Case Study Questions for an Effective Interview

Case studies are great tools for getting your target customers to understand the impact your product or service can bring to the table.

These are stories from other clients, whose good results can help persuade new prospects. Because they feature real people's stories that are relatable to your new leads.

So, they can help you gain trust and finally win those potential clients.

But here is where it gets really tricky. The quality of your actual stories will always depend on the quality of the case study questions you ask. So, how can you nail this part and make sure you only get the best outcome? Keep reading to find out.

4 essential steps to take before your interview

Most things you do in life require you to prepare. The same thing applies here. Before you start drafting your case study interview questions, there are some things to get out of the way first.

These simple steps will help you avoid wasting your time and that of your clients.

Plus, you’ll be able to paint a clearer picture of both the problem and the result. So, start by doing the following:

Step 1: Research the company and niche

As you’ve already worked with this client, most likely, you know a lot about their business and industry. Still, if you involve more people in creating a success story, they have to understand these basics, too.

So, for example, if your writer didn’t know anything about this client before, the first step they need to take is to research (both the company and the industry). It’s even better if someone who was involved in that project could give them a heads-up.

But even if you’ve worked closely with the customer, you might want to research a bit more.

Source: Forms App

As it is your client, you might not really need to go and check their website and Wikipedia page. Because frankly, you should know that information by now.

Instead, you could check the following:

• Social media for any recent updates that could be related to your product/service.
• The social media of a founder or CEO to find if they’ve shared anything about their challenge or your solution.
• Any latest news articles about the business.
• The press releases they’ve posted that are related to your project.
• If your solution was influencing their own clients in any way (e.g., helped customer support deal with tickets faster), you could check their reviews on listing platforms to compare before/after comments.

This will help you see a bigger picture. And maybe you’ll find out that your product/service was even more life-changing than you could have thought.

Besides, you can cast your net wider and research your customer’s niche in general:

• Read up on the latest news in the industry to know what's going on.
• Find out if your challenge/solution fits somehow into that.
• Check how your client stands out when compared to other brands in the niche.

This can give you inspiration for some truly interesting topics.

And even if you don’t find anything specifically interesting, you’ll at least create an informative “About the client/Background” section of your success story.

Source: HubSpot

Besides, thanks to your findings, you can write a more relatable piece, as you will understand the landscape businesses in that niche are dealing with.

So, if you want to attract more companies from a specific industry, be serious about your research.

Step 2: Choose your angle

Before you create a final set of questions and structure your interview, make sure you know exactly what type of story you want to get as a result.

You know how it goes:

If you don’t know where you’re going, don’t be surprised when you end up in the wrong place.

There is a high chance of simply wasting your time and the time of your customers if you don’t have a clear angle you want to use for your success story.

To find that angle, just pick one of the following case study types (or their combination):

Basically, those are just different ways to approach a story.

And you might want to check several sales case study examples before you decide on the one that fits your scenario. It’s important to get this out of the way at the initial stages, as this is a foundation of your prep.

Still, good case study topics often aren’t limited to one angle alone. So, don’t be afraid to combine different types of those success stories.

For example, you can have a cumulative, illustrative piece where you show how several businesses achieved a particular goal in their own way.

This is what SurferSEO did in their selection.

Source: SurferSEO

Step 3: Define roles

If you’re a big company with a clear case study workflow… wait, why are you even reading this guide?:) Well, if that’s you, feel free to skip this part.

Yet, if success stories are a new animal in your marketing zoo (not sure what’s up with our comparisons today), you have to know who’s doing what. These are at least a couple of things you need to understand for sure:

• Who will write the success story?
• Who will interview the client?
• Do you need to get someone else on the call/meeting? And why?
• Who will design the visuals?
• Who will fact-check the writing (needs to be someone who worked with that customer firsthand)?
• Who will promote the story and through what channels? And what additional materials do we need for that? Etc.

The best you can do is create a whole new project in any PM software you are using and define tasks for everyone right from the start.

Source: Notion

And, of course, make sure that everyone is on the same page. It’s best to have at least a couple of calls where all people involved can share their thoughts together.

The one who was responsible for the client’s project (like a manager) should lead at least the intro call, even if they won’t participate in the story creation.

Step 4: Make sure you can show measurable results

If you take a look at all the great case study examples, you’ll quickly notice that all of them include some sort of data.

It could look like this:

Source: Zendesk

This:

Source: Adobe

Or even simply in the middle of the copy, like this:

Source: Shopify

Either way, it’s pretty much a must to show a clear difference between the before and the after stages. Naturally, there are different kinds of KPIs that businesses track. So, you want to make sure that you pick only those that reflect real results and are relevant to the niche.

It's even more persuasive when you show specific improvements that can be verified.

For example, generic claims about traffic growth are less believable. After all, everyone can “claim” anything. So, your prospects are more likely to be convinced when they read “200% increase in organic traffic” followed by a screenshot to prove it.

Source: AIOSEO

So, you need data and metrics that highlight the success of your product/service.

Still, don’t make your entire interview about stats, as not everyone enjoys talking about this. A mix of metrics and broader chats about strategy and impact will sound much better. And it’ll be more interesting for the readers as well.

6 Types of Case Study Questions with Examples

Now that you know how to approach the interview, let’s look at some case study question examples that can inspire your own.

Note: While we’ll mention dozens of questions, your goal is to pick one or two for each “block” of your interview. Don’t overdo it, really. If you went through Step 2 above and chose your angle, this shouldn’t be an issue.

Problem/pain point

As a marketer, you already understand that a clear pain point, problem, or challenge is the fundamental part of any success story. Basically, this is your point A, where you started.

After your company has worked with the client, you probably already understand the main struggles they had. Still, we encourage you to ask at least a couple of questions about how your customer felt before they found your solution.

Yes, “felt” is a keyword here. Because listing stats like “We were experiencing an XYZ decline” are great. But what really sells are emotions.

So, it’s a great idea to dig deeper in that direction during your interview.

Source: SevenPeak

The more specific your questions are, the easier it will be for you to get richer details for your story. So, what could you ask here?

Some of the options are the following:

Basic:

• What were the specific challenges you were experiencing before you used our product/service?
• How did these problems affect your team’s ability to meet the organization’s goals?
• What impact did this issue have on your business (revenue, efficiency, customer satisfaction, etc.)?

Solution-related:

• Have you tried any other solutions in the past? If yes, what were their shortcomings?
• What did your team’s process look like before you started using our product/service?
• Have you tried to solve this issue internally? If so, how did it go?

Emotion-triggering:

• What’s been the most frustrating part of dealing with this challenge?
• Can you describe a moment when this problem really slowed you down or hurt your results?
• Was it hard to see a clear solution to this issue?

Decision-making process

Not every customer success story online will include the decision-making part.

But it could be really helpful to ask your client about their selection process during your interview. Sometimes, you won’t get any insights. Yet, in other cases, you might understand your biggest differentiation point.

The answers in this section of your case study questions can highlight your strong product positioning.

The key is to show the factors that drove your client’s decisions.

When you do this well, you won’t have any problem convincing your future prospects that you’re the best fit for them.

Source: Asana

Some of the things you could ask in this part could be:

• What were you considering when looking at different possible solutions in the market?
• How long were you searching for a solution to this problem?
• Did our solution come as a replacement for a similar tool, or is this your first time using one like ours?
• Who were involved in the decision-making process, and what were their priorities?
• Can you describe some of the features we offer that made us stand out to you?
• In what ways did our proposal address your concerns and needs?

Implementation and workflow

For many businesses, implementation is usually a huge issue.

Some companies even choose to stick to their current solutions that aren’t perfect, only to avoid changing their workflow.

So, describing the actual steps your client took to integrate your product (or maybe even service) can be really valuable. Especially if you show how clear and easy it was.

You can write about the exact features and tools that helped them. If they used any external integrations, mention that as well. Besides, ask them about the functionality that was the most useful and why.

Source: Semrush

Some of the use case interview questions you could ask in this section are the following:

• Was the implementation process smooth for your team? Can you walk us through it?
• How long have you been using our product/service now? How can you describe your experience?
• What are your favorite and most used features?
• What unexpected challenges did you face?
• How long did it take you and your team to become proficient in using the new solution?
• How would you rate the overall implementation process? Is there anything you would improve?

Results and data

We’ve already touched on the data. But this part goes beyond just numbers.

It’s all about the results and outcomes. Sometimes, those outcomes are actually hard to measure, but they could give your clients peace of mind, stability, or a steady workflow.

Your task here is to focus on the benefits of your solution that your client has experienced. Of course, the more specific you are with the results here, the more convincing your case study will turn out. For example:

• Saying that “We sped up our site inspections” is cool.
• But “Site inspections take 1 hour less per visit now” is better.
• And if you add something like, “Thanks to the XYZ solution, we save 1,500+ hours every year,” it becomes perfect.

Source: Apple

What should you ask, though, to get all these answers? Try some of these case study research questions:

• What is the biggest achievement so far after you started working with us?
• What are the specific results you have recorded since you started using our solution?
• How did you measure the success of the product/service?
• How has it helped you reach your business goals?
• Are there any other unexpected benefits you found out after you started using the product/service?
• How has your view of our product/service changed since you became one of our customers?

Next steps

This section is the one that’s often called “What’s next” or “The future.”

The idea here is to find out what the client's future plans are and if any of them include your product/service.

This gives you an idea of whether they intend to be a long-term customer or not. Besides, if your solutions help them grow and expand, you have to mention this. In fact, it could become one of the major points of your story.

Source: Fintech OS

Of course, this section is optional. But it’s worth asking at least something related to see if you could get any valuable quotes.

Here are some options you could consider:

• What long-term goals is your company working toward?
• What challenges do you expect as you grow, and how are you preparing for them?
• How do you see our solution supporting your growth in the future?
• Do you see potential to use our product or service in any other area of your business?
• Are there any features or functionalities that you will be interested in seeing in the future?

Recommendations for others

Social proof is one of the biggest factors influencing purchasing decisions. People trust people. It’s no secret. The more relatable the story feels, the more likely they are to believe all that.

So, this section could be a great moment to ask clients what they would recommend to other businesses facing the same challenge. Plus, you can ask about what they would say to other companies that consider your product/service.

It could be one of the best ways to get your buyers to vouch for you and essentially pitch your offer to others. This can be very persuasive.

You can then take the best quotes and add them to your success story.

Source: Mailchimp

Some examples of questions to ask clients for this part include:

• What kind of advice would you give to other businesses that are going through the same issues you experienced?
• What have your team been saying about our product/service since they started using it as part of their workflow?
• Do you have anything to say to other companies that are considering our solution?
• In one sentence, can you describe your process before you started using our product/service and the process after?
• Would you be willing to recommend our product to a colleague or a friend? Why?

Sometimes, though, you won’t manage to get any particular recommendation from your clients. You can often hear something like, “Every business is different,” etc.

But you can still turn it into a well-converting situation if you pick a good quote and the right CTA. Take a look at how Notion did this.

They simply turned what their customer said into their call-to-action (“productivity powerhouse”). And the CTA just looks very organic this way.

Source: Notion

Aspirational wrap-up

You can finish your interview with the “next steps” or the “recommendations” sections. Yet, we have one more suggestion for you.

We really like the idea of using an aspirational question as the last one. It adds a bit of a lyrical, sweet touch and helps you end the interview on a high note.

Depending on your context, these could be some of your options:

• How has solving this challenge opened new opportunities for you?
• Now that this issue is behind you, what do you want to focus on?
• What are you most excited about moving forward?
• What big milestone do you hope this partnership will help you reach?

Pro tip: Next steps, recommendations for others, and the aspirational wrap-up could be one single block in your interview plan (one question for each, for example). We’ve just separated them for your convenience.

How to Create a Comprehensive Questionnaire That Isn’t Overwhelming?

Most of the time, when you come across sample case study questions and answers (especially in PDFs), those lists are endless.

As a result, you might feel like you want to ask so much. But how do you fit all those topics in without turning your interview into an eternity?

It can get truly overwhelming. But it doesn’t have to if you follow these simple steps:

1. Sort your questions into categories

Chances are that you have searched the web and gone through countless posts with case study interview examples and answers. So, by now, you probably have a long list of questions.

But of course, it’s impossible to ask all those. So, what you want to do is prioritize the topics and divide them into categories. You can have 2-3 categories:

Essentials

These are the topics that are a must-have for your story to be complete and compelling. These will be the ones that cover:

• Background context.
• Your client’s goals.
• Pain points.
• Your product/service integration.
• Results they achieved.
• Anything else that could help put the story together.

These are the basics that help you set the tone and pace for the rest of the story.

Valuable

This is a category where you add topics that can help you get more depth and credibility for your case study. These include:

• Data and statistics.
• Real-life usage examples and stories.
• Any details about the process and strategy used.
• Any insights into the competitive landscape and selection process, etc.

Bonus questions

This is the part where you put those topics and ideas that are nice to have, but the world wouldn’t end if they weren't asked.

These include asking someone’s opinion, getting different perspectives, talking about industry trends, and all those other small details. If you have time for them during your interview, these things could give your story an absolutely different, fresh angle.

2. Create a clear, timed interview plan

After you have your marketing case study questions sorted out, it’s time to structure the actual interview.

Here is the most straightforward way to approach it:

1. Decide with your client how much time you have for a call or in-person meeting.
2. Create a structure for your interview to cover all the aspects of the story (the six types of questions we’ve mentioned above).
3. Structure your interview in blocks and list your topics there in order of priority (see tip above).
4. Set a clear timing for each section. Just keep your eye on it, and proceed to the next section when it’s time. Leave at least 10-15 “free” minutes at the end to verify some things, use your bonus topics, etc.

Depending on how complex it gets, you might want to look for a case study questionnaire template. It will just help you structure your thoughts better.

Source: Airtable

3. Remove tricky repetitive topics

This might sound like something too obvious. But in reality, it isn’t.

Often, questions that sound completely different suggest an almost identical answer. For example:

• What impact has our solution had on your business?
• How has your work changed since using our product/service?

See, they sound different. But both of them are asking for the results, the outcome.

So, it’s really important to go through every single point on your list and try to “imagine” what your client would answer. If you feel like you’re going in circles, repeating all the same things, just remove those.

4. Share the interview plan beforehand

Of course, you don’t need to send over every single question (including those bonus or aspirational ones). But sharing the core topics with your customer is key to saving your time during the interview.

Besides, you’ll likely get more insightful answers when your interviewee has time to prepare and maybe even get some stats, feedback from the team, etc.

5. Respect your client's time

If your case study involves many team members or multiple stakeholders, then maybe it makes sense to schedule several calls with different people. It’s especially true if your product/service is used in multiple scenarios.

Still, this is something that many marketers won’t have to worry about, as most success stories are simpler than this.

But respecting your customers’ time is good advice anyway. This includes making sure that you gather the tools for the interview, test them, and keep an eye on the schedule.

6. Let the conversation flow naturally

When it’s time for the actual interview, try to go with the flow. No matter how it sounds, this isn’t spiritual guidance. This is a practical suggestion.

While you do have a clear structure and a set of topics, don’t become a control freak. Sometimes, a natural conversation can be much more informative than any well-planned interview.

So, keep an eye on the:

• Essential questions,
• Timing.
• Overall plan.

But avoid turning your conversation into a scripted, stiff dialogue, as this will definitely ruin a good story.

In fact, if you check any podcast or interview on YouTube, you’ll notice that people often start with the topics that are “easy” and based on background context. Why? So they can first connect and then flow on to progressively more complex topics.

By using simple questions that are easy to answer first, you will help your client feel comfortable and provide the much-needed context for the rest of the topics to come later.

It’s almost an ice breaker:)

Source: LinkedIn

Is it illegal to add another icebreaker meme? Hopefully, not, cause we’re adding it anyway.

Source: Fine Art America

To keep your conversation flowing easily, use these simple tips:

• When you see that your client has already covered some topics that you haven’t touched yet, remove them from your list to avoid disrupting the flow.
• When you listen to your customer and feel like you didn’t hear the exact answer or didn’t grasp some details, ask. You don’t want to second-guess the context later or send tons of additional emails.
• It’s okay to ask questions that weren’t on your list if they fit.
• Always, when possible, ask for examples and real-life stories, use cases, etc.

Bonus: Turn case studies into assets

You already know that a good sales case study has the ability to get both your current customers and your prospects to engage with your content.

But you can stretch them even further. You can use them to attract quality backlinks. Or you can even turn them into downloadable PDFs and use them as link magnets.

Source: ICEYE

This will, in turn, improve your domain rating and help push you higher in search results, enhancing your overall SEO.

It’s always a good idea to check what your competitors are doing with their success stories. First, take a look at their case study examples, then consider what formats they’re using, and see how they reuse those pieces for backlinks, PR, or just promotion.

Maybe you can then come up with your own new creative ideas or just use something that already works well for others in your niche.

Conclusion

There are many sample case study questions you can find online to get some ideas. So, the best you can do is go through a couple of those lists and guides and pick the ones you like. Then, just tweak them to fit your own needs.

You’ll quickly notice that while some topics work for one client, they might be quite useless for others. So, make sure you prep for each story separately.

Overall, like we’ve mentioned before, always focus on questions that help bring the data and the story together to hold attention. And don’t try to fit every single project into one standardized structure if you want to get a great result.