transformations, your content stops just building awareness and trust and starts being your most powerful sales tool.

And that’s all for this week.

See you next Sunday.

P.S. If advice like this is useful, consider checking out Saywhat. I share a lot more tips like this in the community.

Will McTighe

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