Sales & Conversion
Personas
SaaS & Startup
Time to ROI
Medium-term (3-6 months)
Most agencies are terrible at case studies. I know because I was one of them for years.
I'd spend hours crafting beautiful portfolio pieces showcasing pixel-perfect designs and clever copy. My case studies looked amazing on Dribbble, but they weren't converting prospects into clients. The problem? I was treating case studies like art projects instead of sales tools.
Then I had a wake-up call. A potential client told me: "Your work looks great, but I can't figure out if you actually understand my business challenges." That's when I realized I was documenting the wrong things entirely.
After working with dozens of SaaS companies as a freelance consultant, I've discovered that the best case studies aren't about showcasing your skills—they're about proving business impact. The difference? One gets you compliments, the other gets you clients.
Here's what you'll learn from my shift to business-focused case studies:
Why traditional portfolio case studies fail to convert prospects
The 3-part framework I use to document real business impact
How to extract compelling metrics even from "boring" projects
The specific questions that uncover case study gold during client work
Examples of high-converting case studies that focus on business outcomes
Industry Reality
What every agency already knows about case studies
Walk into any agency and ask about case studies, and you'll hear the same advice repeated like gospel:
"Show your best creative work" - Fill your case studies with beautiful visuals, design process shots, and before/after comparisons of the interface. Make it look like an art exhibition.
"Tell a story" - Structure it like a narrative with challenge, solution, and outcome. Keep it engaging and easy to read. Focus on the journey.
"Include client testimonials" - Get glowing quotes about how wonderful you were to work with. Emphasize the relationship and collaboration.
"Highlight your unique process" - Explain your methodology, workshops, discovery sessions, and proprietary frameworks. Show you're professional and thorough.
"Keep it visual" - Use lots of screenshots, mockups, and design artifacts. Make it scannable and visually impressive.
This conventional wisdom exists because it's what design education teaches and what award sites celebrate. It makes sense if you're trying to impress other designers or win creative awards.
But here's where it falls short: Business owners don't care about your design process or how pretty your wireframes look. They care about one thing—will you help them make more money, save money, or solve a critical business problem?
When I followed traditional case study advice, I was essentially saying "Look how talented I am" instead of "Look how I can help your business grow." That's why my conversion rates were abysmal.
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
My case study wake-up call came during a pitch for a major SaaS client. I had prepared what I thought was my best case study—a beautiful landing page redesign with stunning visuals and a detailed design process walkthrough.
The prospect looked through it and said: "This looks great, but I can't tell if working with you will actually move the needle for our business. Did this redesign increase their signups? Improve their conversion rate? Generate more revenue?"
I realized I had no idea. I'd been so focused on documenting the creative output that I'd never tracked the business input. That project probably did drive results, but I had no way to prove it.
This happened during my transition from pure web design to more strategic SaaS consulting work. I was working with B2B software companies who cared less about beautiful interfaces and more about measurable business outcomes.
The client situation was typical: a SaaS startup with decent traffic but terrible conversion rates. Their existing case studies showcased feature descriptions and UI screenshots, but failed to communicate real business value to prospects.
My first attempt at helping them was creating more case studies using traditional best practices. I interviewed their happiest customers, got glowing testimonials, and created beautifully designed case study pages.
The results? Minimal impact on their sales pipeline. Prospects still struggled to understand the concrete business value. The case studies looked professional but felt generic—anyone could have written them about any product.
That's when I realized the fundamental flaw: I was treating case studies as marketing collateral instead of sales tools. The content was designed to impress rather than convince, to showcase rather than prove.
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
After that failed attempt, I completely restructured my approach to case studies. Instead of focusing on the work I did, I started focusing on the business problems I solved and the measurable outcomes I delivered.
Here's the framework I developed:
Part 1: Business Context Before Creative Context
I stopped leading with "The client wanted a new website" and started with "The client's customer acquisition cost had increased 40% year-over-year while their conversion rates plateaued." The business problem becomes the hero, not the design challenge.
For one B2B SaaS client, instead of writing "They needed a modern landing page," I documented: "Their trial signup rate was stuck at 2.1% despite spending $15K monthly on paid ads. Each trial user cost $47 to acquire, but only 8% converted to paid plans."
Part 2: Hypothesis and Strategy Over Process and Tools
Rather than explaining my design process, I documented my business hypothesis. "Based on user session recordings, 67% of visitors abandoned the pricing page within 15 seconds. I hypothesized that unclear value proposition and feature overload were preventing trial signups."
I started tracking specific metrics before making any changes. For that same SaaS client, I set up conversion tracking for each step of their funnel and identified exactly where users were dropping off.
Part 3: Results That Matter to Business Owners
This was the biggest shift. I stopped measuring design success ("The client loved the new look") and started measuring business success ("Trial signups increased from 2.1% to 4.3% within 30 days").
I created a simple tracking system using Google Analytics and the client's internal tools to monitor key business metrics before, during, and after my work. Every case study now includes:
Baseline metrics before we started
Specific changes made and why
Measurable outcomes within 30-90 days
Attribution to the specific changes (not just correlation)
For my SaaS landing page project, the final case study led with: "Increased trial conversion from 2.1% to 4.3% and reduced cost per trial from $47 to $23—delivering an additional $8,200 in monthly recurring revenue within 60 days."
The visual elements and design process became supporting details, not the main story.
Metrics First
Track business KPIs before starting any project. Set up proper attribution to prove your impact, not just correlation.
Problem Context
Start with business challenges and market context, not creative briefs. Make the business problem the hero of your story.
Strategic Hypothesis
Document your business hypothesis and reasoning, not just your design process. Show strategic thinking over tactical execution.
Outcome Focus
Lead with measurable business results that matter to decision-makers. Design appreciation comes second to revenue impact.
This shift to business-focused case studies transformed my conversion rates almost immediately. Prospects stopped asking "Can you make our site look good?" and started asking "Can you help us achieve similar results?"
The most dramatic example was a case study for an e-commerce client where I focused entirely on revenue impact. Instead of showcasing the new product page design, I led with: "Increased average order value from €47 to €61 by implementing strategic product bundling and optimizing the checkout flow—adding €2,300 in daily revenue."
That single case study generated three qualified leads within two weeks of publishing. One prospect said: "I don't care what the site looks like as long as you can deliver those kinds of results for us."
The business-focused approach also changed how I worked with clients. I started every project by identifying the key business metrics we'd track and setting realistic improvement targets. This made me more strategic and results-oriented in my recommendations.
Even when working on "boring" projects like technical migrations or infrastructure improvements, I found ways to connect the work to business outcomes. A Shopify migration became a "47% improvement in page load speed that correlated with 12% higher conversion rates."
What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.
Sharing so you don't make them.
Here are the key lessons I learned from shifting to business-focused case studies:
1. Always Start With Business Metrics
Before touching any design tools, understand what business problems you're solving and how success will be measured. If you can't connect your work to business outcomes, you're probably working on the wrong things.
2. Correlation Isn't Enough, Attribution Matters
Don't just show that good things happened while you were working on the project. Demonstrate clear causal relationships between your specific changes and the business results.
3. Boring Industries Have Great Case Studies
Some of my highest-converting case studies come from "unsexy" B2B SaaS companies. Business owners care more about proven results than flashy creative work.
4. Track Everything From Day One
Set up proper analytics and conversion tracking before you start any work. You can't create compelling case studies retrospectively without baseline data.
5. Speak Revenue Language
Learn to translate design and UX improvements into financial terms. "Increased user engagement" becomes "reduced churn saves $X per month."
6. What I'd Do Differently
I wish I'd started tracking business metrics from my very first client project. Years of great work went undocumented because I didn't think to measure business impact.
7. When This Approach Works Best
This framework works best for established businesses with existing traffic and revenue. Early-stage startups may not have enough baseline data to create compelling before/after comparisons.
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
For SaaS companies specifically:
Track trial-to-paid conversion rates and customer acquisition costs
Focus on reducing churn and increasing user activation
Document how features impact key business metrics
Connect design changes to recurring revenue growth
For your Ecommerce store
For e-commerce stores:
Measure average order value and conversion rate improvements
Track cart abandonment and checkout completion rates
Document revenue per visitor and customer lifetime value
Focus on seasonal performance and holiday sales impact