Empty or sparsely populated categories are one of the biggest unforced errors in case studies. I see it all the time, and it’s a massive confidence drainer.
It usually happens like this. A company lists the sectors it works in: commercial, residential, education, healthcare, industrial. Each one gets a tile on the website. Click on a couple and you’ll find three projects. Click on healthcare and there’s one, from 2016. Or nothing at all.
Why it matters so much
Think about who clicks on that healthcare tile. It isn’t a casual visitor. It’s someone from an NHS trust, a private hospital group or a care provider, checking whether you understand their world: infection control, live clinical environments, decant planning, strict compliance.
They are exactly the buyer that sector page was meant to win. And what they find tells them you either don’t do much of this work, or you don’t think it’s worth showing. Neither helps.
Evaluators on formal bids do the same thing, just more thoroughly. If you claim a sector, expect them to look for evidence.
How to check your own website
Go through every sector and service you list and count the case studies behind each one. Be honest about quality as well as quantity. A paragraph and a photo isn’t really a case study.
Then sort each sector into one of three groups:
- Strong: two or more proper case studies that show how you solved problems.
- Thin: one example, or several that are just photos and a project name.
- Empty: nothing, or nothing recent.
What to do about thin and empty categories
Fill the gaps you can
Most firms have more relevant work than their website shows. Ask the project teams. A small healthcare job done as part of a larger contract still counts, as long as you write it up around the healthcare-specific challenges.
Write up what you have properly
Case studies, or project pieces, need to show how you solved problems successfully. But something is better than nothing. A short write-up of a modest project, explaining the constraints and what you did about them, beats an empty page every time.
Merge or remove what you can’t support
If you genuinely don’t do much work in a sector, consider folding it into a broader category or dropping it. A focused list of sectors you can prove is more convincing than a long list you can’t.
Plan the next case studies around the gaps
When you decide which projects to write up next, prioritise the sectors you most want to grow. Your case study library should reflect where you want to go, not just where you’ve been.
The rule of two
As a working minimum, aim for at least two solid case studies behind every sector and service you claim. Two examples suggest a pattern. One looks like a one-off.
For how to choose, research and write each one, see How to Write Construction Case Studies That Win Work.
Get your projects written up properly
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Michael Willoughby