Capability template for marketing and content
Customer case study
With a customer who has agreed to help, prepare the interview, then turn their words and the figures they supply into a case study in a short and a long version. Every quotation and number is listed for the customer to approve in writing, and nothing is published or named before they do.
The outcome
A customer said yes, and now you have a case study you can stand behind. You walk into the interview with a guide that asks open questions, never leading ones, and that always asks what is still unsolved. You walk out with a draft in two lengths: a short one for an email or a sales conversation, and a long one for your website.
Every sentence in it comes from the customer's interview or from the figures they chose to share. Each quotation is the customer's exact words. Each number shows its before, its after and where it came from. A claim your team would like to make, but the customer never made, sits on a separate list instead of in the story.
The customer sees everything before anyone else does: every quotation, every figure and every detail that could identify them, each ready to approve, change or remove. Until they agree in writing, they appear as a plain description, never by name.
Who starts the work, and when
The marketer or owner who looks after the customer relationship starts it as soon as a customer has agreed in writing to take part, and runs it a second time once the interview record and the customer's figures are back. Whoever conducts the interview uses the guide. The customer approves the draft, and a named person in your company records that approval and decides where the finished case study appears.
The capability prepares. It contacts no one, sends nothing and publishes nothing.
What they supply
- The customer's yes, in writing, and what they agreed to: the interview, recording, whether they may be named, anything to keep out.
- A short brief: what you did for them, when, and who the case study is for.
- The interview record: a transcript, or notes with the customer's exact words inside quotation marks.
- The figures sheet the customer fills in, with a column saying whether each figure may be published.
- Your settings: how many results to show, the lengths of the two versions and your closing line.
What comes out
Two documents, one for each pass:
- The interview guide: what the customer has agreed so far, the facts from your brief to confirm in their words, the questions in timed parts, the figures to ask for, the checks to read out at the end, and the figures sheet to send if you choose.
- The draft for the customer's approval: the short version, the long version, and an approval list with a tag for every quotation, number and identifying detail. Under it: any place where what the customer said and what the figures show disagree, everything left out and why, and the decisions left to you.
Good looks like this: a reader can point at any line of the case study and find its source in the interview or the figures sheet.
An invented example
Illustrative example with invented data. Firm F, Client K, the people and every word quoted below are invented. Firm F is an invented nine-person bookkeeping and finance-operations firm. Its owner wants a case study about Client K, an invented heating and cooling installer whose invoicing Firm F took over. Client K's operations director has agreed to help.
The inputs for each pass come first, in full, so the template can be run on them. Each output follows its inputs.
First pass: the inputs
The customer's agreement
From: operations director, Client K
To: owner, Firm F
Date: 2 October 2026
Happy to do a 30-minute call for your case study. Record it if you like.
We'll decide about using our name once we've seen a draft. Please don't
mention our bank or any of our customers.
The brief and the settings
Customer: Client K, a heating and cooling installer.
What we did: from February 2026 we took over Client K's invoicing and
receivables. Invoices now go out from the job-completion form in their
field-service app on the day a job closes. Every Monday we send their
office manager a list of late payers with a follow-up email drafted
for each; the office manager sends them.
What we think changed: cash collected is up about 20%.
Case study for: owners of trades businesses, on our services page and
sent by email to prospects.
Interviewee: operations director, Client K. Interviewer: our owner.
Length: 30 minutes. Today's date: 9 October 2026.
First pass: the interview guide
CUSTOMER CASE STUDY, PART 1: INTERVIEW GUIDE
Customer: a heating and cooling installer
Interviewee: operations director Interviewer: Firm F's owner Length: 30 minutes
Prepared: 9 October 2026 Case study for: owners of trades businesses, on
Firm F's services page and sent by email to prospects
Status: Draft for the interviewer. Nothing has been sent to the customer.
AGREED SO FAR
Taking part: a 30-minute call, agreed by the operations director by email
on 2 October 2026.
Recording: agreed in the same email. Confirm again at the start.
Naming and logo: naming to decide after the draft; logo not yet asked.
Keep out: Client K's bank, and any of Client K's customers.
WHAT THE BRIEF SAYS (to be confirmed in the customer's own words)
- The customer is a heating and cooling installer. Confirm with
question 2.
- Firm F took over the invoicing and receivables in February 2026.
Confirm with question 6.
- Invoices go out from the job-completion form on the day a job closes.
Confirm with question 6.
- A Monday list of late payers, with a drafted email for each, goes to
the office manager, who sends them. Confirm with question 7.
- Cash collected is up about 20%. Not to be put to the customer. Ask
question 9.
QUESTIONS
Interviewer reads first: "Thank you for doing this. As you agreed, I am
recording the call; say now if you would rather I took notes only.
Nothing from it is used until you have approved the draft in writing,
and your name is used only if you agree."
Opening (2 minutes). Feeds: nothing published
1. What questions do you have about how this will work?
If the answer is short: What would you like us to know before we
start?
Before (6 minutes). Feeds: the situation
2. Before anything changed, how did a finished job become an invoice?
If the answer is short: Where did it tend to get stuck?
3. When that went wrong, who felt it first?
If the answer is short: How did it show up for them?
4. What had you already tried to fix it?
If the answer is short: What happened to that attempt?
The decision (4 minutes). Feeds: why they acted
5. Tell me about the day you decided this had to change.
If the answer is short: What else did you think about doing instead?
What was done (7 minutes). Feeds: what was done
6. In your own words, what happens now from the moment a technician
finishes a job?
If the answer is short: When did that start?
7. What happens with late payers each week?
If the answer is short: Who does what with the list?
8. What was the hardest part of the change?
If the answer is short: How was it sorted out?
Results (7 minutes). Feeds: results
9. What is different now, compared with before?
If the answer is short: What do you notice at month end?
10. When did you first notice a difference?
If the answer is short: What made you notice it?
11. Which figures do you keep that show the change?
If the answer is short: Where do those figures come from?
12. What is not better, or still unsolved?
If the answer is short: What did you expect to change that hasn't?
In their words (2 minutes). Feeds: in their words
13. If the owner of another trades business asked you about this, what
would you tell them?
If the answer is short: What would you tell them to do first?
Close (2 minutes). Feeds: the approval list and what comes next
14. What else would you want kept out of what we write?
If the answer is short: Which figures or names, if any, should we
leave out?
15. What plans are you happy for us to mention?
If the answer is short: When do you expect that to happen?
FIGURES TO ASK FOR
1. How long invoices take to be paid: before and after, the period of
each, how it is measured, who could confirm it.
2. How soon after a job is finished the invoice goes out: before and
after, the period of each, how it is measured, who could confirm it.
3. Office time spent on month-end invoicing: before and after, the period
of each, how it is measured, who could confirm it.
4. Cash collected per month, only if the customer is willing to share it:
before and after, the period of each, how it is measured, who could
confirm it.
5. Anything else the customer keeps that shows the change (question 11).
CLOSING CHECKS (read out at the end)
- Nothing from this call is published until you approve it in writing.
- The draft will list every quotation and every number for you to
approve, change or remove.
- The figures sheet asks only for what you are happy to share; mark each
row yes, no or ask.
FIGURES SHEET FOR THE CUSTOMER (the requester decides whether to send it)
ID | What it measures | Before | Before period | After | After period |
How measured | Supplied by | May publish (yes / no / ask)
F1 | How long invoices take to be paid | | | | | | |
F2 | How soon invoices go out after a job | | | | | | |
F3 | Office time on month-end invoicing | | | | | | |
F4 | Cash collected per month (optional) | | | | | | |
F5 | Anything else you keep | | | | | | |
Second pass: the inputs
The interview record
Interview notes | 14 October 2026 | Video call, 31 minutes, recorded with agreement
Interviewee: operations director, Client K | Interviewer: Firm F's owner
Words in quotation marks are exact, checked against the recording.
Everything else is the interviewer's summary.
1. (Q2) Summary: Client K installs and services heating and cooling
systems. "We're 38 people, 22 of them in vans." "Invoices went out when the
paperwork came back from the van, which could be a week, could be
three. Sometimes the job sheet was under a seat."
2. (Q3) "Our office manager spent the last three days of every month
chasing job sheets instead of chasing money." "We went into the
overdraft twice last winter waiting on money we'd already earned."
3. (Q4) "We tried a rule that techs hand in sheets every Friday. It
lasted about a month."
4. (Q5) "Our accountant showed us we were owed more than a month's
payroll. That was the day." Summary: they also thought about taking on
a second office person and decided against it.
5. (Q6) "We switched over in the middle of March. Firm F set it up so the
invoice goes out from the tablet when the tech closes the job."
Summary: the interviewee did not say when Firm F's work began.
6. (Q7) "Every Monday Firm F sends me a list of who's late and an email
ready for each one. Our office manager reads it, changes what she
wants, and sends it."
7. (Q8) "The first two weeks the techs hated it. Two of them kept closing
jobs without the photos, so the invoices went out wrong." Summary: it
was fixed by making the photo step required before a job can be
closed.
8. (Q9, Q10) "We get paid in about three weeks now. It used to be nearer two
months." "Month end is one day now, not three." "I haven't thought
about the overdraft since June."
9. (Q11) Summary: will send the figures sheet; keeps days to payment in
the accounting system. Mentioned last year's revenue and asked that it
not be used.
10. (Q12) "Some customers still pay when they feel like it. That hasn't
changed."
11. (Q13) "If your invoices wait for paperwork, you're lending your
customers money for free. Fix that first."
12. (Q14) Summary: nothing to keep out beyond the bank and their
customers. Naming and logo: will decide after seeing the draft.
13. (Q15) "We're going to do the same for maintenance visits next
spring."
The figures sheet, as returned on 20 October 2026
ID | What it measures | Before | Before period | After | After period | How measured | Supplied by | May publish
F1 | Average days from invoice to payment | 52 days | Oct to Dec 2025 | 31 days | Jul to Sep 2026 | Aged-debt report from our accounting system | Operations director | yes
F2 | Invoices sent within one working day of job completion | 35% | Oct to Dec 2025 | 96% | Jul to Sep 2026 | Job report from our field-service app | Operations director | yes
F3 | Office days spent on month-end invoicing | 3 days | Oct to Dec 2025 | 1 day | Jul to Sep 2026 | Office manager's estimate | Operations director | yes
F4 | Cash collected per month | | | | | | Operations director | no
F5 | Balance more than 60 days overdue | $48,200 | at 31 Dec 2025 | $9,600 | at 30 Sep 2026 | Aged-debt report from our accounting system | Operations director | ask
F6 | Jobs completed per month | 410 | Oct to Dec 2025 average | 445 | Jul to Sep 2026 average | Job report from our field-service app | Operations director | no
Identity and settings
Naming and logo: not agreed; the customer will decide after the draft.
Keep out: Client K's bank, and any of Client K's customers.
Result limit: three. Short version: up to 180 words. Long version: 350 to
600 words.
Closing line: Firm F works with trades businesses of 10 to 100 staff. Ask
us about your invoicing.
Approver: Firm F's owner. Today's date: 21 October 2026.
The brief: as in the first pass.
Second pass: the draft
CUSTOMER CASE STUDY, PART 2: DRAFT FOR THE CUSTOMER'S APPROVAL
Customer: a heating and cooling installer
Prepared for: Firm F's owner Date: 21 October 2026
Status: Draft. Not approved by the customer. Not to be published or
shared beyond the requester and the customer until the customer has
approved the text and every item on the approval list in writing.
Built from: interview record of 14 October 2026 (operations director, 13
items); figures sheet of 20 October 2026 (6 rows). Nothing else.
SHORT VERSION (about 170 words)
Headline: A heating and cooling installer now waits an average of 31 days
to be paid, down from 52 [N1]
The situation: Invoices could not go out until paper job sheets came back
from the vans. At month end the office chased the paperwork instead of
the money.
What was done: Since the middle of March [N2], each invoice goes out from
the technician's tablet when the job is closed. Every Monday Firm F sends
the operations director a list of late payers with an email ready for
each, and the office manager checks and sends them.
Results (October to December 2025 compared with July to September 2026):
- Average days from invoice to payment: 52 to 31 [N1]
- Invoices sent within one working day of finishing the job: 35% to 96% [N3]
- Office days on month-end invoicing, by the office manager's estimate:
3 to 1 [N4]
"If your invoices wait for paperwork, you're lending your customers money
for free. Fix that first." [Q1] (Operations director, a heating and
cooling installer)
Firm F works with trades businesses of 10 to 100 staff. Ask us about your
invoicing.
LONG VERSION (about 420 words)
Headline: A heating and cooling installer now waits an average of 31 days
to be paid, down from 52 [N1]
About the customer: A heating and cooling installer. "We're 38 people, 22
of them in vans." [Q2]
The situation: An invoice could not go out until the technician's paper
job sheet reached the office. "Invoices went out when the paperwork came
back from the van, which could be a week, could be three. Sometimes the
job sheet was under a seat." [Q3] Month end was spent on paperwork: "Our
office manager spent the last three days of every month chasing job
sheets instead of chasing money." [Q4] The wait cost them: "We went
into the overdraft twice last winter waiting on money we'd already
earned." [Q5] A rule that technicians hand in their sheets every Friday
did not hold: "It lasted about a month." [Q6]
Why they acted: "Our accountant showed us we were owed more than a
month's payroll. That was the day." [Q7] They thought about taking on a
second office person and decided against it.
What was done: In the middle of March [N2] the business switched to
invoicing from the technician's tablet. "Firm F set it up so the invoice
goes out from the tablet when the tech closes the job." [Q8] Each Monday
Firm F sends the operations director a list of late payers with an email
ready for each one, and the office manager "reads it, changes what she
wants, and sends it." [Q9] The start was hard: "The first two weeks the
techs hated it. Two of them kept closing jobs without the photos, so the
invoices went out wrong." [Q10] The fix was to make the photo step
required before a job can be closed.
Results: Comparing October to December 2025 with July to September 2026,
the average time from invoice to payment fell from 52 days to 31 [N1],
which is 21 days sooner [N5]. The share of invoices sent within one
working day of finishing a job rose from 35% to 96% [N3]. By the office
manager's estimate, month-end invoicing now takes one office day instead
of three [N4]. "Month end is one day now, not three." [Q11] "I haven't
thought about the overdraft since June." [Q12] Not everything has
changed: "Some customers still pay when they feel like it. That hasn't
changed." [Q13]
In their words: "If your invoices wait for paperwork, you're lending your
customers money for free. Fix that first." [Q1] (Operations director, a
heating and cooling installer)
What comes next: "We're going to do the same for maintenance visits next
spring." [Q14]
Firm F works with trades businesses of 10 to 100 staff. Ask us about your
invoicing.
APPROVAL LIST (tags stay in the draft until approval; a person removes
them from the final copy)
Quotations (attribution proposed: Operations director, a heating and
cooling installer)
[Q1] "If your invoices wait for paperwork, you're lending your customers
money for free. Fix that first." Record item 11. Used in: both.
Approved as written / Changed to: ____ / Remove
[Q2] "We're 38 people, 22 of them in vans." Record item 1. Used in: long.
Contains figures; see I3.
Approved as written / Changed to: ____ / Remove
[Q3] "Invoices went out when the paperwork came back from the van, which
could be a week, could be three. Sometimes the job sheet was under a
seat." Record item 1. Used in: long.
Approved as written / Changed to: ____ / Remove
[Q4] "Our office manager spent the last three days of every month chasing
job sheets instead of chasing money." Record item 2. Used in: long.
Contains a figure; agrees with F3.
Approved as written / Changed to: ____ / Remove
[Q5] "We went into the overdraft twice last winter waiting on money we'd
already earned." Record item 2. Used in: long.
Approved as written / Changed to: ____ / Remove
[Q6] "It lasted about a month." Record item 3. Used in: long. Part of a
longer passage; the sentence before it is told in the draft's own
words.
Approved as written / Changed to: ____ / Remove
[Q7] "Our accountant showed us we were owed more than a month's payroll.
That was the day." Record item 4. Used in: long.
Approved as written / Changed to: ____ / Remove
[Q8] "Firm F set it up so the invoice goes out from the tablet when the
tech closes the job." Record item 5. Used in: long. Part of a
longer passage.
Approved as written / Changed to: ____ / Remove
[Q9] "reads it, changes what she wants, and sends it." Record item 6.
Used in: long. Part of a longer passage.
Approved as written / Changed to: ____ / Remove
[Q10] "The first two weeks the techs hated it. Two of them kept closing
jobs without the photos, so the invoices went out wrong." Record
item 7. Used in: long. Contains figures.
Approved as written / Changed to: ____ / Remove
[Q11] "Month end is one day now, not three." Record item 8. Used in:
long. Contains figures; agrees with F3.
Approved as written / Changed to: ____ / Remove
[Q12] "I haven't thought about the overdraft since June." Record item 8.
Used in: long.
Approved as written / Changed to: ____ / Remove
[Q13] "Some customers still pay when they feel like it. That hasn't
changed." Record item 10. Used in: long.
Approved as written / Changed to: ____ / Remove
[Q14] "We're going to do the same for maintenance visits next spring."
Record item 13. Used in: long.
Approved as written / Changed to: ____ / Remove
Numbers
[N1] Average days from invoice to payment, 52 (October to December 2025)
to 31 (July to September 2026). Source: figures sheet F1, aged-debt
report from the accounting system. Used in: both, and both
headlines.
Approved as written / Changed to: ____ / Remove
[N2] The middle of March, when invoicing from the tablet began. Source:
record item 5. The record gives no year. Used in: both.
Approved as written / Changed to: ____ / Remove
[N3] Invoices sent within one working day of job completion, 35%
(October to December 2025) to 96% (July to September 2026). Source:
figures sheet F2, job report from the field-service app. Used in:
both.
Approved as written / Changed to: ____ / Remove
[N4] Office days on month-end invoicing, 3 (October to December 2025) to
1 (July to September 2026). Source: figures sheet F3, the office
manager's estimate. Used in: both.
Approved as written / Changed to: ____ / Remove
[N5] 21 days sooner. Source: worked out by us from F1: 52 - 31 = 21.
Used in: long.
Approved as written / Changed to: ____ / Remove
Identity
[I1] The customer's name: not used; the draft says "a heating and cooling
installer". Approved as written / Changed to: ____ / Remove
[I2] The interviewee's name and title: the name is not used; the draft
says "Operations director". Approved as written / Changed to: ____ /
Remove
[I3] Staff count and number of technicians (in Q2): could help identify
the business. Approved as written / Changed to: ____ / Remove
[I4] Logo: not used. Approved as written / Changed to: ____ / Remove
DIFFERENCES TO SETTLE
- Record item 8: "We get paid in about three weeks now. It used to be
nearer two months." The figures sheet (F1) gives 52 days before and 31
after. The draft uses F1 and leaves this quotation out. The customer
says which is right.
- The brief says the Monday list goes to the office manager. Record item
6 says Firm F sends it to the operations director, and the office
manager reads it, changes it and sends it. The draft follows the
record.
NOT USED
- From the brief: Firm F's work began in February 2026. The customer did
not say when it began.
- From the brief: cash collected is up about 20%. The customer did not
say it, and marked cash collected per month (F4) "no".
- F5, balance more than 60 days overdue: marked "ask". If the customer
approves it, it would be a fourth result, over the limit of three, so
one result would have to make way or the limit be raised.
- F6, jobs completed per month: marked "no".
- Last year's revenue (record item 9): kept out at the customer's request.
- The customer's bank and its customers: kept out at the customer's
request; neither appears in the draft.
- Record item 8, the quotation about three weeks: see Differences to
settle.
FOR THE REQUESTER TO DECIDE
- Whether and how to send this draft to the operations director for
written approval of the text and every item above (Firm F's owner).
- Whether to ask the customer about F5 (Firm F's owner).
- Whether Q13, the point still unsolved, stays in the long version
(Firm F's owner); the customer may also remove it at approval.
- Whether the financial details in Q5, Q7 and Q12 (the overdraft and
payroll) stay (Firm F's owner); the customer may also remove them at
approval.
- Where the approved case study appears, once it is approved in writing
(Firm F's owner).
Every quotation above appears word for word in the interview record, and every number traces to the figures sheet or the record. The draft sends nothing, names no customer and publishes nothing.
Where it fits
- Marketing and content: a case study gives your site and your campaigns proof in a customer's own voice.
- Sales: the short version goes into a follow-up email or a proposal, where a buyer asks who else has done this.
- Customer success and account management: the people closest to the customer know when the work has landed and who might be willing to talk.
- Professional services: firms whose work cannot be seen on a shelf show what changed for a client.
- Software technology: buyers compare before-and-after figures from companies like theirs.
- Marketing and advertising: agencies win the next client with the last client's results, approved by that client.
- Engineering firms: a delivered project told in the client's words carries weight in the next bid.
- Startups & new ventures: the first two or three customers' stories can be the strongest proof a young company has.
- Growth & scaling: a steady habit of case studies keeps pace with a growing customer list.
What has to change for your company
- Who approves. Name the person who sends the draft to the customer, keeps their written approval and publishes the result.
- Your figures sheet. Keep the default columns or change them, and decide what you say when you send it.
- Your limits. How many results a case study shows, and how long each version runs.
- How you describe a customer who is not named, and the closing line you want at the end.
- The interview. Who conducts it, how long it runs and whether you record it.
- Your platform. It runs in ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot or Gemini, from records you supply. Decide which records the assistant may read and where drafts are kept.
What has been checked
Fully Powered AI wrote this capability template. It was editorially reviewed on 10 November 2026. It was tried on its invented example on 10 November 2026 in two runs: the instructions and the example's inputs were revised after the first, and the record of the second run is published with it. That record lists the small edits made afterward, none of which has been run again. It has not yet been tested in a client environment. It has not yet been tested as a packaged version in ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot or Gemini.
Testing in your environment means running it on a past interview your team knows well, plus hard cases written in advance: a figures sheet with renamed columns, a spoken figure that disagrees with the sheet, a brief that claims a result the customer never gave, a request to make a quotation punchier. The interviewer checks every quotation against the record. Pilot acceptance-test preparation sets those cases up, and what we test before we call an AI workflow ready describes the record we keep.
The full capability template
Everything above is the outline. The complete capability template is the working version: the roles, the inputs, the procedure, the exceptions and stop conditions, the output format, the reviewer checklist, the acceptance tests, the instructions for an AI assistant and what to customize for your company. It comes with a download and the link to its folder in Fully Powered’s public repository.
Free with an account. Sign in by email: no password and no card.
Next step
Bring a real piece of this work to a call. We’ll walk through what it takes to fit this capability to your rules, prove it on your work and put it in the hands of the roles that own it.