I’m here to speak only the truth:
Most case studies out there suck.
Even professional case study writers seem to create them just for the sake of delivering something to their clients.
What does a bad case study look like?
It’s just that type of article or PDF file that’s literally a boring interview with your client. Always the same questions, never any true insights.
That’s why most people don’t read case studies anymore. They simply lack value while they focus on shooting their features and services forward all too often instead of educating and teaching readers how to use a product or service. So readers just drop the case study halfway through without even getting to the important part: the results.
I’ve literally gone through all B2B and B2C companies I could think of and selected the ones that nail their case studies.
The guide will focus both on the business and client segments since the mistakes case study writers make are roughly the same. I’ve also included customer success story examples and other unique ways of promoting a client’s results. The goal is the same in all cases.
From over 1,000 brands reviews, only 40 made the cut. Without further ado, here are the case studies that won’t make you yawn:
Mailchimp
Case study tips:
• Stick to sharing only information and details that are necessary.
• Pair everything with a video.
They were my first case study “idols” so I had to start with them.
Customer success stories are everywhere on Mailchimp’s website and social media platforms. On their blog, videos [with their very own original series on YouTube], Facebook page, and other resources.
Let’s take a full look at one of their case studies:
Short. Sweet. Straight to the point.
Plus, the variety of case studies they have for multiple industries will make it impossible for any brand not to find a relevant example and see how they too can use Mailchimp.
Case study tips:
• Highlight results separately for people who are only interested in these.
• Add in image and video proof of the client using your product/service and the results they got by doing so.
If Mailchimp is strong on the case studies for small and medium businesses, Google does a mix of local companies [since they have lots of tools for them too] and large brands.
Evernote
Case study tips:
• Consider a reader’s multiple viewing preferences, including a PDF version in addition to the in-browser article option.
• Skip the fluff, no one cares.
Whoever wrote their case studies seems to have realized that people simply don’t have time to skim through the fluff. This being said, Evernote has some of the most straightforward case studies ever:
CoSchedule
Case study tips:
• Add in a company overview with key identifying data so people can match up their own company’s profile.
• Keep a consistent structure throughout most of your case studies.
• Experiment with adding calls-to-action throughout multiple stages: at the beginning of the case study, in the middle, or right at the end.
• Try repeating CTAs.
• Pair client quotes with profile images to emphasize the fact that there’s a human behind it all.
One of my favorites, not just because of the colors, but also thanks to its smart structure that systematically takes readers through the points that are of top interest to them: challenges, solutions, and outcomes.
Twilio
Case study tips:
• Support your client! Talk more about them than your brand and add a CTA to their website.
• Keep benefits structured in a visual way.
• No need to writer everything down. Use images for proof instead.
Yet more proof that a case study doesn’t have to be 10-pages long or too detailed. Twilio just lets their client’s results speak for themselves:
Strava
Case study tips:
• Keep the client’s goal in mind throughout the entire case study.
• Direct the reader’s attention towards your client’s results with data.
• Create meaningful partnerships with your clients and talk about them.
Strava is focused on both the B2C and B2B segments, nailing case studies:
And stories at the same time:
Have a full look here at the story.
Smartly
Case study tips:
• Pick a smart structure to keep readers interested.
• Create and reference more educational content.
The team at Smartly created a non-complicated case study divided into the 3 key points anyone reading them would be interested: challenges, solutions, and results.
Zoom
Case study tips:
• Don’t forget about your own brand’s values.
Video tool? Video case studies. As clear as that.
Intercom
Case study tips:
• Place the client company’s data in a separate box.
• Share results from the very beginning and make sure they pop out.
• Create a separate section or box to share which of your features, products, or services the client uses.
• Add in social sharing options for word of mouth purposes.
I just love a good design.
While with Intercom’s B2B case studies the text by itself is not excellent [I mean it’s just boring], the layout makes it easy to read and keeps people engaged:
If you take the time to read case studies such as this one, you’ll notice that the clients often share useful insights. The problem is that the company doesn’t know how to select the information that would be of top value to the reader.
inPowered
Case study tips:
• Place data-backed results first.
• Structure the entire case study around how you’ve helped a company and what their results were without adding in fluff.
A perfect example of how good design and structure along with solid data and results can save an apparently boring case study.
Airtable
Case study tips:
• Choose the quotes you want people to remember and add in only the best ideas and takeaways.
• Share really useful insights like Airtable does by presenting their client’s workflow and where their tool helps them.
Some of their case studies also include videos, but just keep in mind these are more difficult and time-consuming to create. Plus, not all clients might want to contribute to this extent. For the latter cases, follow a similar case study layout as Airtable:
Reply
Case study tips:
• Insert visual results at the beginning of the article.
• Add in a profile image of the client you talked to.
• Promote the client’s work, product, or services, and not just your own. After all, a case study should be a win-win situation.
Thinking of revamping your case studies? Take note from Reply.
Yes, they still have that boring talk but they’ve put considerable effort into showcasing the results of their clients. And everything’s backed by data.
Airbnb
Case study tips:
• Promote your client.
• Want to do something different from your competitors? Opt for unique images that are worth a share on their own.
• Always provide some handy information people can remember even if it’s not about what you’re selling.
Instead of calling them case studies 😬, Airbnb opts for telling stories. Stories of real people hosting and enjoying their stays and experiences.
Bolt
Case study tips:
• Put extra effort into your main case studies page.
• Focus on design too.
• Don’t be afraid to mention your competitors.
Surprisingly good. First you’ve have their main page for case studies where you can literally see all results their clients got at a single glance:
Plus, their individual case studies excel at design:
Lead Forensics
Case study tips:
• Add in lots of white space and keep paragraphs and text snippets short to make the case study easy to scan.
Don’t want to take up too much of your clients time? Stick to a few basic questions like the team at Lead Forensics did:
Gravitate
Case study tips:
• Remember that a good structure and images can save any case study.
• Keep text snippets short.
• Bring in quotes from multiple team members.
Be prepared for one long but well-structured case study:
Bluleadz
Case study tips:
• Always highlight the solution separately so readers will find it easier.
• Test different ways of showcasing your data: bullet lists, images, separate sections, etc.
• Add a contact form at the end of each case study to make it easier for people to reach out to you.
The next case study doesn’t excel at anything in particular, but it includes all the vital elements of an insightful case study:
UiPath
Case study tips:
• Save a case study that’s too long with videos, data-backed images, and quotes to break your lengthy paragraphs.
I’ll definitely cut them lots of points for the length of the case study since it gets boring to read it. Their structure however, makes it easy for you to scan the case study. You can just go on and read the quotes, headings, and data to get a general idea. The rest of the info is supporting.
Kronos
Case study tips:
• Talk to your clients and readers to see what they would want to read about in a case study. So you’re not focusing on useless info.
• Make it easy for people to share your case study.
• Add in references to your other case studies at the end.
I just love this structure many companies go for: challenges, solutions, and results. It’s really everything a future client would need to judge if the tool, service, or product is a right fit for them.
Cloudera
Case study tips:
• Add in numbers when possible instead of long sentences.
• Resume everything in a separate section or side box.
Another example of the 3-tiered structure I mentioned at Kronos. And of course, they did a great job at highlighting data within a simple case study.
Remember that people love seeing numbers when picking their next purchase.
The design needs more work though.
Schneider Electric
Case study tips:
• Add multiple CTAs.
• Resume key information at the beginning.
• Lead readers to other content you want to promote.
Notice how this case study includes lots of CTAs and external links. A case study is not a landing page. So you want to keep people on your website.
They also seem to have realized the importance of sticking to the 3-part structure.
Teradata
Case study tips:
• Don’t leave your videos on YouTube. Bring them on your blog.
The Teradata case studies are video-based but they also have brief pages for them.
Case study tips:
• Don’t complicate your case studies. Sometime a simple structure works best.
• Stick to bullet points if you’re finding it difficult to organize your information.
Simplicity. All you need for your next case study.
Pantheon
Case study tips:
• There’s always time to improve your past case studies. Add in a couple of images, headings, lists, boxes, CTAs, and visual data.
If you’ve already got yourself caught in the maze of boring case studies, you can still save them by taking notes from Pantheon.
Nevertheless, not an option in the long run.
Xander Marketing
Case study tips:
• Keep the info under each heading brief.
• Test out mentioning other clients on your case study’s page too so readers will find a company they can relate to.
Again, if you want to edit your existing case studies, you can also go for the Xander Marketing model.
Better structure and a few images can go a long way.
Olapic
Case study tips:
• Stick to the basics you know will work.
You can always take the content you already have, make it match the 3-tier structure, and add in highlighted data for the results:
There’s no way for you to go wrong with a similar organization.
Quintly
Case study tips:
• Reach out to people from different team’s in your client’s company.
Most of the time, case study writers reach out to a single member of their client’s team. Presumably to not take up too much of everyone’s time. Quintly clearly shows they’ve been talking to multiple team members [see quotes]. If you ask me, this is a more accurate and honest way of displaying the client’s beliefs and results since you get multiple opinions.
If you’re planning to go for this technique, make sure you select employees from different teams. Let’s say a manager and a regular member of the design or marketing team. This will show readers different views on your product or service and it can help you highlight certain facts like your tool being a perfect fit for all kinds of teams and workers.
Khoros
Case study tips:
• Always offer a PDF version people can read offline too.
• Explain more than just results. Describe the entire workflow of your client to show people how they got to reach their goals.
What I personally like seeing the most in case studies is info on the company’s workflow, how they work, what their process for handling tasks and challenges is. This Khoros example offers a decent look at that:
Red Badger
Case study tips:
• Use all images as proof of your partnership’s results.
Red Badger has also taken a seemingly endless case study and added in supporting images and stats to keep the focus on the outcomes of your collaboration.
Basic
Case study tips:
• If you’re a design or branding agency and you don’t put in the relevant effort into your case studies, any attempt is pointless. Think of every single case study as a piece you can add to your design portfolio.
Basic is a branding agency. Consequently, it’s mandatory for them to highlight their expertise and skills at all times, including their case studies. Head over to this case study they did for Beats by Dre to be immersed in the full experience.
We’re going beyond simple structure into visual transitions, timelines, and changing colors that keep you engaged as you scroll down.
Airship
Case study tips:
• Bring in your own branding and colors to the case study.
• Add elements readers can engage with such as slideshows.
Another one of my favorites thanks to their design [loving them colors] and super useful structure:
Punchkick
Case study tips:
• Use the first parts of the case study to resume important highlights and findings.
• Create a separate section to list what services or products of yours were used to achieve the results you talk about.
Are you a service provider struggling to put your work into a case study? Take note from the profs are Punchkick:
Cisco
Case study tips:
• Create a video format of your written case study too. The “article” you put together should be based on the video.
• Promote your clients.
Shocker. Who said enterprises have boring case studies? Cisco proves them all wrong and puts smaller brands to shame.
They just have it all.
Adobe
Case study tips:
• Think it’s too late to save your case studies? Resume everything in the first two sections to make it easier for people to scan the insights you’ve shared.
Overall boring case studies, but they save it all by resuming everything at the beginning. Honestly, they could have just kept it at this:
Zendesk
Case study tips:
• Bring more attention to what you have to offer by displaying a Products or Services Used box separately.
Not the best example I could give but I had to mention them thanks to their highly-visual company info box:
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On to distinctive ways of demonstrating results, I feel like the following attempts are worth a mention although they’re not exactly case studies:
Glide’s #madewithglide
For certain industries like software or design, simply showing the results will do. Much better than a boring Q&A session. Glide, an app-creation tool, nails this with a single page to display the best works of their clients:
Shopify
Because they know that direct results work best for their clients, Shopify created this page to highlight their clients’ businesses.
Webflow
Most of Webflow’s clients are designers. Naturally, they won’t want to read about a website’s design. They want to see it. A classic case study would be useless here.
Of course, if you’re a design agency, it’s easy to just showcase your work and cut the case studies altogether from your plans:
Trello board templates
When there’s no need to focus on specific clients, just stick to showing people what THEY can create with your tool. Make your templates, features, or part of the tool public so people can share their work will bring in a considerable boost of brand awareness:
Typeform [and other brands] promoting their clients
I’ve seen more and more brands create directories with experts and agencies that are proficient at using a tool. Canva, Mailchimp, Typeform, to name a few. Win-win situation really.
Your customer gets more exposure [you know, in case a company is looking to work with someone else for a project] while Typeform, in this case, gets to “brag” a little about how many people use their tool and how they are actual experts and long-time users:
Definitely better than just writing interviews down. 🙄
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Before ending this run-through, I have to also give credit to everyone who’s building educational case studies. Here’s what I mean:
UX case studies
AKA when you dissect an existing design as shown here:
Or are trying to land a job and submit as design case study as your application, similar to this one here:
Check Bestfolios for more examples. These comic book format case studies are also worth a look.
Results-oriented case studies
When you simply want to talk about your own results. Whether that’s doing SEO, launching a product, starting a blog, whatever.
I’ll just link to this Backlinko SEO case study and this one from Robbie Richards so you can check out two good examples.
In awe yet?
Wrapping it up
Keep an eye on this list in the future as I’ll update it. If you have any other case study examples for the B2B and B2C sectors, just drop me a message or comment below and I’ll have a look.
Until next time, write fun case studies!
Alexandra Cote 🚀 