Examples by industry
Case study examples by industry, with the metric that matters
Eight worked examples across SaaS, e-commerce, agency, consulting, coaching, healthcare, real estate and B2B services. Each one shows the metric that industry's buyers are accountable for.
Illustrative examples written to show structure. They are not client work.
Trial to paid went from 6% to 11% after the onboarding rewrite
Challenge. Trials signed up, connected nothing, and expired silently. Sales blamed lead quality, product blamed pricing.
Trial to paid: 6% to 11% over two release cycles
“We finally saw where trials stalled instead of guessing. The fix was two screens, not a rebuild.”
Email went from 9% to 24% of monthly revenue in three weeks
Challenge. Welcome and abandoned-cart flows had not been touched in two years, so growth depended on discounting.
Email revenue: 9% to 24% of monthly revenue
“We stopped discounting to hit monthly targets, which protected margin on every order.”
Cost per qualified lead dropped from $180 to $96 in one quarter
Challenge. Spend was spread across five channels with no view of which produced booked calls.
Cost per qualified lead: $180 to $96
“Two channels were carrying everything. Cutting the other three felt risky and was the right call.”
Reporting time fell from 9 hours a week to 40 minutes
Challenge. Four analysts rebuilt the same client report by hand every Monday, with different numbers each time.
Reporting time: 9 hours to 40 minutes per week
“We got a day back per analyst and, more importantly, one version of the numbers.”
Completion went from 44% to 71% after restructuring the cohort
Challenge. Participants dropped off in week three when the workload peaked and accountability disappeared.
Completion rate: 44% to 71% across two cohorts
“Moving the heavy module to week five and adding a check-in call changed the whole cohort's energy.”
No-shows fell from 22% to 9% with a two-step reminder change
Challenge. Reminders went out once, 48 hours ahead, with no way to reschedule without calling reception.
No-show rate: 22% to 9% over three months
“Letting people reschedule from the message did more than any reminder we had tried.”
Average days on market went from 61 to 34 across 18 listings
Challenge. Listings launched with weak photography and no pre-launch interest list, so early momentum was lost.
Days on market: 61 to 34 average across 18 listings
“The pre-launch list meant the first weekend had real traffic instead of neighbours.”
Referral pipeline grew from 8% to 27% of new opportunities
Challenge. Happy clients referred occasionally and by accident. Nobody asked, and nothing was documented.
Referral share of pipeline: 8% to 27% in six months
“We were sitting on the cheapest channel we had and never once asked for it directly.”
How to pick the metric for your industry
- Choose the metric your buyer is already accountable for, not the one easiest to get.
- Show a before and an after with a time frame. A single number with no baseline reads as marketing.
- Match the industry and company size in the headline so the right reader self-selects.
- Keep the quote verbatim, including the hesitation. Polished quotes stop working as proof.
Designer or studio? See UX case study examples. Running an agency? See case studies for agencies.
Common questions
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