Improving Efficiency in Case Study Creation: Share Your Timelines

Daniela Chesser · 2025-08-01 20:52:51.960782+00

Hi all! I'm taking a look at my team's case study creation process efficiencies and inefficiencies - would love to get some examples of how long your average timelines are to create a 2 page case study from start to finish, and how long the actual writing portion takes on average

Improving Efficiency in Case Study Creation: Share Your Timelines | CMAweekly Customer Marketing and Advocacy Slack

14 comments

· Sorted by Oldest

Sarah Howell
·
oh hey 👋 🤭 always down to talk case studies
❤️1
Mindy Lyons Blackstock
·
Me too! Let me know if you’d like to chat
Daniela Chesser
·
Would love to chat with you both!! Lmk what your schedules look like in the coming weeks and I'll set something up 🙂 appreciate it so much!!
👍1
Mary Green
·
Sarah Howell and Mindy Lyons Blackstock I’d love to hear how long it takes you both on the average case study as well.
Sarah Howell
·
Mary Green way too long. I was working on three video, full production case studies that took 6 months. but most of the time they take 2-3 months from start to finish.
👍1
Mary Green
·
That is quite long. Good luck with the next ones. I hope the chat with others helps.
Mindy Lyons Blackstock
·
Daniela Chesser feel free to DM me to find a time!
Mindy Lyons Blackstock
·
I’d say a similar timeline to Sarah Howell If you set and align on objectives and key players from the onset, it can move faster Big brands/big companies, means lots of reviews and brand protection so these can be significantly longer, like a year or 2
Ashley Ward
·
My experience is usually 1-2 weeks to have a writer turnaround a first draft. I’ve been using Gemini to turn around first drafts immediately after the interview. GAME CHANGER. When I send the draft to a customer, I usually ask for a timeline on their end. Like “is approval by next Friday realistic for your team?” Once approved, we have graphic templates but that can take 3-4 days and can probably be done while the draft is waiting on approval from the customer. I would hope for no longer than 4 weeks from start to finish.
👍1
Mary Green
·
Oooh, what does your prompt look like Ashley Ward?
Ashley Ward
·
I usually listen back to the interview and draft a rough outline (like bullet points). This is my prompt: Hi! I'd like you to write up a compelling customer story for the software LeanData. Please review these pages to learn about our style. Then I will submit an outline that I'd like you to use to write the story. While I'll be providing mostly bullet points, please write something that is aligned to the example format. Target 500-1000 words. Examples: Add 3-4 links to your best stories
Ashley Ward
·
I probably spend an hour on the outline, maybe 30 minutes on edits. My last story I was able to send a draft to the customer less than 24 hours after our interview. 🙌🏻
Mary Green
·
That is a huge win, thank for sharing Ashley. I’ve missed seeing you around. Please let me know if we can help you at all.
❤️1
Caroline Englert
·
Wow Ashley Ward love that! I would echo waht others were saying... 3+ months is usually the turnaround time for us. Would love to shorten that!
❤️1

Sarah Howell
·
oh hey 👋 🤭 always down to talk case studies
❤️1
Mindy Lyons Blackstock
·
Me too! Let me know if you’d like to chat
Daniela Chesser
·
Would love to chat with you both!! Lmk what your schedules look like in the coming weeks and I'll set something up 🙂 appreciate it so much!!
👍1
Mary Green
·
Sarah Howell and Mindy Lyons Blackstock I’d love to hear how long it takes you both on the average case study as well.
Sarah Howell
·
Mary Green way too long. I was working on three video, full production case studies that took 6 months. but most of the time they take 2-3 months from start to finish.
👍1
Mary Green
·
That is quite long. Good luck with the next ones. I hope the chat with others helps.
Mindy Lyons Blackstock
·
Daniela Chesser feel free to DM me to find a time!
Mindy Lyons Blackstock
·
I’d say a similar timeline to Sarah Howell If you set and align on objectives and key players from the onset, it can move faster Big brands/big companies, means lots of reviews and brand protection so these can be significantly longer, like a year or 2
Ashley Ward
·
My experience is usually 1-2 weeks to have a writer turnaround a first draft. I’ve been using Gemini to turn around first drafts immediately after the interview. GAME CHANGER. When I send the draft to a customer, I usually ask for a timeline on their end. Like “is approval by next Friday realistic for your team?” Once approved, we have graphic templates but that can take 3-4 days and can probably be done while the draft is waiting on approval from the customer. I would hope for no longer than 4 weeks from start to finish.
👍1
Mary Green
·
Oooh, what does your prompt look like Ashley Ward?
Ashley Ward
·
I usually listen back to the interview and draft a rough outline (like bullet points). This is my prompt: Hi! I'd like you to write up a compelling customer story for the software LeanData. Please review these pages to learn about our style. Then I will submit an outline that I'd like you to use to write the story. While I'll be providing mostly bullet points, please write something that is aligned to the example format. Target 500-1000 words. Examples: Add 3-4 links to your best stories
Ashley Ward
·
I probably spend an hour on the outline, maybe 30 minutes on edits. My last story I was able to send a draft to the customer less than 24 hours after our interview. 🙌🏻
Mary Green
·
That is a huge win, thank for sharing Ashley. I’ve missed seeing you around. Please let me know if we can help you at all.
❤️1
Caroline Englert
·
Wow Ashley Ward love that! I would echo waht others were saying... 3+ months is usually the turnaround time for us. Would love to shorten that!
❤️1