How to Capture Your Target Reader With Your Anonymous Case Study

BY Holly Yoos
November 18, 2021

If your case study is anonymous, how can you be sure it gets read?

Every case study should be aimed at a defined target reader.

It might be CFOs of SaaS companies, or IT managers of financial institutions, or marketing directors of digital advertising agencies or something even more specific.

Usually, you can use your customer’s brand name and logo as a signal to that target reader.

Those brands and logos wave a flag, saying, “Hey CFO/CEO/director/etc., here’s a company you probably already know that shares your challenges—challenges that we solved for them.

But what about anonymous case studies where you can’t share the company name, brand name, or logo for reasons of confidentiality?

How can you signal to your target reader that this case study is for them when you can’t attach any names to it?

Here are three clever techniques you can use to capture the attention of your target reader without revealing any sensitive information:

1. Specify the employee count

One technique is to specify the employee count.

When you specify that the unnamed company has ten, 100 or 1,000-plus employees, you convey important information about the scale of the project and the customer.


When you specify the number of employees, you convey important information about the scale of the project and the customer.


For example, if you’re targeting enterprise companies—and you don’t want to attract smaller businesses—you can specify how many employees your customer has, as we did in this clip from the front page of a recent case study (circled in blue):

Anonymous case study - number of employees

As you can see, our client’s customer has over 1,000 employees, which gets the attention of government agencies or enterprise companies with similar employee counts.

In short, the employee count serves as shorthand to demonstrate that our client has the capacity and capability to provide its services to large scale enterprises.

2. Name the industry or niche

Another great signaling technique is to mention the industry or niche.

In the above example, we kept this description more general, specifying only “a U.S. city.” It’s a little vague, but it’s what the customer was comfortable with so we honored their choice, of course.

In this example, we were able to get a bit more specific:

Anonymous case study - industry

As you can see, we were able to describe the customer as a “U.S. Department of Defense contractor.”

This is perfect, because the case study is meant to appeal to that exact target market: DOD or other government contractors that require the highest levels of data security.

So while we can’t say which DOD contractor it was, we don’t have to. The description is enough to attract the right eyeballs.

3. Harp on a common pain point

Yet another technique you can use is to harp on a pain point that your anonymous customer and target reader both share.

Maybe it’s removing friction between legal and sales departments in the contracting process.

Or shutting down ransomware attacks before they occur.

Or simplifying complex and inefficient tech stacks.

Whatever the pain point, choose something that’s common across your entire target market.

Give your anonymous case studies teeth

Just because you need to anonymize your case study to protect the confidentiality of your customer, that doesn’t mean you can’t give it teeth to reach your target audience.

By specifying the employee counts, industry/niche, and common pain points, you can still make sure that your target market will see itself in your customer stories.


Use these techniques to help your target market see itself in your customer stories.


Want your anonymous case study to resonate with your target audience?

Contact us to start the conversation.

Ya, you like that? Well, there’s more where that came from!

Should You Send Case Study Interview Questions in Advance?

Sending your case study interview questions to your interviewee in advance sounds like a no-brainer, doesn’t it? And certainly, if you type “should you send case study interview questions in advance” into Google, that’s the boilerplate advice everyone gives. But is that truly good advice? Or does it depend on the situation? At Case Study Buddy, we’ve conducted (literally) hundreds and hundreds of case study interviews, and we’re continually testing new and better ways of conducting them. And the answer...

BY Holly Yoos

Best AI Case Study Examples in 2024 (And a How-To Guide!)

Who has the best case studies for AI solutions? B2B buyers’ heads are spinning with the opportunities that AI makes possible. But in a noisy, technical space where hundreds of new AI solutions and use cases are popping up overnight, many buyers don’t know how to navigate these opportunities—or who they can trust. Your customers are as skeptical as they are excited, thinking… “I’m confused by the complexity of your technology.” “I’m unsure whether there’s clear ROI.” “I’m concerned about...

BY Ian Winterton

How to Write Cybersecurity Case Studies

When it comes to case studies, cybersecurity poses special challenges.  The cybersecurity landscape is saturated with solutions—and so sales and marketing teams have never been hungrier for customer success stories they can share as proof of their product’s abilities. But cybersecurity clients are very reluctant to be featured. They don’t want to talk about the time they almost got hacked, they don’t want to disclose the details of their setup and risk more attacks, and they just plain don’t want...

BY Sam Harrison

Let’s tell your stories together.

Get in touch to start a conversation.

Contact Us

Darunter sein sich allgemeine Kredit-/Debitkarten, beliebte E-Wallets dieses weiteren Banküberweisungen. wir haben Stattdessen vermag das mobile Spielangebot als HTML5-Version dieser regulären Website dargestellt. spiele wie Offensichtlich können einige Optionen, auf welche weise zum Beispiel Prepaidkarten, nicht verwendet sein. vulkan vegas casino online Es gibt auch wichtige wöchentliche Aktionen sowie Turniere, bei denen Sie zusätzliche Belohnungen abbauen können. vulkan vegas

🎉 Case Study Buddy has been acquired by Testimonial Hero 🎉  Learn more at testimonialhero.com