You ask your best customer to be a case study. They enthusiastically agree. Three months later, you're still chasing them for approval on draft number four, and they've stopped responding to emails.
What happened?
Customer case studies fail because we make participation too demanding. We ask for hours of interviews, multiple rounds of reviews, legal approvals, executive sign-offs, and photo sessions. For the customer, it's all cost with unclear benefit.
After producing 100+ customer case studies across three B2B companies, I've learned that successful case study programs aren't about convincing customers to participate—they're about making participation so easy and valuable that customers want to be involved.
Here's the process that works.
Identify the Right Customers to Approach
Not every happy customer makes a good case study. Start with the right selection criteria.
Strong case study candidates:
- Achieved measurable results you can quantify (20% efficiency gain, $500K savings, 3x revenue growth)
- Used your product in an interesting or exemplary way
- Represent a target segment you want more of (industry, company size, use case)
- Have articulate stakeholders willing to talk
- Don't have overly restrictive legal or PR constraints
Avoid:
- Customers with results you can't measure or attribute
- Customers whose success story is "we used the product as expected and it worked fine"
- Customers in industries or segments you're not targeting
- Customers who are perpetually unhappy despite good results
- Customers with complex legal processes that will stall for months
The best case studies come from customers who are naturally excited about sharing their story, not customers you have to convince.
Make the Initial Ask Through the Right Person
Who asks matters as much as how you ask.
Best approach: Warm introduction from CSM or Account Executive
Your Customer Success Manager or AE already has a relationship with the customer. They can frame the case study as a benefit, not a favor.
"We'd love to feature your success with [specific outcome] in a case study. It's a great way to showcase your work and we'll make it as easy as possible for you."
Second best: Direct ask from marketing with context
If you're reaching out directly, reference the specific success: "I saw that you achieved [impressive result] using [product]. We'd love to highlight your story."
Generic requests ("Would you be interested in being a case study?") get ignored. Specific requests referencing their achievements get responses.
What not to do: Cold, impersonal requests
Automated email campaigns asking for case study participation have <5% response rates. Don't waste time on spray-and-pray outreach.
Structure the Value Exchange Clearly
Customers participate in case studies when they see clear value for themselves, not just for you.
Value propositions that work:
Professional visibility: "We'll feature [customer's name] as the lead, include their headshot and title, and link to their LinkedIn profile. It's great exposure for their work."
Company PR: "This case study will be featured on our site (which gets [traffic numbers]) and in [industry publication]. Great visibility for [customer company]."
Networking and community: "You'll be invited to our customer advisory board and get early access to new features."
Thought leadership platform: "We can position this as a thought leadership piece showcasing your innovative approach to [challenge]."
Benchmarking insights: "We'll share aggregate benchmark data from similar customers so you can see how you compare."
Different customers value different things. Tailor the value prop to what matters to them.
The Streamlined Case Study Process
Most case study processes are too heavy. Here's the efficient version.
Step 1: Pre-interview questionnaire (15 minutes for customer)
Send 5-8 questions in advance:
- What business challenge were you trying to solve?
- Why did you choose our product?
- How did you implement it?
- What results have you seen? (Include specific metrics if possible)
- What would you tell others considering this solution?
Customers can fill this out async on their schedule. This reduces the interview burden and gives you structure for the conversation.
Step 2: 30-minute interview (not 60)
Schedule a focused 30-minute conversation, not an hour-long deep dive. Use the pre-interview questionnaire as a guide but dig deeper on the most interesting parts.
Record the conversation (with permission) so you're not frantically taking notes.
Step 3: First draft (you write it)
Don't ask the customer to write anything. You create the first draft based on the interview.
Make it good enough that they can approve with minimal changes, not so rough that they have to rewrite sections.
Step 4: Single-round review (or two maximum)
Send the draft with: "Please review for accuracy and let me know if we need to change anything. Feel free to make edits directly in the doc."
Make it easy to provide feedback. Google Docs with commenting works better than PDF reviews.
Aim for one round of revisions. Two is acceptable. Three or more means your first draft wasn't good enough.
Step 5: Approvals (get these lined up early)
Identify who needs to approve before you start: Marketing? Legal? Executive team? Get their buy-in early so you're not discovering approval requirements after writing.
For customers with heavy legal processes, offer to handle the legal review directly with their team rather than making your main contact shepherd it.
Total customer time commitment: 45-60 minutes. Much more achievable than the multi-hour process most companies require.
The Content Format That Reduces Friction
How you structure the final case study affects both customer willingness to participate and sales team usage.
One-page success story (most versatile)
- Customer name and logo
- Challenge in 2-3 sentences
- Solution in 2-3 sentences
- Results in 3-4 bullet points with specific metrics
- Pull quote from customer stakeholder
This format is:
- Easy for customers to review (5 minutes)
- Easy for sales to use (hand to prospects in meetings)
- Easy to produce (you can write it in 2 hours)
Long-form case study (deeper storytelling)
For particularly impressive stories, expand to 800-1200 words:
- Detailed background and challenge
- Selection process and why they chose you
- Implementation journey
- Specific results with metrics
- Lessons learned
- Future plans
This format works for website feature stories and thought leadership positioning.
Video case study (highest impact, highest effort)
For your very best customers:
- 2-3 minute customer testimonial video
- B-roll of customer using your product
- Graphics showing key metrics
- Professional production
Video has the highest impact but also the highest production burden. Reserve for top 5-10 customers.
Most companies should focus on producing 10-15 one-page case studies before investing in video.
Get Legal and PR Approval Efficiently
Customer legal and PR reviews are where case studies go to die. Manage this proactively.
Provide a template approval form
Include:
- Which quotes can be attributed
- Which metrics can be shared publicly
- Whether customer name and logo can be used
- Any sensitive topics to avoid
This gives legal something specific to review instead of open-ended "approve this case study."
Offer anonymization options
Some customers love their results but can't get legal approval to use their name publicly. Offer: "Unnamed Fortune 500 financial services company achieves [results]."
Anonymous case studies are less powerful but better than no case study.
Build relationships with customer marketing/PR teams
For enterprise customers, befriend their corporate marketing team. They want good PR too and can help navigate internal approvals.
Maximize Case Study ROI
Once created, use case studies everywhere.
Sales enablement:
- Add to sales pitch decks
- Create one-pagers for leave-behinds
- Brief sales team on when and how to use each case study
Website:
- Dedicated case study page
- Industry-specific solution pages
- Customer logo wall with links to full stories
Demand generation:
- Gated case study downloads for lead generation
- Email nurture campaigns
- Paid social ads highlighting customer success
Public relations:
- Press releases for particularly impressive results
- Contributed articles based on customer stories
- Industry award submissions
Product marketing:
- Launch announcements (customer X achieved Y with our new feature)
- Feature adoption campaigns
- Competitive differentiation (customer switched from competitor and achieved Z)
A single good case study should be used in 8-10 different ways across multiple teams.
The Case Study Pipeline
Don't create case studies reactively when sales complains they need them. Build a pipeline.
Monthly target: For a team producing consistent content, aim for 1-2 new case studies per month. This builds a library of 12-24 per year.
Pipeline management:
- Maintain a list of 10-15 potential case study customers
- Track stage: Identified → Asked → Agreed → Interviewed → Draft → Approved → Published
- Know your conversion rate at each stage to maintain flow
Prioritize strategically:
- Which industries or segments do you need case studies for?
- Which use cases are underrepresented?
- Which competitor comparisons would be most valuable?
Your case study library should strategically cover your key segments, use cases, and objections—not just feature whoever volunteers first.
When Customers Say No
Not every customer you ask will say yes. That's fine.
Common objections and responses:
"We don't have time." → "The total time commitment is 45 minutes: 15 for a questionnaire and 30 for a conversation. We handle everything else."
"We need legal approval." → "We're happy to work directly with your legal team and provide templates to make approval easy."
"We can't share specific metrics." → "We can describe results qualitatively or in percentage terms rather than absolute numbers."
"Our competitors will see this." → "We can create a version for internal sales use only, not public website publication."
Sometimes the answer is genuinely no, and that's okay. Focus your energy on customers who are excited to participate, not convincing reluctant ones.
The best case study programs make participation so easy and valuable that customers actively volunteer instead of needing to be convinced. Build that system, and you'll never lack compelling customer stories.