Precedent works by analogy. What matters is not just the outcome of a particular case, but the reasoning. When similar legal questions come up in future cases

Precedent works by analogy. What matters is not just the outcome of a particular case, but the reasoning. When similar legal questions come up in future cases, lower courts are required to cite this case and follow the same reasoning, to the extent the reasoning applies to the facts of that case. Of course, no two cases have exactly the same facts, and different facts may produce a different outcome. But if a future case is similar enough to this one, the lower court will be expected to compare the two cases and explain why the differences in facts justify a different outcome. No legal question is resolved for sure until it reaches the Supreme Court, but most cases never make it there, instead being resolved by lower courts applying higher courts' precedents.