Are Case Studies Worth the Effort?

Do you recall feeling that twinge of excitement when a schoolteacher reached beyond theory and brought practical applications to life? It might have been a video, a field trip, a hands-on project, or a relatable discussion providing the lightbulb moment that sparked meaningful understanding and deeper curiosity.

How about now, when the pace of technological innovation seems overwhelming, and a cogent message brings sudden clarity? 

Case studies tell stories in an engaging and illuminating way, conveying knowledge through firsthand experience. Their descriptions of real-world challenges, chosen solutions, and implementation results help to break through the noise. Though they are not always easy to produce, there is a considerable market for education about the journeys others have taken.

The case for prioritizing case study development

Industrial end-user case studies are in demand “because it’s where the real insights and lessons learned are revealed that can hopefully save time and errors,” says Klaus Blache, director of the University of Tennessee Reliability and Maintainability Center (UT-RMC) and research professor in the College of Engineering.

Technology case studies typically have three foundational stakeholders, each with strong reasons to participate:

• Evaluators of new solutions: Considering the speed at which technology is evolving, having access to customer stories documenting similar challenges, potential solutions, and quantified benefits is invaluable.
• Featured end users: Gaining recognition for leadership in embracing innovation and operational improvements is priceless.
• Focal solution providers: Producing a steady stream of case studies about key implementations with named customers is inestimable. 

The broader audience spans farther than many realize. Not only do prospects, customers, partners, employees, and investors have reasons to pay attention, but also industry peers, analysts, academia, the media, regulatory and standards bodies, the local community, and so on. 

Customer stories facilitate learning and critical thinking

UT-RMC’s varied applications of case studies exemplify the diverse value of case studies as a learning tool. In its curriculum, certification, and events, the industry-supported center leans heavily on them to help deliver on its mission to advance reliability and maintenance education and practices within the academic and industrial communities. Blache provides just a few examples:

• Real-world case studies provide insights for academic and professional development/as well as for students who are just starting their experiences.
• Senior design project students in RMC’s Training Factory both design and implement a real-world project.
  • One senior design project team is implementing a collaborative robot (cobot) with a vision system, mounting it on an automated guided vehicle (AGV) for data collection, holding multiple predictive maintenance technologies with grippers they designed and 3D-printed, and doing related programming to make everything work.
• Reliability & Maintainability Implementation Certification (RMIC), after six courses, requires an implemented project with measurable results (their own case study).
• The annual Maintenance and Reliability Conference (MARCON) offers over 70% presentations by practitioners.

“It’s all about not just explaining what to do, but experiencing how to do it,” explains Blache.

Research validates case study effectiveness

According to the Content Marketing Institute’s Technology Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends: Outlook for 2025 report, 87% of technology marketers surveyed published case studies/customer stories in the last 12 months — a number exceeded only by short articles/posts at 95%. 

The reason likely lies in perceived effectiveness. The survey found that case studies/customer stories top the list of content types that deliver the best results for technology marketers, at 62%, followed by research reports (55%), videos (53%), and e-books/white papers (50%). 

Primary hurdles to overcome for a successful case study program

• Case study sponsorship: Justifying, gaining, and sustaining executive support is essential to keeping case study programs alive and relevant. Developing a library of stories and refreshing it regularly over time is necessary to keep the content from getting stale. Organizations that publicly recognize published case studies and reward project team achievements incentivize active employee participation while benefiting from a steady supply of reasons for sponsors to reaffirm funding and resource allocation.
• End-user authorization: Some customers may have legal or policy constraints against revealing proprietary information or making perceived endorsements, complicating case study approval. Inquiring about such possibilities upfront helps to avoid challenges down the line. Resource availability can be another challenge, so it is always a good practice to make every effort to minimize any burden on the end user.

Production and delivery options are growing

Today’s media choices for case studies are vast. A well-developed, SEO-optimized print or PDF-format story can serve as a launching point for repurposing in videos, podcasts, webinars, published articles, or conference presentations, tailoring the size and scope as needed. They also provide fodder for white papers, newsletters, press releases, LinkedIn and social media posts, and even photo essays.

The Content Marketing Institute’s survey found that content distribution channels used by technology marketers in the last 12 months were led by blogs on corporate websites (93%), organic social media platforms (90%), email newsletters (80%), webinars (76%), email other than newsletters (73%), in-person events (66%), digital events (53%), podcasts (33%), and microsites (32%).

Considerations and actionable recommendations to start or boost your program

While all case studies hold value, those about the very latest innovations are naturally in short supply. Leaders do not wait to hear from others; their technology adoption case studies are as much about leadership strategy as they are about the technology and implementation experience. 

Case summaries, about a paragraph long, are useful for piquing interest in and linking traffic to a broader case study. Summaries may be embedded in content such as white papers, webpages, newsletters, blog posts, emails, and press releases.

UT-RMC’s Blache recommends an open-minded approach. “Most organizations will mostly do a case study after a big success. Don’t hesitate to share what didn’t work, corrections along the way, the beginning of a journey, etc. It makes your story about your journey more relevant, relatable, and believable for many,” he suggests.

Moreover, Blache believes that understanding and learning about why something did not work is equally, if sometimes more, important than explaining how something should work. “There are lots of quotes about knowledge and experience. I’ll simply state that information is not wisdom. That comes from experience.”