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What Is a Case Study?

When you’re performing research as part of your job or for a school assignment, you’ll probably come across case studies that help you to learn more about the topic at hand. But what is a case study and why are they helpful? Read on to learn all about case studies.

Deep Dive into a Topic

At face value, a case study is a deep dive into a topic. Case studies can be found in many fields, particularly across the social sciences and medicine. When you conduct a case study, you create a body of research based on an inquiry and related data from analysis of a group, individual or controlled research environment.

As a researcher, you can benefit from the analysis of case studies similar to inquiries you’re currently studying. Researchers often rely on case studies to answer questions that basic information and standard diagnostics cannot address.

Study a Pattern

One of the main objectives of a case study is to find a pattern that answers whatever the initial inquiry seeks to find. This might be a question about why college students are prone to certain eating habits or what mental health problems afflict house fire survivors. The researcher then collects data, either through observation or data research, and starts connecting the dots to find underlying behaviors or impacts of the sample group’s behavior.

Gather Evidence

During the study period, the researcher gathers evidence to back the observed patterns and future claims that’ll be derived from the data. Since case studies are usually presented in the professional environment, it’s not enough to simply have a theory and observational notes to back up a claim. Instead, the researcher must provide evidence to support the body of study and the resulting conclusions.

Present Findings

As the study progresses, the researcher develops a solid case to present to peers or a governing body. Case study presentation is important because it legitimizes the body of research and opens the findings to a broader analysis that may end up drawing a conclusion that’s more true to the data than what one or two researchers might establish. The presentation might be formal or casual, depending on the case study itself.

Draw Conclusions

Once the body of research is established, it’s time to draw conclusions from the case study. As with all social sciences studies, conclusions from one researcher shouldn’t necessarily be taken as gospel, but they’re helpful for advancing the body of knowledge in a given field. For that purpose, they’re an invaluable way of gathering new material and presenting ideas that others in the field can learn from and expand upon.

Top 40 Most Popular Case Studies of 2021

Two cases about Hertz claimed top spots in 2021's Top 40 Most Popular Case Studies

Two cases on the uses of debt and equity at Hertz claimed top spots in the CRDT’s (Case Research and Development Team) 2021 top 40 review of cases.

Hertz (A) took the top spot. The case details the financial structure of the rental car company through the end of 2019. Hertz (B), which ranked third in CRDT’s list, describes the company’s struggles during the early part of the COVID pandemic and its eventual need to enter Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The success of the Hertz cases was unprecedented for the top 40 list. Usually, cases take a number of years to gain popularity, but the Hertz cases claimed top spots in their first year of release. Hertz (A) also became the first ‘cooked’ case to top the annual review, as all of the other winners had been web-based ‘raw’ cases.

Besides introducing students to the complicated financing required to maintain an enormous fleet of cars, the Hertz cases also expanded the diversity of case protagonists. Kathyrn Marinello was the CEO of Hertz during this period and the CFO, Jamere Jackson is black.

Sandwiched between the two Hertz cases, Coffee 2016, a perennial best seller, finished second. “Glory, Glory, Man United!” a case about an English football team’s IPO made a surprise move to number four. Cases on search fund boards, the future of malls, Norway’s Sovereign Wealth fund, Prodigy Finance, the Mayo Clinic, and Cadbury rounded out the top ten.

Other year-end data for 2021 showed:

CRDT compiled the Top 40 list by combining data from its case store, Google Analytics, and other measures of interest and adoption.

All of this year’s Top 40 cases are available for purchase from the Yale Management Media store .

And the Top 40 cases studies of 2021 are:

1. Hertz Global Holdings (A): Uses of Debt and Equity

2. Coffee 2016

3. Hertz Global Holdings (B): Uses of Debt and Equity 2020

4. Glory, Glory Man United!

5. Search Fund Company Boards: How CEOs Can Build Boards to Help Them Thrive

6. The Future of Malls: Was Decline Inevitable?

7. Strategy for Norway's Pension Fund Global

8. Prodigy Finance

9. Design at Mayo

10. Cadbury

11. City Hospital Emergency Room

19. AXA: Creating the New CR Metrics

20. IBM Corporate Service Corps

21. Business Leadership in South Africa's 1994 Reforms

22. Alternative Meat Industry

23. Children's Premier

24. Khalil Tawil and Umi (A)

25. Palm Oil 2016

26. Teach For All: Designing a Global Network

27. What's Next? Search Fund Entrepreneurs Reflect on Life After Exit

28. Searching for a Search Fund Structure: A Student Takes a Tour of Various Options

30. Project Sammaan

31. Commonfund ESG

32. Polaroid

33. Connecticut Green Bank 2018: After the Raid

34. FieldFresh Foods

35. The Alibaba Group

36. 360 State Street: Real Options

37. Herman Miller

38. AgBiome

39. Nathan Cummings Foundation

40. Toyota 2010

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28 Case Study Examples Every Marketer Should See

Published: December 27, 2022

Putting together a compelling case study is one of the most powerful strategies for showcasing your product and attracting future customers. But it's not easy to create case studies that your audience can’t wait to read.

In this post, we’ll go over the definition of a case study and the best examples to inspire you.

Download Now: 3 Free Case Study Templates

What is a case study?

A case study is a detailed story of something your company did. It includes a beginning — often discussing a conflict, an explanation of what happened next, and a resolution that explains how the company solved or improved on something.

A case study proves how your product has helped other companies by demonstrating real-life results. Not only that, but marketing case studies with solutions typically contain quotes from the customer. This means that they’re not just ads where you praise your own product. Rather, other companies are praising your company — and there’s no stronger marketing material than a verbal recommendation or testimonial. A great case study is also filled with research and stats to back up points made about a project's results.

There are myriad ways to use case studies in your marketing strategy . From featuring them on your website to including them in a sales presentation, a case study is a strong, persuasive tool that shows customers why they should work with you — straight from another customer. Writing one from scratch is hard, though, which is why we’ve created a collection of case study templates for you to get started.

Fill out the form below to access the free case study templates.

Case Study Kit + Templates

Fill out this form to access free case study templates..

There’s no better way to generate more leads than by writing case studies . But without case study examples to draw inspiration from, it can be difficult to write impactful studies that convince visitors to submit a form.

Marketing Case Study Examples

To help you create an attractive and high-converting case study, we've put together a list of some of our favorites. This list includes famous case studies in marketing, technology, and business.

These studies can show you how to frame your company offers in a way that is both meaningful and useful to your audience. So, take a look, and let these examples inspire your next brilliant case study design.

These marketing case studies with solutions show the value proposition of each product. They also show how each company benefited in both the short and long term using quantitative data. In other words, you don’t get just nice statements, like "This company helped us a lot." You see actual change within the firm through numbers and figures.

You can put your learnings into action with HubSpot's Free Case Study Templates . Available as custom designs and text-based documents, you can upload these templates to your CMS or send them to prospects as you see fit.

1. " How Handled Scaled from Zero to 121 Locations with the Help of HubSpot ," by HubSpot

Case study examples: Handled and HubSpot

What's interesting about this case study is the way it leads with the customer. That reflects a major HubSpot cornerstone, which is to always solve for the customer first. The copy leads with a brief description of why the CEO of Handled founded the company and why he thought Handled could benefit from adopting a CRM. The case study also opens up with one key data point about Handled’s success using HubSpot, namely that it grew to 121 locations.

Notice that this case study uses mixed media. Yes, there is a short video, but it's elaborated upon in the other text on the page. So while your case studies can use one or the other, don't be afraid to combine written copy with visuals to emphasize the project's success.

Key Learnings from the HubSpot Case Study Example

2. " The Whole Package ," by IDEO

Here's a design company that knows how to lead with simplicity in its case studies. As soon as the visitor arrives at the page, they’re greeted with a big, bold photo and the title of the case study — which just so happens to summarize how IDEO helped its client. It summarizes the case study in three snippets: The challenge, the impact, and the outcome.

Immediately, IDEO communicates its impact — the company partnered with H&M to remove plastic from its packaging — but it doesn't stop there. As the user scrolls down, the challenge, impact, and progress are elaborated upon with comprehensive (but not overwhelming) copy that outlines what that process looked like, replete with quotes and intriguing visuals.

Key Learnings from the IDEO Case Study Example

3. " Rozum Robotics intensifies its PR game with Awario ," by Awario

In this case study, Awario greets the user with a summary straight away — so if you’re feeling up to reading the entire case study, you can scan the snapshot and understand how the company serves its customers. The case study then includes jump links to several sections, such as "Company Profile," "Rozum Robotics' Pains," "Challenge," "Solution," and "Results and Improvements."

The sparse copy and prominent headings show that you don’t need a lot of elaborate information to show the value of your products and services. Like the other case study examples on this list, it includes visuals and quotes to demonstrate the effectiveness of the company’s efforts. The case study ends with a bulleted list that shows the results.

Key Learnings from the Awario Robotics Case Study Example

4. " Chevrolet DTU ," by Carol H. Williams

Case study examples: Carol H. Williams and Chevrolet DTU

If you’ve worked with a company that’s well-known, use only the name in the title — like Carol H. Williams, one of the nation’s top advertising agencies, does here. The "DTU," stands for "Discover the Unexpected." It generates interest because you want to find out what the initials mean.

They keep your interest in this case study by using a mixture of headings, images, and videos to describe the challenges, objectives, and solutions of the project. The case study closes with a summary of the key achievements that Chevrolet’s DTU Journalism Fellows reached during the project.

Key Learnings from the Carol H. Williams Case Study Example

5. " How Fractl Earned Links from 931 Unique Domains for Porch.com in a Single Year ," by Fractl

Fractl uses both text and graphic design in their Porch.com case study to immerse the viewer in a more interesting user experience. For instance, as you scroll, you'll see the results are illustrated in an infographic-design form as well as the text itself.

Further down the page, they use icons like a heart and a circle to illustrate their pitch angles, and graphs to showcase their results. Rather than writing which publications have mentioned Porch.com during Fractl’s campaign, they incorporated the media outlets’ icons for further visual diversity.

Key Learnings from the Fractl Case Study Example

6. " The Met ," by Fantasy

What's the best way to showcase the responsiveness and user interface of a website? Probably by diving right into it with a series of simple showcases— which is exactly what Fantasy does on their case study page for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. They keep the page simple and clean, inviting you to review their redesign of the Met’s website feature-by-feature.

Each section is simple, showing a single piece of the new website's interface so that users aren’t overwhelmed with information and can focus on what matters most.

If you're more interested in text, you can read the objective for each feature. Fantasy understands that, as a potential customer, this is all you need to know. Scrolling further, you're greeted with a simple "Contact Us" CTA.

Key Learnings from the Fantasy Case Study Example

7. " Rovio: How Rovio Grew Into a Gaming Superpower ," by App Annie

If your client had a lot of positive things to say about you, take a note from App Annie’s Rovio case study and open up with a quote from your client. The case study also closes with a quote, so that the case study doesn’t seem like a promotion written by your marketing team but a story that’s taken straight from your client’s mouth. It includes a photo of a Rovio employee, too.

Another thing this example does well? It immediately includes a link to the product that Rovio used (namely, App Annie Intelligence) at the top of the case study. The case study closes with a call-to-action button prompting users to book a demo.

Key Learnings from the App Annie Case Study Example

8. " Embracing first-party data: 3 success stories from HubSpot ," by Think with Google

Case study examples: Think with Google and HubSpot

Google takes a different approach to text-focused case studies by choosing three different companies to highlight.

The case study is clean and easily scannable. It has sections for each company, with quotes and headers that clarify the way these three distinct stories connect. The simple format also uses colors and text that align with the Google brand.

Another differentiator is the focus on data. This case study is less than a thousand words, but it's packed with useful data points. Data-driven insights quickly and clearly show how the value of leveraging first-party data while prioritizing consumer privacy.

Case studies example: Data focus, Think with Google

Key Learnings from the Think with Google Case Study Example

9. " In-Depth Performance Marketing Case Study ," by Switch

Switch is an international marketing agency based in Malta that knocks it out of the park with this case study. Its biggest challenge is effectively communicating what it did for its client without ever revealing the client’s name. It also effectively keeps non-marketers in the loop by including a glossary of terms on page 4.

The PDF case study reads like a compelling research article, including titles like "In-Depth Performance Marketing Case Study," "Scenario," and "Approach," so that readers get a high-level overview of what the client needed and why they approached Switch. It also includes a different page for each strategy. For instance, if you’d only be interested in hiring Switch for optimizing your Facebook ads, you can skip to page 10 to see how they did it.

The PDF is fourteen pages long but features big fonts and plenty of white space, so viewers can easily skim it in only a few minutes.

Key Learnings from the Switch Case Study Example

10. " Gila River ," by OH Partners

Let pictures speak for you, like OH Partners did in this case study. While you’ll quickly come across a heading and some text when you land on this case study page, you’ll get the bulk of the case study through examples of actual work OH Partners did for its client. You will see OH Partners’ work in a billboard, magazine, and video. This communicates to website visitors that if they work with OH Partners, their business will be visible everywhere.

And like the other case studies here, it closes with a summary of what the firm achieved for its client in an eye-catching way.

Key Learnings from the OH Partners Case Study Example

11. " Facing a Hater ," by Digitas

Digitas' case study page for Sprite’s #ILOVEYOUHATER campaign keeps it brief while communicating the key facts of Digitas’ work for the popular soda brand. The page opens with an impactful image of a hundred people facing a single man. It turns out, that man is the biggest "bully" in Argentina, and the people facing him are those whom he’s bullied before.

Scrolling down, it's obvious that Digitas kept Sprite at the forefront of their strategy, but more than that, they used real people as their focal point. They leveraged the Twitter API to pull data from Tweets that people had actually tweeted to find the identity of the biggest "hater" in the country. That turned out to be @AguanteElCofler, a Twitter user who has since been suspended.

Key Learnings from the Digitas Case Study Example

12. " Better Experiences for All ," by HermanMiller

HermanMiller sells sleek, utilitarian furniture with no frills and extreme functionality, and that ethos extends to its case study page for a hospital in Dubai.

What first attracted me to this case study was the beautiful video at the top and the clean user experience. User experience matters a lot in a case study. It determines whether users will keep reading or leave. Another notable aspect of this case study is that the video includes closed-captioning for greater accessibility, and users have the option of expanding the CC and searching through the text.

HermanMiller’s case study also offers an impressive amount of information packed in just a few short paragraphs for those wanting to understand the nuances of their strategy. It closes out with a quote from their client and, most importantly, the list of furniture products that the hospital purchased from the brand.

Key Learnings from the HermanMiller Case Study Example

13. " Capital One on AWS ," by Amazon

Do you work continuously with your clients? Consider structuring your case study page like Amazon did in this stellar case study example. Instead of just featuring one article about Capital One and how it benefited from using AWS, Amazon features a series of articles that you can then access if you’re interested in reading more. It goes all the way back to 2016, all with different stories that feature Capital One’s achievements using AWS.

This may look unattainable for a small firm, but you don’t have to go to extreme measures and do it for every single one of your clients. You could choose the one you most wish to focus on and establish a contact both on your side and your client’s for coming up with the content. Check in every year and write a new piece. These don’t have to be long, either — five hundred to eight hundred words will do.

Key Learnings from the Amazon AWS Case Study Example

14. " HackReactor teaches the world to code #withAsana ," by Asana

Case study examples: Asana and HackReactor

While Asana's case study design looks text-heavy, there's a good reason. It reads like a creative story, told entirely from the customer's perspective.

For instance, Asana knows you won't trust its word alone on why this product is useful. So, they let Tony Phillips, HackReactor CEO, tell you instead: "We take in a lot of information. Our brains are awful at storage but very good at thinking; you really start to want some third party to store your information so you can do something with it."

Asana features frequent quotes from Phillips to break up the wall of text and humanize the case study. It reads like an in-depth interview and captivates the reader through creative storytelling. Even more, Asana includes in-depth detail about how HackReactor uses Asana. This includes how they build templates and workflows:

"There's a huge differentiator between Asana and other tools, and that’s the very easy API access. Even if Asana isn’t the perfect fit for a workflow, someone like me— a relatively mediocre software engineer—can add functionality via the API to build a custom solution that helps a team get more done."

Key Learnings from the Asana Example

15. " Rips Sewed, Brand Love Reaped ," by Amp Agency

Amp Agency's Patagonia marketing strategy aimed to appeal to a new audience through guerrilla marketing efforts and a coast-to-coast road trip. Their case study page effectively conveys a voyager theme, complete with real photos of Patagonia customers from across the U.S., and a map of the expedition. I liked Amp Agency's storytelling approach best. It captures viewers' attention from start to finish simply because it's an intriguing and unique approach to marketing.

Key Learnings from the Amp Agency Example

16. " NetApp ," by Evisort

Evisort opens up its NetApp case study with an at-a-glance overview of the client. It’s imperative to always focus on the client in your case study — not on your amazing product and equally amazing team. By opening up with a snapshot of the client’s company, Evisort places the focus on the client.

This case study example checks all the boxes for a great case study that’s informative, thorough, and compelling. It includes quotes from the client and details about the challenges NetApp faced during the COVID pandemic. It closes out with a quote from the client and with a link to download the case study in PDF format, which is incredibly important if you want your case study to be accessible in a wider variety of formats.

Key Learnings from the Evisort Example

17. " Copernicus Land Monitoring – CLC+ Core ," by Cloudflight

Including highly specialized information in your case study is an effective way to show prospects that you’re not just trying to get their business. You’re deep within their industry, too, and willing to learn everything you need to learn to create a solution that works specifically for them.

Cloudflight does a splendid job at that in its Copernicus Land Monitoring case study. While the information may be difficult to read at first glance, it will capture the interest of prospects who are in the environmental industry. It thus shows Cloudflight’s value as a partner much more effectively than a general case study would.

The page is comprehensive and ends with a compelling call-to-action — "Looking for a solution that automates, and enhances your Big Data system? Are you struggling with large datasets and accessibility? We would be happy to advise and support you!" The clean, whitespace-heavy page is an effective example of using a case study to capture future leads.

Key Learnings from the Cloudflight Case Study Example

18. " Valvoline Increases Coupon Send Rate by 76% with Textel’s MMS Picture Texting ," by Textel

If you’re targeting large enterprises with a long purchasing cycle, you’ll want to include a wealth of information in an easily transferable format. That’s what Textel does here in its PDF case study for Valvoline. It greets the user with an eye-catching headline that shows the value of using Textel. Valvoline saw a significant return on investment from using the platform.

Another smart decision in this case study is highlighting the client’s quote by putting it in green font and doing the same thing for the client’s results because it helps the reader quickly connect the two pieces of information. If you’re in a hurry, you can also take a look at the "At a Glance" column to get the key facts of the case study, starting with information about Valvoline.

Key Learnings from the Textel Case Study Example

19. " Hunt Club and Happeo — a tech-enabled love story ," by Happeo

In this blog-post-like case study, Happeo opens with a quote from the client, then dives into a compelling heading: "Technology at the forefront of Hunt Club's strategy." Say you’re investigating Happeo as a solution and consider your firm to be technology-driven. This approach would spark your curiosity about why the client chose to work with Happeo. It also effectively communicates the software’s value proposition without sounding like it’s coming from an in-house marketing team.

Every paragraph is a quote written from the customer’s perspective. Later down the page, the case study also dives into "the features that changed the game for Hunt Club," giving Happeo a chance to highlight some of the platform’s most salient features.

Key Learnings from the Happeo Case Study Example

20. " Red Sox Season Campaign ," by CTP Boston

What's great about CTP's case study page for their Red Sox Season Campaign is their combination of video, images, and text. A video automatically begins playing when you visit the page, and as you scroll, you'll see more embedded videos of Red Sox players, a compilation of print ads, and social media images you can click to enlarge.

At the bottom, it says "Find out how we can do something similar for your brand." The page is clean, cohesive, and aesthetically pleasing. It invites viewers to appreciate the well-roundedness of CTP's campaign for Boston's beloved baseball team.

Key Learnings from the CTP Case Study Example

21. " Acoustic ," by Genuine

Sometimes, simple is key. Genuine's case study for Acoustic is straightforward and minimal, with just a few short paragraphs, including "Reimagining the B2B website experience," "Speaking to marketers 1:1," and "Inventing Together." After the core of the case study, we then see a quote from Acoustic’s CMO and the results Genuine achieved for the company.

The simplicity of the page allows the reader to focus on both the visual aspects and the copy. The page displays Genuine's brand personality while offering the viewer all the necessary information they need.

22. " Using Apptio Targetprocess Automated Rules in Wargaming ," by Apptio

Apptio’s case study for Wargaming summarizes three key pieces of information right at the beginning: The goals, the obstacles, and the results.

Readers then have the opportunity to continue reading — or they can walk away right then with the information they need. This case study also excels in keeping the human interest factor by formatting the information like an interview.

The piece is well-organized and uses compelling headers to keep the reader engaged. Despite its length, Apptio's case study is appealing enough to keep the viewer's attention. Every Apptio case study ends with a "recommendation for other companies" section, where the client can give advice for other companies that are looking for a similar solution but aren’t sure how to get started.

Key Learnings from the Apptio Case Study Example

23. " Airbnb + Zendesk: building a powerful solution together ," by Zendesk

Zendesk's Airbnb case study reads like a blog post, and focuses equally on Zendesk and Airbnb, highlighting a true partnership between the companies. To captivate readers, it begins like this: "Halfway around the globe is a place to stay with your name on it. At least for a weekend."

The piece focuses on telling a good story and provides photographs of beautiful Airbnb locations. In a case study meant to highlight Zendesk's helpfulness, nothing could be more authentic than their decision to focus on Airbnb's service in such great detail.

Key Learnings from the Zendesk Case Study Example

24. " Biobot Customer Success Story: Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida ," by Biobot

Like some of the other top examples in this list, Biobot opens its case study with a quote from its client, which captures the value proposition of working with Biobot. It mentions the COVID pandemic and goes into detail about the challenges the client faced during this time.

This case study is structured more like a news article than a traditional case study. This format can work in more formal industries where decision-makers need to see in-depth information about the case. Be sure to test different methods and measure engagement .

Key Learnings from the Biobot Case Study Example

25. " Discovering Cost Savings With Efficient Decision Making ," by Gartner

You don't always need a ton of text or a video to convey your message — sometimes, you just need a few paragraphs and bullet points. Gartner does a fantastic job of quickly providing the fundamental statistics a potential customer would need to know, without boggling down their readers with dense paragraphs. The case study closes with a shaded box that summarizes the impact that Gartner had on its client. It includes a quote and a call-to-action to "Learn More."

Key Learnings from the Gartner Case Study Example

26. " Bringing an Operator to the Game ," by Redapt

This case study example by Redapt is another great demonstration of the power of summarizing your case study’s takeaways right at the start of the study. Redapt includes three easy-to-scan columns: "The problem," "the solution," and "the outcome." But its most notable feature is a section titled "Moment of clarity," which shows why this particular project was difficult or challenging.

The section is shaded in green, making it impossible to miss. Redapt does the same thing for each case study. In the same way, you should highlight the "turning point" for both you and your client when you were working toward a solution.

Key Learnings from the Redapt Case Study Example

27. " Virtual Call Center Sees 300% Boost In Contact Rate ," by Convoso

Convoso’s PDF case study for Digital Market Media immediately mentions the results that the client achieved and takes advantage of white space. On the second page, the case study presents more influential results. It’s colorful and engaging and closes with a spread that prompts readers to request a demo.

Key Learnings from the Convoso Case Study Example

28. " Ensuring quality of service during a pandemic ," by Ericsson

Ericsson’s case study page for Orange Spain is an excellent example of using diverse written and visual media — such as videos, graphs, and quotes — to showcase the success a client experienced. Throughout the case study, Ericsson provides links to product and service pages users might find relevant as they’re reading the study.

For instance, under the heading "Preloaded with the power of automation," Ericsson mentions its Ericsson Operations Engine product, then links to that product page. It closes the case study with a link to another product page.

Key Learnings from the Ericsson Case Study Example

Start creating your case study.

Now that you've got a great list of examples of case studies, think about a topic you'd like to write about that highlights your company or work you did with a customer.

A customer’s success story is the most persuasive marketing material you could ever create. With a strong portfolio of case studies, you can ensure prospects know why they should give you their business.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in August 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Don't forget to share this post!

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The 20 Best Case Study Examples That Boost Sales (+ Templates and Tips)

Baylor Cherry | September 17, 2019 | Case Studies | 18 min read

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The Best Case Study Examples

Building an effective content marketing strategy that can take your prospects through every stage of the buyer's journey means creating a variety of content.

From relevant, informative blog content to engaging webpages, landing pages, whitepapers, and emails, a comprehensive content marketing strategy should run deep.

One powerful, but often underused, piece of content is the case study .

What Is a Case Study?

A case study acts a narrative, featuring real-world situations where certain products or services are used in a way that demonstrates thier value. They are a special type of thought leadership content that brands can use in marketing and sales to guide their target audience to the decision stage of their buyer's journey . Engaging case studies walk prospects through how a real life customer identified a specific pain point , started using your product or service, and overcame that pain point while reaping additional benefits.

A case study is a special type of thought leadership content that tells a story.

Case studies are narratives that feature real world situations or uses of products or services to demonstrate their value. A well written case study will follow a customer as they define a problem, determine a solution, implement it, and reap the benefits.

Case studies offer readers the ability to see a situation from the customer's perspective from beginning to end.

Why Case Studies Are Important

A marketing case study is one of the most compelling content items in your sales funnel .

It’s the perfect way to guide people into and through the decision phase, when they have the best options laid out on the table and they’re ready to puzzle through that final selection.

Because of this, case studies are uniquely useful as bottom of the funnel content .

case studies are bottom of the funnel content

By the time prospects are ready to read case studies, they have a nuanced grasp of the problem in front of them. They also have a good selection of potential solutions and vendors to choose from.

There may be more than one option that’s suitable for a given situation. In fact, there usually is. But there’s just one option that fits the prospect best. The challenge is figuring out which one.

Since B2B decision makers aren’t mind readers, they need content to bridge the gap between “what they know about your solution” and “what they know about their own business.” The case study does that by showing how a similar customer succeeded.

For that reason, you might want to have a case study for every buyer persona you serve. And naturally, case studies pertain to specific products or services, not your whole brand.

So, you could find yourself with multiple case studies for each buyer type.

However, the effort is worth it, since case studies have a direct impact on sales figures.

How Long Should a Case Study Be?

Honestly, the more to-the-point you can be in a case study, the better.

Great case studies should pack a lot of meaning into a small space. In the best examples, your reader can grasp the single main idea of each page in a short paragraph or two.

Each detail should build on the next, so they’ll keep moving forward until the end without getting distracted.

Sure, it’s no Dan Brown novel, but if you do it right, it’ll still be a real page-turner.

Note: Some businesses will have a brief case study in PDF form to use as sales collateral then a longer form, more in-depth version of the same case study on their website. In this case, it can be normal to write a lengthier case study.

Where Should I Put My Case Studies?

Anywhere you want, really!

Ideally, you should upload case studies somewhere on your website so new leads coming to your site have the opportunity to see just how kickass your business is at driving revenue and results for your current customers.

Whether it's an online case study or a PDF version, making your successes available to the public can prove just how valuable your efforts are.

Plus, make sure every member of your sales team has access to your case studies so they can use them as sales collateral to send to prospects and opportunities! A quick PDF attachment to a sales email can be very convincing.

The Best Case Study Format

Like press releases, case studies often fall into a certain specific format.

While it’s not required that you have all of the possible topics in a particular order, picking a consistent format will help you accelerate production down the road. It also makes your content easier to read.

Many B2B businesses use the following approach:

This formula gives you enough flexibility to highlight what’s most important about your enterprise, solution, and the customer you’re showcasing.

At the same time, it ensures that your team will know exactly what information they need to compile to design case studies in the future.

It also serves as an intuitive trail of breadcrumbs for your intended reader.

How to Write a Case Study

1. Ask Your Client/Customer for Approval.

This first step is crucial because it sets the layout for your entire case study.

If your client or customer gives the ok to use their name and information, then you can add as much detail as you want to highlight who they are, what you helped them do, and the results it had.

But, if they would rather remain anonymous or want you to leave out any specific details, you’ll have to find a way to keep your information more generalized while still explaining the impact of your efforts.

2. Gather Your Information.

Like any good story, a marketing case study has a beginning, middle, and end. Or, you could think of it as “before, during, and after.”

Before: The Problem

Your case study will always open by presenting a problem suffered by one of your clients.

This part of the study establishes what’s at stake and introduces the characters – your company, the client company, and whichever individual decision makers speak for each side.

During: The Solution

Once you define the problem, the next step presents your offering, which serves as the answer to the dilemma.

Your product or service is, in a very real sense, the hero of the story. It catalyzes the change, which you describe in terms of your features, advantages, and other differentiators.

After: The Result

In the final step, you discuss the “happy ending” brought about by your solution.

Returning to the “stakes” you established at the very start, you expand on how much better things are thanks to your intervention. You want prospects to imagine themselves enjoying that level of success.

3. Get a Quote.

Of course, a study about two corporations isn’t very interesting on its own. The best case studies personify the protagonists, including the vendor and the client company, by having plenty of quotes peppered throughout the entire story.

Naturally, the business problem to be solved is the big, bad villain here, so you want the client (and preferably, your own team as well) to weigh in on that problem: How complex it is, what solving it would mean, and what not solving it would cost.

Then, as the situation turns around, testimonials become essential.

Naturally, the longest, most emphatic testimonial should come from the top decision maker. But you should aim to include a glowing quote from many different stakeholders – representing the full cast of “characters” who might be making consensus buying decisions around your solution.

Note: Don’t use a testimonial or quote if your case study is anonymous.

4. Find Some Compelling Graphics.

A case study isn’t a whitepaper: You shouldn’t be trudging through page after page of text.

In fact, some of the most powerful case studies establish their own vivid, graphics-heavy style – looking a lot more like an infographic, or even a magazine, than traditional B2B marketing collateral.

Color blocks , strong contrasts, skyscraper photography, and hero shots are all on the table when it comes to case studies. The more data you have to convey, the more creative you should be in presenting it so it can be understood at a glance.

15 Great Examples of Offline Case Studies

1. adobe: royal bank of scotland.

This study focuses on the solutions Adobe provided for the Royal Bank of Scotland. Their top challenges included fostering a culture of data driven decision making, eliminating disjointed systems, and delivering digital experiences that are relevant and easy to use.

Adobe's approach resulted in a 20 percent increase in conversion, as well as improved internal communications, faster optimization, and a reduction of their content management footprint.

2. BrightEdge: Stanley

In 2015, Stanley consolidated two separate brand web properties into one site. The process needed to mitigate traffic disruption, improve traffic, and increase organic search results.

The results? Almost 40 percent of keywords Stanley ranked for were on the first page of organic results, and the company generated a 100 percent lift in revenue, thanks to support from the BrightEdge platform.

3. LeadGnome: Host Analytics

Host Analytics moved to an account based marketing strategy in 2015. They noticed that the marketing efforts were limited by a large number of low quality needs.

Their problem was solved when they used an automated email marketing approach from LeadGnome to nurture and qualify leads via email marketing.

4. Bitly: Vissla

Vissla is an online ecommerce company with a need to understand big data across multiple marketing platforms.

Bitly provided a a way to consolidate data and literally link channels together to display all information on a single dashboard.

5. Taboola: The Line

The Line is an online boutique that offers shoppers a unique experience and showcases products that can be found at their brick and mortar store in NYC's Soho neighborhood. Their goal was to increase first time visitors to their site.

Taboola offers a product that drives first time users. The result? Over 72 million impressions within three months, and email subscriber growth of 12 percent.

6. OutBrain: Lane Bryant

Lane Bryant, the leading retailer for women sized 14 – 28, launched a campaign designed to celebrate all women and redefine the traditional notion of sexy with a simple message – ALL women are sexy.

The goal was to amplify the campaign and drive traffic and engagement.

The result? OutBrain used media amplification to take the campaign viral, resulting in over 48,500,000 impressions in just two weeks!

7. Google Analytics: Optimizely

Optimizely is a leading online A/B testing and user experience optimization platform that offers innovative data-driven marketing solutions to maximize user experience and keep them coming back for more.

The challenge they faced was better identifying page views to determine where customers are in the buying cycle.

The solution was provided by using data from Google Analytics Premium to successfully move leads through the sales funnel.

8. LinkedIn Marketing Solutions: HubSpot

HubSpot, in search of quality leads, turned to LinkedIn Marketing Solutions to engage with marketing professionals in small to medium sized businesses, targeting them with ebooks, webinars, and how-to guides. Sponsored organic content appeared in members' LinkedIn feeds.

The result: 400 percent more leads within their target audience than efforts on other platforms.

9. LevelEleven: Staples

LevelEleven helped Staples focus their teams on the critical sales activities that matter.

The end result? Their team developed a better understanding of the KPIs that matter and experienced a 182 percent increase in key selling activities.

10. Life Size: Rackspace

Rackspace is a world leader in hybrid cloud computing with offices throughout the world. The challenge was collaborating and communicating across offices.

The approach? LifeSize created a video solution to build stronger relationships across international offices.

11. Five9: Weed Man

Five years ago, the lawn care company Weed Man had an idea -- If their phone-based reps could connect with more prospects, more decisions would result, without adding sales reps.

The solution? Five9 assisted Weed Man with migrating their data to the cloud. This case study shows why SMBs like Weed Man should store business data on the cloud for CRM.

12. LogMeIn: Extent Technologies

One of the better, more concise case study examples, this one page synopsis clearly defines the challenges and goals of Extent.

It explores how LogMeIn provided effective solutions and produced stellar results, including a boost in staff productivity, an increase in first contact resolution rate, and an improvement in overall service.

13. Red Hat: North Carolina State Websites

Under mandate from the governor, the North Carolina Department of Information Technology needed to update state websites to overcome complex processes and limited technical resources.

The resulting solutions from Red Hat reduced maintenance times and lowered staffing costs.

14. VMWare: CenturyLink

This study addresses the complexities of cloud hosted infrastructure. One element of all case study examples is to educate perspective clients about the services and products offered.

This study takes a complex subject and makes it easy to understand, while clearly outlining the solutions VMWare can provide.

15. Hewlett Packard Enterprise: Mendix

This study breaks down another complex subject: rapid hosted cloud app development.

HPE links to additional content so readers can gain even more knowledge about the subject and the solutions HPE offers.

5 of the Best Online Case Studies

1. gravitate: global expeditions group.

This case study is a great example of how to break up a detailed case study for an easier read.

Gravitate starts off by introducing their client, Global Expeditions Group (GXG), to give visitors a little background into what they do. They then dive straight into what their role was in helping GXG with a robust content marketing strategy.

What catches your eye at the beginning of this case study is the results. Rather than forcing readers to find out the impact of their efforts at the very end, they call out some major statistics and improvements that they helped GXG achieve. It's a great way to entice readers to keep them wanting to learn just how they did it.

Gravitate did a great job breaking up their rather long case study. Since it focuses on an entire content marketing strategy, they put various parts of their case study into separate sections, from their rebranding efforts to their website design and copywriting.

2. IDEO: INFARM

What we like so much about IDEO's case study about INFARM is that it reads just like a simple blog post – there's no sections and no busy graphics. While this doesn't work for everyone, it really matches the vibe of IDEO's brand.

This case study is short, sweet, and to the point, with the largest elements on the page being the images and a quote. At the very top, they outline the entire case study in two small sections – the challenge and the outcome.

What we like about this particular case study is how IDEO talks about what's next for INFARM. Beyond the typical problem-solution-result structure, they took it one step further to talk about the future and what INFARM plans on doing next.

3. Forge and Smith: Happy Planet

Forge and Smith effectively uses real mockups and examples from the work they did for Happy Planet to showcase their work in action.

This case study is perfectly designed into multiple modules to break up chunks of text into three phases. They start off with the objectives they set in place for their website design and development work for Happy Planet, which is pretty unique for a case study.

What's great about this case study is the opportunity to view the finished website. A hyperlink isn't just hidden within the text forcing you to dig around looking for it; it's called out right then and there to let you view their finished work on the Happy Planet website.

Another great feature is the option to view a previous case study or all the case studies if you're interested. No need to locate the main page, you have direct access!

4. CoSchedule: English Heritage

CoSchedule treats their case studies as customer stories, highlighting who their customers are and how their platform was able to help them. Their case study on English Heritage is simple to view and comprehend.

On the left, there is a customer spotlight on English Heritage, complete with a company logo, brief description, industry, company size, size of the marketing team, and more. These little details help give you a better idea of who the company is.

Then, on the right side of the screen, is a blog-like case study.

Rather than breaking up their message into the standard format, CoSchedule calls out the results that English Heritage has seen since switching to CoSchedule. Within each result, they touch on the challenge they had before CoSchedule then the lasting impact it created.

Throughout the case study, CoSchedule includes relevant screenshots and impactful quotes from English Heritage employees. This helps readers visualize what they are talking about.

5. Bluleadz: BandGrip

We couldn't not pat our own backs for recently publishing a case studies page on our website.

Bluleadz often uses case study PDFs as sales collateral to send to qualified prospects. While we used these PDF designs internally, we wanted to make sure our client success stories were available to everyone coming to our site.

Thus, our case study page was born.

Our BandGrip case study really sticks out to us. We start off by introducing who BandGrip is, who they serve, and what they do.

Then, we highlight the struggles they were having with getting demo sign-ups on their page. We included relevant quotes from the CEO to show their need for a solution.

We then begin to outline all the pre-show and post-show tactics that we implemented to help them tackle their challenge and earn them more demo sign ups. Landing page screenshots and other various graphics help readers visualize what we were able to do.

Toward the end of the case study, we highlight the impact of our efforts, calling out some of the major statistics.

Highlight Your Past Successes to Attract Future Business

Each of these case study examples does an excellent job of outlining the challenges, solutions, and results provided. If you are building a portfolio of case studies, use these excellent examples for inspiration and format.

Once you master the art of the case study, you’ll find it’s packed with marketing power, giving you a huge ROI for the time you put into creating it.

If your leads have been falling off in the decision phase, a marketing case study may be just what you need.

Case studies are a powerful tool in your content marketing arsenal, so why not create one today? Click below to create your very own case study!

General FAQ

What is a case study.

Case studies are narratives that feature real-world situations or uses of products or services to demonstrate their value. A well-written case study will follow a customer as they define a problem, determine a solution, implement it, and reap the benefits.

The more to-the-point you can be in a case study, the better. Case Studies typically range from 500 words to 1,500 words depending on what's getting highlighted.

What Format Should My Case Study Be In?

Typically, a case study contains an introduction, a challenge, a solution, a benefit, and a result.

Why are Case Studies Important?

Case studies allow businesses to showcase how their product or service has been implemented successfully by their customers. It allows businesses to show how their product/service is actually used and the impact that it can have.

Baylor Cherry

Baylor is an inbound specialist for Bluleadz. As a native Floridian, she enjoys soaking up the Florida sun, buying clothes she can’t afford, and dreaming about one day owning a dachshund.

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20 Classic Case Studies Every Business Student Should Know

Although almost every business is unique in its own way, there are some universal lessons that apply to just about any kind of business. In these case studies, we'll take a look at employee performance and retention, supply chain management, growth, ad spending, and more. Although the following are focused on specific businesses, all business students can learn lessons from their triumphs and mistakes. Read on, and you'll find 20 classic case studies you'd do well to know as a business student.

Recommended Schools

Workplace drug abuse.

Managers hope they'll never have to deal with employee drug abuse, but the fact is that it does happen. In this case, Amber, an administrative assistant started out well, but began to adopt strange and inconsistent behavior. Her work was maintained pretty well, but she began arriving late and calling in sick often, especially right around the time she got paid. She began borrowing and failing to repay money, and then started showing a short temper on the phone with customers. After being found in the ladies room sniffing white powder, she was confronted about a cocaine problem, and reacted by quitting immediately, leaving a hole in the organization for months before a replacement could be found and replaced. Experts believe the employer's actions were wrong, waiting too long to confront Amber, and focusing on accusations instead of criticizing behavior directly related to work, such as lateness and rudeness to clients. They also point out that Amber should have been sent in for a drug test before being outright accused of using cocaine, opening up the opportunity for rehabilitation instead of a severed tie.

Malden Mills

Sometimes, doing the right thing is more important than profits, a lesson that Malden Mills learned firsthand. When the factory burned down in 1995 just two weeks before Christmas, production halted and employees assumed they'd be out of work until the factory was rebuilt. But CEO Aaron Feuerstein extended the employees 90 days at full pay, as well as 180 days with benefits at a cost of $25 million to Malden Mills. After the factory was rebuilt and all of the displaced workers were rehired, cooperation and productivity reached a new high, with 40% more business, 95% customer and employee retention, and a production increase from 130,000 to 200,000 yards per week. However, since then, Malden Mills has been to bankruptcy court three times, with much of the debt tied to the rebuild of the factory. Feuerstein made employees happy, to be sure, but business students should study this case to consider whether bold philanthropic actions will pay off in the end.

A Starbucks on Every Corner

In 2008, Starbucks announced that they would be closing 600 US stores. Up to that point, Starbucks stores had added new offerings, including wi-fi and music for sale, but started to lose its warm "neighborhood store" feeling in favor of a chain store persona. Harvard Business Review points out that in this situation, "Starbucks is a mass brand attempting to command a premium price for an experience that is no longer special." Meaning, in order to keep up, Starbucks would either have to cut prices, or cut down on stores to restore its brand exclusivity. HBR's case study shares three problems with the growth of Starbucks: alienating early adopters, too broad of an appeal, and superficial growth through new stores and products. Harvard recommends that Starbucks should have stayed private, growing at a controlled pace to maintain its status as a premium brand.

Small Customers, Big Profits

Big business is attractive, with huge profits for some. But there's something to be said about small business as well, with lower risk and the potential for creativity. Darren Robbins of Big D Custom Screen Printing in Austin, TX found success in his business by pursuing customers with orders both large and small. Although Big D started out catering only to large orders, the shop sat idle in between orders, and through effective scheduling and transparent pricing, was able to fill in dead times with smaller orders. Big D found a profit in a market segment that other local screen printers weren't clamoring to fill. Experts believe this was a smart strategy, allowing Big D to spread out risk in their business and offer customized products. But at least one person is critical of the offering, pointing out that the niche has little upside potential, and may hurt the company's efficiency.

Succession Planning

Family businesses typically have the luxury of passing the torch down to children after parents retire, but in some cases, there are no candidates, or the candidates may not be right for the role. This presents a challenge when it's time to find a successor, especially if existing employees have assumed that top level promotions would come from within the family. So the Carlson companies had to put in great effort to find a replacement, looking both internally and outside of the company, ultimately finding an internal candidate who would work well with the family but also offered plenty of experience as an executive in different industries. According to Beverly Behan of Hay's Group, Carlson should be commended for not only making the right decision in not hiring the heir apparent, but for handling the job search in a calm, effective way.

Retiring Employees, Lost Knowledge

Another important retirement issue is one of lost knowledge. What happens when retirees leave the office, taking years of experience and know-how right along with them? Businesses lose all of that knowledge, but according to American Express, it doesn't have to be that way. Through a pilot program, AMEX created a workforce transformation group that would allow retiring participants to gradually give up some of their day to day responsibilities. In return, the employees would spend some of this time mentoring and teaching classes to successors. This resulted in a phased retirement, allowing employees to leave gradually and enjoy more time while still enjoying a portion of their previous salary, and regular benefits. This also meant that some employees stayed a year or more past traditional retirement age. AMEX believes this program is a success, allowing senior employees to enjoy their last years of work in a reduced capacity, as well as educating the existing workforce for future success. Consultant David DeLong agrees, citing this program as an example of how job handoffs should really work.

Strategic Ad Spending

Advertising costs money, which many businesses find themselves short of these days. But forgoing ad spending in favor of better profits can be a mistake. Experts say that in a slump, one of the best things you can do is adopt or increase your advertising strategy to attract customers. During a recession, this is especially true, as other businesses may be cutting back on their ad spending, making your voice even more prominent to customers. After seven years of growth, buliding from 30 to 300 locations, Firehouse Subs' growth fizzled, and company leaders realized they had to do something about it. So they returned local advertising fees collected from franchisees, not to put in their pockets, but to take hold of their own local marketing. Sales fell even more, revealing that this was not a good strategy at the time. Instead, Firehouse reclaimed their local marketing fee, and then gave franchisees the option to take part in a new marketing campaign, requiring them to pay double for local marketing, but in return, becoming part of an $8 million advertising campaign poised for success. Experts commend Firehouse for having the courage to ask franchisees for more money where it was needed, even when times were tough.

Tylenol's 1982 Scandal

In 1982, seven people in Chicago died after taking Tylenol due to an unknown suspect lacing the capsules with cyanide after the products reached the shelves. In the immediate aftermath, Tylenol's commanding 37% market share dropped to just 7% nationwide, despite the problem being contained to the Chicago area. Tylenol was not responsible for the tampering of the product, but to maintain the product's reputation, Johnson & Johnson pulled all of the Tylenol from the shelves, absorbing a loss of more than $100 million dollars. Tylenol was successfully reintroduced with tamper resistant packaging, discounts, and sales presentations to the medical community. The brand survived due to swift action and effective public relations from Johnson & Johnson.

David vs. Goliath

It's tough to be the little guy, especially when one of the big guys becomes your direct competition. But at Hangers Cleaners, an offbeat image and good customer service helped them pull through when P&G opened an eco-friendly dry cleaners in the same town. Hangers differentiated itself through van delivery service, funny t-shirts and hangers, as well as social networking. The company also spent time connecting with the community by partnering with local businesses and charities. Instead of out-pricing or out-spending P&G, Hangers embraced its personality and adopted a culture of excellent service that customers found value in. As a result, Hangers has experienced growth while other local dry cleaners have reported flat or declining revenues.

Market Expansion Through Partnership

To support new growth, businesses have to expand past their initial customer base, an often daunting task for small businesses. However, partnering with another successful company can help businesses reach a new level. Diagnostic Hybrids, specializing in medical diagnostics, did just that, partnering with Quidel, a market leader in rapid diagnostic tests. This partnership allowed Diagnostic Hybrids to enjoy a larger market presence, as well as take advantage of better research and development resources. Although Diagnostic Hybrids was acquired by Quidel, key elements of the organization remain, with the same company president, and operation as a separate subsidiary.

Tesco's International Expansion

Tesco's move into Korea offers a classic case study of building market share internationally. The company made some smart moves in their Korean expansion, most notably partnering with Samsung, the leading Korean conglomerate, and embracing the Korean way of life by operating stores as local businesses and community centers. Tesco also made a smart move by employing nearly 100% Koreans on staff, with only 4 British employees out of 23,000. Reports indicate that Tesco's intelligent strategy has won over shoppers in Seoul, with 25% of Koreans signed up for loyalty cards and sales in the billions, finding success in "crack[ing] the Asian tiger," where competitors such as Carrefour and Wal-Mart have failed.

Triumph in Niche Exports

Another excellent international case study comes from bike manufacturer Triumph, which lost steam in its British home base three decades ago, but found new life by heading overseas. In 2010, Triumph sold just 7,562 bikes in the UK, but 50,000 worldwide, indicating that an international interest paid off for the company. Triumph's famous factory in Warwickshire closed up shop in 1983, but the Indian factory remained, and these days, the motorcycles have become the country's Harley Davidson. The company struggles to meet demand in India, with a six month waiting list and a new factory being built. India's middle class has embraced the vehicle as an affordable commodity, even giving them as dowries in weddings.

Background Checks for Job Candidates

Background checks are an issue faced by many companies, as sensitive information is now more public than ever. OfficeDrop is no exception, as the company scans paper into digital files, including patient records and minister sermons, most of which require trustworthy employees who can handle documents discreetly. Many companies offer quick, superficial checks, but for OfficeDrop owner Prasad Thammineni, more information was required. He found a company that would allow research to delve into a number of different sources and perform a more comprehensive search. Other business owners offered somewhat critical opinions of Thammineni's choice, pointing out that instead of Googling to find a background check company, he should have asked his business network who they were using. They also recommended that he take advantage of free resources, including online searches and checking out social media sites to learn more about job candidates.

Employee Engagement in Tough Times

When Gamal Aziz stepped in as president of the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino, he didn't just take on a $400 million spruce up of the hotel, he worked on the employees as well. He asked rank and file employees to share their insight through a hotel, discovering that there was a disconnect between what was going on at the hotel and the knowledge of staff. He implemented an easy fix, creating short meetings at the start of every shift to inform employees of daily happenings so that staff could offer more to guests, improving customer loyalty, return visits, and spending. Experts laud Aziz for differentiating the MGM grand with top quality service from the employees.

Social Media Serves Up Creme Brulee

Marketing is key, whether you're a multibillion dollar company, or just a guy with a cart full of creme brulee. But just doing it isn't enough: you have to market effectively. Curtis Kimball, the man behind the Creme Brulee Cart, put Twitter to work for him amassing thousands of followers and growing his business by allowing people to follow the cart through the online service. Kimball engages with customers and develops a personal relationship with followers online, asking for suggestions on flavors and cart locations. Perhaps the most impressive part of this story is the fact that Kimball has no marketing budget (Twitter is a free service), yet enjoys an incredibly popular status and high ratings on Yelp.

Overreaching Products, Suffering Sales

You can't be everything to everyone, as Hickory Farms found out. A company that started out with holiday gift baskets including sausage, ham, and cheese at one point had an offering of 2,500 different products, sprawling the company and resulting in a loss of favor with customers. Recognizing this issue, Hickory Farms streamlined itself, slashing their number of products from 2,500 to 300 with more modern visuals, descriptions, and other features, including less packaging and more recycled content. The company also overhauled their website, making it easier to shop online. All of this streamlining resulted in a price reduction of 13% that Hickory Farms was able to pass on to their customers. Brand strategist Jennifer Woodbery believes that this was a smart move, making the most of Hickory Farms' trusted name and image with an effective rebranding of offerings.

Maintaining Consistently Good Employees

It happens all the time: good employees get a promotion, and suddenly, they're not so good anymore. Such is the case for cat shelter Paws Need Families, as Della, a cleaner turned assistant manager, then manager started arriving late, letting applications sit, and slipped on inoculations, all serious offenses. Instead of confronting Della directly, general meetings were held, and an assistant manager was hired to compensate for Della's shortcomings. Ultimately, Della never cleaned up her act, and was fired. Ken Blanchard, co-author of The One Minute Manager believes this situation could have been avoided with frequent meetings and support with a system of review, both of which can identify issues before they become real problems.

Recall Crisis Management

In 2009, Maclaren issued a recall for every stroller it had sold in the US for a decade, which came to 1 million units. The strollers were recalled so that a cover could be installed to prevent amputation of a baby's fingers, which could happen if the baby were to be in the stroller in the wrong spot. As a luxury brand, this incident was damaging even though it was a misuse of the product and not a defect. Experts believe that Maclaren did the right thing in the aftermath of the recall, asking for a fast track recall from the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and got out in front of the recall as it started spreading through the press, saving face and further embracing a mission of child safety.

Dealing with Late Paying Clients

We all hope that clients will pay on time, but the fact is that most businesses have to deal with lateness at some point or another. How you deal with it can make all the difference, and this case study reveals a smart strategy. When a client wrote to check in on the progress of work, a web developer replied that she was hesitant to work quickly for that client because she was still waiting on payments for month-old work. This immediately got the attention of the clients, who contacted her and discovered that their checks were not going to the right address. The problem was solved almost instantaneously, enforcing both leverage and rewarding positive behavior. However, it was risky, and the client criticized her for not sharing a warning before coming to a difficult point.

Supply chain disruption

In 2000, a fire at the Philips microchip plant affected phone manufacturers Nokia And Ericsson. The companies reacted in different ways, and ultimately, Ericsson did not do well, quitting the mobile phone business and allowing Nokia to win over the European market. While Ericsson had tied up all of its key components in a single source and planned to wait out the problem with the fire, Nokia worked to snatch up spare chips from other plants and suppliers, as well as re-engineered some of their phones to adapt to different chips from new suppliers. It's not hard to imagine what happened after that. Nokia kept trucking along, while Ericsson suffered from months of lost production and sales, allowing the market to be dominated by Nokia. This incident and fallout is a classic lesson in supply chain risk management.

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5 great case studies in business management.

Success is a choice. Or rather, a good choice can lead to great success. If you want to understand how this is possible, just look at some of the great business management decisions of the last 20 years. From company name changes to product diversification, these smart choices have led to exceptional gains. Whether you’re a business manager or thinking about earning a business degree (or both), the following case studies can add to your business knowledge and help you understand how successful businesses got that way.

Apple’s Name Change

At first glance, Apple’s 2008 name change may not seem like a big deal. After all, the company simply went from Apple Computer to Apple. But the choice to drop “Computer” from their name has helped Apple change its brand identity from a company that made desktops and laptops to a company that’s a pioneer in interactive technology. Now, Apple is known for everything from the iPhone to its lucrative online music store, iTunes. The company’s business model has followed suit. From 2007 to 2013, computers went from 42% of Apple’s revenues to just 13%, even as overall profits grew. *

5 Great Case Studies in Business Management

USA Today’s Strategic Overhaul

As more and more people have logged onto the Internet, demand for traditional newspapers has plummeted. In fact, between 2010 and 2015, the amount of time the average American spent with a newspaper declined 31%, which was more than the decline seen in any other traditional media (conversely, time on the Internet increased 105% during the same time frame). † USA Today, however, saw the future in time to devise a plan. As other newspapers struggled to hold onto their traditional business model, USA Today quickly moved to pour resources into the company’s website, strike new circulation deals, and share content across platforms to ensure wider exposure. As a result, the paper remains an important part of American media.

Southwest Airlines’ Branding Initiative

In its early days, Southwest Airlines embraced a quirky, personable brand image that contrasted with the corporate stodginess of bigger airlines. But when the company grew into one of the nation’s largest domestic carriers, it had to make a choice: either “join the club” and become more traditionally corporate in its image or find a way to maintain the company’s personable feel despite its significantly increased size. Southwest chose the latter, putting into motion a branding initiative that relied heavily on social media to distribute branded messaging and, more importantly, to connect directly with passengers. The move has preserved Southwest’s personality and personable feel. As of 2016, the airline possesses the industry’s best buzz score. ‡

Coca-Cola’s Diversification

You may be familiar with the story of New Coke. To recap, in the mid-1980s, Coca-Cola reformulated its flagship soft drink in an attempt to better compete with Pepsi. The new drink, named New Coke, failed miserably. But Coca-Cola saved its business by rereleasing the original formulation of Coke under the name Coca-Cola Classic. That, in and of itself, is an excellent case study in business management. However, the more contemporary story is how Coca-Cola has changed its business plan so that no one drink—not even Coke—can heavily influence the company’s success and failure. After years of diversification and acquisition, Coca-Cola currently offers more than 500 brands ranging from soft drinks to fruit juices to water. Additionally, it sells its products in over 200 nations.

Nokia’s Market Shift

Not so long ago, Nokia was one of the leading makers of cell phones. But technological innovations like the iPhone left Nokia struggling to compete. The solution? Get out of the business of cell phones. In a bold move, Nokia sold its cell phone division to Microsoft and shifted its focus to its other technological endeavors. This helped stabilize the company and prevent greater losses. In an interesting twist, Microsoft recently announced that it’s selling the cell phone business it acquired from Nokia to Foxconn Technology. Foxconn has, in turn, struck a deal with Nokia to use the Nokia name on future cell phones. § Nokia will earn revenue by licensing its name to a product the company was smart enough to stop making.

How Can You Learn More About Successful Businesses?

Case studies are a great place to start when learning about the ways businesses build success. However, if you’re interested in a career in business management, you may want to consider earning a business degree, specifically a bachelor’s in business administration. A BS in Business Administration can give you the foundation of knowledge you need to succeed in business.

Thanks to online learning, you don’t even have to give up your current job to earn your business administration degree. Through an online bachelor’s in business administration program, you can learn from home on a flexible schedule that makes it possible for you to work full time while earning your degree. At Walden University, you can earn your BS in Business Administration in one of two learning formats. Choose from the traditional course-based learning format or the newer competency-based format. With competency-based learning there are no set weekly deadlines and you demonstrate mastery of specific competencies to earn credit. Regardless of which format you choose, with an online Bachelor of Science in Business Administration , you can gain the skills you need to one day make the kinds of great decisions that end up in a case study.

Walden University is an accredited institution offering an online BS in Business Administration degree program . Expand your career options and earn your degree in a convenient, flexible format that fits your busy life.

*C. Fairchild, The Worst (and Best) Company Name Changes, Fortune, on the Internet at www.fortune.com/2013/12/06/the-worst-and-best-company-name-changes .

†M. Ingram, Print Readership Is Still Plummeting, and Paywalls Aren't Really Helping, Fortune, on the Internet at www.fortune.com/2015/06/01/print-readership-paywalls .

‡Statista, Leading Airlines in the United States in 2016, by Buzz Score, on the Internet at www.statista.com/statistics/507556/airlines-buzz-score-usa .

§A. Kharpal, Nokia Phones Are Back After Microsoft Sells Mobile Assets for $350M to Foxconn, HMD, CNBC, on the Internet at www.cnbc.com/2016/05/18/nokia-phones-are-back-after-microsoft-sells-mobile-assets-for-350-million-to-foxconn-hmd.html .

Walden University is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission, www.hlcommission.org .

Whether looking for information on programs, admissions, or financial aid, we're here to help.

Fill out the form and we will contact you to provide information about furthering your education.

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