Can you usefully write a case study about one of your customers, if your work for them needs to remain a secret? What if you’re forbidden from mentioning the customer’s name due to contract terms or NDA?

I’m always letting senior managers know that writing an anonymized case study is, indeed, possible – and we’ve seen an uptick in this activity here at ENNclick just in the past few months. The secret is having a knowledgeable account manager who can speak honestly and in some detail about the engagement, the customer’s needs and challenges, and how the company delivered on those. You also need an experienced writer, ideally someone with a journalism background, who can collect and parse all the available information and put across a compelling story.

Let me be clear: an anonymous case study is not the ideal. The ideal is securing agreement from your satisfied customers to participate in a case study with their full involvement, direct quotation and sign off. Unfortunately, an anonymous case study can only ever convey part of the story — the company’s own version of what happened –- which will never be the whole picture of the value and benefit that accrue to the client.

However: an anonymized case study is infinitely better than no case study at all, and if done in a detailed and honest way, it will provide enough insight and specifics to let prospective customers understand what you can do and the problems you can solve. The document works as a conversation starter: it’s up to your sales team to take the conversation to the next step.

Have a look at these anonymous case studies we’ve written recently:

• VDI technology for financial services company
• IT procurement services for a global multinational
• Biometrics technology for a banking group

Are you capturing customer case studies, or are you held back due to contract terms or nondisclosure agreements? Get in touch if you think our writers could help.

Sheila M. Averbuch is a senior content strategist with ENNclick.com, with offices in Edinburgh, Scotland and Cork, Ireland. We focus on delivering and managing high-quality content for PR and creative agencies, marketing managers and IT companies. Connect with Sheila on LinkedIn.

Main image by Olichel Adamovich