How to turn a client case study into a slide that sells

Quick answer

To present a case study on a slide, make the result the slide title, then show who the client was, the problem, what you did in three short points, and one piece of proof: a photograph, a number or a client quote. Keep it to one slide, two at most. Get written permission before naming a client or quoting them.

Most case study slides are written like a project report: background, objectives, approach, deliverables, outcomes, all in small type. The audience reads the first line, gives up, and waits for you to talk. A case study slide in a pitch has one job: to prove, in a few seconds, that you have solved this kind of problem before. That changes everything about how it should be built.

Choose the right case study

The best case study is not your biggest job. It is the one most like the work you are pitching for. A housing association wants to see a housing association, or at least a similar client with a similar problem. A café owner wants to see a café. Before you build the slide, ask:

• Is the client similar in size and sector to the one I am pitching to?
• Was the problem similar?
• Can I show a clear result?
• Do I have permission to share it?

If you have several, keep a short library of case studies, each one ready as a slide, and pick the right one for each pitch.

The one-slide layout

1. Headline result as the slide title. “Kitchen refit finished in nine working days, with the family living at home throughout.”
2. Who and what. One line: the type of client and the problem they had.
3. What you did. Three short points, not a paragraph.
4. Proof. A before-and-after photograph, a number with its context, or a short quote from the client.
5. Where to find more. A short web address for the full story, for people who want to read it later.

Thirty-point text or larger for everything except the client quote, which can be slightly smaller. If it does not fit, cut words, not type size.

Before and after: report slide versus selling slide

Proof that persuades

Good proof is specific. “Improved efficiency” persuades nobody. “Cut the time from enquiry to quote from three days to the same day” does. The strongest kinds of proof, roughly in order:

• A visible result: before and after photographs, a finished product, a screenshot.
• A number with context: what changed, by how much, over what period.
• The client’s own words, short and attributed by role and organisation type if not by name.
• A constraint you beat: a deadline, a budget, a difficult site.

Permission and honesty

Ask clients in writing before naming them, showing their logo, using their photographs or quoting them, and agree what you can share. Some will want to approve the slide. If a client prefers not to be named, describe them instead: “a family-run builder’s merchant in the Midlands”.

Results used to win work are marketing claims. Under the UK advertising code, claims must be true and backed by evidence, and a single good result should not be presented as typical if it was not. Keep the evidence behind every number you show. Photographs of the client’s site or premises may also belong to someone else, so check who owns them; the government’s copyright guidance explains the basics.

Design the slide to match your brand

A case study slide should look like the rest of your deck: same fonts, same colours, same layout grid. Set up a case study layout in your template’s slide master once, with places for the headline, the three points, the proof and the link, then reuse it every time. Consistency makes a small firm look established, and it makes building the next pitch faster. If your slides currently look different every time, our post on a brand that is inconsistent everywhere covers why it matters.

A worked example

A commercial cleaning company in Leeds was pitching to a group of dental practices. Its case study section had four slides about a large office contract. The new version used one slide about a smaller job that matched the pitch: a two-site dental practice. The title read “Two practices cleaned to infection-control standards, outside surgery hours, from week one.” Underneath: the client’s problem with a previous contractor missing evening cleans; three points on the cleaning schedule, the checklist and the named supervisor; a short quote from the practice manager, with her permission; and a link to the full write-up. It took twenty seconds to present and answered the question the dental group actually had.

Presenting it out loud

A case study slide is a prompt for a short story, not a script. Tell it in under a minute: who the client was, what was going wrong, the one decision that made the difference, and what happened. Then stop and ask whether the audience has had a similar problem. That question often turns a presentation into a conversation, which is where pitches are won. Practise the story aloud a few times so the numbers and names come out naturally.

Turn slides into lasting content

A good case study slide is the summary of a fuller story that belongs on your website, where it can be found by people searching for the kind of work you do. If you want help writing those stories regularly, our content marketing and blog writing service is £199 a month, and our guide to content marketing for small businesses explains how it pays back. If you pitch for larger contracts, our guide to winning commercial contracts covers what buyers look for, and our guide to measuring marketing return helps you put honest numbers on results. All our prices are on the pricing page.