Case Study Slide [What to include and how to frame it]
- Ink Narrates | The Presentation Design Agency
- 4 days ago
- 6 min read
Our client, Jayanta, asked us an interesting question while we were working on his B2B sales deck:
"How do I show that we've actually delivered results without sounding like we're bragging?"
Our Creative Director answered:
“You don’t brag. You show the story, and let the results speak.”
As a presentation design agency, we work on dozens of sales decks around the year, and if there’s one recurring challenge we see, it’s this: most teams either underplay or overhype their case study slides.
Some bury their best wins in a sea of bullet points. Others go overboard with technical jargon and lose the room.
So, in this blog, we’re going to break it down. We’ll talk about what a case study slide is really meant to do and how to frame it without trying too hard.
The Real Problem With Most Case Study Slides
Let’s get something out of the way, most case study slides are not slides. They’re crime scenes. A mess of buzzwords, charts, client logos, and vague claims that say everything and nothing at the same time.
The intention is good: you want to prove that your product or service works. That it helped someone like your prospect. That it solved a real problem. But here’s what usually goes wrong:
It’s too much information.
We’ve seen slides trying to tell the entire client journey in eight-point font. A wall of text doesn’t build credibility, it builds confusion.
It’s too self-congratulatory.
“We increased ROI by 300% in 30 days.” Okay, great. But who was the client? What was their problem? What was at stake? Without context, your result sounds like a billboard, not a believable win.
There’s no story.
A case study slide isn’t just about facts. It’s about friction, stakes, decisions, and outcomes. If you strip that out, all you’re left with is a number and numbers don’t sell. Narratives do.
It’s unclear who the hero is.
Spoiler alert: it’s not you. It’s your client. You’re the guide, the enabler, the behind-the-scenes expert. The best case study slides position the client as the hero and your product as the tool that helped them win.
So, when this slide fails, the audience doesn’t just miss the point. They miss the impact. And in a sales or pitch context, that’s a deal-breaker.
What to Include in a Case Study Slide (and How to Frame It)
Alright, now that we’ve established what usually goes wrong, let’s shift gears and talk about how to actually get it right. Because when done well, a single case study slide can carry more weight than five testimonials and a feature list combined.
We’ll start with a basic truth: a good case study slide is not an info dump. It’s not a mini whitepaper. It’s not a place to flex your metrics. It’s a short, structured proof story designed to earn trust quickly.
Here’s how we recommend framing it.
1. Start With the Client Context (Not Your Credentials)
Too many companies start their case study slide with “Client X, industry leader in ABC, partnered with us to…” and already, the room has checked out.
Start with the problem, not the partnership.
What was going wrong in the client’s world before they met you? What was the real pain? The bottleneck? The inefficiency? That’s the hook.
Bad framing: “Client X approached us to implement a cloud-based inventory system.”
Better framing: “Client X was losing $500K annually due to supply chain delays and had no clear visibility on where the gaps were.”
Now we’re listening.
This shift in framing makes the story about why the work mattered, not just what you did. And that makes your audience more likely to care.
2. Be Specific With the Problem Statement
Here’s where most case study slides fall into the vague zone. They say things like:
“Client needed to improve efficiency.”
“They were looking to scale operations.”
“They wanted a better customer experience.”
These aren’t problems. These are strategy words with their edges sanded off.
A good problem statement is clear, measurable, and human.
Think:
“Support tickets were piling up & average response time had crossed 48 hours.”
“Sales teams were spending 30% of their time on manual CRM updates.”
“They were missing 2 out of every 5 delivery deadlines.”
When you get specific, your case study doesn’t just sound impressive, it feels relatable. Because your next client might be going through the same thing right now.
3. Highlight the Approach (But Keep It Lean)
This is where we usually have to rein clients in. Yes, we know you did a lot of great work. Yes, your process was robust. But no, this is not the place to show a 7-step framework with arrows and hexagons.
Keep your approach simple and tailored to the problem at hand.
Here’s a great question to ask: What was the smartest or most critical thing we did that made the outcome possible?
Focus on that.
If you're in SaaS, maybe it's how quickly you deployed the solution. If you're in consulting, maybe it's how you challenged the client's internal assumptions. If you're in design, maybe it's how you combined data and aesthetics to change user behavior.
Here’s a simple structure we’ve seen work really well:
Problem Insight (the turning point or idea that changed things)
Action (what you did with that insight)
That one insight-action combo often tells the real story behind the result—and it makes you sound thoughtful, not boastful.
4. Don’t Just Show the Result. Frame the Before and After
A common mistake we see: teams jump straight to the result like it dropped from the sky.
“Sales up 40%. Costs down 20%.” Great. But where’s the contrast?
The power of your result lives in the before.
A 40% increase doesn’t mean anything if we don’t know what the baseline was or what it felt like to be stuck at that baseline.
Let’s look at two versions:
Version 1:“Increased revenue by 40% in three months.”
Version 2:“Before: Sales were stuck at $200K/month despite doubling ad spend.After: $280K/month in three months, with zero increase in budget.”
Which one makes you nod with respect?
That’s the difference framing makes. It turns numbers into narrative. And it allows your audience to see the value, not just the data.
5. Add Visual Credibility (But Don’t Overdo It)
A case study slide isn’t complete without some visual proof, but this is where restraint matters.
A single quote, logo, or stat placed intentionally can carry more weight than a cluttered collage.
Here’s what we usually recommend:
Client logo in one corner, with permission
One short quote, ideally from someone with decision-making authority
One or two metrics, no more. Choose the ones that directly reflect the client’s original problem
And design-wise, keep it simple. No fancy infographics. No multicolored line charts unless they add real value. Simplicity wins.
One of our favorite formats is a side-by-side layout. “Before” on the left, “After” on the right. Each with one stat, one sentence, and one supporting visual like a quote or number.
It’s clean. It’s clear. It makes your point without trying too hard.
6. Make the Client the Hero (You’re the Guide)
Let’s talk about narrative structure for a second.
Every good story has a hero. And that hero is not you. It’s your client.
They had a challenge. They took action. They succeeded. Your job? You helped them get there.
This might sound obvious, but here’s how it actually changes the language of your slide:
Instead of “We delivered a comprehensive transformation strategy…”Try “The client rebuilt their sales model using our 3-step planning toolkit.”
Instead of “We designed and implemented a new app interface…”Try “Their team launched a new interface, cutting onboarding time in half with our design support.”
It’s a subtle but powerful shift. You go from sounding like the show-off to sounding like the enabler. And that makes your audience think, “Maybe we could pull this off too… if we worked with them.”
7. Keep It to One Slide (Unless You Have a Very Good Reason)
We know. You want to tell the whole story. We get it. But here’s our advice:
If it takes more than one slide to explain your impact, it’s not a slide problem. It’s a clarity problem.
Condense. Simplify. Prioritize.
A case study slide is not meant to close the deal. It’s meant to tip the scale in your favor. If it sparks a conversation, you’ve won.
Use speaker notes or a follow-up PDF if needed, but on the slide itself, less is more.
Why Hire Us to Build your Presentation?
If you're reading this, you're probably working on a presentation right now. You could do it all yourself. But the reality is - that’s not going to give you the high-impact presentation you need. It’s a lot of guesswork, a lot of trial and error. And at the end of the day, you’ll be left with a presentation that’s “good enough,” not one that gets results. On the other hand, we’ve spent years crafting thousands of presentations, mastering both storytelling and design. Let us handle this for you, so you can focus on what you do best.