Common B2B Case Study Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

No matter how carefully you prepare, there are still factors that can sabotage your B2B case study

Most agencies will be able to tell you stories of having painstakingly researched, written and illustrated case studies only for them to be banned from publication by a disgruntled client as a result of some avoidable error.

Even with the best preparation for writing a B2B case study, these errors can rear their heads. Some of the potential causes are within your control, while others are firmly outside. As always however, to be forewarned is to be forearmed.

Having experienced our fair share of case study set backs and upsets, we would like to help you avoid them. So, when working on your next masterpiece, look out for the following:

The job title botch

Double, no, triple check your interviewee’s job title. Getting it wrong can be catastrophic, but mistakes do happen. We once put Head of Fundraising as a job title when it was in fact Head of Data Services and earned ourselves a firm telling off.

The introduction insult

Use the subject company’s own ‘about us’ text as the core of your introduction in the case study. Using your own words to describe them, their offering or their history can cause offense.

The paraphrasing pains

Taking a little artistic license with your interviewee’s quotes is often a necessity. But use caution, paraphrase too strongly and you may affect the context in a way your interviewee takes issue with. Improve the language and grammar but don’t change the meaning.

The feedback faux pas

When your interviewee feeds back, there’s a good chance they are doing so with a healthy dose of restraint. Listen to feedback carefully and be on the look out for signs of deeper issues. Be quick to react and do everything you can, or that is asked, to remove any suspect content.

The images irony

Ask for official logo files and photographs at the earliest opportunity. Unless you have budget for a dedicated photo shoot, you will probably be looking to the interviewee’s company to provide images. The irony is that is can often take much longer to get hold of these than it does to complete any other part of the case study.

The approval aggravation

Know who will ultimately have to sign-off your case study and involve them from the beginning. Interviewing one member of staff only to later discover that their boss does not know, or approve, can and has resulted in complete case study collapse.

Go forth and create

If you understand why you should write B2B case studies, how to write them well and what pitfalls to avoid, you now know everything you need to to begin producing these powerful pieces of content.

Seen great examples of B2B case studies in use, or got tales of the above (or similar) taking your case study down with them? Then please share them with us below.