Case studies suck.

Popular opinion: Case studies suck.

Unpopular Opinion: Your case studies suck because you’re just going through the motions.

Sure, plenty of case studies are boring exercises in self-aggrandizement. And yeah, most people would rather get a tooth pulled by a circus clown to the tune of MMMBop than suffer the ennui of trudging through another one.

Still, the best marketers aren’t ditching the case study altogether; instead, they are trying something novel — you know, like making case studies that don’t suck?

That’s what Nick Bennett did when he decided to break the oh-so-stale mold by turning a case study into The Ultimate B2B Gifting Guide — something anyone in B2B can enjoy and use. Well, except for our CFO, Scrooge McTightpants, but we honestly prefer him a little thrifty — someone has to reign in the marketing spend before we “invest” in another water slide.

Our take: At B2B Growth, we agree that, as a rule, most case studies suck most of the time. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t absolutely critical at the right time.

And that time is when you are ready to buy.

Think about the last time you purchased something on Amazon — did you read the reviews? 99.99% of the time, you couldn’t care less what Troy5269 from New Brunswick thinks about a can of industrial-strength bear-and-ocelot mace. But after that incident in Yosemite, it matters.

What about being the company with the most case studies? It’s working for klientboost.com, where they clearly understand that quantity really does have a quality all its own.

Or what about video case studies? I mean, it’s 2023 — we can even make ‘em talkies in full technicolor!

Put simply: If you aren’t turning your case studies into differentiators, then yeah, case studies suck.

But if you can find a way to make them enjoyable, unique, overwhelmingly endless or entirely your own…

Case studies become the little push someone needs when standing at the edge of that all-important expensive decision.

Here at B2B Growth, we’ve all agreed that if we’re paying $15 an egg, we need testimonials, pictures of omelets that would make Ansel Adams weep and maybe even a viral TikTok song dubbing that brand’s product “Eggscalibur” before we’re buying.

Your turn: What do you think? Do case studies suck? How would you improve them? Should we let our CFO have a deviled egg?