sales analysis case study

100+ Case Study Examples for Sales and Marketing

Browse through a wide range of case study templates from various industries.

Imagine you come home after a long, tiring week of work, and you decide to satiate your taste buds by ordering a delicious, exotic dish. What would be your further course of action? Let us guess - you pull out your phone, log in to your favourite on-demand food delivery platform, search for the dish you're looking for, and hit the order button. Oh, wait! We missed out a crucial action that most of us perform while ordering a palate from a new food outlet – Rating & reviews!  

The first instinct that each one of us has when we subscribe to a new product or service is to get validation or proof from others.

In this post, we talk about one such crucial marketing collateral that provides  proof  to your prospects – Case Studies.

What is a Case Study?

Case studies are an indispensable tool for providing proof of quality and utility. They help demonstrate exactly what you have done to help other customers or clients attain their goals. They're sure to draw potential clients because they establish the factor of faith in the ability of your products or services.

To some, case studies may seem dull and boring, but it remains an integral part of a content marketing strategy for almost every B2B company. A content marketing report states that 70% of B2B marketers believe case studies are an effective tool for the content marketing mix.

How long should your case study be? 

If you type this query into the Google search bar, the answer that pops up on your screen is 500 to 1500 words. Although this is fairly ideal, it is important to note that there is no hard and fast rule for the word limit of a case study. Like everything else in Marketing, the answer is - it depends. 

Depends on various factors like the industry you’re writing the case study for, the narrative you’re building, the audience you’ll cater to and the like. 

Case studies are primarily built to generate an in-depth understanding of why exactly prospects should choose your product. In today’s world, where all content consumers have an attention span of roughly 7 seconds (if not lesser) - getting them to read a case study that’s nothing less than 500 words requires skill, to say the least. 

The length of a case study depends on the following factors :

Target audience

Identifying the target audience for your case study is the first and foremost step of the writing process. Who will be reading this case study and how do you tailor it to fit their flow of reading? It’s no big secret that everyone’s attention span varies. (We hear you. Do people even have an attention span these days?) 

Thanks to the myriad of visual content available in abundance, going through a 50-word post, let alone a 500-word case study, might be an arduous task for most people. However, this massively depends on the target audience and the industry your client belongs to. 

Case studies provide deep insight into your product/service and give potential customers one, if not more, solid reasons to get onboard. 

Formulating your case study based on these parameters will result in the best outcomes. 

For example, if your product caters directly to the general public (B2C) , then your case studies have to be short, precise and to the point. It has to provide just the right amount of information to put forth about your company, the services you offer, its features and benefits. Hence, these case studies can be anywhere between 100-300 words. 

On the other hand, formulating a case study for a B2B audience will require more detailed insights, examples, solution-oriented steps, and overall contain highly compelling research. This is solely because the individuals reading our case studies will be established business professionals looking to invest a good amount in your product . These case studies can extend up to 1500 words . 

Purpose of the case study 

The second factor/question to keep in mind is, “Why are we writing this case study?”. Here we cannot help but think of the famous quote - “You can’t understand someone until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes.” 

It’s safe to say that this quote is applicable to almost every situation in life. Especially while selling a product. Or, attempting to do so. In this stage, you need to take into consideration 3 very important factors :  

At which point of the sales process are we sending out this case study?

For starters, case study content changes according to the various points of the sales process it is being sent out during. The content required for a case study at the beginning of the sales process differs from the content required for a case study when the deal is about to be closed. 

Case studies sent out at the beginning of the sales process focus on the following :

• Recognition of your company/brand  
• An insight into your company & what you do 
• A generic overview of what your product offers 

Hence, these case studies can range anywhere from 300-500 words.

Case studies sent out at the end of the sales process focus on the following :

• Presenting a precise problem faced by a client
• Presenting how your company provided a solution for the same 
• The process
• Use-case specific insights

Hence, the sky’s the (word) limit with these case studies. The length that narrates to your prospect that your company is the best solution is the length you stop at. 

What do we want our readers to take away from this case study?

The length of your case study also majorly depends on the point you want to put forth in your case study. Are you trying to simply establish brand identity? Are you talking about a new campaign run by your company? Or is it a case study showcasing the work you did for a specific client? 

What medium are we sending the case study via? 

The medium through which your case study is being sent is a key point while determining the length of your case study. 

Let us throw in a quick example here. We are in the midst of our relentless online shopping phase and our package has finally arrived. Obviously, we can’t wait to go through the contents of the package (Because which order even is this?) - Doesn’t it make the unpacking process much easier when the packaging is precise and easy to open? Who wants loads of duct tape and clunky wrapping? It instantly puts us off, and we might even decide to open it later.  Similarly, the medium via which you send your case study and the presentation of it matters a lot. 

Here are some of the methods through which you can send your case study :

A good ol’ fashioned e-mail

“I’ll send across an email” is a phrase most of us have probably used more than our names. And, that’s fine. 

Sending your case studies and other documents through email has unmistakably been the go-to method for the longest time. Even so, sending your documents and case studies via email have its pros and cons. 

If you include a number of attachments, your prospects might have a hard time going back and forth between the document and email to open it up. The best option, in this case, is to include a single case study and make it crisp & concise in order to avoid shuffling between tabs. So, we’d say a single case study, about 500 words. 

A personalized storyboard

Personalized. Pretty. Extremely easy to go through. Nothing against emails, but imagine sending your case studies in a personalized collection that is exclusive to your reader, gives them a binge-worthy experience with your case studies, enables them to pick up exactly where they left off and much more. 

With a presentation like this, we’re sure the length of your case study isn’t going to stop readers from going through the contents of your case study.

Types of Case Studies

Case studies can be broadly classified into the following categories:

1. Third-Person Case Studies

An external agency primarily publishes this type of case study. This external research & consulting firm validates the solution provided by your company to your customers and publishes the same on its website.

2. Explanatory Case Studies

Explanatory case studies are primarily descriptive studies. They typically use one or two instances of a phenomenon or event to show the existing solution. Explanatory case studies primarily exist to familiarize the unfamiliar situation to prospects and give them a brief overview of the subject.

3. Instrumental Case Study

To gain insight into a phenomenon, an instrumental case study is deployed. The focus of this type of case study is not on the results but on the phenomenon. It tries to make the prospects discern the relationship between the phenomenon and its solution.

4. Implementation Case Study

This is perhaps the most important type of case study for a content marketer. It encompasses how your business went about executing the solution of a customer's challenge.

Case studies are the best example of marketing collateral used during the consideration stage and are used to showcase the success stories of your company. They can be written as single-page or multi-page documents.

Steps to writing a case study solution

Crafting the headline.

Headlines are the hellos in the world of writing. Just as a simple hello can help gain surface-level insight into a person, a headline establishes just that about a piece of written content. 

The first step to drafting a case study is also to pick a suitable headline. 

The headline of a case study has to include the following elements :

• The name of the company
• The use case
• The results
• Quantitative data (all about the numbers)

Let’s go with a fictional take on this - 

Let’s say you have a company, “Mattleberg Associates."

Mattleberg Associates offer consultative tools and guidance to understand, buy and adopt marketing technology tools for an enterprise. If Mattleberg Associates is to write a case study on how their product benefited a client of theirs, Acme Corporation , and upped their sales turnover by 70% , 

This is how the case study should ideally be titled : 

Acme Corp’s Sales Turnover Increased by 70% - Meet the Mattleberg MarTech Tool that made it possible. 

By glancing at this case study title, the reader gets an insight into the company (Mattleberg), the client (Acme Corp), the use case (Increasing sales turnover), the industry (Sales and Marketing) and the outcome (A 70% increase). 

Highlighting the challenge/situation 

In this part of the case study, the problem is made aware to the reader. This is where we let the reader know that “Hey, there was a grave situation taking place, and this is how it played out.”. 

In this part, you have to mention : 

• The challenge that was present
• The root cause of the problem 
• Statistics about the same 

Arriving at the solution

This part of your case study has to be your company’s stellar introduction.

In this part of the case study, you will include :

• How the client arrived at your company 
• The process of how the client fixed on your company (yay!)
• The executives involved in the process 

Behold! The results

Quantitative results .

This indicates the end of the case study. This is the part you indicate that Happily Ever After was made possible. Here is where you include all of the magical numbers that were a result of your company’s product/service, the remarkable results of the process and the outcome. 

Qualitative results

Remember when Spotify allowed 6500 of their employees to work from anywhere in the world? 

Now, fast forward to a year later; Spotify has released a statement saying their turnover rate dropped and they’re doing great! 

Here’s another example of how a qualitative result approach can be included in your case studies. This is the tie between quantitative and qualitative results. They go hand in hand. 

Tying this back to the topic, while writing a case study and mentioning the end results, it is important to also mention how the process eased the lives of the team, resulting in joy in the workplace and so on. This, in return, can directly result in quantitative results. :)

Best Practices to implement while writing a Case Study

More often than not, content marketers find it a herculean task to create a case study that is intriguing for their prospects. Here are 5 easy tips to make your case studies less boring, and more engaging.

1. Incorporate visuals in your case study

Multimedia can make your case studies more engaging and provide you with a means to connect with auditory and visual learners. Here are two ways in which you can incorporate multimedia in your case study:

• Include pictures, charts, and infographics to interpret a story out of the content-heavy data.
• Incorporate videos in your case studies and use them throughout your integrated marketing communication.

2. Prioritize firsthand knowledge over second-hand evidence

Case studies are stories. And stories can be narrated aptly only when you get real firsthand insights from the customer. Hence, to write a good case study, all you need is an excellent customer interview. Refrain from writing case studies based on resources such as testimonial quotes, videos, email, and so on.

It will only make your case studies time-consuming and difficult (or dare we say boring?).

3. Use slide-in call-to-action in lieu of pop-ups

Huge pop-ups can be annoying to the readers. Hence, marketers should try to use slide-in call-to-action that does the same job without distracting your prospects.

4. Don't be keen on listing the problem statement/challenge

Get into the shoes of your prospects while writing the challenge section. Most businesses often commit the mistake of writing the problem of a case study that caters to a narrow audience. To effectively hook a broader target audience , you should address the problem by considering the perspective of different prospects and write a detailed and compelling challenge . Your case study's first sentence should always address a broad business issue, and provide the reader with context.

5. Improve the tone of the customer quotes

Being a case study writer, you should not be transfixed on strictly reproducing all the customer quotes as it is - that is what a reporter does. As a case study writer, you should embellish the customer quotes in a way that makes their point effective. However, the altered quote should not drift away from the actual customer quote and should live up to the spirit of the customer's statement.

Examples of Case Studies

Here is a list of the finest examples of case studies across each sector with our commentary on a handpicked few to further ease your process of writing a case study.

To give you a holistic understanding of different types of case studies, we have collated the best templates from each industry.

• Aviation and Defense 
• Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI)
• Energy & Utility
• Healthcare and Life Sciences
• Manufacturing
• Technology and Services
• Telecommunications

Best Case Study Examples for Aviation, Aerospace & Defense Sector

While there are over 10+ example case studies that have been handpicked for the Aviation, Aerospace and Defence sector, we are highlighting only about 2 of them for a quick reference on why it works and most importantly, we like them.

1. Electromagnetic Solutions | Leonardo

Type of case study : Explanatory

Leonardo, first, defined their electromagnetic solutions and then furnished an explanatory case study to further enlighten their target audience to the solution they offer. They provided their prospects with a lucid explanation of the phenomenon with their solution in this case study.

2. Indira Gandhi International Airport | Collins Aerospace

Type of case study: Implementation

This case study is one of the best templates you will find in the aviation & defence sector. Two reasons make it exceptional. First, Collins has tailored the case study in a way that it can collaborate with direct marketing efforts . The case study is brief, yet gives a clear explanation of how it went about executing the solution. Also, the testimonial Collins took from Delhi International Airport Ltd., explained in a nutshell, the outstanding results they produced.

Best Case Study Examples for BFSI Sector

While there are over 10+ example case studies that have been handpicked for the BFSI sector, we are highlighting only about 2 of them for a quick reference on why it works and most importantly, we like them.

1. Implementing a Complete Target-Date Fund Solution |  JPMorgan Chase

Type of case study: Explanatory

Writing a case study in the sector of financial services is tricky, to say the least. If you are looking to benchmark a case study, this should undoubtedly be the one. JPMorgan deep-dived to explain the needs of the client and listed out the top investment priorities. After that, the cast study introduced the unique solution offered to give their prospects a gist of the same. 

2. Global Inventory Management | Broadridge

Broadridge created a stellar case study by incorporating a testimonial, visuals, and an elaborate solution together. The cast study went one step ahead by talking about how it will utilize this opportunity to build Broadridge's future solutions.

Best Case Study Examples for Energy & utilites Sector

While there are over 10+ example case studies that have been handpicked for the Energy & Utilities sector, we are highlighting only about 2 of them for a quick reference on why it works and most importantly, we like them.

1. Creating Value through Technology and Innovation | Canadian Natural Resources Limited (CNRL)

Type of case study: Instrumental

This case study focuses more on the different technologies offered by CNRL. What makes this case study unique is that the brand has included various collaborations for each technology and clearly demarcated the status of each technique. The usage of visuals and quantifiable results is spot on!

2. City of Monterey Park | Engie

Engie has produced a phenomenal template for a case study in the energy sector. Prospects could better relate to this kind of a case study because it includes multiple testimonials alongside the images of the solution which can serve as the best catalyst for prospects in the consideration stage of the buyer journey.

Best Case Study Examples for Healthcare & Life Sciences Sector

While there are over 10+ example case studies that have been handpicked for the Healthcare and Life-sciences sector, we are highlighting only about 2 of them for a quick reference on why it works and most importantly, we like them.

1. BD Vacutainer | Becton Dickinson and Company

BD did a fantastic job of quantifying its success in solid numbers. They have incorporated the same in their headline to make it a worthy read for a prospect. Furthermore, they included a separate "results" section which listed out the benefits and illustrated the same using a bar graph. These best practices help a prospect digest text-heavy content easily.

2. Helping Biopharma Companies Unravel the Many Facets of the Oncology Market | McKesson Corporation

This template is an excellent example of an instrumental case study in the healthcare sector. McKesson takes the onus on them to educate the healthcare industry on the oncology market. It provides vital insights into how the biopharma industry can leverage McKesson's resources and excel in oncology.

Best Case Study Examples for Logistics Sector

While there are over 10+ example case studies that have been handpicked for the Logistics sector, we are highlighting only about 2 of them for a quick reference on why it works and most importantly, we like them.

1. Inventory Optimization Case Study | Neovia Logistics

Type of case study: Third-Person

This case study serves as a great template of collaboration with other organizations to deliver a customized solution for your customer. Neovia Logistics and SAP Service Parts Planning worked in unison to provide a top-notch solution for inventory management. This template makes a brilliant usage of coloured theme and an engaging dashboard to display the results lucidly.

2. Building a better distribution model to accommodate rapid growth | FedEx Corporation

FedEx adopts a customer-centric approach in this case study and explains the challenges faced by the customer in detail. It elaborately explains how the problems of temperature-sensitive products of the clients were dealt with. This type of case study can prove to be very useful as a marketing communication  for a client dealing in a similar sector.

Best Case Study Examples for Manufacturing Sector

While there are over 10+ example case studies that have been handpicked for the Manufacturing sector, we are highlighting only about 2 of them for a quick reference on why it works and most importantly, we like them.

1. Twilight River Cruises | Mitsubishi Electric

The testimonial and the embedded hyperlinks (that redirects to their product range) make this case study stand apart from others. Mitsubishi Electric has ensured that the client furnishes a well-crafted testimonial that makes the prospects acquire faith in their prowess.

2. Danfoss' Digital Journey and Strategic Approach to MES | Siemens

This is, by far, the best template we have discovered in the manufacturing sector. It ticks all the boxes for writing a stellar case study – slide-in CTAs (call-to-action), integration with social media, an excellent testimonial, captivating visuals, and a consistent theme. You do not want to miss this out!

Best Case Study Examples for Technology & Services Sector

While there are over 10+ example case studies that have been handpicked for the Technology & Services sector, we are highlighting only about 2 of them for a quick reference on why it works and most importantly, we like them.

1. FreshDesk - Case Study | Chargebee

The best thing about this case study is that Chargebee incorporated testimonials from different departments and individuals. The case study uses crisp headlines and explains the challenge in detail before jumping the gun to mention the results.

2. Aspire Systems Provides Data Integration Services  | Aspire Systems

For a technical product/software, it is important to know where to use technical keywords and where to use plain, simple language. Aspire Systems did a fantastic job of creating different sections for a summary (in plain language) and a tech snapshot (where they mention the suite of data management products). It also included an image of the system architecture to educate their prospects on the process and solutions.

Best Case Study Examples for Telecommunications Sector

While there are over 10+ example case studies that have been handpicked for the Telecommunications sector, we are highlighting only about 2 of them for a quick reference on why it works and most importantly, we like them.

1. Managed Network Services | Telkomtelstra

Incorporating video testimonials in the case study is one of the best practices to be followed to create a compelling case study; and, Telkomtelstra has done that precisely. The practice of integrating social media in your overall content marketing strategy never fails to fetch you brownie points!

2. Supporting the community with a mobilized workforce | Rogers Communications Inc.

Rogers Communications has adopted the strategy of assigning a dedicated page for case studies. It has also integrated social media and slide-in CTAs buttons, in this case study, for enhanced engagement. A unique practice that Rogers embraced in this case study was to mention the details of the current services with that particular client. You may want to consider this strategy while writing your upcoming case study!

Strategies to leverage the power of Case Studies 

On the same lines, let us now deep-dive into how content marketers can leverage the power of case studies to their full potential. Mentioned below are some of the strategies you can use to incorporate case studies into your organization's overall integrated marketing communications strategy.

1. Highlight the case studies on a dedicated page

When B2B customers search online for your goods and services, they will search for your company's websites as well as your rivals' websites. So make sure the case studies on your website are easy to find. Refrain from categorizing them in the section of "downloads" or "resources" list, or hiding them so profoundly that visitors need to find them on your search facility.

Offer multiple paths that will lead them directly to the stories of customers that most interest them. Feature your homepage with a recent case study. Ask your webmaster to set up a display that will generate a different case study each time the visitor clicks on a new page or returns to a given page.

Be sure to provide a link where more case studies can be found by the visitor, in case the story does not match the interests of the visitor.

2. Include case studies in white papers

Do you have a case study showing how a client used your product or service to solve a widespread problem in the industry? If so, you have the building blocks for an effective white paper . Case studies and effective white papers share the same basic structure: challenge/solution.

You will need to develop the problem section further, examine previous solutions and why they are not working, and present your solution as part of a generic class.

However, once you have described your solution, you can introduce your particular product by means of an abbreviated version of your case study.

3. Include case studies in press releases

The company press releases are the perfect platform to share customer stories with prospects, customers, partners, and employees. The case studies in your prospect press releases allow you to highlight your solutions and the different verticals that you represent.

This helps to develop trust over time. In addition, case studies are great for keeping partners informed about how customers use your solutions. You'll support their sales efforts by providing customers with new ideas that they can present. You'll also keep them excited about your partnership, as well as about your products and services.

4. Collaborate your direct marketing efforts with case studies

Many of the most popular all-time direct mail promotions start with a story. Stories are enthralling. They promise entertainment and news. Of course, they gain our attention. Hence, a well-written case study for a newsletter or a direct mail campaign can be an excellent lead material.

Moreover, with a lead drawn from a recent case study, you'll not only get the attention of your prospects right away but also establish credibility with a real-world illustration of what your company has done for others already.

5. Consolidate your SEO strategy with case studies

Case studies can be among the best content types to attract attention from search engines. Phrases of keywords are the SEO currency . And if well-written, it is most likely that your case studies will include several instances of keywords and phrases relevant to the product or service they feature.

Make sure you incorporate the links and meta tags to boost the search engine rankings. Google attaches great importance to links, so be sure to link back to your case studies from press releases, blog posts, and discussion forums that refer to them. Encourage your clients to link your website to their success stories.

Even meta tags can improve your search rankings. Ensure that the title and description tags are used well by including your target keywords in them.

6. Collaborate your case studies with your social media marketing strategy

Social media provides a range of platforms to distribute case studies to your target audience. You can post a link to your latest case studies on Twitter, LinkedIn, and other platforms. Forums are another excellent platform way to promote your customer success.

Trade associations and LinkedIn Groups provide thousands of tightly focused discussions across the entire spectrum of interests in the industry. And most of these forums will let you post links, making it easy to reach specific audiences.

Case studies are vital building blocks for your brand’s social currency. With the right balance between data and a compelling narrative, case studies go a long way in positioning your brand as the ideal choice in the minds of your prospects.

So before you rule out this collateral as mundane and boring, ask yourself again - would you order from a restaurant that is not backed by good reviews and ratings?

Other interesting blogs that might help bolster your content marketing strategy:

100+ Best Examples of Press Release Templates

100+ Brochure Examples for Sales and Marketing

100+ Testimonial Examples for Sales and Marketing

The Best White Paper Examples for B2B Marketers      

• Case Study Templates
• Case Studies
• Marketing Collateral
• Content Marketing

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How to Use Sales Case Studies Effectively (With Examples and Mistakes to Avoid)

• February 10, 2021

Used right, sales case studies can boost your deal closing ratio, making them a valuable addition to your sales enablement library.

But here’s the thing…

There are hundreds of tutorials on how to create them. Not so much on how to use them in your sales process.

So that’s what we’re going to cover here. Keep reading for practical tips on how you can use your case studies to attract new prospects and convert existing prospects into paying customers.

• The value of a case study
• How to use case studies in the sales process
• Types and examples of sales case studies
• Making case studies easy to use
• What not to do

What Is a Case Study?

Let’s make sure we’re all on the same page here.

A case study in sales is any story, data, or evidence of your product or service benefitting a customer.

Case studies aren’t really about your company though. This is an easy mistake to make. The focus should always be on the benefits your customers and clients experience because of your company.

They should be data-focused, and should include the problem the customer went through and how your product helped the customer overcome it.

Case studies give you the ability to frame your product in the way you want.

They allow you to build one of the most valuable and hard-to-find things in sales — trust .

This makes the case study one of your most powerful sales tools.

The Value of a Case Study

A tool is only as good as its craftsman, and it’s the same with case studies. They aren’t the smoking gun that will immediately close the deal, but in the hands of a skilled SDR or AE, they can help you control the narrative and bat away objections .

Richard Harris of Harris Consulting had this to say,

“Case studies don’t actually make the sale. What they do is provide real-world validation.

The real value of a case study only applies once a conversation around the prospect use case has occurred. In most cases, the case study just verifies your legitimacy and allows the prospect to ‘check the box.’

You must have case studies, though. That’s for sure.”

That real-world validation is key. Hearing a convincing pitch is one thing, but seeing how a product or service works in the real world goes a long way to stripping objections and building trust in your brand.

A case study may not make someone buy, but not having a case study will almost certainly make it harder to close the deal.

How to Use Case Studies in the Sales Process

That’s all well and good, but how do you actually use a case study in your sales process?

Sales expert and VP of Sales at Vector Solutions, Phil Gerbyshak , shared with us the different ways his team utilizes case studies.

“My sales team uses case studies extensively for social proof.

We use them in first contact with customers as an opening attention grabber, to overcome an objection, and lastly, to ask for references.”

The concept of social proof is important. It builds trust in your brand’s ability to follow through with your promises and to solve your customer’s problems.

Here are some practical tips for using case studies to do that at every stage of the buyer’s journey.

Attracting and engaging new leads

As an online lead generation tool , case studies make an attractive offer. They have the added bonus of attracting your ideal customer at the precise moment they’re actively looking for solutions.

For this, rather than a one-page write-up, think in terms of a free guide detailing the challenges company X was facing, how their problem was solved, and what their experience has been with your product.

But free downloads aren’t the only way to use case studies to generate leads. They’re also a great format for webinars .

Of course, the key is to get the topic right. You want to focus on your customer and the success they’ve enjoyed, not on your company and product.

Good: How Company X Doubled Their Revenue in Y Weeks

Bad: How [Product Name] Helped Company X Overcome Y

RELATED: The Power of Social Selling (+ 7 Rules for Storytelling in Sales)

Don’t forget cold outreach . Case studies are the perfect excuse to reach out to a new lead. They ensure your first touch is value-add and selfless.

Building confidence during discovery and demos

Case studies can be used to answer questions, show use-cases, and prove that your product does what you say it does.

During any call , you can use them to keep things from stalling out or taking a negative turn.

And it’s easy to make the offer a natural part of your conversation. Phil told us that his team broaches the subject directly. They’ll ask something like,

“Here are some relevant results a company like yours got with us. Is this of interest to you?”

During a demo , case studies can turn a boring features-review into an engaging presentation.

And it’s as simple as telling stories about previous customers who struggled with specific problems, then showing how one of your features solves that problem.

You don’t need to trick the prospect into seeing a case study. This is information they likely want to see so they can make an informed purchase.

Often the best way to bring up a case study with a prospect is to simply ask if they want to see it.

Overcoming objections

One of the most valuable (and most obvious) benefits of a case study is using it to overcome objections .

Alex Greer , Founder & CEO, SIGNAL HQ, says,

“They are a great way to alleviate fear that an investment in a new solution may not work, or generate enthusiasm about the new capabilities a solution unlocks for an organization. Ultimately, they demonstrate your business has experience working with similar customers, and that your solution drives results.”

Fear is the enemy of every sale.

Your customers have to make a very important decision. They have to decide to invest a large amount of money and time into trying your solution to their problem. There will always be fear initially that your solution will be a poor investment.

Case studies allow you to address your customers’ pain points directly, with real-world data .

Phil again shared with us how his company brings this up to the customer. Once they find their customers’ main concern they’ll say something like,

“A client in a similar situation to you had that concern, and here’s what they did…”

Similar is the key here.

Your case study needs to be as similar to your current customer as possible. Richard Harris says that your,

“Potential customers want to know the case study, but they’ll rarely believe the case study will be equal to them.”

Many prospects think that their company and its problems are so unique that no case study will truly capture the depth of their problem. Sometimes this is true, sometimes not. That’s not important.

What is important is that you realize you’ll always be fighting an uphill battle to prove your case study applies to your prospect.

The less similar the case, the harder that fight will be. Which is why choosing a case study that’s too dissimilar can end up creating more objections instead of removing them.

So make life easier for yourself. Take the time to pick as similar a case study as you can.

What Are the Three Types of Case Studies?

There are a few types of sales case studies:

• Explanatory
• Instrumental
• Implementation

We’ll cover these types in more detail below, along with case study examples for each.

1. Explanatory Case Study

It is essential to remember that a case study incorporates an oral discussion of your findings with the potential client before they commit to anything, as it can make or break a sale.

Explanatory case studies are primarily descriptive studies that do well with complex solutions common in  enterprise technology   and healthcare. They typically use a few instances of a phenomenon to show how the existing solution works. Explanatory case studies only use one or two occurrences to familiarize prospects with how to solve an unfamiliar problem.

Sales Case Study Example: Chargebee

Chargebee  has a great  explanatory case study  of how their customer, Freshdesk, was able to scale their helpdesk services from 500 to 8,000 customers by introducing a single source of truth onto a single dashboard.

2. Instrumental Case Study

One way to help your prospects gain insight into the solution you are selling is through an instrumental case study.

This type of case study does not focus on the results, but instead on understanding the relationship between the problem and its solution. This works best for technical products or software programs. When things get technical, however, it can be hard to know when to use technical terms or plain language.

Sales Case Study Example: Aspire Systems

Aspire Systems  created an  instrumental case study  where they developed a data integration platform for a leading vendor of data integration solutions. With this case study, they did a fantastic job of creating summary sections using layperson terms while using images of their system architecture that clearly shows their processes even when using technical language.

3. Implementation Case Study

The implementation case study is a quick way to showcase your previous customer’s success stories. This type of case study shows what problem needed to be solved, what solution was used, and how it was implemented.

It’s important for sales reps to quickly showcase the problem-solution-result, and a great way to do so is through a brief case study that focuses on the implementation part. Implementation case studies can be just one page or several, but it should always include the problem being solved, how the solution was executed, and why this particular solution stands out as an example for other companies in similar industries.

Sales Case Study Example: Mitsubishi Electric

Mitsubishi Electric  created a  one-pager  case study for sales teams about how their solution helped Twilight Cruises address passenger complaints about comfort. This implementation case study stands out because Mitsubishi ensured that Twilight furnished a well-crafted testimonial about the new air conditioning units in a way that it builds faith and trust among readers.

Making Case Studies Easy to Use

For your case studies to be relevant, you need to be able to choose the perfect case study for the perfect moment.

You likely have been given a large pile of resources to help you sell — from random specs and data to full-on case studies.

It can often be overwhelming, and finding the gold in that pile can often be difficult.

Alex Greer had some more tips for us here,

“It’s important for everyone in your sales organization to know exactly where to access an index or database of all your referenceable customers and collateral. You can organize this with something as simple as an Excel or Google Sheet, or a more robust asset management system in Salesforce, Highspot, Showpad, or similar.

This customer reference index should have (at least) the following types of tags, since each customer will give their own set of permissions:

– Publicly Referencable by Name? (Yes/No)

– Publicly Referencable in Written Communication? (Yes/No)

– Permission to display logo? (Yes/No)

– Links to Testimonial Webpages

– Links to Testimonial Videos

– Links to Written Case Studies

– Links to Webinars

– Links to Slides”

Having an index like this is perfect for keeping track of your case studies, so you’re not jumping from email to email, or wasting time searching through your hard drive to find the one case study that’s a perfect fit.

RELATED: The Complete Guide To Auditing Your Sales Content Library

Even with an index like this, though, it’s important to know your case studies well. You need to know what to look for when you start dealing with a client.

Another excellent way to utilize an index like this is to put it on your website and let it do much of your work for you.

Create a case studies page

One of the most valuable resources you can provide on your website is an easy-to-find page on your website filled with all of your best case studies. Your sales teams can even use them to nudge prospects closer to their buying decision!

This does two things for you.

• It works passively to attract new customers who are impressed with what you’ve done for other companies.
• It works as a valuable resource when you’re selling.

When you’re talking to a prospect, it acts as a database, where you can easily search the exact study you need. It also allows you to direct customers to it, or show them directly if you’re talking to them in-person.

Outreach does a great job with this. They have a Customer Stories page that’s easy to find and chock full of great case studies.

Today’s buyers are used to having a huge amount of data available to them. When buying anything, their first instinct is to look at user reviews.

Deloitte’s consumer review says that “customers are very used to having a huge amount of data available to them.” What’s more, ”81% of customers read reviews and check ratings.”

So make the data available.

Give your customers the tools to sell themselves on you.

If you don’t have a page like this, then you need one. Your website is free real estate to show people how great your company and product is. Use it.

Use case studies to get case studies

All of these benefits require that you have applicable case studies to use. So an important way to utilize your case studies is to use them to actually to get more case studies and reviews.

Phil Gerbyshak says that his team does this by, again, being very straightforward and simply saying,

“We have a review/case study from a client like you, would you be open to sharing one as well?”

This will help keep your case studies page and index full and make sure you and your sales team have the ammunition to keep every deal moving forward.

What NOT to Do

There are a few pitfalls to avoid when using case studies.

Don’t lie or stretch the truth.

This should be pretty obvious. These days it is easier than ever to fact check. If you’re caught in a lie, any trust you’ve built up — and likely the sale itself — is gone.

Don’t forget who you’re talking to.

Like I mentioned before, the case study should be a similar case to the customer you’re speaking to. They shouldn’t need to stretch their imagination to see how this applies to them.

Don’t focus on how great your company is.

The case study’s focus should be on the customer’s benefit .

If it sounds too much like propaganda or a promo, you’ll lose your customer focus.

Once people think they’re being sold to, they’ll often either stop listening or stop trusting you. They’ll start looking much more critically at everything you’re saying, wondering if you’re telling them the truth or not.

If you do a case study right, they’ll still walk away thinking your company is great, even though you never told them that directly.

Don’t forget about the data.

The more data-focused, the better. A good case study should be backed by facts, even if you’re telling it in story form. This has the added bonus of lending itself to visually engaging elements such as graphs and charts.

Final Words

Case studies can be a very powerful tool to have in your sales toolbelt. So, equip yourself.

Gather your case studies, and use them to convert potential sales into very real revenue.

Scott Barker

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The 22 Best Case Study Examples That Boost Sales (+ Templates and Tips)

Jackie Jacobson | June 29, 2023 | Case Studies | 20 min read

Quick Links

• 1.   What Is It?
• 2.   Why They're Important
• 3.   Case Study Length
• 4.   Where Do I Put Them?
• 5.   Case Study Format
• 6.   How to Write One
• 7.   Examples
• a.   PDF
• b.   Online

The Best Case Study Examples

• 1.  Adobe: Royal Bank of Scotland
• 2.  BrightEdge: Stanley
• 3.  LeadGnome: Host Analytics
• 4.  Bitly: Vissla
• 5.  Taboola: The Line
• 6.  OutBrain: Lane Bryant
• 7.  Google Analytics: Optimizely
• 8.  LinkedIn: HubSpot
• 9.  LevelEleven: Staples
• 10.  Life Size: Rackspace
• 11.  Five9: Weed Man
• 12.  LogMeIn: Extent Technologies
• 13.  Red Hat: North Carolina State Websites
• 14.  VMWare: CenturyLink
• 15.  HPE: Mendix
• 16.  Gravitate: Global Expeditions Group
• 17.  IDEO: INFARM
• 18.  Forge and Smith: Happy Planet
• 19.  CoSchedule: English Heritage
• 20.  Slack: OpenAI
• 21.  Square: The Epicurean Trader
• 22.  Bluleadz: BandGrip

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 their 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 unique 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. 

Need an example of a case study? Check out some of our case studies here !

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 .

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.

The more similar the prospect is to the customer in the case study, the more striking it will be.

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.

It can also help to sprinkle links and CTAs to your case studies throughout your content:

The Best Case Study Format

• Introduction: Provide context for the story.
• Challenge: Describe the primary issue being faced.
• Solution: Identify the product or service being used.
• Benefit: Emphasize the most impactful advantages.
• Result: Detail the specific outcomes the customer earned.

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:

• Introduction: sets the stage by providing context for the situation.
• Challenge: discusses the key problem that the customer was facing.
• Solution: a basic overview of the product or service the customer used.
• Benefit: recaps the solution’s top advantages – why it was the right choice.
• Result: the positive business outcome arising from the solution and benefits.

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. LifeSize: 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.

7 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. Slack: OpenAI

Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools have quickly claimed center stage in the digital world. Slack is one business that hopped on the bandwagon and incorporated AI generated assistance into their platform, and this case study tells a story of success using modern technology.

In this case study , Slack relies heavily on testimonials to share the impact that OpenAI has made on their product. The story of Slack and OpenAI is told directly to readers by the people who experienced the partnership and how it can improve user experience for all kinds of businesses. Sharing a success story in this way makes the whole case study feel much more personal than just providing a list of statistics. 

When customers read through the case study, they'll get to know perspectives from multiple people, hopefully coming across one that really resonates with them. 

6. Square: The Epicurean Trader

The Epicurean Trader case study featured on the Square website follows the tried and true structure for a closer look into a success story. First, this case study introduces The Epicurean Trader and what problems they were facing as a retail business. 

The next section of the case study discusses the solution proposed by Square and the implementation of their products as The Epicurean Trader expanded their business. Finally, this case study concludes with notable impacts as a result of using Square's software, including revenue growth and comparisons to standards set within the industry. 

Reading through this case study, you'll join The Epicurean Trade on their journey to enhance their retail practices. Thanks to testimonials from the owner of the business, you'll also get an inside look at how this brand was able to grow with some help from Square. 

Overall, this case study example is clear, concise, and easy to follow. Readers will get to know a highlighted business and how Square stepped in to resolve a problem they were facing. 

7. 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.

Jackie Jacobson

Jackie is a Copywriter at Bluleadz. She graduated from Elon University with a degree in Creative Writing and is currently living in Charlotte, NC. If you need her, you can find her exploring the city or relaxing with a good book.

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4 Sales Case Studies (And Key Takeaways)

A report from CSO insights indicated that the percentage of salespeople making quota has dropped from 63% to 53% over a five-year period—from 2012 to 2016.

According to research from Sales Insight Lab , only 24.3% of salespeople exceeded their quota last year .

The reasons for this could vary:

• Selling has become more challenging with the changes in consumer behavior.
• Salespeople’s selling techniques are not as effective anymore as they were years ago.
• The supply of goods offered has saturated the market
• The sales distribution has spread thinly among individual salespeople.

Regardless of the reason, selling comes with its challenges, and some selling scenarios make it even more challenging than it already is.

Let us discuss challenging selling scenarios through the following sales case studies and how to deal with them.

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1. Selling Something People Could Get for FREE

Some products that are being sold have some free alternatives that people can get to. Examples include paid content and their free content alternative, CRMs, project management tools, and others. However, some businesses are able to sell these products and make good business out of it.

Charging for something that could be obtained for free is feasible.

That’s the reason why services and products vary immensely as well – from smartphones to finding a carpenter or looking for apartments in the same area.

So, how do you sell something that people could get for free?

Bottled water is a great case study.

Identifying the Options to Build Your Case

First, you need to identify the options and how it presents an opportunity for your product.

Let’s review what the options are if you want to gather water for free. Roughly speaking, you can either drink tap water or go to the nearest mountain or lake with seemingly good water.

Tap water is known to contain certain chemicals like chlorine and aluminum sulfate. Pesticides and herbicides can also be found in some tests of tap water.

This could cause asthma or different forms of skin damage, along with weakening the cells and a number of known and unknown problems (that add up with time).

It’s dependent on the region, your neighborhood, the building, and the pipe installation in your home. Filtering is not a top priority for many since tap water wasn’t meant to be consumed orally in the first place. Some safety mechanisms are in place, but that’s not nearly enough. Plus, if you visit relatives or friends, there’s no way you can test the water upfront (every time).

Spring water is somewhat clean as it’s being filtered through rocks. That said, you can’t rely on the structure of the water in different pools or rivers as it depends on different factors – like the flora or fauna living there, how far the stream is from the source, and the like (there are studies out there that explain everything more scientifically).

What makes your product better?

You also need to determine what makes your product better. This will help convince people to pay a premium.

In the case of bottled water, here are the features:

Bottled Water Obeys Standards

Unlike tap water or spring water, selling bottled water means complying with certain governmental standards.

In the US, bottled water must meet the National Primary Drinking Water Regulations set by the EPA. That said, purchasing 100 bottles automatically means that they all contain the same ingredients, and you’re somewhat safe to drink that in the long run.

This isn’t necessarily the case. There is a certain formula that each brand follows (through distilling and filtering), which leads to a higher or lower volume of given minerals in the water. Some studies suggest switching water brands in order to keep the balance intact.

Moreover, plastic bottles release small amounts of chemicals over time. The regulations may also be somewhat loose – testing for certain bacteria just once a week compared to several times a day (leaving a gap where less clean water may be released to the public).

Overall, it’s known to be safer .

And that process of gathering and transporting water, filtering, dealing with the FDA and EPA, marketing, and shipping to supermarkets is obviously resource-consuming – thus the price of the bottled water (in addition to the plastic itself).

It’s also a Commodity

It’s much easier to grab a bottle from the store next door instead of carrying a couple of large bottles every day from home on your way to work. The same goes for restaurants and different public places. Bottled water is the second most commonly purchased beverage in the US.

Bottled water’s total volume sold in 2022 was 15.9 billion gallons, its highest volume ever, surpassing carbonated soft drinks for the seventh year in a row. In terms of retail dollars, 2022 sales approached $46 billion, up from $40.8 billion in 2021. Yahoo! Finance

All things considered, there are good reasons why bottled water is priced when people can obtain it for free. The filtering process is different and is standardized across brands. It’s more widely available than public sources (except for tap water), and it’s easier to carry small bottles whenever needed.

Other goods, resources, tools, or services follow a similar process. Professional vendors invest in different activities to improve the quality of a product or a service – leading to higher demand and an actual business model. Free products and services always come with limitations – a premium provider can invest in customer support, the convenience of delivery, or anything else that is of value to the buyer.

To sum it up, identify pressing problems that free alternatives face (in this case, lack of standardization and possible health risks) and turn the narrative in your favor.

2. Selling Products With Many Competitors

Is your business one of the many vendors selling different flavors of the same product (or in a niche with many competitors)?

This is where storytelling comes into play.

Nobody needs features. People need solutions to problems in their specific industries.

Storytelling In Marketing And Sales

Storytelling allows for putting those features to work by defining practical scenarios. Each business is unique in a way – there is a company mission, and there are business goals. And the company culture.

There’s a backstory to starting the business and an ideal subset of problems that are uniquely solved by a solution.

What Makes You Different?

If you are entering a saturated market, the question is: what makes you different?

There are tons of supermarkets, design agencies, and dentist offices. Yet, each one of them profiles in something unique or has some vibe attuned to the energy of their ideal audience.

• Nike sells sports equipment. But aside from the notorious “Just do it”, they’ve positioned themselves with multiple influencer-baked stories through athletes like Michael Jordan, Roger Federer, Tiger Woods, and lots of football players.
• McDonald’s spent $2.3 million in 1967 for a national advertising campaign, building a solid brand, pioneering outstanding customer service, and innovating in the “Happy Meals” department. Since then, they’ve created hundreds of incredible campaigns, including “love story” journeys with marriage proposals in their stores, responses to international events, and pivots in takeaway products (among others).
• Apple wasn’t the first vendor of smartphones or headphones, and unlike other players like Dell, they were the only company that positioned themselves as a leader across multiple categories. Their original mission statement was “making personal computing accessible to each and every individual”. They rebranded themselves from “Apple Computers” to “Apple” to enlarge their item portfolio and pitched their audience via incredible designs, simplicity, and user-friendliness (instead of boasting about RAM or CPUs).

Businesses operate in different manners and follow various business processes . Some focus on quality, others – on price.

Each market has value for a specific audience.

In order to build the bond between your business and your market, you need a story that serves as the bridge between you and your customers.

3. Selling Expensive Solutions to SMEs

The thing is, most small and medium business owners provide services or products that are not completely digital. Those that sell online goods and services would do fine through on-site and online sales and marketing .

Categories of Solutions

Most “outstanding” solutions fall into one of the following categories:

• Those that would bring a ton of new customers to a business.
• Solutions that depend on someone who will manage the process, configure parameters, and talk to support staff to leverage the solution (after the onboarding/training process).
• Automation tools that will simplify the process (and possibly grow the traffic or bring new leads).
• Software that promises everything but won’t commit to a “ money-back guarantee ” if something goes wrong.

If I receive a hard offer for something that would yield a good multiplier on an annual basis and I’m 100% confident that this would work, I’ll pay the right amount. But that’s never the case.

For instance, if your software truly promises 3x growth of the business in a year, a company may not be able to cope with hiring and training in order to accommodate that growth.

And some businesses do prefer to stay small. Not every company aims to be the next Facebook or Airbnb.

Other tools depend on team members who are heavily involved in operations, maintenance, and adherence to a process. A business may be unable to allocate the resources required for the job. A small team only employs so many decision-makers and managers capable of allocating a good chunk of their time to something new that may or may not work.

Guaranteeing ROI is not realistic, either. Unless it’s a “black hat” type of technique, it probably depends on other factors.

All in all, if you build the right case and warm up a lead enough, you may be able to close a (new) customer with the right proposition. But it may take a while until you get a portfolio of customers that would confirm that your solution works as advertised.

4. Selling Overseas

B2B sales can also benefit from those – but the marketing strategies are focused on the inbound generation and sales calls instead. You can hire someone in-house who handles all international deals.

There are plenty of ways – some traditional, others – creative.

• Are you selling services or products, digital or physical, B2B or B2C?
• Do you target a single country or worldwide?
• What are the demographics of your target audience?
• What techniques do competitors use for selling?

B2C and B2B Strategies

For B2C sales (less expensive digital products/services), digital marketing and advertising work well. Here’s what else you need to consider as a set of strategies for multinational sales penetration.

• Influencer marketing is a good investment, albeit long-term (it takes a while to work with multiple influencers on targeted campaigns).
• Hiring a local salesperson in each area is also a great idea. Selling more expensive products in a specific country (say, the US) may justify hiring a local salesperson there. Attending conferences, trade shows, meetups – and meeting prospects locally.
• Social media works in all cases, along with a well-maintained blog. The latter takes a while and is contingent on your content strategy and keyword research.
• Personal branding online could help you land podcast appearances and other interviews. Being able to position yourself in the right media outlets (that your prospects read) may yield good results.
• Consider partnerships, too. This is extremely valuable if you team up with a business managing a portfolio of “ideal” clients providing other services (complementing yours).

Do you struggle with sales and other business challenges ? Head to this sales guide for executives and learn more tips and strategies.

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How to Perform a Sales Analysis (Step-by-Step): Methods & Metrics

Want to achieve your sales goals? Then you have to kiss guesswork and intuition goodbye. Instead, get cozy with regular sales analysis to generate cold, hard data for your team.

Of course, wanting to go steady with data and actually making it happen are two different things. To make it a reality, you have to know what sales analysis is, why it's so beneficial to sales teams like yours, and how to analyze sales metrics and KPIs for your sales strategy .

Keep reading to learn everything you need to know about sales data analysis. That way you can boost performance —for you and your team—and capture that elusive jena se qua that will turn your competitors green with envy. Let's do this!

What Is Sales Analysis?

It's pretty simple: sales analysis is what happens when sales professionals monitor sales data, in order to evaluate sales team performance. Doing so can uncover insights about:

• Top-performing products/services
• Underperforming products/services
• Customer behavior and retention
• New sales and market opportunities
• The future outlook of your sales team

When done right, sales analysis can help you run a more efficient and effective sales department now and in the future .

Curious about total contract value ? Hey there, our article holds the answers.

How Often Should You Perform a Sales Analysis?

Worried you'll come off too strong? You definitely don't want to look desperate. How much is too much? Luckily, the quickest way to sales analysis' heart is to spend quality time with it.

In other words, check in on a regular basis. How regular? It depends on the sales metrics you need to track, overall performance, and the type of sales reports you're analyzing.

Your sales goals can also impact how often you should perform sales analysis.

In general, expect to track overarching metrics like net sales and/or deal size on a monthly basis . More specific metrics, like calls or emails sent, should be tracked on a shorter-term basis. Whatever your cadence, remember to monitor seasonal changes and YoY metrics, too.

What is Included in a Sales Analysis?

Better said: what isn't included in a sales analysis?

In the end, what you decide to include in your sales analysis report will depend on your goals. Here are some ideas:

• Sales activity volume
• Ratio of new leads to qualified leads
• Information about your pricing structure
• Data on your social media campaigns
• Current sales trends
• Revenue and costs for a specific period

Along with these things, a clear sales data analytics report will show you want to do with the information. Specific action steps are a key piece of sales analysis, meaning you can do more with the information you've gathered. Moreover, explore Google sheets alternatives that may better suit your sales analytics needs, providing enhanced functionalities for improved data management.

What is Sales Analysis Useful For? 4 Irresistible Benefits

Why should sales managers get serious about sales analysis? Two words: the benefits!

Seriously, if you want to see how your team performs against its sales goals—throughout the entire sales cycle—you need to monitor the specific metrics that pertain to them.

They may have unmet demands that will streamline your business processes and benefit you in the long run, including outsourcing needs that cover 3PL warehouse management , manufacturing, offshore or onshore, etc. This is one of the reasons why those metrics must be monitored.

Once you do, you'll be able to make better decisions, understand market trends, boost company profits, and improve customer satisfaction. Let's take a closer look:

• Make better decisions: Sales analysis will reveal the real-time success of your sales plan . You can use this information to build a better, data-driven approach.
• Understand market trends: It doesn't matter what you're doing—launching a new product, planning inventory , etc. A sales analysis report will help you uncover hot market opportunities and must-know trends to make the most of your efforts.
• Boost company profits: Top sales reps spend more time talking to high-quality leads. Sales analysis will help you identify the best prospects so that your team can close more deals. It will also reveal information regarding your non-customers, which can be used to sharpen your sales pitch and personalize future marketing strategies .
• Improve customer satisfaction: Finally, sales analysis will help you understand what customers want and why they buy. These details can be used to forge deeper bonds with your target audience that lead to more upsell and cross-sell opportunities.

Does the idea of sales analysis have you hot and bothered? Great! Now I'll show you a proven, four-step process you can use to analyze the metrics and KPIs that matter to you.

How to Perform Sales Analysis: A 4-Step Process

You're ready to take the plunge and generate your sales analysis report—but how? Follow this four-step process, and you'll have sales analysis wrapped around your finger in no time!

Step 1: Choose the Right Sales Analysis Method

Different sales analysis methods will allow you to generate different kinds of reports. So, before you do anything else, choose a method that aligns with your sales goals.

Here are seven specific sales analysis reports you need to know about:

• Sales trend analysis: This type of sales analysis looks for patterns in sales data. Use it to track your team's progress towards its sales goals, while simultaneously understanding sales patterns in specific products, customers, and/or geographies.
• Sales performance analysis: Sales performance analysis is crucial for effective sales performance management . This type of analysis will help you gauge your sales team's performance and evaluate the overall effectiveness of your sales strategy. Utilize it to compare actual results to expected outcomes, and then make necessary adjustments. Implementing these changes can lead to faster closing times, increased win rates, and a significant boost in revenue growth. (Dive into the world of CRM and its pivotal role in driving revenue growth .)
• Predictive sales analysis: This type of sales analysis is designed to help you predict future risks and opportunities. Use it to create accurate sales forecasts.
• Sales pipeline analysis: This type of sales analysis will help you discover common sales activities prospects go through before they convert. As such, it will give your sales team the context it needs to shorten sales cycles and close more deals.

• Product sales analysis: This type of sales analysis is perfect for large companies and/or companies with extensive product offerings. Why? Because it helps them determine which products actually affect their bottom lines. Use it to better understand your company's demographics, pinpoint popular products, and the like.
• Prescriptive analysis: This type of sales analysis will empower your sales reps with knowledge, helping them determine which opportunities to pursue and which to dump like radioactive waste. Use it to increase rep success and team-wide win rates.
• Market research: This type of sales analysis may seem old-fashioned, but it's never gone out of style. To use this technique, simply survey your customers, research your competitors through web scraping (a technique that automates the process of extracting data from a website ) using curl proxy for greater efficiency and reliability, and read general sales statistics. Once you do, you'll have a much better understanding of your customer's needs , thereby improving your sales effectiveness.

Step 2: Identify the Specific Information You Need

You've chosen the perfect sales analysis method. It just seems to get you and the sales goals you want to achieve. Congratulations! But your work is far from over…

Now you need to identify the specific bits of information that you need. For example, you might want to measure the impact of your sales training efforts. Or find the top-selling product from a recent marketing campaign. Or determine similarities between repeat customers.

When you know what information you need, you can choose metrics and KPIs that will help you acquire, track, and measure it. We'll talk about this a bit more in the next section.

Before we get there, though, we need to talk about timing—as in, what time frames should you collect data for? The answer to that question will depend on the metrics you're tracking, but weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly time periods are pretty common.

Just remember, consistency is essential, regardless of which metrics you decide to monitor. With that in mind, plan to conduct analysis more frequently during special promotions.

Step 3: Choose a Sales Analysis Tool and Analyze Your Data

Your sales analysis efforts are going strong! To keep them that way, invest in an analytics tool to help you get the most out of every metric you decide to track. Here are a few ideas:

• Spreadsheets: You gotta love the classics, right? A spreadsheet tool like Microsoft Excel can help you analyze and interpret your sales data. Just make sure that you have sufficient quantity and quality of data before you get started. If you don't, you won't be able to make informed decisions that propel your company forward. (Note: sidle on up to these report templates to make spreadsheet reporting way easier!)
• CRM software: Every sales organization needs a CRM. How else will you store contact information, automate email sequences, and view sales pipelines from one sales dashboard? Newsflash: your CRM tool can also be used for sales analysis. If you use Close , for example, you can easily generate reports for any metric or KPI, including detailed pipeline and funnel reports, which will help you with sales forecasting .
• Sales analytics apps: Some tools are completely dedicated to sales analysis. Chorus.ai , for example, will help you analyze sales calls and pinpoint areas of improvement. Gong.io will help you report on customer interactions and forecast future sales. And Seismic will help you calculate the effect of your sales enablement efforts.

At the end of the day, choose the sales analysis tool to help you accomplish your goals. Look for substance, not style. We all know you'll make better business decisions with the right data analytics tools in your toolbox.

Step 4: Share Your Results with Relevant Stakeholders

Last but not least, you need to present your sales data analysis to key stakeholders.

Unless you’re asked to share the process by which you arrived at your results, only show the main findings. You can use graphs and visuals to help your audience interpret the data. Additionally, employing tools like the revenue growth calculator can be instrumental in visualizing and comprehending complex sales data effectively.

For example: If you lead a sales team and want to share information regarding sales team performance with your CEO, you might want to include charts around your sales goals, your best-selling products, and the revenue and expenses of your team.

Overall, your sales analysis presentations should share actionable insights and be easy to understand. End with recommendations to help accomplish this goal.

Seeking sales excellence? Discover the power of challenger selling strategies .

Choosing the Sales Analysis Metrics and KPIs That Matter

At this point, you know exactly how to perform an in-depth sales analysis—just follow the four-step process above. Now you need to choose a few KPIs to monitor.

Here are 10 metrics you'll probably end up tracking at some point. This is definitely not an exhaustive list of KPIs. If you want that, check out this article when you're done with this one.

1. Monthly Sales Growth

This metric will give you the juicy deets on your overall sales revenue. Is it going up, going down, or holding steady? When you know, you can better optimize your sales processes.

2. Sales Opportunities

This KPI will tell you about the opportunities your sales reps create. It can be used to determine good and bad-fit prospects, which makes it useful for sales prospecting.

3. Lead Conversion Rate

This metric will help you understand why and how leads are converted . This information can then be used to design a foolproof customer acquisition plan for your company.

4. Average Conversion Time

This KPI is all about productivity. Track it to determine how long it takes for leads to convert into paying customers. You can also combine it with other metrics, like lead conversion rate and total sales opportunities, for a handy bird’s eye view of your company's sales pipeline.

5. Monthly Onboarding and Demo Calls Booked

This metric will help you understand the health of your sales funnel. Why? Because prospects that make it to the demo and/or onboarding stages of your funnel are likely to convert.

6. Pipeline Value

This KPI will tell you the amount of revenue you can expect to generate from the sales opportunities in your department's pipeline, within a specific time frame.

7. Sales Targets

This metric will share historical data regarding team performance. Want to know the amount of revenue generated or the number of product subscriptions sold? This metric will help.

8. Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)

This is an extremely popular KPI —with good reason. Track it to learn how much revenue the average customer generates for your company during their lifetime, based on the average deal size and how long your customers stay with you. Then use it to predict future revenue, make informed decisions about customer acquisition , etc..

9. Calls and Emails Per Rep

This metric will tell you how many calls and emails your sales team makes every day, week, and month. It can be used to evaluate productivity and to identify broken sales funnels.

Want to amplify your sales results? Dive into our comprehensive guide on the best sales productivity tools available.

10. New and Expansion Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR)

These are important metrics for SaaS companies because they tell them how much revenue they generated this month, compared to last month. Brands can then use this information to determine the effectiveness of their sales and marketing teams, and help minimize churn.

How to calculate these two metrics:

Fall in Love with Sales Analysis

Sales analysis reports create accountability, reveal insights about one's customer base , the specific traits top-performing sales reps have… Honestly, they have the power to revolutionize your entire sales and decision-making processes, which is why they deserve your unending love and devotion.

The question is, which tool will you use to generate said reports? Here's my advice: choose Close. Our top-rated CRM platform has all the tools you need to create custom reports and monitor specific KPIs. Even better, you can try before you buy with this 14-day free trial .

That's right, I'm not asking you to put a ring on our hand just yet. Take us out on a date, see what we have to offer, then decide if you want to spend the rest of your life with us. (Or at least the rest of your sales career .) Something tells me we're a match made in heaven!

I want to try Close for free for 14 days . (Just say YES!!!)

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The Best Sales Case Studies You Should Read

Diving into sales case studies from industry experts is a great example of how to do this. So, I’ve rounded up some of the best sales case studies out there, and discussed what the valuable takeaways are from each.

Check them out, and apply these techniques to your own business. You’ll be increasing your sales knowledge, as well as picking up helpful tips for how to actually implement what you’ve learned in the real world.

Want to see my top picks? Keep reading.

Why turn to sales case studies?

As I’ve discussed in my other sales articles here on the Bidsketch blog (I’ll link those below), the reality is that for many new entrepreneurs, selling is not something that comes easily. In fact, selling your products or services might be the hardest part of starting your business.

And honestly, it makes sense—you know that what you do or make is great, but you feel uncomfortable playing the role of a salesperson. If you don’t have a sales background, knowing how to appropriately pitch and position your business to gain clients can feel very foreign. Not only that, but to really succeed at selling, you will likely need to enter territories you are unfamiliar with, whether that be something like creating email drip campaigns, or actually making sales calls.

So, in addition to reading through resources on how to become a better salesperson, seeing examples of how businesses have implemented sales processes that worked for them can be both hugely informative and motivating. Examining sales case studies gives you a chance to see some of the techniques you have read about in action, and see what the actual ROI for employing those techniques has been.

Plus, you are getting the benefit of learning from the experts, because a lot of the best case studies are put out by sales and marketing firms as a means of advertising their services, or they are put out there by experts who are offering their commentary. So, you can take a leaf out of their book, without actually having to hire any fancy, expensive sales consultants to help you!

However, there is a lot of noise online when it comes to sales case studies. Plenty of sites offer up a bait and switch and expect you to pay or sign up in order to see the case studies they are offering. So, I’ve rounded up some of the best sales case studies out there, from a variety of industries and vantage points, that are free and available to anyone with an internet connection.

Neil Patel has long been an expert in the entrepreneurship space. ( Source .)

1. Neil Patel, Quicksprout: Which of These 3 Sales Case Studies Will Grow Your Sales?

It’s always smart to turn to Neil Patel for advice; from internet marketing best practices to SEO, his insight is valuable and he continues to be one of the most respected thought leaders in the online entrepreneurship space.

In this article, Patel discusses three distinct sales strategies and walks readers through the application of each of them in detail. He ties the strategies back to his own business experience and includes sample email outlines that help illustrate what the sales strategy looks like in action.

Plus, he includes a list of action steps that you can follow in order to make the strategies he has outlined in his sales case studies work for you. Patel has written an article that is both a comprehensive guide to using three distinct sales strategies, as well as a place where readers can see case study examples of them in action, so while it is a fairly long read, it’s well worth it.

Kissmetrics offers great examples from real businesses. Image via their article , also linked below.

2. Kissmetrics Blog: How These 7 Companies Increased Revenue by an Average of 425%

You’re likely familiar with Kissmetrics, either via their product or simply based on the fact that they are one of the most reliable, respected voices in the marketing metrics space.

Their case studies are, naturally, very reliant on metrics to tell a story. This makes these case studies a must-read, as getting hard data on how sales initiatives actually improved key metrics is surprisingly hard.

Like Patel’s article, Kissmetrics dives deep into each business, and they offer a clear takeaway for each that you can apply to your own sales and marketing processes.

Modern Marketing Concepts offers a variety of case studies from their clients. ( Source .)

3. Modern Marketing Concepts:  Case studies

This New York-based “sales optimization company” Modern Marketing Concepts offers perhaps some of the best sales case studies that you can find specifically from a marketing firm.

Each case study is formatted as a quick, easy to digest PDF, that touches on the challenges Modern Marketing Concepts faced, and the solutions they put into place. They also include actual data demonstrating the success of each sales initiative.

While many sales case studies tend toward the vague and fluffy, those presented by Modern Marketing Concepts actually offer something concrete. Be sure to check these ones out.

Featured Customers offers lots of case studies, like these ones from Soasta and their industry competitors. ( Source .)

4. Featured Customers: Soasta case studies, as well as competitors

Let’s get this out of the way at the outset: Featured Customers is a behemoth of a site to wade through. However, if you can navigate through all the information provided, you will actually find some great case studies to check out.

For example, following the link above will lead you to case studies from the software company Soasta, as well as their competitors. While case studies may not be the primary intended use of Featured Customers, it is a great resource to check out—if you have time to do a bit of digging.

Soasta’s website offers even more of their sales case studies. ( Source .)

5. Soasta: Customers

Speaking of Soasta, going directly to their site yields tons of other great sales case studies that you should check out.

The best part? You can filter by industry—of which there are many, spanning industries from retail, to travel, to tech. Not only that, but the brands featured are some pretty big names, giving the case studies presented a level of resonance that discussion of smaller, unknown businesses might not have. Soasta’s case studies also include feedback from their customers themselves, which is definitely worth a read.

Case studies via Inside Sales.

6. Inside Sales: Sales case studies

Here, Inside Sales has collected a list of case studies from their customers, which discuss how the businesses they have worked with have managed to increase their productivity levels after implementing the products Inside Sales offers.

The case studies presented here are succinct and informative; they clearly lay out the challenges facing the business, the solutions Inside Sales implemented, and the eventual results.

Core DNA shares case studies specifically from ecommerce businesses. ( Source .)

7. Core DNA: 7 eCommerce Case Studies You Need to Steal From

If you run an ecommerce business, your sales needs and strategies will likely differ from those of entrepreneurs who run a brick and mortar business. So, checking out some ecommerce specific case studies is a good idea.

Now, this is not the only entry on this list that shows case studies from ecommerce businesses, but it is framed from the standpoint of a discussion of the metrics that matter specifically to ecommerce businesses. So, definitely check this one out if that is your business type.

Now that you have spent some time reading sales case studies, it’s time to create your own

Wait, what?

Seriously. You have seen how powerful a tool case studies can be for businesses; with that in mind, it’s a good idea to consider creating some case studies of your own.

Case studies make fantastic promotional tools when done correctly. You are spending tons of time researching sales processes and becoming a better salesperson so that you can generate more clients and revenue for your business—you should be putting that effort to work for you even in the future.

You can feature client case studies on your website, in marketing materials, and even use them as part of your sales pitch . Just like that, you’ve created a feedback loop in which the work you are doing now to better your sales ability will continue to benefit you in the future, driving more sales.

One of the biggest benefits of featuring your sales case studies is that they allow you to build a narrative. Storytelling is powerful, and the more you can tell a compelling story for your prospective customers, the better. So, frame your case study in such a way that you really highlight the story and paint a picture that shows all the ways hiring your business helped this other business grow and improve. By doing so, you’ll be leveraging storytelling and social proof, which makes a simple cold outreach call or email markedly more likely to be well-received.

For more on sales tactics, hiring sales staff for your team, and great resources to check out to help you improve your sales chops, check these recent articles out:

• How to Deliver a Great Sales Pitch
• How to Close a Sale: 5 Tips to Help You Secure More Business
• The 11 Best Sales Techniques [Plus Formulas You Can Use Today]
• How to Write a Follow up Email That Clients Will Respond To
• Sales Definitions: The Ultimate A to Z Guide
• The Sales Pipeline, Explained
• Hiring a Sales Team: What Roles to Fill (and How to Decide If You Really Need One)
• 31 Sales Questions to Help You Hire a Salesperson for Your Team
• Sell Me This Pen: Why You Should Always See Potential Sales Hires In Action
• The Best Sales Books for Entrepreneurs to Read in 2018
• How to Find Email Addresses for Anyone
• How to Choose the Best Sales Dashboard

Which case study did you find the most valuable to read, or do you have one to add to this list? Leave a comment and let me know.

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Case Study: Sales Strategy Analysis

A manufacturing company was asked by senior leadership to double in revenue within a five year period. The existing infrastructure operated in five separate business units. This led to confusion around priorities, redundant customer visits, and a lack of segmentation for key accounts.

Solution: We performed a deep-dive analysis of customer revenue, gross margin, and SKU data for the prior three years. Of the 6,500 customers, the majority of revenue was derived from the top 100 customers with limited segmentation. We identified areas of “white space” where the company had the potential to sell additional products. The company did a good job of retaining revenue with their existing customers. However, the analysis showed that new customer sales were less than 2% of revenue, which is very weak.

• Senior leadership clarified the value proposition for their target segments and customers.
• The sales organization developed Key Accounts Programs to increase the growth of the Top 100 customers.
• The sales leaders trained the sales force on all company strategies and priorities, including how to sell to new clients.
• Sales leader also introduced financial incentives for the achievement of specific priorities.

We Rethink Sales… SalesGlobe is a data-driven, creative problem-solving firm for sales that solves the most challenging problems.

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How to write a case study — examples, templates, and tools

It’s a marketer’s job to communicate the effectiveness of a product or service to potential and current customers to convince them to buy and keep business moving. One of the best methods for doing this is to share success stories that are relatable to prospects and customers based on their pain points, experiences, and overall needs.

That’s where case studies come in. Case studies are an essential part of a content marketing plan. These in-depth stories of customer experiences are some of the most effective at demonstrating the value of a product or service. Yet many marketers don’t use them, whether because of their regimented formats or the process of customer involvement and approval.

A case study is a powerful tool for showcasing your hard work and the success your customer achieved. But writing a great case study can be difficult if you’ve never done it before or if it’s been a while. This guide will show you how to write an effective case study and provide real-world examples and templates that will keep readers engaged and support your business.

In this article, you’ll learn:

What is a case study?

How to write a case study, case study templates, case study examples, case study tools.

A case study is the detailed story of a customer’s experience with a product or service that demonstrates their success and often includes measurable outcomes. Case studies are used in a range of fields and for various reasons, from business to academic research. They’re especially impactful in marketing as brands work to convince and convert consumers with relatable, real-world stories of actual customer experiences.

The best case studies tell the story of a customer’s success, including the steps they took, the results they achieved, and the support they received from a brand along the way. To write a great case study, you need to:

• Celebrate the customer and make them — not a product or service — the star of the story.
• Craft the story with specific audiences or target segments in mind so that the story of one customer will be viewed as relatable and actionable for another customer.
• Write copy that is easy to read and engaging so that readers will gain the insights and messages intended.
• Follow a standardized format that includes all of the essentials a potential customer would find interesting and useful.
• Support all of the claims for success made in the story with data in the forms of hard numbers and customer statements.

Case studies are a type of review but more in depth, aiming to show — rather than just tell — the positive experiences that customers have with a brand. Notably, 89% of consumers read reviews before deciding to buy, and 79% view case study content as part of their purchasing process. When it comes to B2B sales, 52% of buyers rank case studies as an important part of their evaluation process.

Telling a brand story through the experience of a tried-and-true customer matters. The story is relatable to potential new customers as they imagine themselves in the shoes of the company or individual featured in the case study. Showcasing previous customers can help new ones see themselves engaging with your brand in the ways that are most meaningful to them.

Besides sharing the perspective of another customer, case studies stand out from other content marketing forms because they are based on evidence. Whether pulling from client testimonials or data-driven results, case studies tend to have more impact on new business because the story contains information that is both objective (data) and subjective (customer experience) — and the brand doesn’t sound too self-promotional.

Case studies are unique in that there’s a fairly standardized format for telling a customer’s story. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for creativity. It’s all about making sure that teams are clear on the goals for the case study — along with strategies for supporting content and channels — and understanding how the story fits within the framework of the company’s overall marketing goals.

Here are the basic steps to writing a good case study.

1. Identify your goal

Start by defining exactly who your case study will be designed to help. Case studies are about specific instances where a company works with a customer to achieve a goal. Identify which customers are likely to have these goals, as well as other needs the story should cover to appeal to them.

The answer is often found in one of the buyer personas that have been constructed as part of your larger marketing strategy. This can include anything from new leads generated by the marketing team to long-term customers that are being pressed for cross-sell opportunities. In all of these cases, demonstrating value through a relatable customer success story can be part of the solution to conversion.

2. Choose your client or subject

Who you highlight matters. Case studies tie brands together that might otherwise not cross paths. A writer will want to ensure that the highlighted customer aligns with their own company’s brand identity and offerings. Look for a customer with positive name recognition who has had great success with a product or service and is willing to be an advocate.

The client should also match up with the identified target audience. Whichever company or individual is selected should be a reflection of other potential customers who can see themselves in similar circumstances, having the same problems and possible solutions.

Some of the most compelling case studies feature customers who:

• Switch from one product or service to another while naming competitors that missed the mark.
• Experience measurable results that are relatable to others in a specific industry.
• Represent well-known brands and recognizable names that are likely to compel action.
• Advocate for a product or service as a champion and are well-versed in its advantages.

Whoever or whatever customer is selected, marketers must ensure they have the permission of the company involved before getting started. Some brands have strict review and approval procedures for any official marketing or promotional materials that include their name. Acquiring those approvals in advance will prevent any miscommunication or wasted effort if there is an issue with their legal or compliance teams.

3. Conduct research and compile data

Substantiating the claims made in a case study — either by the marketing team or customers themselves — adds validity to the story. To do this, include data and feedback from the client that defines what success looks like. This can be anything from demonstrating return on investment (ROI) to a specific metric the customer was striving to improve. Case studies should prove how an outcome was achieved and show tangible results that indicate to the customer that your solution is the right one.

This step could also include customer interviews. Make sure that the people being interviewed are key stakeholders in the purchase decision or deployment and use of the product or service that is being highlighted. Content writers should work off a set list of questions prepared in advance. It can be helpful to share these with the interviewees beforehand so they have time to consider and craft their responses. One of the best interview tactics to keep in mind is to ask questions where yes and no are not natural answers. This way, your subject will provide more open-ended responses that produce more meaningful content.

4. Choose the right format

There are a number of different ways to format a case study. Depending on what you hope to achieve, one style will be better than another. However, there are some common elements to include, such as:

• An engaging headline
• A subject and customer introduction
• The unique challenge or challenges the customer faced
• The solution the customer used to solve the problem
• The results achieved
• Data and statistics to back up claims of success
• A strong call to action (CTA) to engage with the vendor

It’s also important to note that while case studies are traditionally written as stories, they don’t have to be in a written format. Some companies choose to get more creative with their case studies and produce multimedia content, depending on their audience and objectives. Case study formats can include traditional print stories, interactive web or social content, data-heavy infographics, professionally shot videos, podcasts, and more.

5. Write your case study

We’ll go into more detail later about how exactly to write a case study, including templates and examples. Generally speaking, though, there are a few things to keep in mind when writing your case study.

• Be clear and concise. Readers want to get to the point of the story quickly and easily, and they’ll be looking to see themselves reflected in the story right from the start.
• Provide a big picture. Always make sure to explain who the client is, their goals, and how they achieved success in a short introduction to engage the reader.
• Construct a clear narrative. Stick to the story from the perspective of the customer and what they needed to solve instead of just listing product features or benefits.
• Leverage graphics. Incorporating infographics, charts, and sidebars can be a more engaging and eye-catching way to share key statistics and data in readable ways.
• Offer the right amount of detail. Most case studies are one or two pages with clear sections that a reader can skim to find the information most important to them.
• Include data to support claims. Show real results — both facts and figures and customer quotes — to demonstrate credibility and prove the solution works.

6. Promote your story

Marketers have a number of options for distribution of a freshly minted case study. Many brands choose to publish case studies on their website and post them on social media. This can help support SEO and organic content strategies while also boosting company credibility and trust as visitors see that other businesses have used the product or service.

Marketers are always looking for quality content they can use for lead generation. Consider offering a case study as gated content behind a form on a landing page or as an offer in an email message. One great way to do this is to summarize the content and tease the full story available for download after the user takes an action.

Sales teams can also leverage case studies, so be sure they are aware that the assets exist once they’re published. Especially when it comes to larger B2B sales, companies often ask for examples of similar customer challenges that have been solved.

Now that you’ve learned a bit about case studies and what they should include, you may be wondering how to start creating great customer story content. Here are a couple of templates you can use to structure your case study.

Template 1 — Challenge-solution-result format

• Start with an engaging title. This should be fewer than 70 characters long for SEO best practices. One of the best ways to approach the title is to include the customer’s name and a hint at the challenge they overcame in the end.
• Create an introduction. Lead with an explanation as to who the customer is, the need they had, and the opportunity they found with a specific product or solution. Writers can also suggest the success the customer experienced with the solution they chose.
• Present the challenge. This should be several paragraphs long and explain the problem the customer faced and the issues they were trying to solve. Details should tie into the company’s products and services naturally. This section needs to be the most relatable to the reader so they can picture themselves in a similar situation.
• Share the solution. Explain which product or service offered was the ideal fit for the customer and why. Feel free to delve into their experience setting up, purchasing, and onboarding the solution.
• Explain the results. Demonstrate the impact of the solution they chose by backing up their positive experience with data. Fill in with customer quotes and tangible, measurable results that show the effect of their choice.
• Ask for action. Include a CTA at the end of the case study that invites readers to reach out for more information, try a demo, or learn more — to nurture them further in the marketing pipeline. What you ask of the reader should tie directly into the goals that were established for the case study in the first place.

Template 2 — Data-driven format

• Start with an engaging title. Be sure to include a statistic or data point in the first 70 characters. Again, it’s best to include the customer’s name as part of the title.
• Create an overview. Share the customer’s background and a short version of the challenge they faced. Present the reason a particular product or service was chosen, and feel free to include quotes from the customer about their selection process.
• Present data point 1. Isolate the first metric that the customer used to define success and explain how the product or solution helped to achieve this goal. Provide data points and quotes to substantiate the claim that success was achieved.
• Present data point 2. Isolate the second metric that the customer used to define success and explain what the product or solution did to achieve this goal. Provide data points and quotes to substantiate the claim that success was achieved.
• Present data point 3. Isolate the final metric that the customer used to define success and explain what the product or solution did to achieve this goal. Provide data points and quotes to substantiate the claim that success was achieved.
• Summarize the results. Reiterate the fact that the customer was able to achieve success thanks to a specific product or service. Include quotes and statements that reflect customer satisfaction and suggest they plan to continue using the solution.
• Ask for action. Include a CTA at the end of the case study that asks readers to reach out for more information, try a demo, or learn more — to further nurture them in the marketing pipeline. Again, remember that this is where marketers can look to convert their content into action with the customer.

While templates are helpful, seeing a case study in action can also be a great way to learn. Here are some examples of how Adobe customers have experienced success.

Juniper Networks

One example is the Adobe and Juniper Networks case study , which puts the reader in the customer’s shoes. The beginning of the story quickly orients the reader so that they know exactly who the article is about and what they were trying to achieve. Solutions are outlined in a way that shows Adobe Experience Manager is the best choice and a natural fit for the customer. Along the way, quotes from the client are incorporated to help add validity to the statements. The results in the case study are conveyed with clear evidence of scale and volume using tangible data.

The story of Lenovo’s journey with Adobe is one that spans years of planning, implementation, and rollout. The Lenovo case study does a great job of consolidating all of this into a relatable journey that other enterprise organizations can see themselves taking, despite the project size. This case study also features descriptive headers and compelling visual elements that engage the reader and strengthen the content.

Tata Consulting

When it comes to using data to show customer results, this case study does an excellent job of conveying details and numbers in an easy-to-digest manner. Bullet points at the start break up the content while also helping the reader understand exactly what the case study will be about. Tata Consulting used Adobe to deliver elevated, engaging content experiences for a large telecommunications client of its own — an objective that’s relatable for a lot of companies.

Case studies are a vital tool for any marketing team as they enable you to demonstrate the value of your company’s products and services to others. They help marketers do their job and add credibility to a brand trying to promote its solutions by using the experiences and stories of real customers.

When you’re ready to get started with a case study:

• Think about a few goals you’d like to accomplish with your content.
• Make a list of successful clients that would be strong candidates for a case study.
• Reach out to the client to get their approval and conduct an interview.
• Gather the data to present an engaging and effective customer story.

Adobe can help

There are several Adobe products that can help you craft compelling case studies. Adobe Experience Platform helps you collect data and deliver great customer experiences across every channel. Once you’ve created your case studies, Experience Platform will help you deliver the right information to the right customer at the right time for maximum impact.

To learn more, watch the Adobe Experience Platform story .

Keep in mind that the best case studies are backed by data. That’s where Adobe Real-Time Customer Data Platform and Adobe Analytics come into play. With Real-Time CDP, you can gather the data you need to build a great case study and target specific customers to deliver the content to the right audience at the perfect moment.

Watch the Real-Time CDP overview video to learn more.

Finally, Adobe Analytics turns real-time data into real-time insights. It helps your business collect and synthesize data from multiple platforms to make more informed decisions and create the best case study possible.

Request a demo to learn more about Adobe Analytics.

https://business.adobe.com/blog/perspectives/b2b-ecommerce-10-case-studies-inspire-you

https://business.adobe.com/blog/basics/business-case

https://business.adobe.com/blog/basics/what-is-real-time-analytics

The Ultimate Guide to Sales Analysis Reports

Table of contents

If you were to ask the most successful CEOs in the world to create a list of the most important areas in their companies, they will all inevitably have the same thing at the top of the list – Sales.

This isn’t surprising. After all, sales drive revenue, and improving the sales process should always be the number one priority in any business, no matter its size.

However, analyzing and then optimizing your sales process can hardly be done without the help of additional tools. And that’s where Sales analysis reports come in.

Sales analysis reports provide you with an overview of all the significant data and metrics related to your sales process. They also make sales process optimization a lot easier since you will be able to identify all the strengths and weaknesses much quicker.

In this article, we are going to walk you through what sales analysis reports are, how to create them, explain their benefits, and show you how to analyze the data you acquire.

What Is a Sales Analysis Report?

How are sales analysis reports helpful, what should be included in a sales analysis report, types of sales analysis reports, how do you analyze sales results, how to write a sales analysis report in 6 steps, improve sales analysis and forecasting with databox.

A sales analysis report is a document that includes all of the most important data of your business’s sales process and provides you with a complete overview of your sales trends, volume, and overall sales activities.

Some of the metrics included in sales analysis reports are:

• Sales trends
• Lead conversion rate
• Number of leads in the sales pipeline
• Historic sales data
• Sales team performance
• Product assessment

The main goal of this report is to inform you whether there is an increase or reduction in sales. Once you finish analyzing the data in a sales analysis report, you will be able to create better strategies, avoid unnecessary costs, and identify which areas in the sales process need to be optimized.

From new startups to huge corporations, sales analysis reports are an indispensable practice for all companies. During a fiscal year, sales managers will often turn to sales analysis reports in order to come up with efficient strategies going forward.

Now that you understand what sales analysis reports are, you might be wondering about the exact benefits that they bring to the table.

We will break them down one by one so you understand just how crucial these reports are to your company.

Show Actual and Projected Sales

Evaluate product demand, assess market prices, provide customer analysis, improve sales strategies.

It is also crucial to know the main differences between analytics vs. reporting . By doing to, you can ensure that you use the appropriate methods and techniques to meet your reporting goals and provide actionable insights to stakeholders.

Sales analysis reports provide you with an insight into the actual sales that occurred in a specific time period. You can filter this either quarterly, yearly, weekly, or even daily.

Different companies have different data sets contained in the report. For example, big companies mainly focus on subsidiary, division, or regional data sets, while smaller businesses tend to be more interested in data categorized by location or product. When it comes to specialized businesses, they usually incorporate general sales data sets.

One of the main reasons why managers use sales analysis reports is to find new market opportunities that they can exploit and improve sales volume.

Identifying these new opportunities can be a lot easier once you figure out the peak periods of your business and compare actual sales to projected sales.

Related : Sales Report Templates For Daily, Weekly Monthly, Quarterly and Yearly Statements (Sourced from 40+ Sales Pros)

Another thing that a sales analysis report can provide you with is an evaluation of your business’ product demand and whether there are any issues with it.

For instance, if there is a lasting sales decline for a particular product, there is most likely some type of problem with it.

One of the reasons may be that your competition has a better offer for the same product. However, if this is the case with most of your products, it may be time to completely reconstruct your brand.

In situations where the decline is occurring due to a change in customers’ needs, repackaging the product for a new purpose or finding a new target market could be the potential solutions.

Some companies use sales analysis reports to create market price forecasts. For example, the market value of a specific product could be determined by its features and depending on how much money were customers willing to pay for it in the past.

This is especially the case in the real estate industry where specific characteristics of a house affect its overall value. These characteristics could be anything from the number of rooms, interior, location, swimming pool, square footage, and others.

In other cases, it could be the material of a product, its reputation, and its brand name.

Drawing new customers to your business is never easy, especially if you are a new company. The process consists of creating efficient marketing strategies and spending money on different sales consultations.

Sales analysis reports can make this process a bit easier. By analyzing the data in the report, you will have an easier time understanding your customers’ needs and coming up with targeted solutions.

In summary, a good sales analysis report will help you recognize your customers’ patterns and allow you to analyze their behavior.

Additionally, during this customer analysis, you will also gain an insight into which customers are generating the most revenue. You can use this information to create special discounts for them to keep them coming back for more.

Related : 7 Ways to Use Customer Data for More Efficient Marketing

Once we combine all of these previous benefits, we realize that sales analysis reports ultimately help you improve and optimize your future sales strategies.

If you properly analyze your product’s performance, customers, and the overall market, creating the perfect sales strategy will be a piece of cake.

Related : How to Boost Revenue with a Data-Driven Sales Enablement Strategy

Depending on which type of business you run, sales analysis reports tend to include different things.

This is because not every company focuses on the same areas of a sales process, some need insight into specific metrics more than others.

However, there are some universal things that all sales analysis reports should contain, such as.

• Significant sales KPIs and metrics (turnover, net margin, quantity sold, etc.)
• Total sales volume
• Net sales (different from sales volume since it is displayed through dollar figures)
• Gross sales
• KPI percentage comparisons between historic and current reports

While this list is rather short, it’s because sales analysis reports don’t have to include an abundance of data. In most cases, you will want to focus only on the most significant areas of your sales process in order to optimize it properly. Going through dozens of pages will only overwhelm you and your team.

But keep in mind, your goal isn’t only to display the numbers – you should also explain the story behind them.

PRO TIP: How to Set SMART Goals for Your Sales Team’s Performance

To decide which goals meet the SMART criteria, sales managers need to look at sales analytics for their teams and monitor sales KPIs, for example:

• Average Time to Close Deal
• New Deals Amount
• Number of Customers
• Average Revenue per New Customer

Based on these metrics, and in light of other revenue-based and activity-based goals, you can identify and set desired goals for future performance, but how to get this information?

Now you can benefit from the experience of our sales experts, who have put together a great Databox template showing an overview of your sales team’s performance. It’s simple to implement and start using as a standalone dashboard or in sales reports, and best of all, it’s free!

You can easily set it up in just a few clicks – no coding required.

To set up this Sales Analytics Overview Dashboard , follow these 3 simple steps:

Step 1: Get the template 

Step 2: Connect your HubSpot account with Databox. 

Step 3: Watch your dashboard populate in seconds.

For sales managers to acquire a clearer overview of the sales process, they incorporate different types of sales analysis reports.

This helps with data categorization and allows you to focus on specific areas of the sales process.

Here are some of the most common types of sales analysis reports that companies use nowadays.

Pipeline Report

Typical conversion rates report, average deal size report, average sales cycle length report, marketing collateral usage report, won and lost deals analysis report, churned customers report, sales call report, lead response time report, revenue report.

Pipeline reports are one of the best ways to create accurate estimates of your business’s health. By analyzing your sales pipeline , you will know which deals are the most successful, which are failing, and how each deal affects the overall pipeline individually.

But remember, coming up with accurate forecasts can only be done if your sales team does their due diligence. Make sure the representatives you pick for the job are well-qualified to create a realistic pipeline.

A conversion rate report showcases prospects to lead and lead to customer conversions. This report is mostly used for gaining insight into the efficiency of your sales strategies. It’s a great way to identify its strengths and weaknesses.

For example, if your strategy has proven successful in converting leads to opportunities, you should continue using it or even upgrade it. But, if opportunities for customer conversions aren’t working out, you will know which areas need to be optimized.

For forecasting revenue and tracking sales pipeline effectiveness, we use the average deal size report. For instance, if your quarterly revenue target is $100,000 and an average deal size is $10,000, you will naturally need ten deals to hit the target.

Of course, this is fairly obvious, but it’s useful to track these metrics through an individual report just to make sure you don’t get caught up in the numbers.

Additionally, this report can be a great way to set expectations and milestones for your sales team.

Related : 12 Tried and Tested Tips for Increasing your SaaS Average Deal Size

This report tracks the exact amount of time that it takes for a sales representative to close out a sale. We can use the average sales cycle length report to also analyze individual sales rep performances and how efficient the sales process is overall and what is the sales closing rate .

Before you start using this report, you should set an appropriate timeframe that can be considered as a benchmark. By using the benchmark, you will be able to estimate the amount of time an individual sales rep needs to close a sale.

In case they are struggling to meet the standards, you can help them realize which areas they need to work on. However, if your whole sales team is struggling, then you will have to re-evaluate your operations and approach.

PRO TIP: Are you struggling to track close rates by sales rep? Here are a few different ways on how to easily track and visualize close rates by sales reps from HubSpot CRM, no manual workarounds included – with Databox.

Marketing collateral is frequently used by sales reps to efficiently allocate prospects through the sales process. However, you should make sure that they are using the full advantage of marketing collateral and this report can help you with that.

You can use the marketing collateral usage report to check out which marketing campaigns have been the most successful and which failed to attract new prospects. Later, you can communicate your findings to the marketing team so they can have a better idea of what to improve.

While deals-in-progress are immensely important, you shouldn’t overlook won and lost deals statistics. The won and lost deals analysis report help you track these metrics.

Although winning deals is always one of the top priorities, it’s equally important to analyze lost deals and what caused them. Try to find patterns between the two so you can acquire meaningful insights into your product’s advantages and disadvantages.

Related : 19 Tried-and-True Lead Nurturing Tips for Closing More Deals

The churned customers report helps you figure out the exact reasons why users depart from your customer base.

This report can capture the problematic areas in your sales process, so you will have a better idea of what to improve.

Related : Save Your Business From Churn: 9 Churn Risk Factors to Identify

One more underestimated aspect of a sales process is sales calls. The sales call report allows you to monitor the number of calls that your sales representatives make to prospects. This metric directly impacts your team’s close rate as well.

Naturally, a successful sales rep will have a decent number of won deals compared to the number of prospects they contacted.

Additionally, once you know which sales reps are closing the most deals, you can ask them to share their tactics with the rest of the team and help out those that are struggling in this area.

Related : 11 Successful Plays for Running Great Sales Calls

The lead response time report, as the name suggests, tracks your sales reps’ response time for converting leads into opportunities.

Studies have established that if you contact your prospects in the first five minutes when they become a lead, you are much more likely to also convert them into an opportunity. Make sure your sales team knows this so they can act quickly when new leads appear.

PRO TIP: Struggling to reduce your average response time? Find out how Databox reduced median first response time , and which measures have been implemented to ensure this success is long-term and sustainable.

The revenue report provides you with insight into how the work of your sales representatives affects the overall sales process.

You can use it to monitor which representatives contributed to the business and renewals and how much. It’s recommended that you establish sales and revenue goals beforehand.

Related : How ProfitWell Grew Revenue Per Customer by 400 Percent in 12 Months

Once you have all of your important sales metrics and KPIs in one report, your next step is to start analyzing them.

This process may seem tedious at first, but with the right practices, you will be able to do it in no time. Here are three steps you can follow to efficiently analyze your sales results.

Identify the Data You Want to Track

Choose a sales analysis tool and analyze your data, share your results with relevant stakeholders.

We already mentioned that in sales analysis reports it’s best to separate the data that is significant to your business, to prevent getting caught up and overwhelmed with all the other metrics.

This way, you will only be analyzing the sales data that is the most important and you will have an easier time generating relevant insights.

If you aren’t sure how to separate the useful data, start by figuring out which products or departments in your business are top-performers and which need to be improved.

After you categorize your primary metrics, you should identify the different data sources, objective-related variables, and the performance metrics that you most commonly turn to.

Lastly, you should pick an appropriate time frame for data collection. This can be either on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annual basis.

To acquire sufficient results from your analysis, you will need a sales analytics tool at your disposal. Analyzing your data can be done manually, but it’s simply not worth it – you will end up losing both your time and nerves.

A lot of companies incorporate Microsoft Excel nowadays since it’s one of the most straightforward data analysis tools.

However, if you want a robust tool that offers more advanced features, you can try out Databox .

With Databox, you can connect all of your most important sales data into one comprehensive report, making the analysis process far easier. Additionally, you will also be able to visualize the sales metrics through the various visualization tools and transform them into meaningful charts and graphs.

After wrapping up the analysis, your last step is to present your findings to the highest-ranking members of the company.

Make sure to only include the key points of the analysis in your presentation, unless you are asked to do otherwise. Throwing in graphs and visuals can also go a long way in making the data more understandable to the stakeholders.

In summary, you should leave out the guess factor in your analysis and make everything as simple as possible – your stakeholders should be able to quickly comprehend the data and use it to create future strategies.

Related : How to Present Qualitative Data in a Business Report? A Step-By-Step Guide

If you don’t already have some experience writing sales analysis reports, the process may seem a bit too complex.

But don’t worry, we prepared a step-by-step guide that breaks down all the important parts of the process.

Follow these steps to create a great sales analysis report in no time.

Step 1: Make an Outline

Step 2: know your audience, step 3: create an overview of previous and current trends, step 4: compile the data, step 5: organize and present the information accordingly, step 6: proofread the report.

Create a plan on how your sales report should be organized. Remember, only throwing in a bunch of numbers won’t cut it, you will need to provide thorough explanations of those numbers.

Also, the report shouldn’t be an eyesore and the readers should be able to go through it with ease.  

In most cases, your report will vary in terms of included metrics, depending on your audience. For instance, if you are part of the sales team and you are preparing the report for your head of sales, you should focus on including as many significant KPIs as you can.

However, if you present the report to executives and stakeholders, they probably don’t want to be bothered by an abundance of details, so only include the key findings.

Related : Reporting Strategy for Multiple Audiences: 6 Tips for Getting Started

Depending on the size of your business and how much sales data you receive, you will have to determine an appropriate view for conveying information. This can be done either daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly.

Once enough time has gone by, you can compare the information between equivalent periods. This helps you stay on top of previous and current trends and allows you to determine the best tactics going forward.

After making an outline and setting an appropriate data collection period, it’s time to start assembling the sales data.

This usually includes pulling out data from the CRM software your company incorporates and then compiling it in one place.

As we said, sales analysis reports shouldn’t consist solely of numbers. Including graphs, charts, and even images can go a long way in making the data more comprehendible to the readers.

In some cases, you can even include recommendations for the next steps that should be taken in order to optimize the sales process.

Even if you have finished writing the report, it’s still not time to relax. It’s very important that you go over the report once or twice more and double-check everything that you included.

A good practice is to also ask your fellow colleagues or even a friend to go over the report as well. This provides you with an extra set of eyes.

Incorporating sales analysis reports is one of the best ways to stay on top of your sales data and optimize the overall process.

However, creating a great sales analysis report isn’t exactly the easiest task in the world. It requires gathering a massive amount of data, putting it together, analyzing it, and then presenting it to your internal stakeholders and executives.

This whole process can become a lot quicker and easier if you use an advanced reporting tool such as Databox.

Databox provides you with pre-built and customizable dashboards that you can use to gather all of the most important KPIs and sales-related metrics in one comprehensive place. You can connect data from any type of sales channel and then compile it into a meaningful report.

This will take a load off the analysis process as well. With all the numbers you need in one place, you won’t have to struggle with opening dozens of tabs during the analysis.

Additionally, with the help of our advanced visualization tools, you will be able to transform the numbers into insightful graphs and charts that will inevitably impress your shareholders during the presentation.

Do you want to optimize your sales analysis reporting process? Sign up for a free trial and experience the magic yourself.

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• 05 Dec 2023
• Cold Call Podcast

What Founders Get Wrong about Sales and Marketing

Which sales candidate is a startup’s ideal first hire? What marketing channels are best to invest in? How aggressively should an executive team align sales with customer success? Senior Lecturer Mark Roberge discusses how early-stage founders, sales leaders, and marketing executives can address these challenges as they grow their ventures in the case, “Entrepreneurial Sales and Marketing Vignettes.”

• 22 Feb 2021

Reaching Today's Omnichannel Customer Takes a New Sales Strategy

For salespeople working harder than ever to stay ahead of customers' evolving buying habits, Frank Cespedes offers timeless advice in his new book, Sales Management That Works. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 04 May 2020
• Research & Ideas

Predictions, Prophets, and Restarting Your Business

Businesses are starting to plan their re-entry into the market, but how do they know what that market will look like? Frank V. Cespedes warns against putting too much trust in forecasters. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 22 Oct 2019

Use Artificial Intelligence to Set Sales Targets That Motivate

Setting sales targets has always been an inexact science, with serious consequences if done poorly. Using AI-based advanced analytics might be the answer, argues Doug Chung. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 30 Jun 2019
• Working Paper Summaries

The Comprehensive Effects of Sales Force Management: A Dynamic Structural Analysis of Selection, Compensation, and Training

When sales forces are well managed, firms can induce greater performance from them. For this study, the authors collaborated with a major multinational firm to develop and estimate a dynamic structural model of sales employee responses to various management instruments like compensation, training, and recruiting/termination policies.

• 22 Apr 2019

Why Salespeople Struggle at Leading

When salespeople become managers, they often do a horrible job. Four key steps can help them—and all soon-to-be managers—make the shift, says Frank V. Cespedes. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 09 Aug 2018

Two Million Fake Accounts: Sales Misconduct at Wells Fargo

Coming out of the financial crisis, Wells Fargo was one of the world’s most successful banks. But then its sales culture went wild, opening more than 2 million fake accounts. Suraj Srinivasan discusses what went wrong. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 09 Jul 2018

Overcoming the Challenges of Selling Brand New Technology (Hey, Need a 3-D Printer?)

Selling technology that is new to the market involves tricky tradeoffs around prospect targeting, channels, and tactics. Frank Cespedes makes the point with 3-D printers. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 06 Jun 2018

Cut Salaries or Cut People? The Best Way to Survive a Downturn

When times are tight, companies usually respond with employee layoffs. But what if they held on to workers and cut their salaries instead? New research by Christopher Stanton and colleagues has the answer. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 29 Apr 2018

Analyzing the Aftermath of a Compensation Reduction

This study of the effects of compensation cuts in a large sales organization provides a unique lens for analyzing the link between compensation schemes, worker performance, and turnover.

• 06 Jul 2017

Do All Your Detailing Efforts Pay Off? Dynamic Panel Data Methods Revisited

Personal selling in the form of detailing to physicians is the main go-to-market practice in the pharmaceutical industry. This paper provides a practical framework to analyze the effectiveness of detailing efforts. The method and empirical insights can help firms allocate sales-force resources more efficiently and devise optimal routes and call-pattern designs.

• 05 Apr 2017

For Women Especially, It Pays to Know What Car Repairs Should Cost

Consumers can negotiate cheaper auto repair prices by convincing service reps they know something about market rates—helping women overcome gender discrimination, according to recently published research by Ayelet Israeli and co-authors. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 22 Mar 2017

What's the Ideal Frequency for a Sales Quota?

Sales reps feed on two forms of compensation: salary, and a bonus tied to achieving a periodic quota. Would a more frequent quota incentivize better numbers? Doug Chung and Das Narayandas offer some answers. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 20 Feb 2017

Where Should We Build a Mall? The Formation of Market Structure and Its Effect on Sales

In spite of the recent surge in e-commerce, brick-and-mortar retail, specifically in the form of large-scale shopping malls, is still the dominant venue for consumer purchases in the developed world. The construction of mass-scale shopping malls has also experienced tremendous growth in newly industrialized countries such as China. This research provides a rigorous, yet practical, framework to understand and evaluate why retail stores join a shopping mall and how their decisions affect mall revenue. The model can be extended and applied to a number of settings where a decision maker must choose among alternative sites to construct a market, for example, for transportation hubs such as airports or train stations.

• 25 Jan 2017

The Effects of Quota Frequency on Sales Force Performance: Evidence from a Field Experiment

This study of different sales quotas and their effect on sales performance at a major retail chain in Sweden finds that changing from a monthly to a daily quota plan increases performance mainly for low-performing salespeople.

• 06 Dec 2016

Assortment Rotation and the Value of Concealment

Assortment rotation is the retailing practice of changing the assortment of products offered to customers throughout a selling season. It is used by both brick-and-mortar and online retailers as a strategy for gaining competitive advantage. This paper studies assortment rotation in product categories such as apparel, accessories, and toys, where consumers typically make multiple purchases during a season. The authors identify and explain a new reason for retailers to frequently rotate their assortment: Consumers may purchase more products throughout the selling season if a retailer conceals a portion of its full product catalog from consumers by rotating its assortment. Aside from its scholarly contributions, the paper provides practical insights to retailers to guide their assortment rotation strategy decisions.

• 21 Nov 2016

It Matters That Your CEO Doesn't Know Much About Sales

Sales appears to be getting short-changed in the C-suite, says Frank Cespedes. What’s needed are more links between top executives and the customer-facing side of the business. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 28 Mar 2016

Do Incentive Plans for Exemplary Employees Lead to Productive or Counterproductive Outcomes?

This study of a mobile phone retail company shows that incentive contracts that selectively incentivize exemplary employees (that is, preferential incentive plans) may be helpful when companies want to motivate employees to pursue objectively measured goals in addition to relevant tasks not explicitly written into their contracts. However, preferential incentive plans may lead to unintended consequences if they trigger perceptions of inequity.

• 08 Sep 2014

The Strategic Way To Hire a Sales Team

The equivalent of an entire sales force is replaced at many firms every four years, so it's critical that go-to-market initiatives remain tied to strategic goals. Frank Cespedes explains how in his book, Aligning Strategy and Sales. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

• 01 Apr 2013

First Minutes are Critical in New-Employee Orientation

Employee orientation programs ought to be less about the company and more about the employee, according to new research by Daniel M. Cable, Francesca Gino, and Bradley R. Staats. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

• Marketing Analytics Case Studies
• Social Media Management
• Social Media Marketing

Three Short Marketing Analytics Case Studies to Inspire You to Love Data

Written by Anna Sonnenberg

Published Feb. 28 2022 · 13 min read

Table of Contents

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From engagement statistics to content analytics to conversion metrics, data is a big part of most social media managers’ responsibilities. But that doesn’t necessarily mean you enjoy processing marketing data or drawing conclusions from it.

If data isn’t exactly your favorite part of the job, these marketing analytics case studies may change your mind.

Find out how marketing analytics helped three major brands grow their businesses—and you might develop a whole new appreciation for marketing data in the process.

What Is Marketing Analytics?

Marketing analytics is the process of collecting and evaluating metrics to understand how much value marketing efforts generate. With analytics, you can assess the return on investment (ROI) of anything from social media posts and ad campaigns to landing pages and native platform features.

For many organizations and their marketing team, marketing analytics are essential for improving offerings and driving growth.

Here are common goals you can achieve with marketing analytics.

Improving marketing campaigns

Some social media marketing campaigns are more successful than others. Analytics can help your organization pinpoint exactly what works. By analyzing metrics like engagement, click-through rate (CTR), conversions, and ROI, you can determine what resonates best with its audience. By using data science, you can craft a marketing strategy that gets you better results from your campaigns.

Decreasing expenses

Ineffective marketing campaigns, usability issues, and poorly optimized algorithms can all lead to dissatisfied customers and unnecessarily high retention costs.

By investing in marketing analytics, your organization can take steps to identify points of friction and reduce expenses.

Forecasting results

Reviewing past outcomes is useful, but forecasting the results your campaigns are likely to generate is even more valuable. With marketing analytics, you can model results and get a better sense of how marketing initiatives can impact growth over time.

Marketing Analytics Case Studies: Progressive Insurance

In the early 2000s, Progressive’s website was routinely considered one of the best in the insurance industry. When the insurance provider’s customers began switching to mobile devices a decade later, the organization aimed to develop a mobile app as effective as its desktop site.

But what did that mean exactly? And what was the insurance provider’s mobile app missing?

To determine what would make the mobile app more successful, Progressive pursued an in-depth analysis of the organization’s marketing data.

As Progressive Data & Analytics Business Leader Pawan Divakarla explains , the insurance provider’s analytics team has always sought insight into how customers are using the company’s tools.

In his words, “At Progressive, we sell insurance. But if you think about it, our product is actually data.”

After launching the mobile app, Progressive began looking for ways to optimize the user experience. As this Progressive case study explains, the organization aimed to streamline the login process and improve user satisfaction to meet its ultimate goals of increasing customer loyalty and new customer acquisition.

Because Progressive’s mobile app generated so much information, the organization needed data visualization tools for collection and processing. To analyze customers’ experiences and actions, the company opted to use a combination of Google Analytics 360 and Google Tag Manager 360.

This choice was a relatively simple one for Progressive because the company already used these tools to run A/B tests and optimize its website.

Using Google’s analytical tools to review the company’s mobile app would allow Progressive to understand what features to test and how to optimize the user experience across countless mobile devices and operating systems.

Progressive used the two Google tools for separate yet complementary functions:

• With Google Analytics 360, Progressive could track user sessions and demographics. The company integrated BigQuery for more insight into user behaviors.
• With Google Tag Manager 360, Progressive could easily implement tracking tags to measure various actions, conversions, and navigation patterns.

To get the insights the company needed to improve its mobile app, Progressive took a three-pronged approach:

User device data

First, Progressive aimed to identify which devices and operating systems were most common among the app’s user base. With this information, the company would be able to develop more effective tests for its mobile app.

App crash data

Next, Progressive wanted to analyze app crash data. The company planned to use Google Analytics 360 and BigQuery data to understand the cause for the crash and how users reacted when the app stopped working abruptly.

Login and security data

Finally, Progressive aimed to learn how users responded when failed login attempts locked them out of the app. The company planned to use Google Analytics 360 and BigQuery to see what actions users took. It planned to then test new prompts that would guide users more effectively.

Outcome of this marketing analytics case study

Using marketing analytics tools , Progressive was able to process customer behavior, identify appropriate tests, and implement successful solutions.

Here’s how each of the three approaches generated useful results that helped Progressive reach its ultimate acquisition and loyalty goals.

First, Progressive developed session-based reports that reflected the most common mobile devices and operating systems for the app’s user base. With those insights, the company identified which device and operating system combinations to prioritize for its mobile app tests.

As a result, the company reduced testing time by 20% for its mobile app—allowing the organization to find solutions much more quickly than its typical timeline would have allowed.

Next, Progressive reviewed the actions customers took right before the app crashed. The company pinpointed a server issue as the cause of a major crash that disrupted countless mobile app sessions.

Using this data, Progressive could address the server issue and prevent it from happening again.

Finally, Progressive created a custom funnel in Google Analytics 360 to evaluate users’ typical login path. After learning that many users who became locked out of their accounts never attempted to log in again, the company developed a workflow that provided better guidance.

The new workflow sends users to a Forgot Password page, which has increased logins by 30%.

Marketing Analytics Case Studies: Netflix

When companies take a digital-first approach to customer loyalty, they can collect an incredible amount of user data. With these marketing analytics, companies can improve their products, build better marketing campaigns, and drive more revenue.

As this Netflix case study shows, the online content streaming platform has leveraged its user data in a variety of helpful ways.

By using data to improve its content recommendation engine, develop original content, and increase its customer retention rate, Netflix has positioned itself far ahead of the competition.

With so much data to leverage, Netflix had wide-ranging goals for the company’s marketing analytics. However, all of the organization’s goals contributed to the company’s larger business objectives—which focus on customer retention.

Netflix aimed to go beyond basic user demographics and understand what customers want from a streaming platform—and what was likely to convince them to stay. With this knowledge, Netflix could create better products and services for happier customers.

Access issues, service outages, and platform flaws can all lead to unhappy customers and negative sentiment—which can cause customers to seek out an alternative solution.

By identifying problems early through marketing analytics, Netflix could improve its products and continue to innovate.

To work toward its customer retention objective, Netflix collected data from virtually every interaction with its 150+ million subscribers. The company then used marketing analytics tools to process this native data and evaluate everything from how customers navigate the platform to what they watch.

By creating such detailed customer profiles, Netflix could make much more personalized recommendations for each user. The more data the company collected, the more it could tailor its algorithm to suggest the ideal content to each individual viewer.

To better understand the platform’s users, Netflix collected such data as:

• The devices viewers used to stream content
• Day of week and time of day when users viewed content
• Number of serial episodes viewers watched in a row
• Whether viewers paused and resumed content
• Number and type of searches users performed

Netflix also welcomed user feedback on content . The company incorporated these content ratings into their analysis to better understand viewer preferences.

According to the streaming platform, the Netflix algorithm is responsible for about 80% of viewer activity . The company has successfully collected relevant data and used marketing analytics to generate recommendations that encourage viewers to continue watching and subscribing.

The revenue metrics suggest that Netflix’s focus on marketing analytics has been hugely beneficial to the company. The company estimates that its algorithm generates $1 billion in value every year, largely due to customer retention.

In recent years, Netflix’s customer retention rate has far surpassed competitors like Hulu and Amazon Prime. Netflix has an impressive 90% retention rate , meaning the vast majority of viewers continue to subscribe to the service month after month. (In contrast, Amazon Prime’s retention rate is 75%, and Hulu’s is 64%.)

For Netflix, customer retention means more than happy viewers. It also means more data, a continually improving algorithm, and substantial business growth.

Netflix has emerged as the world’s most highly valued company, with a total valuation of over $160 billion. Netflix can continue to increase this valuation. It leverages its data by producing original media and recommending the ideal content to viewers every time they access the streaming platform.

Marketing Analytics Case Studies: Allrecipes

As the world’s biggest digital food brand, Allrecipes has 18 websites and more than 85 million users. But the brand also has plenty of competition from other food-focused apps and websites.

To stay ahead of other recipe sites and ensure that it continues to provide all the solutions that users want, Allrecipes relies on marketing analytics.

With marketing analytics, the digital brand can better understand the customer journey and analyze trends as they emerge. As this Allrecipes case study explains, the brand can expand its audience and attract even more lucrative demographics using these insights.

To continue to gain ground as the world’s top digital food brand, Allrecipes established several wide-ranging goals.

Some of the brand’s primary objectives included the following.

Improve user experience

With more than a billion and a half visitors across the brand’s sites every year, Allrecipes generates a ton of traffic. But the company needed a way to understand how visitors were using the site, so it could improve the user experience and gauge the health of the sites.

Increase video engagement

To take advantage of a demand for video content, Allrecipes had decided to invest heavily in video. However, the video production team needed strategic guidance. The brand needed to know what types of content would drive the most engagement.

Drive mobile engagement

To continue to meet the needs of its user base, Allrecipes had to look beyond its websites. As more and more people began using mobile devices to access the brand’s content, Allrecipes realized that the company needed to optimize its mobile app.

Inform product strategy

To promote new features and integrations or pursue partner programs, Allrecipes needed to know what its community wanted. Had they adopted the new integrations yet? Did they need new features to use the site or app more effectively?

Expand user base

Cooking and dining trends come and go, and Allrecipes needed a simple yet effective way to identify these developments.

By responding quickly to trends, the brand would be able to capture a larger user base, including elusive millennials.

Grow advertising revenue

Like many digital brands, Allrecipes has a native advertising program that allows the company to monetize its website. The company aimed to increase its advertising revenue, yet the organization didn’t want to compromise the user experience. To find the right partners to grow this program, Allrecipes needed deeper insights into its audience.

Although the brand’s goals were varied, the approach was relatively straightforward. To process marketing analytics from a wide range of channels, the brand opted to use Tableau, a business intelligence platform.

With Tableau, Allrecipes could establish a single platform for visualizing data from Adobe Marketing Cloud, Hitwise, and comScore. By linking Adobe Marketing Cloud to Tableau, the brand could pull in all of its website and marketing analytics. By linking Hitwise and comScore, the brand could source demographic data.

Using Tableau allowed Allrecipes to build custom dashboards and develop tailored reports to answer all of the brand’s questions. This tool also allowed the brand to pursue collaboration options across the organization.

In fact, departments ranging from marketing and design to product and finance contributed to the tool. Teams used Tableau Server to publish dashboards, creating a single space where stakeholders could visualize or analyze data.

With Tableau, Allrecipes was able to visualize the brand’s data successfully, enabling smarter decisions and making progress toward key goals. Here’s what the brand accomplished using marketing analytics:

Using insights from Tableau, Allrecipes was able to see how visitors typically used the site—including how they submit recipes, share content, and post links on social media channels. The organization then used this data to devise a plan for improving the site.

Knowing how visitors were already engaging with the site allowed the brand to make data-driven, goal-focused decisions.

With Tableau’s marketing analytics, Allrecipes found that out of all types of recipes, dessert typically generated more views and attracted more comments and photos. As a result, the brand opted to focus on this highly engaging niche, creating a separate video hub for dessert recipes.

To increase engagement on mobile devices, Allrecipes devised an A/B test that displayed the brand’s mobile site on all devices. Then the organization used the analytics to identify what drove interactions on mobile. The brand then used insights to improve the mobile site, including optimizing content and encouraging photo uploads.

Tableau’s data visualizations helped Allrecipes understand trends in its user community and respond to preferences more efficiently. Using these insights, the brand was able to promote integrations and features while gathering data for future product enhancements.

By using Tableau’s insights to process trends, Allrecipes was able to segment audiences for various recipe types, ultimately identifying millennial users’ interests and preferences. The brand was then able to create more content geared toward this growing user base—likely responding much more quickly than competitors could.

By tapping into real-time marketing analytics, Allrecipes was able to share popular recipe searches and trending content with its advertising partners during a recent holiday season. Advertisers could then create ads tailored to these interests, generating a better ROI and creating a more appealing experience for users.

What We Learned From These Marketing Analytics Case Studies

As these marketing analytics case studies show, data can tell you a lot about what your customers want—and where your organization succeeds or has room for improvement. Using insights from marketing analytics, a digital marketer can make data-driven decisions to cultivate customer loyalty, generate more revenue, and ultimately grow your business.

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Case Study: Sales Reporting and Analytics Solution

This leading US specialty pharmaceutical company relied on an outsourced vendor for its sales reporting and analytics needs. Due to the initial size of the company 10 years ago, an outsourced approach was the best fit at the time. Yet, as the company grew, its reporting needs grew as well.  Faced with increased costs from its vendor and a desire to make quicker decisions with their sales data, the company needed a different solution.

Partnering with Clarkston Consulting, the company worked to transition its sales reporting and analytics away from a 100% outsourced solution. At the completion of the project, the company was able to cut days in turnaround time for data requests, empower their mobile sales force with a dashboard reporting solution, reduce their reliance on third-party systems and processes, and integrate their sales data with key operational data.

CHALLENGE & SOLUTIONS

Challenge 1:  The company needed an in-house solution for their sales reporting and analytics to make smarter, faster decisions for the business.

Solution:  Clarkston helped the company by leading an SAP BI implementation to be able to consume, process, store, and report on sales and competitive data. This involved receiving and processing both transactional and master data from several third parties as well as sending transactional and master data to additional third parties.

The company needed two different reporting solutions for these parties to best accommodate their needs and help them increase performance. Clarkston helped establish documentation standards around the data processing and reporting as well.

Clarkston developed a solution that centralized all of the company’s sales data, including product, market, field/territory and customer information. The front-end reporting interface included unit conversion options and dynamic print settings. The new solution also allowed the company to develop dynamic data sets to display a summary of market trends using real-time data.

The customer information provided was also key to this solution. Within the interface, salespeople can now access all of their key customer information, including the physicians who were currently prescribing their products as well as the doctors who hadn’t yet prescribed their products.

Challenge 2:  The company questioned the accuracy of its sales data metrics, but lacked the ability to validate the issue.

Solution:  In developing the solution, Clarkston executed a process analysis to understand the current reporting solution and to better map out the needed solution for the company moving forward. Clarkston also recommended that the entire sales reporting process from request to delivery be analyzed to identify areas for optimization.

By integrating all of the sales data into one system, the company no longer had to question the validity of its sales data. The singular system allowed for repeatable processes and reduced the chance that one metric would provide different values throughout the organization.

Challenge 3:  The company’s sales force needed a “one-stop shop” for their sales reporting and analytics.

Solution:  Clarkston developed an all-inclusive dashboard for the company that contained critical KPIs for the company’s sales representatives. The dashboard is fully integrated and accessed by a highly mobile sales force through the cloud. The dashboard solution was developed with BusinessObjects Xcelsius, an emerging product within the SAP business intelligence portfolio.

The dashboard solution allows users to see not only aggregated sales numbers, but also detailed product sales records. The dashboard solution combined data from over 6 different disparate reports into a “one stop shop” that provided the sales force with all the key pieces of information to do their job. The solution was even able to provide metrics to the sales force which were not previously available such as quarterly goals, progress to date for those goals, and rebate redemptions. In addition to this, the solution required integrating the dashboard and data with the company’s CRM cloud service.

RESULTS By implementing this analytics solution, the company brought their competitive and sales data reporting in-house, cut costs and increased the accuracy of their reporting and analysis. As the company moves forward with this new solution, their sales reporting costs will most likely be reduced by 50 to 70%. They are now able to analyze raw data themselves, respond more quickly to changes in market trends and perform root cause analysis to determine those shifts in the market. By securing quicker access to their data with the new solution, the company was also able to reduce the risk associated with delayed responses to changes in their markets.

With the new solution, the company can now process sales reports faster than the outsourced solution, reducing turnaround time between 50% to 60%. The reporting needs of the company have been streamlined, consolidating over 10 reports into the centralized dashboard solution. The company’s competitive analysis group is also able to more quickly respond to internal data requests given they have the ability to pull the information themselves. With this quicker response, the company is better able to react to changes in the market and predict opportunities for its sales force.

The business also experienced an increase in the overall understanding of their sales data throughout the organization. The company now has great flexibility in the presentation of their sales and competitive data, while also being able to integrate sales data with other key data points for the organization.

PARTNERING FOR SUCCESS Clarkston’s expertise in analytics, program management, and change management, along with a longstanding client relationship and great cultural fit, secured Clarkston as the right partner to help this company with its analytics challenge.With its new internal analytics and reporting solution, this company is now able to process sales data in-house, respond more quickly to changes in its marketplace, integrate sales data with key operational data – all while reducing the costs of reporting for the company.

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Sales Case Study: How to Make a Sale in 7 Steps

Sales case studies are a great way to learn how to make a sale. I remember when I was first starting in sales, I would read as many sales case studies as I could get my hands on. They were a huge help in learning the ropes and understanding the different steps involved in making a sale. This sales case study will show you how to make a sale in 7 steps. By following these simple steps, you’ll be well on your way to becoming a top-performing sales rep!

Sales Case Study: Successful Sales Techniques

A sales case study is an important tool for sales teams. It can provide insight into how other companies have been able to successfully sell products and services and can help sales teams learn new strategies and techniques.

Additionally, sales case studies can help to identify potential customers and target markets.

What are Sales Case Studies and How Do They Help You?

A case study analyzes a specific instance –– or case if you will –– that shows how your product has been effective in solving a problem.

When you market with customer success stories, you allow your prospective customers to get to know your existing customers on a more personal level. This can help them see how your product has benefited other people, which can in turn make it easier for them to purchase.

Would you hire a company to produce video content for you if they just said, “We produce high quality, high return-on-investment (ROI) generating videos”?

Wouldn’t it be more beneficial for you to see the quality of their work first and read a personal recommendation from someone who has worked with them before through case studies? This way, you can make a more informed decision about whether or not this is the right company for your needs.

Most customers read reviews before making a purchase. This is because 81% of people do their research before buying anything.

B2B sales are just like any other kind of sale – the prospect does their research before committing to a purchase. To get an idea of what a company is like, it can be helpful to read reviews from past customers. This way, you can learn about a company’s reputation before making a decision.

Case studies are an excellent way to show your potential customers the benefits of your product or service. By reading about how other companies have benefited from using your product, they can see the logic behind your claims and also get a sense of what a satisfied customer looks like. This can help to remove any objections they may have about purchasing from you.

How to Write a Sales Case Study

The customer is a small business owner who needs help with bookkeeping and accounting. They have a goal of being able to track their finances and make better decisions for their business. We helped them by providing bookkeeping and accounting services. The result was that they were able to track their finances and make better decisions for their business.

B2B Case Study

88% of customers trust online reviews, so having testimonials and reviews on your site is a great way to establish credibility.

When you’re marketing to other businesses, case studies can be extremely impactful. Why? Because when your target audience reads about success stories within their industry, they’ll assume that the same approach will work for them.

Marketing Case Study

Case studies are an excellent way to show that you are comfortable in a specific field and familiar with industry-specific needs. By using case studies, you can demonstrate that you have the expertise to provide targeted results to that industry.

Sales Case Study Examples

Customer case studies are a particularly effective way of selling.

A sales case study is an in-depth look at how your service or product helped a client. It not only shows their opinion of your brand but highlights the results they achieved with you.

Make Impactful Statistics Pop in Your Sales Case Study

Case studies don’t have to be limited to just written words. You can include images, videos, and more.

To make your statistics pop in your sales case study, use icons to highlight areas that are particularly interesting or relevant. This will help your readers quickly identify the most important information in your study.

Icons are visual images that help to summarize important information quickly.

The use of icons in the business case study examples above helps to quickly represent areas of impressive growth and act as visual cues to help draw the reader’s attention to certain parts of the page.

Use High Contrast Shapes and Colors in Your Sales Case Study

Use contrasting colors and shapes to help your key info pop.

Use a different or complementary color scheme, or add a graphic such as a square or a circle.

This visual design uses blue boxes to separate the information to make it more readable.

This information is easily digestible and retainable for a potential customer, thanks to the use of icons and strong statistics.

8. Tips For Creating a More Effective Sales Case Study

Case studies are a powerful way to increase conversions and revenue.

They show how your product/service helps customers achieve their own goals.

An extensive, detailed, and specific case study that outlines your achievements and shows potential customers how you helped them achieve their goals.

Writing a compelling and action-oriented case study can be a real challenge. Most out there are boring, uninspiring, and fail to deliver all the information they should.

It’s time to change that. Here are 8 tips to help you create a more effective case study.

1. Write About Someone Your Customer Can Relate

If your target audience is in the education industry, then make a case study about one of your university clients .

If it’s related to the automotive industry, then make a case study about car parts and car accessories.

The purpose of your case study is to show that you are comfortable in their industry, you understand their specific needs, and you know how to deliver results.

Think about writing a how-to post for a blog. The content is geared toward average readers. But when you read a case study that deals with your industry and needs, you are much more likely to understand and apply the information presented.

The same can be said for case studies – people reading them will think that the same methods worked for the company.

This means you’ll need to write multiple case studies, each tailored to a different customer type.

2. Narrate a Story From Start to Finish

Storytelling is a powerful marketing tool. They allow readers to get to know your customers on a deeper level.

Who is the customer? What do they do? What are their needs and goals? How do you satisfy those needs so they can meet those goals?

Continue following up with your customer in your case studies and show how your solutions provide ongoing value.

In your case studies, be sure to include both the emotional benefits of your solutions as well as more concrete, measurable results.

Did your software help boost productivity, reduce turnover, or free up employees’ time? By including these metrics, you’ll provide your readers with a complete picture of how your services have helped your customers.

3. Make Your Case Study Easier to Read

No one likes reading large blocks of texts, regardless of how informative or entertaining they might be. Like a blog post, a case study should be easily scanned and readable.

Use the same elements of content and writing that you would for an article, blog post, or website copy.

When you’re writing a case study, use effective design elements like bold or italic fonts, bullet points, and header tags to help readers easily digest the information.

By including these simple, yet effective, techniques in your case studies, you’ll help readers find the information they’re looking for and better understand your value proposition.

In addition to writing blog posts, consider including videos and other types of media to spice things up.

Including images of your actual customers, screenshots of your results, or even videos of you explaining your process will help make your case studies more engaging.

4. Highlight Real Numbers

Have you ever wondered if doubled traffic in a case study meant going from 100 to 200 visitors or 10,000 to 20,000?

To strengthen your case studies, share exact figures. Show how much your increase in website traffic, sales, or whatever else matters to your clients.

This adds credibility to your case studies and builds trust with your audience.

Your case studies should be as detailed and as factual as humanly possible. Don’t just say you increased their website traffic by 50%, say you boosted their web traffic by 50%, and back it up with hard numbers.

It’s important to provide context when sharing these statistics. Explain why they’re important to you and your company.

By showing your customers’ journeys, you can show readers how you’ve helped customers get to where they are now.

Including before and after photos in your case studies helps your readers visualize the results you achieved for your clients. Seeing these before and after shots lets your prospects know that you are capable of achieving similar results for them.

5. Talk About Specific Strategies

So, you managed to improve your client’s web traffic? How did you do it?

This is where you tell the prospect which products or services you used to achieve your goal.

“Thanks to our digital marketing strategies, we increased website traffic from 2,000 to 15,000 visitors a month in just three months. Our social media marketing campaigns on Facebook and Youtube helped increase our brand awareness, and our link-building campaigns helped us rank higher on search engines.”

Don’t worry about giving away your secrets — your goal here is to establish yourself as a thought leader and showing that you know your stuff is key to that.

6. Test Different Content Formats

You don’t have to always write case studies in story format.

Try interviewing your clients and asking them the same questions, such as how they started their business, what their goals are, and what you did to help them.

Be sure to include quotes from your customers in your case studies. This will make your stories more believable and relevant to your prospects than if you were to tell your story yourself.

If you’re looking for ways to make your case studies more engaging, consider using infographics, webinars, or podcasts. These formats can help you capture your audience’s attention and communicate your key points more effectively. Experiment with different content types to see what works best for your business and your customers.

When Vortex switched to a brochure style, they noticed a significant boost in conversion rates. Their case studies highlight exactly how they achieved those results and can help convince customers that the same techniques will work for them.

7. Repurpose Your Case Study for Different Audiences

While some people are happy reading your text-based case studies, other people may like to listen to them, watch them, or see them in a visual format. So, take your written content and repurpose it as a podcast, a YouTube video, or an engaging infographic.

The main benefit of video marketing is that videos are easily sharable. This means that your case study could reach more potential customers.

You can embed case studies in ebooks, blog posts, and resource guides. You can also link your case study to posts that prove your value and mention them in webinars.

8. Make Your Case Study Easily Accessible

What’s the point of creating a great case study if no one ever reads them? Be sure to organize your case studies in a way that makes them easy to locate.

List them on your website, optimize them for search engines, and promote them on your social media accounts.

Here are a few examples of easy-to-find case studies.

Amazon Web Services

If you’re in an industry like manufacturing, finance, or fitness and are looking for a case study, check out what Amazon Web Services has to offer. With AWS Digital Asset Management , industries like manufacturing, finance, or fitness can leverage a centralized, secure, and easily accessible platform to manage their extensive digital assets, simplifying the workflow while ensuring data integrity and accessibility.

The case study section on the landing page for drupal.org features several success stories from major brands, making it simple to see how Drupal can help your business.

How to Use Case Studies in Marketing

Follow up your case studies with blog posts that highlight a challenge or obstacle that your customer or company faced. Then, show the steps you took to overcome that issue.

In your post, show the steps you took to solve these issues.

Let’s say we had a client case study that detailed how a company used videos to build their trust. We might write a blog post that was called “Using Videos To Build Your Brand’s Credibility”.

A customer success blog post should focus on how your customers overcame their challenges and used your product or service to do so.

Most customers don’t want to spend a long time reading through a long explanation when they’re buying something. It’s much easier for them to watch the video that explains the service or product quickly. Our research shows that 96% of buyers would prefer watching a short video over having to read long explanations.

It’s easier for them and saves time if they view a video that gives them all the information they’re looking for.

Including statistics, and data, and ending with a call to action, video case studies are a great way to show your prospect how your product/service has benefited someone else.

If you can demonstrate to your prospects how your product or service is helping them solve their problem, you will be in an excellent spot.

Through videos, you can establish an emotional connection between your brand, product, and customers. Having satisfied customers explain the benefits of your product will help build a stronger relationship with your prospects.

This leads to more sales and more loyal clients.

You can display your testimonials or customer success stories directly on your home page. This will show web visitors that other people have had success with your product or service.

How to Present Your Case Studies

Here are a few suggestions for how to display your success stories:

• Feature a quote from your case study on your homepage
• Create a dedicated page featuring your testimonial or video case study
• Include a graphic or image of your case study

Email Marketing

Case studies are a great way to connect with those already-cold, disengaged contacts and re-ignite their interest.

Our preferred method is product-specific segments.

Do you have case studies from a specific product or service? Look at your analytics to see who was at one time interested in it.

Then, send an email to your subscriber list with your case study.

Social Media

Case studies are an easy way to promote your business on social.

Share a link to your customer’s success story and mention them.

To get the most out of a case study, post the case study in a way where readers are inspired to action. Focus on the benefits, be direct, and link to the page.

What other creative ways can you think of to use social media to promote your case study?

There are many ways to use a case study on social media.

You can show your happy, smiling face with a testimonial on your Facebook page, your Twitter account, and your LinkedIn profile.

You can also share your case study on LinkedIn, or add it to your company’s page.

Finally, you can post your case studies in related Facebook groups, or tweet about them. By doing all of these things, you will increase your engagement, and reach more potential clients.

According to Accenture, 41% of customers switched to a different business due to a lack of personalized communication.

When quoting your case studies, choose quotes that are specific to how your company helped the customer or quote metrics that demonstrate what the results were.

“We were able to increase the number of our email list by 80% in only a year. Their professionalism, dedication, and results speak for themselves.”

These quotes are a great way to boost your social media presence and website views.

Newsletters

Case studies can be included in your newsletter to both attract new potential clients and solidify your relationship with existing ones.

When companies focus on their customers, they not only improve relationships with current clients but can also attract more business. It’s natural to want to be part of a group, and when customers see that a business cares about them, they’re more inclined to support that company.

Case Studies for sales teams

Did you know that 70% of B2B customers do their research before even speaking to a sales rep? And 44% of those same people are looking for a specific solution before reaching out to a salesperson.

As customers become more and more educated, sales reps need content that speaks to each stage of a buyer’s journey. This ensures that reps are providing customers with information that’s relevant to their stage in the buying process.

Case studies are an excellent way to showcase your successes.

Have you heard of the saying “right place right time”?

Case studies are a great way to build credibility and trust with potential buyers. By showing past successes, you can demonstrate to potential clients that your product works.

What is a Sales Case Study?

To recap, a sales case study is a written document that describes a sales process from start to finish. It details the challenges faced by the salesperson and how they were overcome. A sales case study can be used to teach best practices, highlight successes, and identify areas for improvement.

A good example of a case study is a research paper that analyzes a particular subject in depth. Case studies are usually conducted on people, businesses, or organizations, and they often involve interviews and observation in addition to secondary research.

A sales case study is a great way to learn how to make a sale. This sales case study has shown you how to make a sale in 7 steps. By following these simple steps, you’ll be well on your way to becoming a top-performing salesman or woman!

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Next-gen B2B sales: How three game changers grabbed the opportunity

Driven by digitalized operating models, B2B sales have seen sweeping changes over the recent period amid rising customer demand for more seamless and transparent services. 1 “ The multiplier effect: How B2B winners grow ,” McKinsey, April 13, 2023. However, many industrial companies are failing to keep pace with their more commercially focused peers and, as a result, are becoming less competitive in terms of performance and customer services.

The most successful B2B players employ five key tactics to sharpen their sales capabilities: omnichannel sales teams; advanced sales technology and automation; data analytics and hyperpersonalization; tailored strategies on third-party marketplaces; and e-commerce excellence across the full marketing and sales funnel. 2 “ The multiplier effect: How B2B winners grow ,” McKinsey, April 13, 2023.

Companies using all of these tactics are twice as likely to see more than 10 percent market share growth than companies focusing on just one. 3 “ The multiplier effect: How B2B winners grow ,” McKinsey, April 13, 2023. However, implementation is not as simple, requiring a strategic vision, a full commitment, and the right capabilities to drive change throughout the organization. Various leading European industrial companies—part of McKinsey’s Industrial Gamechangers on Go-to-Market disruption in Europe—have achieved success by implementing the first three of these five sales tactics.

Omnichannel sales teams

The clearest rationale for accelerating the transition to omnichannel go-to-market is that industry players demand it. In 2017, only about 20 percent of industrial companies said they preferred digital interactions and purchases. 4 Global B2B Pulse Survey, McKinsey, April 30, 2023. Currently, that proportion is around 67 percent. In 2016, B2B companies had an average of five distinct channels; by 2021, that figure had risen to ten (Exhibit 1).

Excelling in omnichannel means enabling customers to move easily between channels without losing context or needing to repeat information. Companies that achieve these service levels report increased customer satisfaction and loyalty, faster growth rates, lower costs, and easier tracking and analysis of customer data. Across most of these metrics, the contrast with analogue approaches is striking. For example, B2B companies that successfully embed omnichannel show EBIT growth of 13.5 percent, compared to the 1.8 percent achieved by less digitally enabled peers. Next to purely digital channels, inside sales and hybrid sales are the most important channels to deliver an omnichannel experience.

Differentiating inside versus hybrid sales

Best-in-class B2B sellers have achieved up to 20 percent revenue gains by redefining go-to-market through inside and hybrid sales. The inside sales model cannot be defined as customer service, nor is it a call center or a sales support role—rather, it is a customer facing, quota bearing, remote sales function. It relies on qualified account managers and leverages data analytics and digital solutions to optimize sales strategy and outreach through a range of channels (Exhibit 2).

The adoption of inside sales is often an advantageous move, especially in terms of productivity. In fact, inside sales reps can typically cover four times the prospects at 50 percent of the cost of a traditional field rep, allowing the team to serve many customers without sacrificing quality of service. 5 McKinsey analysis. Top performing B2B companies are 50 percent more likely to leverage inside sales.

Up to 80 percent of a company’s accounts—often smaller and medium-sized customers, accounting for about half of revenues—can be covered by inside sales teams. 6 Industry expert interviews; McKinsey analysis. The remaining 20 percent often require in-person interactions, triggering the need for hybrid sales. This pertains to highly attractive leads as well.

Hybrid sales is an innovative model combining inside sales with traditional in-person interactions. Some 85 percent of companies expect hybrid sales will be the most common job role within three years. 7 Global B2B Pulse Survey, McKinsey, December 2022. Hybrid is often optimal for bigger accounts, as it is flexible in utilizing a combination of channels, serving customers where they prefer to buy. It is scalable, thanks to the use of remote and online sales, and it is effective because of the multiplier effect of numerous potential interactions. Of companies that grew more than 10 percent in 2022, 57 percent had adopted a hybrid sales model. 8 Global B2B Pulse, April 2023.

How an industrial automation solution player implemented game-changing inside sales

In 2019, amid soaring digital demand, a global leader in industrial digital and automation solutions saw an opportunity to deliver a cutting-edge approach to sales engagement.

As a starting point, the company took time to clearly define the focus and role of the inside sales team, based on product range, customer needs, and touchpoints. For simple products, where limited customer interaction was required, inside sales was the preferred go-to-market model. For more complex products that still did not require many physical touchpoints, the company paired inside sales teams with technical sales people, and the inside sales group supported fields reps. Where product complexity was high and customers preferred many touch points, the inside sales team adopted an orchestration role, bringing technical functions and field sales together (Exhibit 3).

The company laid the foundations in four key areas. First, it took time to sketch out the model, as well as to set targets and ensure the team was on board. As in any change program, there was some early resistance. The antidote was to hire external talent to help shape the program and highlight the benefits. To foster buy-in, the company also spent time creating visualizations. Once the team was up and running, early signs of success created a snowball effect, fostering enthusiasm among both inside sales teams and field reps.

Second, the company adopted a mantra: inside sales should not—and could not—be cost saving from day one. Instead, a significant part of the budget was allocated to build a tech stack and implement the tools to manage client relationships. One of the company’s leaders said, “As inside sales is all about using tech to obtain better outcomes, this was a vital step.”

The third foundational element was talent. The company realized that inside sales is not easy and is not for everyone—so finding the right people was imperative. As a result, it put in place a career development plan and recognized that many inside sales reps would see the job as a stepping stone in their careers. Demonstrating this understanding provided a great source of motivation for employees.

Finally, finding the right mix of incentives was key. The company chose a system based on compensation and KPI leading and lagging indicators. Individual incentives were a function of whether individuals were more involved with closing deals or supporting others, so a mix of KPIs was employed. The result was a more motivated salesforce and productive cooperation across the organization.

Advanced sales technology and automation

Automation is a key area of advanced sales technology, as it is critical to optimizing non-value adding activities that currently account for about two-thirds of sales teams’ time. More than 30 percent of sales tasks and processes are estimated to be partially automatable, from sales planning through lead management, quotation, order management, and post-sales activities. Indeed, automation leaders not only boost revenues and reduce cost to serve—both by as much as 20 percent—but also foster customer and employee satisfaction. (Exhibit 4). Not surprisingly, nine out of ten industrial companies have embarked on go-to-market automation journeys. Still, only a third say the effort has achieved the anticipated impact. 9 McKinsey analysis.

Leading companies have shown that effective automation focuses on four areas:

• Lead management: Advanced analytics helps teams prioritize leads, while AI-powered chatbots contact prospective customers via text or email and schedule follow-up calls at promising times—for example, at the beginning or end of the working day.
• Contract drafting: AI tools automate responses to request for proposal (RFP) inquiries, based on a predefined content set.
• Invoice generation: Companies use robotic process automation to process and generate invoices, as well as update databases.
• Sales commission planning: Machine learning algorithms provide structural support, for example, to optimize sales commission forecasting, leading up to a 50 percent decline in time spent on compensation planning.

How GEA seized the automation opportunity

GEA is one of the world’s most advanced suppliers of processing machinery for food, beverages, and pharmaceuticals. To provide customers with tailored quotes and services, the company launched a dedicated configure, price, quote (CPQ) system. The aim of the system was to enable automated quote creation that would free up frontline sales teams to operate independently from their back office colleagues. This, in turn, would boost customer interaction and take customer care to the next level.

The work began with a bottom-up review of the company’s configuration protocols, ensuring there was sufficient standardization for the new system to operate effectively. GEA also needed to ensure price consistency—especially important during the recent supply chain volatility. For quotations, the right template with the correct conditions and legal terms needed to be created, a change that eventually allowed the company to cut its quotation times by about 50 percent, as well as boost cross-selling activities.

The company combined the tools with a guided selling approach, in which sales teams focused on the customers’ goals. The teams then leveraged the tools to find the most appropriate product and pricing, leading to a quote that could be enhanced with add-ons, such as service agreements or digital offerings. Once the quote was sent and agreed upon, the data automatically would be transferred from customer relationship management to enterprise resource planning to create the order. In this way, duplication was completely eliminated. The company found that the sales teams welcomed the new approach, as it reduced the time to quote (Exhibit 5).

Data analytics and hyperpersonalization

Data are vital enablers of any go-to-market transformation, informing KPIs and decision making across operations and the customer journey. Key application areas include:

• lead acquisition, including identification and prioritization
• share of wallet development, including upselling and cross-selling, assortment optimization, and microsegmentation
• pricing optimization, including market driven and tailored pricing, deal scoring, and contract optimization
• churn prediction and prevention
• sales effectiveness, so that sales rep time allocations (both in-person and virtual) are optimized, while training time is reduced

How Hilti uses machine data to drive sales

Hilti is a globally leading provider of power tools, services, and software to the construction industry. The company wanted to understand its customers better and forge closer relationships with them. Its Nuron battery platform, which harvests usage data from tools to transform the customer experience and create customer-specific insights, provided the solution.

One in three of Hilti’s frontline staff is in daily contact with the company’s customers, offering advice and support to ensure the best and most efficient use of equipment. The company broke new ground with its intelligent battery charging platform. As tool batteries are recharged, they transfer data to the platform and then to the Hilti cloud, where the data are analyzed to produce actionable insights on usage, pricing, add-ons, consumables, and maintenance. The system will be able to analyze at least 58 million data points every day.

Armed with this type of data, Hilti provides customers with advanced services, offering unique insights so that companies can optimize their tool parks, ensuring that the best tools are available and redundant tools are returned. In the meantime, sales teams use the same information to create deep insights—for example, suggesting that companies rent rather than buy tools, change the composition of tool parks, or upgrade.

To achieve its analytics-based approach, Hilti went on a multiyear journey, moving from unstructured analysis to a fully digitized approach. Still, one of the biggest learnings from its experience was that analytics tools are most effective when backed by human interactions on job sites. The last mile, comprising customer behavior, cannot be second guessed (Exhibit 6).

In the background, the company worked hard to put the right foundations in place. That meant cleaning its data (for example, at the start there were 370 different ways of measuring “run time”) and ensuring that measures were standardized. It developed the ability to understand which use cases were most important to customers, realizing that it was better to focus on a few impactful ones and thus create a convincing offering that was simple to use and effective.

A key element of the rollout was to ensure that employees received sufficient training— which often meant weeks of engagement, rather than just a few hours. The work paid off, with account managers now routinely supported by insights that enrich their interactions with customers. Again, optimization was key, ensuring the information they had at their fingertips was truly useful.

Levers for a successful transformation

The three company examples highlighted here illustrate how embracing omnichannel, sales technology, and data analytics create market leading B2B sales operations. However, the success of any initiative will be contingent on managing change. Our experience in working with leading industrial companies shows that the most successful digital sales and analytics transformations are built on three elements:

• Strategy: As a first step, companies develop strategies starting from deep customer insights. With these, they can better understand their customers’ problems and identify what customers truly value. Advanced analytics can support the process, informing insights around factors such as propensity to buy and churn. These can enrich the company’s understanding of how it wants its go-to-market model to evolve.
• Tailored solutions: Customers appreciate offerings tailored to their needs. 10 “ The multiplier effect: How B2B winners grow ,” McKinsey, April 13, 2023. This starts with offerings and services, extends to pricing structures and schemes, and ways of serving and servicing. For example, dynamic pricing engines that model willingness to pay (by segment, type of deal, and route to market) may better meet the exact customer demand, while serving a customer completely remotely might better suit their interaction needs, and not contacting them too frequently might prevent churn more than frequent outreaches. Analytics on data gained across all channels serves to uncover these needs and become hyperpersonalized.
• Single source of truth: Best-in-class data and analytics capabilities leverage a variety of internal and external data types and sources (transaction data, customer data, product data, and external data) and technical approaches. To ensure a consistent output, companies can establish a central data repository as a “single source of truth.” This can facilitate easy access to multiple users and systems, thereby boosting efficiency and collaboration. A central repository also supports easier backup, as well as data management and maintenance. The chances of data errors are reduced and security is tightened.

Many companies think they need perfect data to get started. However, to make productive progress, a use case based approach is needed. That means selecting the most promising use cases and then scaling data across those cases through speedy testing.

And with talent, leading companies start with small but highly skilled analytics teams, rather than amassing talent too early—this can allow them to create an agile culture of continual improvement and cost efficiency.

As shown by the three companies discussed in this article, most successful B2B players employ various strategies to sharpen their sales capabilities, including omnichannel sales teams; advanced sales technology and automation; and data analytics and hyperpersonalization. A strategic vision, a full commitment, and the right capabilities can help B2B companies deploy these strategies successfully.

Paolo Cencioni is a consultant in McKinsey’s Brussels office, where Jacopo Gibertini is also a consultant; David Sprengel is a partner in the Munich office; and Martina Yanni is an associate partner in the Frankfurt office.

The authors wish to thank Christopher Beisecker, Kate Piwonski, Alexander Schult, Lucas Willcke, and the B2B Pulse team for their contributions to this article.

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AI for Businesses: Seven Case Studies and How You Can Use It

Updated: March 11, 2024

Published: August 31, 2023

Artificial intelligence has become an essential growth strategy for entrepreneurs. Almost 9 in 10 organizations believe AI will enable them to gain or sustain a competitive advantage — yet only 35% of companies currently leverage AI.

The majority of businesses leave the benefits of using AI — from optimizing research to streamlining operations — on the table. To stay competitive, entrepreneurs need to figure out how to integrate AI into their business strategy.

Table of contents:

What is AI for businesses?

What are the benefits of ai for businesses, ai for businesses case studies, ai for businesses tools.

AI for businesses involves integrating AI into a business’s strategy, mainly for tasks that require some level of human intelligence. Within a business, as examples, AI can:

• Convert speech to text for emails or memos
• Translate text for foreign markets
• Generate images from text for marketing purposes
• Solve problems, such as aggregating data to make data-driven decisions

For the most part, AI for businesses does not necessarily entail replacing a human worker with AI. Rather, professionals on all levels — from entry-level workers to C-suite executives — can use AI to improve their job performance.

“Across nearly every business function, we’re seeing AI make a major impact on business as usual,” explains Chief Content Officer at Marketing AI Institute Mark Kaput . Benefits of using AI in business include:

• Automating data-driven, repetitive tasks such as data entry
• Increasing revenue by making better predictions
• Enhancing customer experiences by providing more readily available support
• Driving growth by aggregating data and outputting highly targeted ads and marketing campaigns

Aside from more direct benefits, AI has also improved popular business tools. For example, Google Workspace uses AI to enable users to create automatic Google Docs summaries, generate text based on prompts, and more.

Additionally, as AI adoption increases (it doubled from 2017 to 2022), so does the need to leverage it to stay competitive. Almost 8 in 10 organizations believe incumbent competitors already use AI — not surprisingly since 73% of consumers are open to using AI if it makes their lives easier.

AI has been an impactful tool across different industries, from podcasts to fashion to health care.

1. Reduce time and resources needed to create podcast content

In Kaput’s content-creation business, his team leverages AI to decrease the time he spends on their weekly podcast by 75%. This involves using AI to create promotional campaign material (e.g., graphics, emails) alongside script writing.

Podcasts necessitate a human host ( most of the time ), but AI can help optimize the process of getting from idea to episode.

2. Optimize supply chain operations in the fashion industry

Retailers often deal with a significant amount of guesswork. For example, predicting what kind of clothing to stock typically requires historical data and educated guesses.

AI can streamline supply chain operations for retailers. These tools take in necessary data, such as prior inventory levels and sales performance, and predict future sales with greater accuracy.

Fast fashion retailers (e.g., H&M, Zara) have seen growths in revenue by leveraging predictive analytics driven by AI.

3. Speed up and improve accuracy of diagnoses

Physicians often use imaging as a tool to provide accurate patient diagnoses. However, images often show only one part of a larger story — requiring physicians to look into a patient’s medical history.

AI can help optimize this process. For example, at Hardin Memorial Health (HMH), doctors can use AI to bring up a summary of the patient’s medical history and highlight information relevant to the imaging.

For example, one radiologist at the hospital found a bone lesion in an image, which can have many different causes. However, AI sifted through the patient’s medical background and showed the physician the patient’s history of smoking, giving them a better idea for potential treatments.

4. Create professional videos within minutes

If your business plans on creating a video, they need to find a speaker, acquire a high-quality camera, set up a studio, and edit. This can take days to finalize, but AI has made it possible to create a professional video in less than fifteen minutes.

For instance, Synthesia offers tools that enable the creation of videos featuring 140+ realistic-looking avatars, 120+ language options, and high-quality voice-overs.

5. Provide robots with autonomous functions

AI also has many industrial applications. For instance, Built Robotics uses AI to create autonomous heavy machinery that can operate in difficult environments.

One of their robots works in solar piling, or the process of creating solid foundations to place solar panels on. This entails placing foundations on uneven terrain and working with very strict design parameters, which can take time when done manually. However, AI-driven robots can automate and speed up this process significantly.

6. Act as a personal confidant

Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT often output human-sounding text. After all, its learning comes primarily from what people post on the internet. Replika recognized the opportunity to capitalize on this potential human-adjacent relationship and launched their “AI companion who cares.”

Users can create an avatar, customize its likes and interests, and build a relationship with it. The avatar can hop on video calls and chat, interact with real-life environments via augmented reality (AR), and provide guidance to their human companions.

7. Generate mock websites in minutes

Creating a minimum viable product (MVP) often entails launching a simple website to collect user information. But not everyone can code a functional website. AI tools enable users to create mock websites without any coding skills.

For example, you can use Uizard, which outputs app, web, and user interface (UI) designs after receiving instructions in text. Users type in what kind of app or website they want with a few other design parameters. Then, Uizard gives them a design of what their idea would look like.

In this case, AI performs a number of functions, including converting screenshots to functional designs and creating UI designs via simple text. Without AI, these tasks would take hours of technical and graphical work. You can also use AI to supplement your site's content, such as by using it to create blog posts. 

Though you can dive headfirst into AI, Kaput recommends doing thorough research before adopting new AI tools. He advises business owners to first ask themselves the following questions about their tasks:

• Is the task data-driven?
• Does the task follow a standard set of steps?
• Is the task predictive?
• Is the task generative?

If you answer yes to any of these questions, you likely have a solid starting point to integrate AI into your business. Once you understand which tasks you can apply AI to, you can look into different tools that can improve and speed up different parts of your operations.

AI has most visibly impacted marketing, with image and text tools going viral on social media. Tools can help create graphics for social media, write articles, design logos, and more. Consider using the following tools to integrate AI into your marketing:

• LogoAi : Designs logos using AI
• ChatGPT : Provides powerful text in response to prompts
• DALL·E 2 : Creates unique images in response to prompts 
• LOVO : Converts text to natural-sounding speech

AI can aid in high-level thinking, such as devising a business plan or strategy. The following tools can help validate ideas, provide useful analysis, and summarize complex information:

• VenturusAI : Analyzes business ideas for strategic planning
• Zapier : Connects apps to automated workflows

AI can be used to replace repetitive, manual tasks. Using the following tools, you can increase your productivity, speed up research, and more:

• Jamie : Automatically takes notes and creates an executive summary with action items
• Tome : Creates AI-powered presentations
• Consensus : Provides answers using insights from evidence-based research papers

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4-2 Case Study Assessing Financial Risks and Sales Growth

Economic Nexus Treatment by State, 2024

Sales taxes are an important revenue source for states that maintain them. All states except Alaska , Delaware , Montana , New Hampshire , and Oregon have statewide sales taxes. While the state has no such tax A tax is a mandatory payment or charge collected by local, state, and national governments from individuals or businesses to cover the costs of general government services, goods, and activities. , Alaska localities are permitted to implement and collect sales taxes.

Prior to the Supreme Court’s 2018 decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair South Dakota v. Wayfair was a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court decision eliminating the requirement that a seller have physical presence in the taxing state to be able to collect and remit sales taxes to that state. It expanded states’ abilities to collect sales taxes from e-commerce and other remote transactions. , only sellers with a physical presence in a state could be required to collect and remit state sales taxes. (States sometimes got creative through ideas like “click-through nexus” or “cookie nexus” in an effort to circumvent the restriction.) The Wayfair court, however, recognized the changing nature of the economy and the rise of e-commerce and overturned decades of precedent, allowing states to begin taxing non-resident businesses selling into the state.

Following the decision, states acted quickly to begin requiring out-of-state marketplace facilitators and remote sellers to collect and remit sales taxes. This impacted both large and small sellers and increased compliance obligations that often disproportionately fall on small- and medium-sized sellers. The increased compliance costs are further compounded by the lack of uniformity among the various taxing jurisdictions.

Currently, 25 states limit economic nexus to sales meeting a dollar threshold (e.g., $200,000). Others, however, require that marketplace facilitators and remote sellers collect and remit sales taxes if either a dollar threshold is met or the seller conducts a certain number of transactions in the state.

Establishing economic nexus through transactions alone is quite burdensome as compliance costs associated with collection and remittance requirements could be greater than the business transacted. For example, a marketplace facilitator or remote seller with sales in Arkansas exceeding $100,000 is required to collect and remit sales tax A sales tax is levied on retail sales of goods and services and, ideally, should apply to all final consumption with few exemptions . Many governments exempt goods like groceries; base broadening , such as including groceries, could keep rates lower. A sales tax should exempt business-to-business transactions which, when taxed, cause tax pyramiding . . The same seller would also be subject to collection and remittance obligations if the seller conducted 200 or more transactions in the state. To put a finer point on this, selling 200 of the same item at a price of $5 for a total of $1,000 would be sufficient to require the seller to comply with the Arkansas sales tax collection and remittance rules, even though the total revenue was dramatically less than the $100,000 sales threshold. This hypothetical seller would almost certainly spend more complying with the law (e.g., specialized software to track sales, accounting services, etc.) than they receive in profits on these sales, making doing business in Arkansas unappealing.

Nineteen states limit their economic threshold determinations to dollar amounts alone. This is imperfect but certainly better than requiring the smallest online businesses to collect and remit sales tax. Connecticut and New York do not impose an obligation to collect and remit sales tax unless the remote seller or marketplace facilitator meets or exceeds both a sales and transactions threshold.

The Wayfair court was correct in highlighting the changing nature of the economy and the necessity for sales tax codes to adapt. However, the decision did little to define how states should require sales tax collection and remittance from marketplace facilitators and remote sellers. As a result, there is a frustrating lack of uniformity among the states, which creates inefficiencies disproportionately borne by small and mid-sized sellers.

States should reform their marketplace facilitator and remote seller rules and remove the transaction threshold altogether. Indiana recently became the latest state to make the switch, a positive and pro-growth tax reform that others should follow. Reforming economic nexus thresholds would not only be better for businesses but for states as well. It is more cost-effective for states to focus on—and simplify—compliance for a reasonable number of sellers than to impose rules that have low compliance and are costly to administer.

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Original research article, association between amino acids and recent osteoporotic fracture: a matched incident case-control study.

• 1 Department of Endocrinology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Jinzhou Medical University, Jinzhou, Liaoning, China
• 2 Center for Mitochondrial Biology and Medicine, The Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information Engineering of Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, Xi’an Jiao tong University, Xi’an, China
• 3 Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin, China
• 4 Department of Internal Medicine, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada
• 5 Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada
• 6 Department of Pharmacy, The First Affiliated Hospital of Jinzhou Medical University, Jinzhou, Liaoning, China
• 7 Department of Clinical Laboratory, The Second Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin, China

Context: Osteoporotic fracture is a major public health issue globally. Human research on the association between amino acids (AAs) and fracture is still lacking.

Objective: To examine the association between AAs and recent osteoporotic fractures.

Methods: This age and sex matched incident case-control study identified 44 recent x-ray confirmed fracture cases in the Second Hospital of Jilin University and 88 community-based healthy controls aged 50+ years. Plasma AAs were measured by high performance liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. After adjusting for covariates (i.e., body mass index, milk intake >1 time/week, falls and physical activity), we conducted conditional logistical regression models to test the association between AAs and fracture.

Results: Among cases there were 23 (52.3%) hip fractures and 21 (47.7%) non-hip fractures. Total, essential, and non-essential AAs were significantly lower in cases than in controls. In the multivariable conditional logistic regression models, after adjusting for covariates, each standard deviation increase in the total (odds ratio [OR]: 0.304; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.117–0.794), essential (OR: 0.408; 95% CI: 0.181–0.923) and non-essential AAs (OR: 0.290; 95%CI: 0.107–0.782) was negatively associated with recent fracture. These inverse associations were mainly found for hip fracture, rather than non-hip fractures. Among these AAs, lysine, alanine, arginine, glutamine, histidine and piperamide showed the significantly negative associations with fracture.

Conclusion: There was a negative relationship between AAs and recent osteoporotic fracture; such relationship appeared to be more obvious for hip fracture.

1 Introduction

Osteoporotic fracture is a major public health problem in China. The prevalence of vertebral fractures in men and women aged 40 years or above was 10.5 and 9.7%, respectively ( 1 ). Complications such as constipation, stroke, pneumonia and arrhythmias increase after an osteoporotic fracture ( 2 ). The total 5-year mortality rates in fracture patients are 39% for women and 51% for men ( 3 ). In western China, the mean total costs for hip, vertebral and wrist fractures of the first year were estimated at RMB 57,585 per patient (approximately 9,140 US dollars) ( 4 ).

Fracture is a major clinical consequence of osteoporosis, a skeletal disease characterized by decreased bone mass and deteriorated bone microstructure ( 5 ). In both animal and human studies, AAs are linked with bone health. After 9 weeks of feeding arginine supplements, the femur bone mineral density (BMD) in experimental rats was significantly higher than in a control group that did not receive the supplements ( 6 ). In humans, higher levels of valine, leucine, isoleucine and tryptophan were associated with decreased hip BMD decline and higher BMD ( 7 , 8 ). Valine, alanine, histidine and tryptophan were inversely associated with osteoporosis risk ( 9 , 10 ).

Although there is evidence suggesting a link between AAs and BMD, few studies have examined the relationship between AAs and osteoporotic fracture. Lower plasma levels of ornithine, taurine, and aspartic acid were found in fracture patients when compared with controls ( 11 ). A previous case-control study also showed that the majority of essential and non-essential amino acids in fracture patients were significantly lower compared with healthy controls ( 12 ). Further, compared with healed-fracture patients, hypertrophic and atrophic nonunion patients had significantly lower levels of arginine and citrulline, respectively ( 13 ).

Thus, the aim of the present study was to examine the association between AAs and recent osteoporotic fractures. Previous research has shown the beneficial role of AAs for maintaining muscle and kidney health ( 14 , 15 ). This research may help to extend our understanding about the relationship between AAs and bone health including bone healing.

2 Materials and methods

2.1 study setting and subjects.

Similar to our previous study ( 16 ), incident cases were confirmed to be new fractures in the Second Hospital of Jilin University in 2020. Using the survivor sampling methods, we selected controls from a community-based generally healthy population who had no history of fracture in Changchun, Jilin in 2020. Individuals who were 50 years or older and had never used osteoporosis-related medications were enrolled. We excluded controls with secondary osteoporosis. Cases with pathological fractures or incomplete fracture information were excluded. Cases were matched with controls by age (±4 years) and sex in a ratio of 1:2. Based on a pilot study of 4 fracture cases and 8 controls, and their corresponding total AA levels (1226.68 ± 301.00 μmol/L in cases and 1446.97 ± 94.57 μmol/L in controls), to achieve study power > 0.80 with a = 0.05, we estimated minimum sample sizes for cases and controls of 11 and 22, respectively. Written informed consent was obtained from all individual participants. The study protocol was approved by the institutional review boards (IRBs) of the School of Public Health, Jilin University (Project #: 2022-02-02).

2.2 Blood collection and measurement of amino acids

The blood collection method was described in a previous study ( 16 ). For cases, we collected blood samples within 2 days after hospitalization for fracture, but before any treatment (i.e., fracture fixation, hip replacement and medications). Blood samples for controls were collected at the time of interview. The blood samples were processed and refrigerated at −80°C until tested.

Circular pieces of plasma filter paper were created with a diameter of 3 mm. The metabolites were extracted with ethanol and the supernatant was extracted after centrifugation. After filtration, the supernatant was transferred to a 96-well plate. AA metabolite standards (Cambridge Isotope Laboratory, Tewksbury, MA, United States) and AA quality control solution were likewise transferred to the 96-well plate. The 96-well plate was first dried with nitrogen, then cultured with a 1-butanol acetyl chloride mixture and then dried again with nitrogen. The test sample was mixed with mobile phase solution (80% acetonitrile aqueous solution) and detected by high performance liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry.

All AAs were classified as essential or non-essential. Essential AAs included leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan and valine; non-essential AAs were alanine, asparagine, aspartic acid, arginine, citrulline, cysteine, glutamine, glutamic acid, glycine, homocysteine, histidine, ornithine, piperamide, proline, serine and tyrosine. Aromatic AAs such as phenylalanine, tyrosine, tryptophan and branched-chain AAs such as leucine and valine were also considered. Consistent with a previous study ( 12 ), essential, non-essential, aromatic, branched-chain, and total AAs were summed together for testing their overall effects. We also calculated AA ratios such as glycine to alanine, methionine to phenylalanine and valine to phenylalanine to determine the effects of specific AA catabolism.

2.3 Scertainment of covariates

Consistent with a previous study ( 16 ), we included the following covariates in this study: demographics (sex and age), lifestyle factors (e.g., physical activity, smoking status, milk intake >1 time/week and calcium supplement), postmenopausal status in females, disease history (e.g., coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke), height loss of more than 3 cm after age 40 years, falls from standing height or less within the last 12 months, family history of osteoporosis and fractures, and body mass index (BMI). These factors were included because they were major risk factors for fractures ( 17 , 18 ). Except for the measured body weight and height in controls, body weight and height in cases and all the other data were collected via face-to-face methods using a structured questionnaire. BMI was computed as weight divided by height 2 (kg/m 2 ).

2.4 Statistical analysis

We descriptively analyzed the baseline characteristics and AA levels by fracture status using frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviations (SD). We conducted multivariable conditional logistical regression models, which account for matching pairs of cases and controls, to test the association between AAs and fracture. AA values that followed a normal distribution, as assessed by skewness and kurtosis, were scaled per 1-SD increase. For AA values that were not normally distributed, values were expressed per 1-SD increase on the logarithmic scale. We adjusted for BMI, physical activity, milk intake >1 time/week and falls in the models, because they showed bivariate associations with fracture at alpha = 0.1. Model fit was assessed by examining R 2 of AAs associated with fracture (0.392). Multiple testing was addressed using false discovery rate (FDR) analysis, which means the proportion of false discoveries ( 19 ). Since homocysteine is suggested to have negative impact on fracture risk ( 20 ), we estimated the association between AAs and fracture after excluding homocysteine from the analysis. Subgroup analyses by hip and non-hip fracture were also performed; we used all controls to increase the study power and adjusted for age, sex, body mass index, physical activity, smoking, milk intake >1 time/week, calcium supplement, history of coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes and stroke, height loss >3 cm, falls, family history of osteoporosis and fractures in the unconditional logistic regression models. Lastly, we tested the association of aromatic and branched-chain AAs and AA ratios with fracture risk in the conditional logistic regression models. All conditional regression models were further adjusted for age and sex to avoid potential collider bias. Descriptive and logistic regression analyses were performed using the SPSS software (version 24.0; SPSS, Chicago, IL). We used the “MatchIt” and “fdrtool” packages in the R language (R 4.1.2) to conduct case-control matching and FDR analyses, respectively.

3.1 Descriptive data

In this matched case-control study, we included 88 non-fracture controls and 44 fracture cases, which involved 23 (52.3%) hip fracture patients and 21 (47.7%) non-hip fracture patients ( Table 1 ). Most fractures were due to falls (38.6%) or low-trauma sports injury (38.6%). As compared with controls, cases had significantly lower physical activity and milk intake >1 time/week, and a higher prevalence of falls; other characteristics including age, sex, BMI, smoking, calcium supplement, history of coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes and stroke, height loss >3 cm, family history of osteoporosis and fractures, were not significantly different between cases and controls. All descriptive data by fracture status have been published ( 16 ).

Table 1 . Amino acid levels by fracture status.

3.2 Association between AAs and fracture

As shown in Table 1 , total, essential and non-essential AAs were significantly lower in cases than controls. In the multivariable conditional logistic regression analysis, after adjusting for BMI, physical activity, milk intake >1 time/week and falls, total (odds ratio [OR]: 0.304; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.117–0.794; Figure 1 ), essential (OR: 0.408; 95% CI: 0.181–0.923) and non-essential AAs (OR: 0.290; 95% CI: 0.107–0.782) were negatively associated with fracture. Similar results were noted when we further adjusted for age and sex ( Supplementary Figure S1 ). The FDRs for total, essential and non-essential AAs were 0.049, 0.09, and 0.049, respectively. After excluding homocysteine from analysis, the non-essential (OR: 0.289; 95%CI: 0.107–0.780) and total AAs (OR: 0.304; 95%CI: 0.117–0.793) also showed negative association with fracture. For the essential AAs, lysine showed the strongest association with fractures. Among the non-essential AAs, alanine, arginine, glutamine, histidine and piperamide levels were negatively associated with fracture. The negative relationship between AAs and fractures was mainly observed for hip fracture ( Figure 2 ). Although aromatic and branched-chain AAs showed negative trends with fracture risk, ORs did not reach statistical significance ( Supplementary Figure S2 ). The ratio of glycine to alanine was positively associated with fracture ( Figure 3 ). In contrast, the ratios of methionine to phenylalanine and valine to phenylalanine were negatively associated with fracture. Again, these AA ratios had identical associations with fractures after further adjusting for age and sex ( Supplementary Figure S3 ).

Figure 1 . Multivariable conditional logistic regression analysis of the association between amino acid levels and fracture. *Odds ratio presented per 1-SD increase on the logarithmic scale; all the other odds ratios are presented per 1-SD increase on the linear scale. Odds ratios were adjusted for body mass index, physical activity, milk intake >1 time/week and falls.

Figure 2 . Multivariable unconditional logistic regression analysis of the association of amino acid levels with hip fracture (A) and non-hip fracture (B) . *Odds ratio presented per 1-SD increase on the logarithmic scale; all the other odds ratios are presented per 1-SD increase on the linear scale. Odds ratios were adjusted for age, sex, body mass index, physical activity, smoking, milk intake >1 time/week, calcium supplement, history of coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes and stroke, height loss >3 cm, falls, family history of osteoporosis and fractures.

Figure 3 . Multivariable logistic regression analysis of the association between amino acid ratio and fracture. *Odds ratio presented per 1-SD increase on the logarithmic scale; all the other odds ratios are presented per 1-SD increase on the linear scale. Odds ratios were adjusted for body mass index, physical activity, milk intake >1 time/week and falls.

4 Discussion

In this 1:2 individually matched case-control study, we found that higher levels of total, essential and non-essential AAs were negatively associated with osteoporotic fracture. The association was mainly found for hip fracture, rather than non-hip fracture. Among these AAs, lysine, alanine, arginine, glutamine, histidine and piperamide showed the strongest negative associations with fracture. The ratio of glycine to alanine was positively associated with fracture, while ratios of methionine to phenylalanine and valine to phenylalanine were negatively associated with fracture.

There is scant research to date investigating the association between AAs and osteoporotic fracture. Our study findings partially agree with a previous study, which found that levels of arginine and glutamine in men with normal BMD compared to those with osteopenia/osteoporosis were higher ( 21 ). Lysine may promote bone health through its ability to decrease urinary calcium excretion and enhance calcium absorption ( 22 ). Valine, tyrosine, and tryptophan levels have positive associations with BMD ( 10 , 23 ). Consistent with this, we observed a non-significant inverse relationship between these AAs and osteoporotic fracture. Higher serum homocysteine was suggested to be a risk factor for fracture in postmenopausal women ( 20 ); a similar trend was observed in our study.

Our findings that higher valine to phenylalanine and lower glycine to alanine ratios were inversely associated with fracture are supported by prior research ( 9 ) which found that higher plasma levels of valine and alanine were negatively associated with osteoporosis in women. Similarly, in the female population, higher glycine levels were associated with lower BMD ( 24 ). Methionine was demonstrated to enhance osteoblast proliferation, activation, differentiation and BMD ( 25 , 26 ), which is in line with our study finding that the ratio of methionine to phenylalanine is negatively associated with fracture.

Fracture remains a major public health issue. The negative association between AAs and fractures could have clinical implications for fracture healing. Significant catabolic response after fracture surgery has been found in a study, which showed that the levels of total AAs were lower in new fracture patients as compared with controls ( 12 ). Similarly, compared with healthy population and healed-fracture patients, the fracture and hypertrophic/atrophic nonunion patients exhibited lower levels of certain AAs ( 11 , 13 ). A two-month human study showed that essential amino acid supplements could significantly increase the concentration of serum album ( 27 ). Among elderly fracture patients, higher albumin levels predict greater discharge Functional Independence Measurement scores ( 28 ), which is a functional status instrument for rehabilitation inpatients ( 29 ). Lower levels of serum albumin were significantly associated with greater length of stay and in-hospital mortality in institutionalized patients with hip fracture ( 30 ). A randomized controlled trial demonstrated that after two-months of essential amino acid supplements, fracture patients with sarcopenia showed significant improvements in appendicular muscle strength and physical performance ( 31 ). During 20 weeks of feeding foods rich in arginine and lysine, rats in the test group exhibited better fracture healing as compared with the control group ( 32 ). Several mechanisms may account for this beneficial effect. Nitric oxide is derived from l-arginine ( 33 ). Supplements of arginine increase the synthesis of nitric oxide, which could increase vascularity and angiogenesis ( 32 ). Lastly, l-lysine could stimulate intestinal absorption and renal conservation of calcium, which is significantly associated with increased BMD ( 34 , 35 ).

Some study limitations are acknowledged. Although we found fracture patients had lower AAs than controls, the specific impact of fracture and its related factors (i.e., hospitalization, non-weight bearing and fasting) on AAs are still unclear. Further studies are warranted to examine this. Although AA profiles may have predicted reduced bone loss and lower risk of incident fracture ( 8 ), this cannot be tested in our case-control study as we collected blood samples after fracture occurrence and we cannot make causal inferences. Another limitation is that our study had a small sample size. However, based on our sample size calculation, the sample size is likely to be sufficient for testing the relationship between AAs and fracture. BMD of participants was not measured; protein and vitamin D intake levels were also not collected. However, a study suggested that the relationship between AAs and fracture risk was independent of diet and lifestyle factors ( 8 ). We did not have data on educational level and marital status in our study; these two factors are associated with sex and many conditions, including fractures ( 36 – 38 ). Data on body weight and height were self-reported. We cannot exclude the potential of confounding and information bias. Cases were identified from a hospital and controls were from a community-based population. Cases and controls were only matched on age and sex. Population selection and matching on limited factors may bias the reported results. Lastly, due to small sample size, subgroup results by fracture site and AA type lack reliability. Future validations are warranted.

5 Conclusion

In this matched case-control study, higher levels of AAs were negatively associated with osteoporotic fracture. This association appeared to be stronger for hip fracture than non-hip fracture. These findings, if confirmed by larger prospective studies, may have clinical implications for fracture healing. These findings extend our understandings about the beneficial effects of AAs on human health (i.e., muscle and kidney health) ( 14 , 15 ).

Data availability statement

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.

Ethics statement

The studies involving humans were approved by Institutional review boards (IRBs) of the School of Public Health, Jilin University. The studies were conducted in accordance with the local legislation and institutional requirements. The participants provided their written informed consent to participate in this study.

Author contributions

BL: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Methodology, Writing – review & editing. XinS: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Methodology, Writing – review & editing. XW: Writing – original draft. CM: Writing – review & editing. WL: Writing – review & editing. LL: Writing – review & editing. XiaS: Writing – review & editing. BK: Funding acquisition, Writing – review & editing. SY: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Methodology, Writing – original draft.

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This research was supported in part by Seed Funding from The First Affiliated Hospital of Jinzhou Medical University and the Norman Bethune Program, Jilin University (Grant Number: 2023B11). LL is supported by a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair.

Acknowledgments

We are especially grateful to the participants involved in this study.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher’s note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Supplementary material

The Supplementary material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnut.2024.1360959/full#supplementary-material

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Keywords: fracture, amino acids, osteoporosis, metabolomics, bone health

Citation: Liang B, Shi X, Wang X, Ma C, Leslie WD, Lix LM, Shi X, Kan B and Yang S (2024) Association between amino acids and recent osteoporotic fracture: a matched incident case-control study. Front. Nutr . 11:1360959. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2024.1360959

Received: 24 December 2023; Accepted: 04 March 2024; Published: 19 March 2024.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2024 Liang, Shi, Wang, Ma, Leslie, Lix, Shi, Kan and Yang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Shuman Yang, [email protected]

† ORCID: Shuman Yang, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9169-5850