A well-run case study program produces the highest-converting sales asset a B2B company owns.
A case study is a written or video account of a specific customer's outcome using your product — problem, solution, quantified results. Case studies are the single most-requested asset in enterprise sales cycles, the highest-converting content type on B2B websites, and one of the top three inputs that analysts (Gartner, Forrester) weight in their evaluations. Yet most B2B companies produce them ad-hoc, in reaction to sales requests, without a program to source, produce, or measure them.
The best case study candidates share three traits: recognizable brand, meaningful measurable outcome, willing champion at the customer. Sourcing sources: NPS promoters (score 9+ with open comment about value), CS team's 'top health' accounts, sales team's post-close list, product analytics identifying customers with strong usage patterns. Systematize: quarterly review of top 20 candidates across these sources, ranked by strategic value and readiness. Target: 6-12 published case studies per year for a Series B company.
The ask usually comes from the customer's success manager or account executive, not from marketing cold. Frame the value to the customer explicitly: exposure to their target audience, brand-building for the champion (they're the hero), potential speaking opportunities. Concessions to smooth approval: customer gets full review rights, quotes and names run by their legal/PR, embargo periods respected, ability to update or take down later. These concessions don't materially weaken the case study and dramatically improve approval rate.
45-60 minute recorded call with the customer champion. Structured but conversational. Sections: (1) situation before the product — pain, cost, previous attempts, (2) decision — how they evaluated, what tipped the choice, (3) implementation and adoption, (4) results — quantified where possible, qualitative where not, (5) what would you say to a peer considering us. Transcribe and use direct quotes liberally. Case studies that read like marketing don't get used in deals; case studies that read like a customer talking do.
From each customer, produce: (1) a written case study (600-1200 words, PDF and web page), (2) 2-4 pull-quote graphics for social, (3) a 60-90 second video highlight if the customer was recorded, (4) a slide for the sales deck, (5) a metrics headline for the homepage carousel. This multi-asset production means the case study is used across 5-10 channels rather than just the resource library — the effort to produce is the same, the surface area is 5x.
Track: which case studies get downloaded most, which get linked in outbound sequences, which get requested by prospects on sales calls, which show up in closed-won debriefs. Retire under-used case studies from the site (they hurt more than help — 'these were their best customers?'). Prioritize new production against the segments and use cases where case studies are missing but demanded.
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