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How to Do Market Research on Amazon: Seller Case Study

  We talked to experienced seller Travis Fleming who’s been on Amazon since 2014. Travis lives in Canada and currently makes a living copywriting. Travis always had an entrepreneurial spirit. Ever since college graduation he'd tried different business opportunities. Some worked while others didn’t, but he'd learned something from every venture he started. Travis was working as a Marketing Specialist in the tourism industry, but he was still looking to start his own business.

In 2014, Travis discovered selling on Amazon as a viable option for people to make some extra money and possibly start a business of their own. Over the years, Travis has learned how to sell and grown a great deal as an Amazon seller and eventually became very successful. Some of the most important lessons he has learned have come from the failure of his first product.

Amazon FBA was a very new concept in 2014, and from the start, it was obvious that it was a revolutionary concept. The fact that you could sell your items online without having to store and ship them yourself was very attractive and not a lot of people were aware of it yet. Also, other eCommerce business models, like dropshipping, weren’t nearly as common or as prominent as they are now. Even in the early stages of this revolutionary concept, Travis discovered in time the necessity of Amazon market research.

Product research

In 2014, there were no sophisticated product research tools around, so you had to get by with what you could deduce yourself by browsing Amazon. This primitive form of amazon market research was quite a challenge for beginners back then. Travis checked the bestseller pages, and he got some product ideas based on basic criteria that he had in mind.

However, since there was no way to access accurate data about what was going on in the market, in terms of average monthly sales, fees, and trends, problems were to be expected. While you can never be in a position where you can be absolutely certain that any product will bring you success, the more you know, the less of a risk you are taking.

Finding the “right product”

After extensive amazon market research of browsing, Travis eventually settled on tie clips as his first product to sell on Amazon. This seemed like a good idea for a beginner wanting to get started in eCommerce.Tie clips are small and light, and you can design them so that your product stands out. This was not a bad route to take, and the criteria that Travis used were valid ones. However, his list of criteria to apply to the decision was incomplete.

The main stumbling block for Travis was profit margin. Travis was excited about the tie clips since they were really cheap to manufacture at only about $5 per unit. Since they were so small and light, the shipping costs were decent too. He was previously considering selling an inflatable punching bag but gave up due to high shipping costs. This is why tie clips seemed so attractive in comparison.

Travis was hoping to sell the tie clips for $12 - $15 per unit, which would provide him with a decent profit margin (or a margin that he found acceptable). It turns out that he was wrong with these calculations.  

Finding a supplier

Once Travis had decided on selling tie clips, he went to Alibaba and started contacting suppliers. This is another unskippable step for any eCommerce seller, and as far as this part of the process is concerned, he did everything right. He asked for price quotes and various quantities. Travis ended up narrowing down his list to three possible suppliers.

He proceeded to order samples from all three. After receiving the samples, Travis selected the supplier that he wanted to work with. This is the part of the process that he got right. Sellers often make the mistake of only ordering samples from one supplier. This means that they have already basically made their supplier choice before they even receive the product samples. The fact that Travis had the foresight to get samples from several suppliers ensured that he ended up with a product that met his quality and design criteria.

Travis ended up being very satisfied with both the product and the supplier he was working with. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to ensure his success.

Product promotion

To launch his tie clips, Travis decided to give away a number of them for free in exchange for reviews. This worked in the sense that the reviews started coming in, but it didn’t improve his ranking. Keep in mind that this was 2014 and that exchanging products for positive reviews is strictly forbidden now. Amazon removed all unverified reviews from the platform several years ago and now strictly enforces its rules to ensure that every review received is legitimate.

Giveaways are not effective. The seller loses stock to “get the ball rolling”, but there are better ways to make that happen. Travis should have done proper keyword research and committed to using PPC to rise in the rankings.

Even if there were no proper keyword research tools available in 2014, a seller could start with AUTO campaigns, then extract precise keywords and phrases from the report and proceed to target them aggressively. Amazon treats PPC sales just like organic sales, and if you constantly get sales on a keyword, you will start to show up higher and higher organically. If you have a strong product listing and you construct a decent PPC structure, you will be able to make sales even with 0 reviews. This is assuming that you are selling a product that people want to buy.

The difficulties

The tie clips became a failed product for Travis because of the margins. He was not able to sell them in the $12 to $15 range. After trying to sell them at that original price, Travis had to reduce his price and sell them at a break-even level just to cut his losses. He ended up not losing too much money, but he did lose time.

However, through this process, he learned a lot that helped him find success with his future products. Overall, it was a valuable experience. After the experience Travis was wiser and was able to make better decisions in the future, so here are a few tips from a seller that had a failed product so you don’t have to make the same mistake.  

The takeaways

1.   use market intelligence software.

Unfortunately, access to advanced software like the AMZScout Pro Extension wasn’t an option for Travis in 2014. Today, you can leverage every piece of available information. Now, you can view data such as sales volume, sales and BSR history, margins, listing quality, and other invaluable points of data. This information can help you to determine the advantages and shortcomings of selling any product. You will most likely never find any product that is a perfect home run. This is why you should understand the sort of challenges that you face by attempting to sell any product before committing to it as a seller.

When determining the best go-to-market strategy for a new product or product idea, having simplistic advanced software to determine the best messaging that will spark your target market on Amazon is essential. Travis lost money in the long run, due to not conducting adequate market research. Market intelligence software is used by competitors across all industries, not utilizing them will decrease your chances of beating the competition.

2.   Sales Price and margins

The tie clips were not cost-efficient enough at a low selling price, resulting in no profits. It is hard to earn a decent profit on a low-cost item, which is why it’s smarter to find potential products that can sell for at least $25. Margins are another really important factor. A seller needs to calculate the cost of manufacturing, shipping, and the 3 Amazon FBA fees: Referral, Storage, and Fulfillment. There are free calculator tools for this purpose, and most Amazon market research tools will give you this breakdown as well.

3.   Use proper keyword research and PPC

What Travis did in 2014 was not wrong, since, in the early days of FBA, giveaways were a common tactic. There were circumstances where the cost of offering giveaways was justified. These days, this is no longer an option. Now that Amazon has become so strict about the way that any product listing gets reviews, it’s more and more common to see products with a very small number of reviews getting good sales.

Previously, it was almost a given that you would have to spend some money or find a way to get at least those first 5 to 20 reviews. Now, it’s a more even playing field. With a proper PPC setup and understanding of how it works, you can do well. Use keyword research software, identify the most related keywords, and build your PPC structure around them. If you have a good product, it is bound to start growing in sales.

4.   Prioritize Customer Feedback

Every business across all industries understands they need to increase positive reviews and manage poor reviews for the business, but reputation management on Amazon is different. Its very strict platform enables no gray area or spammy reviews added on its site. How can one increase positive reviews naturally without being penalized?

All eligible business prime memberships of Amazon can decrease negative feedback and increase positive reviews free of charge with the Amazon/Qualtrics integration . The following results will unfold from this feature:

• Access to enhanced channels; email, web, mobile, apps so you can follow up and collect positive feedback from your please customers.
• Automated reporting and dashboards to pinpoint what the customers love and hate about your products
• Translate data into results through segmentation, viewing trends, and organized performance metrics.
• Close feedback loops by connecting to other software and CRM platforms that help sell your Amazon products such as Slack, Zendesk, Stripe, Salesforce, HubSpot, and many more

Imagine how Travis could have changed his negative outcome into a positive. He could not reach his margins because his target audience was not willing to pay at the price value you needed. If he could have received proper customer feedback, he would have known what advances/features needed to be included to sell his clips at the price he wanted. His clips could have been bestsellers because he offered his target audience what they wanted that competitors were unaware of due to his advanced market research.

The Bottom Line to Amazon Market Research

In conclusion, learning how to conduct general Amazon market research is the key to finding the right product. You should not rush the process. Especially as a beginner you should think carefully about what your criteria are and make sure that you get all of the information you can access about any niche that you are considering selling in.

Also, make sure that you set a decent selling price and that people are willing to pay that price for your product. Calculate your margins carefully by deducting all of the associated costs from the selling price. You have every tool available to you in 2021 to avoid making critical errors. With today's tools, you can ensure that your Amazon business succeeds.

Discover how to rethink and reinvent your market research

Milos Culafic // Amazon Advertising PPC/SEO expert

Milos is an Amazon Advertising PPC / SEO expert and freelance copywriter. He shares his own experience through guides, for new and advanced marketers and Amazon sellers.

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Amazon Business Case Study [2024]: In-depth Analysis

How does an online book retailer become a behemoth dominating the global e-commerce industry? The 28-year-old history of Amazon’s growth is a masterclass in building a successful business strategy that has revolutionised the retail experience forever! The company has achieved eponymous status with a global presence and diversified business. No wonder its sales are expected to reach an astounding USD 746.22 billion with a valuation of USD 2 trillion in 2024! From being an online bookseller headquartered in a garage to becoming the second most valuable brand in the world , the saga of this global brand is a case study in all the leading business schools.  

So what is the secret behind the explosive success of Amazon? This article provides a comprehensive case study of Amazon and its winning business strategy. 

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Glimpsing Back: A Brief History of Amazon

With a small team, the budding company made headway in the book-selling market by offering a wide virtual selection of books compared to brick-and-mortar stores with doorstep delivery. With a user-friendly interface, easy-to-search engine, and focus on creating a ‘virtual community,’ the business grew by leaps and bounds. The emphasis on customer choice, experience, and convenience serves the company well even today. 

The name was aspirational with a nod to the largest river in the world- Bezos’ Amazon sought to be the largest e-commerce bookseller in the world. By July 1995, Amazon was marketing itself as the “Earth’s Biggest Bookstore,” selling over one million titles to all 50 states in the US and across 45 countries . It provided stiff competition to brick-and-mortar giants like Barnes and Noble and Borders. 

The company went public with its IPO in 1997 ; since then, there has been no looking back. Since its listing, the company has significantly diversified its offering by including music, electronics, toys, kitchen utensils, clothes, and more on its e-commerce site. From the Earth’s Biggest Bookstore, Amazon shifted its tagline to “Books, Music and More.” The company expanded to Germany and the United Kingdom by purchasing online bookstores, thus increasing its revenue. At its core, the company established a dynamic, efficient, and successful distribution and logistical model that helped capture a global market.

The year 1999 marked two critical moments for Amazon. First, the company patents the “1-Click” technology allowing users to purchase a product with one click. Second, it launches the 3rd party seller marketplace to allow third-party sellers to sell their produce through Amazon. These measures exponentially increased the sales on the platform. The company’s success put Bezos on the map as he received the prestigious accolade of the “Time’s Person of the Year” in 1999 at 35 years of age. 

The company survived the dot-com bubble burst and got only stronger. In 2003, the company took a momentous step by launching Amazon Web Services , a web-hosting business, that marked its arrival into the tech business. It provides cloud computing services to individual developers, companies, and governments through the platform’s IT infrastructure. The strategic shift from an e-commerce platform to a tech company was instrumental in Amazon’s diversification strategy and revenue generation. 

The company took further measures to develop brand loyalty through its Amazon Prime program in 2005. Prime membership has since expanded its services significantly and is one of the most valuable assets for the company today. It reshaped consumer expectations and experiences of shopping across the world. 

Amazon has been on a path of extensive acquisition and alliance . From the online shoe retailer Zappos to the robotics company Kiva Systems and the grocery delivery service Whole Foods- each acquisition captured pre-existing markets and distribution networks of the acquired assets. With every move, the company strategically entered new markets, removed competitive businesses by acquiring them, made distribution and logistics more efficient, and improved consumer experience. These moves catapulted the company to a 1 trillion dollar valuation in 2018. The company’s profits surged during the pandemic as Bezos’ hourly wealth increased by USD 11.7 million . The following year, Bezos stepped down as the CEO and found his replacement in Andy Jassy, the CEO of Amazon Web Services.

Now that we know the history of Amazon, its business strategy becomes easier to decipher. Before we unravel its key business strategies, let’s look at its many businesses. 

Amazon and its Diversified Business Model

A case study of Amazon is incomplete without an understanding of the many businesses that it has a foot in. Here are the diverse businesses that help Amazon generate revenues from multiple streams and have made it a leader in the global market. 

Online retail store

Amazon began as an online seller of books, and it continues its operations as an e-commerce site. Today the site offers a variety of products for the best prices to the consumer’s doorsteps. With an easy-to-use interface, easy return policy, “1-Click” buying, customer reviews, and suggestions, the e-commerce site knits an unrivalled retail experience. 

Amazon Marketplace

Amazon opened its platform to third-party sellers who could leverage its large customer base to sell products. It brings a diversity of products to the retailer without holding inventory. Amazon would, in turn, charge the sellers a percentage of their revenue as a commission fee. It is estimated that third-party sellers generate a gross merchandise value (GMV) of USD 300 billion for the platform.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Amazon’s cloud platform offers individual developers, start-ups, established businesses, and governments a range of cloud computing services through its IT infrastructure. It is the fastest-growing business segment for the brand clocking a global net revenue of USD 80.1 billion in 2022. 

Amazon Prime

Amazon’s member subscription service offers numerous membership benefits ranging from access to digital video and music streaming, audiobook and ebook platforms, free delivery, exclusive deals, Prime Day access, and much more. The company’s global net revenue from its subscription services stood at USD 35.22 billion in 2022. 

Amazon revealed in 2022 that the advertising wing of the company had generated a revenue of USD 31.2 billion the preceding year. The company offers custom advertising solutions to customers and campaign placements across multiple channels like Fire TV placements, Amazon physical stores, the brand’s homepage, and customised destination pages.

Physical stores

Amazon made an entry into the brick-and-mortar business with the establishment of a physical bookstore in Seattle in 2015. The company has since expanded its physical presence with Amazon Go, Amazon Fresh, Amazon Go Grocery, Whole Foods Market, and Amazon Style. It has sought to transform the real-world shopping experience with its “Just Walk Out Shopping’ experience. 

Breaking Down Amazon’s Business Strategy

Amazon’s business strategy has been innovative and forward-thinking from the get-go. Its path-breaking business model has inspired many but retains its uniqueness in execution. At its core, the company has maintained its customer-centric ethos, where its customers comprise three sets: retail customers, seller customers, and developer customers.   

For a comprehensive case study of Amazon , let’s take a closer look at the secret recipe behind its success.

Customer Obsession

The company proudly proclaims that it aims to be the “Earth’s most customer-centric company.” Since its inception, Amazon has won over the trust and loyalty of its customers by perfecting its marketing mix by offering “a comprehensive selection of products, low prices, fast and free delivery, easy-to-use functionality, and timely customer service.”   As Amazon’s customer base and usage expands exponentially, the company has worked towards optimising user experience through continuous assessment and feedback mechanisms.

Diversification

Amazon has kept up with the emerging demands of the market with growth potential in the long term. Its future-oriented vision has helped the company grow by leaps and bounds by venturing into new businesses that have added to its revenue streams. From cloud computing services to OTT services and subscription-based benefits, Amazon has reinvented what a diversified business looks like. 

Expansion through partnerships and acquisitions

Amazon has continually acquired and partnered with businesses to expand its customer base, enter new markets, diversify its product offerings, eliminate competition, and gain distribution and logistical networks. From IMDB and The Washington Post to Twitch and Pillpack, Amazon has bought companies across multiple categories to gain a foothold in their markets and operations. It has helped the company scale up its functions rapidly across the globe.

Technologically-driven innovations

Initially, Amazon was written off as it was started by “computer guys” who knew nothing about selling books. However, it was a focus on innovative technology that the company grew into a tech giant dominating the e-commerce space. Whether it is the 1-Click technology, SEO, user interface, cloud computing services, Just Walk Out technology, or its e-devices, the company has optimised customer experience by leveraging technology.

Data-based metrics

Amazon has consistently relied on metrics to assess, strategise, and grow its business. Data is an invaluable currency left behind with every click by the customer. The company has effectively and efficiently amassed these data into actionable insights to improve user experience, build and improve products and services, and develop successful marketing strategies. 

Marketing strategy

A comprehensive marketing strategy has been central to Amazon’s brand-building exercise. With the right marketing mix, the brand has become a household name. Its name and logo are recognisable anywhere in the world. A continual push to diversify its portfolio, competitive pricing policy, expanding its operations, and consistent promotions through multiple channels have been integral to achieving this global status. 

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Amazon, the second-most valuable company in the world, has been almost three decades in the making. Every step and misstep has been strategic and guided by the principles of: “customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking.” This case study of Amazon has sought to highlight its history, business model, and business strategies that have gone into the making of the behemoth. Ultimately, the company is a product of the management of Jeff Bezos and Amazon’s leadership. 

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Jeff Bezos has held the position of Founder and CEO of the company. However, he inherited the position of the Executive Chairman of Amazon after resigning as the CEO of the company in 2021.

Amazon launched in India in June 2013. Initially starting its operations to serve Indians with books, films, TV shows and subscription-based services, the company further expanded its wings to become one of the leading shopping destinations for Indians.

The most important focal point of Amazon’s business strategy is its customers (retail customers, sellers, and developers) and building a customer-centric company.

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How to Write a Case Study: Bookmarkable Guide & Template

Published: November 30, 2023

Earning the trust of prospective customers can be a struggle. Before you can even begin to expect to earn their business, you need to demonstrate your ability to deliver on what your product or service promises.

Sure, you could say that you're great at X or that you're way ahead of the competition when it comes to Y. But at the end of the day, what you really need to win new business is cold, hard proof.

One of the best ways to prove your worth is through a compelling case study. In fact, HubSpot’s 2020 State of Marketing report found that case studies are so compelling that they are the fifth most commonly used type of content used by marketers.

Below, I'll walk you through what a case study is, how to prepare for writing one, what you need to include in it, and how it can be an effective tactic. To jump to different areas of this post, click on the links below to automatically scroll.

Case Study Definition

Case study templates, how to write a case study.

• How to Format a Case Study

Business Case Study Examples

A case study is a specific challenge a business has faced, and the solution they've chosen to solve it. Case studies can vary greatly in length and focus on several details related to the initial challenge and applied solution, and can be presented in various forms like a video, white paper, blog post, etc.

In professional settings, it's common for a case study to tell the story of a successful business partnership between a vendor and a client. Perhaps the success you're highlighting is in the number of leads your client generated, customers closed, or revenue gained. Any one of these key performance indicators (KPIs) are examples of your company's services in action.

When done correctly, these examples of your work can chronicle the positive impact your business has on existing or previous customers and help you attract new clients.

Free Case Study Templates

Showcase your company's success using these three free case study templates.

• Data-Driven Case Study Template
• Product-Specific Case Study Template
• General Case Study Template

You're all set!

Click this link to access this resource at any time.

Why write a case study? 

I know, you’re thinking “ Okay, but why do I need to write one of these? ” The truth is that while case studies are a huge undertaking, they are powerful marketing tools that allow you to demonstrate the value of your product to potential customers using real-world examples. Here are a few reasons why you should write case studies. 

1. Explain Complex Topics or Concepts

Case studies give you the space to break down complex concepts, ideas, and strategies and show how they can be applied in a practical way. You can use real-world examples, like an existing client, and use their story to create a compelling narrative that shows how your product solved their issue and how those strategies can be repeated to help other customers get similar successful results.  

2. Show Expertise

Case studies are a great way to demonstrate your knowledge and expertise on a given topic or industry. This is where you get the opportunity to show off your problem-solving skills and how you’ve generated successful outcomes for clients you’ve worked with. 

3. Build Trust and Credibility

In addition to showing off the attributes above, case studies are an excellent way to build credibility. They’re often filled with data and thoroughly researched, which shows readers you’ve done your homework. They can have confidence in the solutions you’ve presented because they’ve read through as you’ve explained the problem and outlined step-by-step what it took to solve it. All of these elements working together enable you to build trust with potential customers.

4. Create Social Proof

Using existing clients that have seen success working with your brand builds social proof . People are more likely to choose your brand if they know that others have found success working with you. Case studies do just that — putting your success on display for potential customers to see. 

All of these attributes work together to help you gain more clients. Plus you can even use quotes from customers featured in these studies and repurpose them in other marketing content. Now that you know more about the benefits of producing a case study, let’s check out how long these documents should be. 

How long should a case study be?

The length of a case study will vary depending on the complexity of the project or topic discussed. However, as a general guideline, case studies typically range from 500 to 1,500 words. 

Whatever length you choose, it should provide a clear understanding of the challenge, the solution you implemented, and the results achieved. This may be easier said than done, but it's important to strike a balance between providing enough detail to make the case study informative and concise enough to keep the reader's interest.

The primary goal here is to effectively communicate the key points and takeaways of the case study. It’s worth noting that this shouldn’t be a wall of text. Use headings, subheadings, bullet points, charts, and other graphics to break up the content and make it more scannable for readers. We’ve also seen brands incorporate video elements into case studies listed on their site for a more engaging experience. 

Ultimately, the length of your case study should be determined by the amount of information necessary to convey the story and its impact without becoming too long. Next, let’s look at some templates to take the guesswork out of creating one. 

To help you arm your prospects with information they can trust, we've put together a step-by-step guide on how to create effective case studies for your business with free case study templates for creating your own.

Tell us a little about yourself below to gain access today:

And to give you more options, we’ll highlight some useful templates that serve different needs. But remember, there are endless possibilities when it comes to demonstrating the work your business has done.

1. General Case Study Template

Do you have a specific product or service that you’re trying to sell, but not enough reviews or success stories? This Product Specific case study template will help.

This template relies less on metrics, and more on highlighting the customer’s experience and satisfaction. As you follow the template instructions, you’ll be prompted to speak more about the benefits of the specific product, rather than your team’s process for working with the customer.

4. Bold Social Media Business Case Study Template

You can find templates that represent different niches, industries, or strategies that your business has found success in — like a bold social media business case study template.

In this template, you can tell the story of how your social media marketing strategy has helped you or your client through collaboration or sale of your service. Customize it to reflect the different marketing channels used in your business and show off how well your business has been able to boost traffic, engagement, follows, and more.

5. Lead Generation Business Case Study Template

It’s important to note that not every case study has to be the product of a sale or customer story, sometimes they can be informative lessons that your own business has experienced. A great example of this is the Lead Generation Business case study template.

If you’re looking to share operational successes regarding how your team has improved processes or content, you should include the stories of different team members involved, how the solution was found, and how it has made a difference in the work your business does.

Now that we’ve discussed different templates and ideas for how to use them, let’s break down how to create your own case study with one.

• Get started with case study templates.
• Determine the case study's objective.
• Establish a case study medium.
• Find the right case study candidate.
• Contact your candidate for permission to write about them.
• Ensure you have all the resources you need to proceed once you get a response.
• Download a case study email template.
• Define the process you want to follow with the client.
• Ensure you're asking the right questions.
• Layout your case study format.
• Publish and promote your case study.

1. Get started with case study templates.

Telling your customer's story is a delicate process — you need to highlight their success while naturally incorporating your business into their story.

If you're just getting started with case studies, we recommend you download HubSpot's Case Study Templates we mentioned before to kickstart the process.

2. Determine the case study's objective.

All business case studies are designed to demonstrate the value of your services, but they can focus on several different client objectives.

Your first step when writing a case study is to determine the objective or goal of the subject you're featuring. In other words, what will the client have succeeded in doing by the end of the piece?

The client objective you focus on will depend on what you want to prove to your future customers as a result of publishing this case study.

Your case study can focus on one of the following client objectives:

• Complying with government regulation
• Lowering business costs
• Becoming profitable
• Generating more leads
• Closing on more customers
• Generating more revenue
• Expanding into a new market
• Becoming more sustainable or energy-efficient

3. Establish a case study medium.

Next, you'll determine the medium in which you'll create the case study. In other words, how will you tell this story?

Case studies don't have to be simple, written one-pagers. Using different media in your case study can allow you to promote your final piece on different channels. For example, while a written case study might just live on your website and get featured in a Facebook post, you can post an infographic case study on Pinterest and a video case study on your YouTube channel.

Here are some different case study mediums to consider:

Written Case Study

Consider writing this case study in the form of an ebook and converting it to a downloadable PDF. Then, gate the PDF behind a landing page and form for readers to fill out before downloading the piece, allowing this case study to generate leads for your business.

Video Case Study

Plan on meeting with the client and shooting an interview. Seeing the subject, in person, talk about the service you provided them can go a long way in the eyes of your potential customers.

Infographic Case Study

Use the long, vertical format of an infographic to tell your success story from top to bottom. As you progress down the infographic, emphasize major KPIs using bigger text and charts that show the successes your client has had since working with you.

Podcast Case Study

Podcasts are a platform for you to have a candid conversation with your client. This type of case study can sound more real and human to your audience — they'll know the partnership between you and your client was a genuine success.

4. Find the right case study candidate.

Writing about your previous projects requires more than picking a client and telling a story. You need permission, quotes, and a plan. To start, here are a few things to look for in potential candidates.

Product Knowledge

It helps to select a customer who's well-versed in the logistics of your product or service. That way, he or she can better speak to the value of what you offer in a way that makes sense for future customers.

Remarkable Results

Clients that have seen the best results are going to make the strongest case studies. If their own businesses have seen an exemplary ROI from your product or service, they're more likely to convey the enthusiasm that you want prospects to feel, too.

One part of this step is to choose clients who have experienced unexpected success from your product or service. When you've provided non-traditional customers — in industries that you don't usually work with, for example — with positive results, it can help to remove doubts from prospects.

Recognizable Names

While small companies can have powerful stories, bigger or more notable brands tend to lend credibility to your own. In fact, 89% of consumers say they'll buy from a brand they already recognize over a competitor, especially if they already follow them on social media.

Customers that came to you after working with a competitor help highlight your competitive advantage and might even sway decisions in your favor.

5. Contact your candidate for permission to write about them.

To get the case study candidate involved, you have to set the stage for clear and open communication. That means outlining expectations and a timeline right away — not having those is one of the biggest culprits in delayed case study creation.

Most importantly at this point, however, is getting your subject's approval. When first reaching out to your case study candidate, provide them with the case study's objective and format — both of which you will have come up with in the first two steps above.

To get this initial permission from your subject, put yourself in their shoes — what would they want out of this case study? Although you're writing this for your own company's benefit, your subject is far more interested in the benefit it has for them.

Benefits to Offer Your Case Study Candidate

Here are four potential benefits you can promise your case study candidate to gain their approval.

Brand Exposure

Explain to your subject to whom this case study will be exposed, and how this exposure can help increase their brand awareness both in and beyond their own industry. In the B2B sector, brand awareness can be hard to collect outside one's own market, making case studies particularly useful to a client looking to expand their name's reach.

Employee Exposure

Allow your subject to provide quotes with credits back to specific employees. When this is an option for them, their brand isn't the only thing expanding its reach — their employees can get their name out there, too. This presents your subject with networking and career development opportunities they might not have otherwise.

Product Discount

This is a more tangible incentive you can offer your case study candidate, especially if they're a current customer of yours. If they agree to be your subject, offer them a product discount — or a free trial of another product — as a thank-you for their help creating your case study.

Backlinks and Website Traffic

Here's a benefit that is sure to resonate with your subject's marketing team: If you publish your case study on your website, and your study links back to your subject's website — known as a "backlink" — this small gesture can give them website traffic from visitors who click through to your subject's website.

Additionally, a backlink from you increases your subject's page authority in the eyes of Google. This helps them rank more highly in search engine results and collect traffic from readers who are already looking for information about their industry.

6. Ensure you have all the resources you need to proceed once you get a response.

So you know what you’re going to offer your candidate, it’s time that you prepare the resources needed for if and when they agree to participate, like a case study release form and success story letter.

Let's break those two down.

Case Study Release Form

This document can vary, depending on factors like the size of your business, the nature of your work, and what you intend to do with the case studies once they are completed. That said, you should typically aim to include the following in the Case Study Release Form:

• A clear explanation of why you are creating this case study and how it will be used.
• A statement defining the information and potentially trademarked information you expect to include about the company — things like names, logos, job titles, and pictures.
• An explanation of what you expect from the participant, beyond the completion of the case study. For example, is this customer willing to act as a reference or share feedback, and do you have permission to pass contact information along for these purposes?
• A note about compensation.

Success Story Letter

As noted in the sample email, this document serves as an outline for the entire case study process. Other than a brief explanation of how the customer will benefit from case study participation, you'll want to be sure to define the following steps in the Success Story Letter.

7. Download a case study email template.

While you gathered your resources, your candidate has gotten time to read over the proposal. When your candidate approves of your case study, it's time to send them a release form.

A case study release form tells you what you'll need from your chosen subject, like permission to use any brand names and share the project information publicly. Kick-off this process with an email that runs through exactly what they can expect from you, as well as what you need from them. To give you an idea of what that might look like, check out this sample email:

8. Define the process you want to follow with the client.

Before you can begin the case study, you have to have a clear outline of the case study process with your client. An example of an effective outline would include the following information.

The Acceptance

First, you'll need to receive internal approval from the company's marketing team. Once approved, the Release Form should be signed and returned to you. It's also a good time to determine a timeline that meets the needs and capabilities of both teams.

The Questionnaire

To ensure that you have a productive interview — which is one of the best ways to collect information for the case study — you'll want to ask the participant to complete a questionnaire before this conversation. That will provide your team with the necessary foundation to organize the interview, and get the most out of it.

The Interview

Once the questionnaire is completed, someone on your team should reach out to the participant to schedule a 30- to 60-minute interview, which should include a series of custom questions related to the customer's experience with your product or service.

The Draft Review

After the case study is composed, you'll want to send a draft to the customer, allowing an opportunity to give you feedback and edits.

The Final Approval

Once any necessary edits are completed, send a revised copy of the case study to the customer for final approval.

Once the case study goes live — on your website or elsewhere — it's best to contact the customer with a link to the page where the case study lives. Don't be afraid to ask your participants to share these links with their own networks, as it not only demonstrates your ability to deliver positive results and impressive growth, as well.

9. Ensure you're asking the right questions.

Before you execute the questionnaire and actual interview, make sure you're setting yourself up for success. A strong case study results from being prepared to ask the right questions. What do those look like? Here are a few examples to get you started:

• What are your goals?
• What challenges were you experiencing before purchasing our product or service?
• What made our product or service stand out against our competitors?
• What did your decision-making process look like?
• How have you benefited from using our product or service? (Where applicable, always ask for data.)

Keep in mind that the questionnaire is designed to help you gain insights into what sort of strong, success-focused questions to ask during the actual interview. And once you get to that stage, we recommend that you follow the "Golden Rule of Interviewing." Sounds fancy, right? It's actually quite simple — ask open-ended questions.

If you're looking to craft a compelling story, "yes" or "no" answers won't provide the details you need. Focus on questions that invite elaboration, such as, "Can you describe ...?" or, "Tell me about ..."

In terms of the interview structure, we recommend categorizing the questions and flowing them into six specific sections that will mirror a successful case study format. Combined, they'll allow you to gather enough information to put together a rich, comprehensive study.

Open with the customer's business.

The goal of this section is to generate a better understanding of the company's current challenges and goals, and how they fit into the landscape of their industry. Sample questions might include:

• How long have you been in business?
• How many employees do you have?
• What are some of the objectives of your department at this time?

Cite a problem or pain point.

To tell a compelling story, you need context. That helps match the customer's need with your solution. Sample questions might include:

• What challenges and objectives led you to look for a solution?
• What might have happened if you did not identify a solution?
• Did you explore other solutions before this that did not work out? If so, what happened?

Discuss the decision process.

Exploring how the customer decided to work with you helps to guide potential customers through their own decision-making processes. Sample questions might include:

• How did you hear about our product or service?
• Who was involved in the selection process?
• What was most important to you when evaluating your options?

Explain how a solution was implemented.

The focus here should be placed on the customer's experience during the onboarding process. Sample questions might include:

• How long did it take to get up and running?
• Did that meet your expectations?
• Who was involved in the process?

Explain how the solution works.

The goal of this section is to better understand how the customer is using your product or service. Sample questions might include:

• Is there a particular aspect of the product or service that you rely on most?
• Who is using the product or service?

End with the results.

In this section, you want to uncover impressive measurable outcomes — the more numbers, the better. Sample questions might include:

• How is the product or service helping you save time and increase productivity?
• In what ways does that enhance your competitive advantage?
• How much have you increased metrics X, Y, and Z?

10. Lay out your case study format.

When it comes time to take all of the information you've collected and actually turn it into something, it's easy to feel overwhelmed. Where should you start? What should you include? What's the best way to structure it?

To help you get a handle on this step, it's important to first understand that there is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to the ways you can present a case study. They can be very visual, which you'll see in some of the examples we've included below, and can sometimes be communicated mostly through video or photos, with a bit of accompanying text.

Here are the sections we suggest, which we'll cover in more detail down below:

• Title: Keep it short. Develop a succinct but interesting project name you can give the work you did with your subject.
• Subtitle: Use this copy to briefly elaborate on the accomplishment. What was done? The case study itself will explain how you got there.
• Executive Summary : A 2-4 sentence summary of the entire story. You'll want to follow it with 2-3 bullet points that display metrics showcasing success.
• About the Subject: An introduction to the person or company you served, which can be pulled from a LinkedIn Business profile or client website.
• Challenges and Objectives: A 2-3 paragraph description of the customer's challenges, before using your product or service. This section should also include the goals or objectives the customer set out to achieve.
• How Product/Service Helped: A 2-3 paragraph section that describes how your product or service provided a solution to their problem.
• Results: A 2-3 paragraph testimonial that proves how your product or service specifically benefited the person or company and helped achieve its goals. Include numbers to quantify your contributions.
• Supporting Visuals or Quotes: Pick one or two powerful quotes that you would feature at the bottom of the sections above, as well as a visual that supports the story you are telling.
• Future Plans: Everyone likes an epilogue. Comment on what's ahead for your case study subject, whether or not those plans involve you.
• Call to Action (CTA): Not every case study needs a CTA, but putting a passive one at the end of your case study can encourage your readers to take an action on your website after learning about the work you've done.

When laying out your case study, focus on conveying the information you've gathered in the most clear and concise way possible. Make it easy to scan and comprehend, and be sure to provide an attractive call-to-action at the bottom — that should provide readers an opportunity to learn more about your product or service.

11. Publish and promote your case study.

Once you've completed your case study, it's time to publish and promote it. Some case study formats have pretty obvious promotional outlets — a video case study can go on YouTube, just as an infographic case study can go on Pinterest.

But there are still other ways to publish and promote your case study. Here are a couple of ideas:

Lead Gen in a Blog Post

As stated earlier in this article, written case studies make terrific lead-generators if you convert them into a downloadable format, like a PDF. To generate leads from your case study, consider writing a blog post that tells an abbreviated story of your client's success and asking readers to fill out a form with their name and email address if they'd like to read the rest in your PDF.

Then, promote this blog post on social media, through a Facebook post or a tweet.

Published as a Page on Your Website

As a growing business, you might need to display your case study out in the open to gain the trust of your target audience.

Rather than gating it behind a landing page, publish your case study to its own page on your website, and direct people here from your homepage with a "Case Studies" or "Testimonials" button along your homepage's top navigation bar.

Format for a Case Study

The traditional case study format includes the following parts: a title and subtitle, a client profile, a summary of the customer’s challenges and objectives, an account of how your solution helped, and a description of the results. You might also want to include supporting visuals and quotes, future plans, and calls-to-action.

Image Source

The title is one of the most important parts of your case study. It should draw readers in while succinctly describing the potential benefits of working with your company. To that end, your title should:

• State the name of your custome r. Right away, the reader must learn which company used your products and services. This is especially important if your customer has a recognizable brand. If you work with individuals and not companies, you may omit the name and go with professional titles: “A Marketer…”, “A CFO…”, and so forth.
• State which product your customer used . Even if you only offer one product or service, or if your company name is the same as your product name, you should still include the name of your solution. That way, readers who are not familiar with your business can become aware of what you sell.
• Allude to the results achieved . You don’t necessarily need to provide hard numbers, but the title needs to represent the benefits, quickly. That way, if a reader doesn’t stay to read, they can walk away with the most essential information: Your product works.

The example above, “Crunch Fitness Increases Leads and Signups With HubSpot,” achieves all three — without being wordy. Keeping your title short and sweet is also essential.

2. Subtitle

Your subtitle is another essential part of your case study — don’t skip it, even if you think you’ve done the work with the title. In this section, include a brief summary of the challenges your customer was facing before they began to use your products and services. Then, drive the point home by reiterating the benefits your customer experienced by working with you.

The above example reads:

“Crunch Fitness was franchising rapidly when COVID-19 forced fitness clubs around the world to close their doors. But the company stayed agile by using HubSpot to increase leads and free trial signups.”

We like that the case study team expressed the urgency of the problem — opening more locations in the midst of a pandemic — and placed the focus on the customer’s ability to stay agile.

3. Executive Summary

The executive summary should provide a snapshot of your customer, their challenges, and the benefits they enjoyed from working with you. Think it’s too much? Think again — the purpose of the case study is to emphasize, again and again, how well your product works.

The good news is that depending on your design, the executive summary can be mixed with the subtitle or with the “About the Company” section. Many times, this section doesn’t need an explicit “Executive Summary” subheading. You do need, however, to provide a convenient snapshot for readers to scan.

In the above example, ADP included information about its customer in a scannable bullet-point format, then provided two sections: “Business Challenge” and “How ADP Helped.” We love how simple and easy the format is to follow for those who are unfamiliar with ADP or its typical customer.

4. About the Company

Readers need to know and understand who your customer is. This is important for several reasons: It helps your reader potentially relate to your customer, it defines your ideal client profile (which is essential to deter poor-fit prospects who might have reached out without knowing they were a poor fit), and it gives your customer an indirect boon by subtly promoting their products and services.

Feel free to keep this section as simple as possible. You can simply copy and paste information from the company’s LinkedIn, use a quote directly from your customer, or take a more creative storytelling approach.

In the above example, HubSpot included one paragraph of description for Crunch Fitness and a few bullet points. Below, ADP tells the story of its customer using an engaging, personable technique that effectively draws readers in.

5. Challenges and Objectives

The challenges and objectives section of your case study is the place to lay out, in detail, the difficulties your customer faced prior to working with you — and what they hoped to achieve when they enlisted your help.

In this section, you can be as brief or as descriptive as you’d like, but remember: Stress the urgency of the situation. Don’t understate how much your customer needed your solution (but don’t exaggerate and lie, either). Provide contextual information as necessary. For instance, the pandemic and societal factors may have contributed to the urgency of the need.

Take the above example from design consultancy IDEO:

“Educational opportunities for adults have become difficult to access in the United States, just when they’re needed most. To counter this trend, IDEO helped the city of South Bend and the Drucker Institute launch Bendable, a community-powered platform that connects people with opportunities to learn with and from each other.”

We love how IDEO mentions the difficulties the United States faces at large, the efforts its customer is taking to address these issues, and the steps IDEO took to help.

6. How Product/Service Helped

This is where you get your product or service to shine. Cover the specific benefits that your customer enjoyed and the features they gleaned the most use out of. You can also go into detail about how you worked with and for your customer. Maybe you met several times before choosing the right solution, or you consulted with external agencies to create the best package for them.

Whatever the case may be, try to illustrate how easy and pain-free it is to work with the representatives at your company. After all, potential customers aren’t looking to just purchase a product. They’re looking for a dependable provider that will strive to exceed their expectations.

In the above example, IDEO describes how it partnered with research institutes and spoke with learners to create Bendable, a free educational platform. We love how it shows its proactivity and thoroughness. It makes potential customers feel that IDEO might do something similar for them.

The results are essential, and the best part is that you don’t need to write the entirety of the case study before sharing them. Like HubSpot, IDEO, and ADP, you can include the results right below the subtitle or executive summary. Use data and numbers to substantiate the success of your efforts, but if you don’t have numbers, you can provide quotes from your customers.

We can’t overstate the importance of the results. In fact, if you wanted to create a short case study, you could include your title, challenge, solution (how your product helped), and result.

8. Supporting Visuals or Quotes

Let your customer speak for themselves by including quotes from the representatives who directly interfaced with your company.

Visuals can also help, even if they’re stock images. On one side, they can help you convey your customer’s industry, and on the other, they can indirectly convey your successes. For instance, a picture of a happy professional — even if they’re not your customer — will communicate that your product can lead to a happy client.

In this example from IDEO, we see a man standing in a boat. IDEO’s customer is neither the man pictured nor the manufacturer of the boat, but rather Conservation International, an environmental organization. This imagery provides a visually pleasing pattern interrupt to the page, while still conveying what the case study is about.

9. Future Plans

This is optional, but including future plans can help you close on a more positive, personable note than if you were to simply include a quote or the results. In this space, you can show that your product will remain in your customer’s tech stack for years to come, or that your services will continue to be instrumental to your customer’s success.

Alternatively, if you work only on time-bound projects, you can allude to the positive impact your customer will continue to see, even after years of the end of the contract.

10. Call to Action (CTA)

Not every case study needs a CTA, but we’d still encourage it. Putting one at the end of your case study will encourage your readers to take an action on your website after learning about the work you've done.

It will also make it easier for them to reach out, if they’re ready to start immediately. You don’t want to lose business just because they have to scroll all the way back up to reach out to your team.

To help you visualize this case study outline, check out the case study template below, which can also be downloaded here .

You drove the results, made the connection, set the expectations, used the questionnaire to conduct a successful interview, and boiled down your findings into a compelling story. And after all of that, you're left with a little piece of sales enabling gold — a case study.

To show you what a well-executed final product looks like, have a look at some of these marketing case study examples.

1. "Shopify Uses HubSpot CRM to Transform High Volume Sales Organization," by HubSpot

What's interesting about this case study is the way it leads with the customer. This reflects a major HubSpot value, which is to always solve for the customer first. The copy leads with a brief description of why Shopify uses HubSpot and is accompanied by a short video and some basic statistics on the company.

Notice that this case study uses mixed media. Yes, there is a short video, but it's elaborated upon in the additional text on the page. So, while case studies can use one or the other, don't be afraid to combine written copy with visuals to emphasize the project's success.

2. "New England Journal of Medicine," by Corey McPherson Nash

When branding and design studio Corey McPherson Nash showcases its work, it makes sense for it to be visual — after all, that's what they do. So in building the case study for the studio's work on the New England Journal of Medicine's integrated advertising campaign — a project that included the goal of promoting the client's digital presence — Corey McPherson Nash showed its audience what it did, rather than purely telling it.

Notice that the case study does include some light written copy — which includes the major points we've suggested — but lets the visuals do the talking, allowing users to really absorb the studio's services.

3. "Designing the Future of Urban Farming," by IDEO

Here's a design company that knows how to lead with simplicity in its case studies. As soon as the visitor arrives at the page, he or she is greeted with a big, bold photo, and two very simple columns of text — "The Challenge" and "The Outcome."

Immediately, IDEO has communicated two of the case study's major pillars. And while that's great — the company created a solution for vertical farming startup INFARM's challenge — it doesn't stop there. As the user scrolls down, those pillars are elaborated upon with comprehensive (but not overwhelming) copy that outlines what that process looked like, replete with quotes and additional visuals.

4. "Secure Wi-Fi Wins Big for Tournament," by WatchGuard

Then, there are the cases when visuals can tell almost the entire story — when executed correctly. Network security provider WatchGuard can do that through this video, which tells the story of how its services enhanced the attendee and vendor experience at the Windmill Ultimate Frisbee tournament.

5. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Boosts Social Media Engagement and Brand Awareness with HubSpot

In the case study above , HubSpot uses photos, videos, screenshots, and helpful stats to tell the story of how the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame used the bot, CRM, and social media tools to gain brand awareness.

6. Small Desk Plant Business Ups Sales by 30% With Trello

This case study from Trello is straightforward and easy to understand. It begins by explaining the background of the company that decided to use it, what its goals were, and how it planned to use Trello to help them.

It then goes on to discuss how the software was implemented and what tasks and teams benefited from it. Towards the end, it explains the sales results that came from implementing the software and includes quotes from decision-makers at the company that implemented it.

7. Facebook's Mercedes Benz Success Story

Facebook's Success Stories page hosts a number of well-designed and easy-to-understand case studies that visually and editorially get to the bottom line quickly.

Each study begins with key stats that draw the reader in. Then it's organized by highlighting a problem or goal in the introduction, the process the company took to reach its goals, and the results. Then, in the end, Facebook notes the tools used in the case study.

Showcasing Your Work

You work hard at what you do. Now, it's time to show it to the world — and, perhaps more important, to potential customers. Before you show off the projects that make you the proudest, we hope you follow these important steps that will help you effectively communicate that work and leave all parties feeling good about it.

Editor's Note: This blog post was originally published in February 2017 but was updated for comprehensiveness and freshness in July 2021.

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The Leading Source of Insights On Business Model Strategy & Tech Business Models

Amazon Case Study – Tearing Down The Whole Business

Amazon runs a platform business model as a core model with several business units within . Some units, like Prime and the Advertising business, are highly tied to the e-commerce platform. For instance, Prime helps Amazon reward repeat customers, thus enhancing its platform business. Other units, like AWS , helped improve Amazon’s tech infrastructure.

Today Amazon is a tech giant who dominated the e-commerce business by offering a wide variety of products, at low cost, and with a delivery service propelled by its inventory management infrastructures, built over the years.

But, if Amazon is an extremely complex company, which can’t be easily labeled, how can we call its business model ?

Table of Contents

A platform business model at the core

Amazon business runs on top of a platform model (to understand what makes it a platform business read this ), built over the years, which takes advantage of network effects and flywheel effects .

At its core, Amazon has to keep attracting over and over billions of consumers across the globe on its platform and keep offering a broad variety of products.

As a two-sided platform , Amazon has also to keep its platform interesting to sellers, who are willing to showcase and sell their products directly on Amazon.

Indeed, over the years the company has experimented with many strategies, and among them, Amazon Prime and the seller services helped Amazon successfully transition toward a platform business.

While this platform business is the foundation of Amazon, what other key businesses exist today on top of that?

Amazon multi-layered business model

Let’s dive into the details of the different models used by Amazon for each of its segments and how some have a logic that ties them together.

For the sake of this analysis , we’ll look at four primary segments:

• Prime (media platform business)
• E-commerce : first-party, third-party, seller services (e-commerce/marketplace platform business)
• Advertising (media platform business)
• AWS (AI-ML platform business)

Those are all platforms business models, as they enjoy the network effects and scalability typical of a platform.

At the same time, they have different value propositions , customer segments, and resources to run successfully.

Prime media business in a nutshell

For instance, Prime is a media platform business running a subscription -based revenue generation, with recurring revenues.

Amazon Prime is a media and entertainment platform, yet its strategic business value goes way beyond that.

This platform targets content creators who have to be incentivized to feature their content on Amazon Prime.

While consumers are incentivized to join Amazon Prime to get movies, ebooks and free shipping on products that are fulfilled by Amazon .

Many see this program as an additional revenue stream that the company enjoys to enhance its revenues.

However, Amazon Prime is a program who has come up after many years of trial and errors by Amazon’s management to come up with ways to:

• reduce customers’ acquisition costs and facilitate repeat purchases : one of the major issues of building a digital platform (but also any other business) are customer acquisition costs and repeat purchases. A habitual Amazon customer buys many times a year. Therefore, shipping costs can easily eat up the convenience of buying on Amazon in the first place. How to prevent that? Cutting or removing those costs is the answer. While it’s hard to justify a membership program based solely on removing the cost of shipping. By offering a broad range of services (free ebooks, free movies and shows, and free shipping) all of a sudden you have an entertaining platform together with free shipping. Which makes the whole value proposition way more compelling.
• incentivize sellers to host their inventories with Amazon : so the company could guarantee fast delivery and lower prices, while also charging a service fee to those sellers. Also, by managing inventories of products from beginning to end. Those same sellers indeed can sell more as customers who have Amazon Prime might want to purchase as they won’t pay for shipping costs.
• make of Amazon a global consumer brand : digital platforms like Amazon have been extremely good at scaling up in a time when they had no resources compared to established brands. As Amazon scaled and consolidated its position in the market, it also started to invest more and more on its brand (in 2019 Amazon spent $11 billion in marketing ). In short, it moved from a solely practical value proposition (price and convenience) to culture-making by investing more and more on marketing and content to consolidate its global brand .

In short, the revenue stream generated by the model is the side effect of a program developed over the years to solve important issues of a business model that needed to keep providing more value to consumers as it scaled.

Advertising business in a nutshell

The advertising business is also a media business, which runs an attention-based revenue generation, which is performance-based (actions on the platforms like clicks, and impressions which get paid by advertisers).

To gain a bit of context, Amazon is among the largest players in the digital advertising business. This makes the platform more interesting to sellers who want to feature their products on top of Amazon listing or to leverage on Amazon transactional data to sell more.

Thus, the key player is the consumer and the ability of the platform to keep attracting billion of consumers across the world. The key customer is the seller willing to pay Amazon to get better placement and more visibility of its products.

E-commerce platform business in a nutshell

The e-commerce platform has within a first-party and third-party seller business.

The first-party comprises products with Amazon brand . Third-party products are those featured on Amazon but sold from outside stores.

Amazon also gives the option to those third-party sellers to manage their inventory directly within Amazon, from an additional fee on the products who are fulfilled directly by the company.

The e-commerce platform remains the foundation of the overall Amazon business and what makes Amazon among the most interesting companies in the world.

Amazon knows it well, and indeed, the whole Amazon flywheel starts from there. This is how a strategy for a complex platform can be simplified. As a platform, you might want to focus on a core stakeholder and transaction to make it scale.

It’s interesting to notice how the fact that Amazon was looking into a way to enable sellers to (thus transition toward a more scalable/ platform model) started with a random tinkering and turned into AWS.

AWS AI platform business in a nutshell

AWS is one of the Amazon massive experiment who turned into a successful business. Over the years, Amazon tested many ideas, also those ideas who were not just coming from customers’ requests , but by the vision of Amazon about what products could have passed the expectations of consumers.

AWS primarily sells computing, storage, database, and other services. Primarily a consumption-based service, Amazon AWS’s main stakeholders are developers, dev managers, ops managers, CIOs, chief digital officers, and chief information security officers.

Amazon AWS is also an AI-ML platform business whose success is the ability to attract developers to build ML tools in the cloud, which can be used by organizations and enterprises buying cloud services to scale their businesses with lower technological costs.

One example is Amazon SageMaker, a cloud machine-learning platform that makes it possible for developers to build those models, thus making the Amazon cloud services more attractive in the first place to enterprises buying cloud services.

Key takeaways from Amazon Case Study

Over the years Amazon has been able to build a complex multi-layered business model , based on several key partners , value propositions , infrastructures and revenue streams .

This is model is the fruit of a long-term vision , but not the result fo a pre-packaged design . Successful companies require tinkering and a lot of trial and error.

Many of those business units, over the years, might have grown as a side effect of figuring out a way to make Amazon a more scalable platform as it helped expand its product variety, convenience, thus align to its long-term vision in unpredictable ways:

Related business researches on Amazon

• Amazon Business Model
• What Is the Receivables Turnover Ratio? How Amazon Receivables Management Helps Its Explosive Growth
• Amazon Case Study: Why from Product to Subscription You Need to “Swallow the Fish”
• What Is Cash Conversion Cycle? Amazon Cash Machine Business Model Explained
• Why Is AWS so Important for Amazon Future Business Growth?
• Amazon Flywheel: Amazon Virtuous Cycle In A Nutshell
• Amazon Value Proposition In A Nutshell
• Why Amazon Is Doubling Down On AWS
• The Economics Of The Amazon Seller Business In A Nutshell
• How Much Is Amazon Advertising Business Worth?
• What Is the Cost per First Stream Metric? Amazon Prime Video Revenue Model Explained
• Jeff Bezos Teaches You When Judgment Is Better Than Math And Data
• Alibaba vs. Amazon Compared in a Single Infographic
• Amazon Mission Statement and Vision Statement In A Nutshell

More Resources

About The Author

Gennaro Cuofano

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How to Write a Case Study: Guide with Free Template + Examples

TABLE OF CONTENTS

What Is a Case Study & Why Is It Valuable?

In the business world, a case study is written or video content that tells the story of a successful customer transaction, relationship, or both. 

Case studies combine storytelling and data to offer social proof that your product is a viable solution to your target customers’ problems.

Let’s take Semrush’s SEO case study , “How an SEO Agency Helped an Artisan Bakery Increase Mobile Organic Traffic by 460%.” 

It sends a clear message:

Bakeries that don’t get enough mobile traffic can leverage Semrush tools to grow exponentially.

A compelling case study can win you new customers. 

Consider it a highly valuable business card—and an honest showcase of your positive impact in action. Which helps you earn the trust of your intended audience. 

To really reap the benefits of making case studies part of your content marketing strategy , it’s crucial to know how to write a case study effectively.

In this blog post, we’ll walk you through the essential steps for crafting a case study that can convert your prospects into loyal buyers.

How to Prepare a Case Study: A Step-by-Step Guide

Preparing a case study involves choosing the right customers to feature in your analysis. Plus gathering enough data, quotes, and information to narrate a compelling, real-lifesuccess story.

A great case study will contain five essential elements:

Without proper preparation, your case study won’t have enough details to be strongly relatable, convincing, or reassuring.

To help you streamline your process, use the prep section of our free case study template and follow the suggested research method below.

Step 1: Set Your Objectives

Specificity makes a case study more relatable and, therefore, more effective. 

Start by defining the reason you’re presenting this particular story to determine which specific solutions and features to highlight. 

For instance, a general objective like “showcase our solution in action” is a good start, but it doesn’t offer a lot of direction. 

What, specifically, will you highlight? What results do you hope to achieve? 

This is a good place to remember the SMART framework.

Say your business provides customer relationship management (CRM) software. Your overall goal: to expand your reach in the healthcare sector. 

If your existing healthcare customers often praise your workflow automation tools, you know automation matters to your target audience. So, efficiency could be an engaging case study topic.

For this case study, your objective may be: 

“Show how our workflow automation saved one hospital X hours per week and reduced errors to support our goal of getting 10 more healthcare subscribers by the end of the year.”

Customer interactions and reviews can offer great guidance on which features to spotlight to fulfill your objective. 

Look at your high-performing web content for inspiration, too. 

If Google Analytics ( or an alternative ) shows that a blog post on reducing data breach risks is your most popular, you’ll know that your audience values security. 

You could build a case study around security credentials to reassure those prospective buyers.

Step 2: Choose the Perfect Customer (and Get Them on Board)

The right subject for your story will play a pivotal role in showcasing your offering—helping you gain an edge over the competition.

A suitable customer is one that:

• Has a compelling story to tell . The customer has had a great experience with your product or a specific feature. They’re pleased with the results and happy to shout about it.
• Is typical of businesses in their sector . The customer is relatable to your target audience. They deal with the same challenges and have similar spending power.
• Is ready and able to talk . You have a strong relationship with this contact. They will help you pull the story together and have the authority to approve content for publishing.

Prioritize customers that came to you after experiencing your competitors—known as switchers. Their stories will highlight your competitive advantages and could sway a buyer who’s comparing options.

Choose a recognizable customer name if you can. This may help readers trust your business’s legitimacy. 

For instance, all of Asana’s case studies involve big-name customers. 

Image Source: Asana

This is despite the company having more than 139,000 users , many of which are small businesses.

Opt for a mix of business types, industries, and sizes that your company is keen to work with. 

For instance, if you typically target sales organizations but want to reach a marketing audience, choose stories with marketing elements or that involve marketing agencies.

Once you’ve decided on a compelling story to feature, get the customer on board by telling them your plan. 

Explain that you’ll need some input during the creation process but will do most of the work. Be clear that you’re proud of the relationship you’ve built with them and will use it to inspire others.

If they agree to help, move forward. If they decline, pick another company from your list. 

Step 3: Compile Your Customer and Story Information

Write down what you know about your customer, their relationship with your business, and how they’ve used your product. This information will help you plot your success story and identify any knowledge gaps.

Share a live notes document with your relevant team members and encourage their input. They may have additional customer or business insights that could prove useful to the case study.

Include details such as:

• The customer’s background . What does the company do and when was it formed? What is its market position? What are its industry’s classic challenges? 
• The exact product they use . What features does your customer use? What plan are they on? A premium account? Do they pay for extra add-ons?
• The date of their first purchase . How long have they been a customer? Loyalty is a powerful case study theme—use it if you can.
• Their interaction history . Support records will show if the customer has overcome issues while using your product. Check your CRM , ticketing system, or email accounts for details.
• The inspirational outcome . What inspired you to choose this customer as a case study subject? It could be a testimonial, a social media post, a passing comment, or direct feedback.

Use what you learn to inspire interview questions for the next step. 

Step 4: Interview Your Customer (Example Case Study Questions)

Speak directly to the customer to get any information you don’t already have. Ask questions that will make your case study content engaging and relatable.

Supplement your notes for the previous step with questions that’ll help you fill in the gaps for each section. Such as:

The interview process doesn’t need to be formal. The chat could even form part of a regular catch-up if the timing works. 

Record the conversation so you can refer back to it while writing. Like on Zoom . 

You may find you can take some direct quotes from your recording. If not, ask the customer for a testimonial you can use in the final content.

Step 5: Set the Customer’s Expectations

Let the customer know your next steps (e.g., writing and editing the content, sourcing direct interview quotations). Explain that you’ll be back in touch if you need any further information.

Provide a timeline so the customer is prepared to review your drafts, give extra detail, and seek further approval if necessary.

Be clear that you won’t take up much of the customer’s time as you don’t want to distract them. If the process were to become demanding for them, you risk souring your relationship. 

How to Structure Your Case Study

Follow a standardized process when creating any business case study to ensure you:

• Include all the core elements
• Keep your page content consistent and easily navigable

Follow the instructions in the case study structure section of our free template .

1. Choose a Descriptive and Specific Headline

A case study headline is the first thing readers see. Use yours to grab attention and set readers’ expectations. Otherwise, it could be the only part they see.

A good case study headline answers common questions that go through every reader’s head, like:

• Is this relevant to me?
• What will I learn?
• How will this help my business?

Take this Textel case study :

Image Source: Textel

The business texting platform uses just 77 characters to tell us a story, including:

• Who’s involved (“Valvoline...”)
• What they achieved (“Increases Coupon Send Rate by 76%”)
• How they did it (“with Textel’s MMS Picture Texting”)

From this information, readers can immediately determine whether the content is:

• Relevant: Either using the brand name (e.g., “I recognize this business; are we comparable?”) or the achievement (“I’d also like to increase my business’s coupon send rate”)
• Valuable: An impressive headline stat implies what’s possible for the reader

2. Highlight 3-5 Points Summarizing the Story and Its Results

Include a snapshot of results early on so people are encouraged to keep on reading. You can present them in a bullet list or even as custom icons.

For instance, if the headline in Textel’s case study isn’t enough, their “At a Glance” column allows readers to make sure the content is relevant to them.

Think of it as an executive summary of the main body copy. Putting it together is easy: just go through the finished content and pick out the most important points.

3. Include Relevant Images

Images serve to break up the text and engage readers. Use high-profile logos to communicate status quickly, screenshots of results, images of happy customers, or custom designs.

The Textel example takes up valuable real estate up front with a large image. 

It also includes the client’s logo. Valvoline’s chevron will be recognizable to its audience and can help build credibility. 

4. Introduce Your Customer

Give your case study context with a short introduction. Background information on the subject will paint a picture of your story’s main character.

Provide customer details such as their industry and product offering, company size, and location. Optional profile additions can include their mission statement and major milestones. 

This introduction helps readers care about the actions and achievements they’re preparing to explore. The more relatable your subject is, the more invested readers will be.

In one of its marketing case studies (“Local Hospital's Social Media Engagement Soars 892%”), marketing agency Captivate introduces its client with basic information on location, history, and purpose.

Image Source: Captivate

From then on, the reader can envisage the organization going through the challenges and receiving the benefits. The case study suddenly feels more real.

The final sentence in Captivate’s introduction adds a human element, encouraging the reader to empathize with the subject: 

“On top of treatment, Navicent maintains deep involvement in their community.”

The more color you provide here, the more potentially impactful your case study’s results will be. 

5. Describe the Challenge

The beginning of your story should lay out the customer’s problem: their difficult position before finding your product.

Ensure your customer is always the most important figure. Focus too much on yourself, and you’ll jeopardize the sincerity of your case study.

You don’t need to provide a lot of detail here. A couple of short paragraphs should give your outcomes enough context. 

Answer important questions like:

• What stood in the way of the customer achieving their goals? 
• What were the consequences?

Make the challenge relevant to your target audience by using language they can relate to and including your customer’s words.

Take this case study from Rev:

Image Source: Rev

The copy clearly states that without a reliable transcription service (i.e., Rev’s product), the client wasted time correcting the errors made by automation tech. 

Knowing there’s something significant at stake—in this case, employees’ time and students’ learning experiences—gives your audience a reason to continue reading.

Have the customer describe the challenge in their own words. It’s a great way to add honesty and emotion to your story, making it even more engaging and relatable.

6. Highlight Your Solution

This is where your business enters the customer story. 

Briefly introduce your product. Explain what it does and what makes it unique, then apply it to the problems your customer was experiencing. 

Here’s a hypothetical example:

“Our customer needed IT support for teams in different time zones to avoid service delays. Our 24/7 IT support package meant those teams could get the help they needed at any time, with 30-minute response times guaranteed.”

Talk about which teams or employees benefited from the product and how they used it. Details of any premium features or add-ons create an even clearer picture, ensuring readers understand how to achieve similar results. 

However, talk only about features that are relevant to the story’s theme. And link them to specific challenges the reader is likely to face. 

Sticking to only one or two features will keep readers focused on what you want them to take away. Otherwise, you risk distracting them.

Also, note that a solution can involve more than just a product’s tangible features.

The reader should know that your personalized service helped the customer’s business achieve something faster. Or that your smooth onboarding process minimized their disruption. 

If someone reading your case study has experienced bad service before, this knowledge might persuade them to convert.

7. Shout About the Outcome (Using Data to Illustrate)

Data is the best way to illustrate impact. It allows readers to tangibly compare their experiences with your customer’s.

All effective case studies have a happy ending. Explain how your customer is better off than before using your product, with real data to prove your point.

We use a lot of data in the artisan bakery SEO case study we mentioned earlier. 

Stats appear in the text (e.g., “By that time organic traffic to the bakery website had already increased by 214%”), but we also designed an infographic to make our achievements stand out:

Plus, we included more data to make our project’s outcome as tangible as possible for our readers.

These are the types of charts and graphs our audience (marketing agencies) is familiar with. The positive data in our case study is a clear demonstration of what’s possible with Semrush’s support.

8. Validate Your Story with a Strong Closing Statement

Summarize your results and get readers thinking about the next steps by showing where the featured client is heading now they’ve solved the problem. Don’t forget to include a call to action (CTA) .

Include an individual/employee name, job title, and first-hand comments to humanize your case study content.

You can weave customer comments throughout the piece to validate or expand your points. A direct quotation is also a great way to end your case study.

If they didn’t during your interview, ask your customer to summarize your product’s and your relationship’s impact on their business.

Global IT management platform Hofy uses a fully interview-based case study format. This final comment from its customer acts as a highly effective conclusion:

Image Source: Hofy

Key messages here include:

• Hofy’s unrivaled level of service
• The customer has no regrets
• The customer explicitly says, “I’m happy. Everyone’s happy. The users are super happy.”

Allowing your customer to conclude your case study gives readers one final reminder that this is an honest account involving a real, comparable business. 

If the comment is a glowing review like Hofy’s, it could even act as a subtle CTA.

Use These Three Case Study Examples for Inspiration

Captivating case studies from other businesses can provide valuable ideas for how to write a case analysis for your brand. Tips may include:

• Specific case study topics to cover
• The tone of voice you want to use
• Your case study’s visual layout
• Accompanying imagery to enhance your analysis

Here are three examples of great case study content to get you started.

Household Names: Adobe and The Home Depot

Adobe carried out an in-depth case study of a highly successful customer.

Image Source: Adobe

The first part alone has enough to engage and intrigue the reader:

• A snappy headline
• Three impressive takeaway stats
• A customer quotation and image
• A list of the products The Home Depot used

It then details all of the most important story elements in around 2,000 words. 

There are quotes throughout, explanations of achievements, and some impressive outcome figures at the end.

Key takeaways from this case study:

• Real customer headshots add a human element to your case studies
• Opening with a direct quote immediately emphasizes the customer, where your focus should be
• Internal links to product pages allow inspired readers to learn more about your offerings

Small-Business Success: ShipStation and The Burlap Bag

ShipStation appeals to its small-business audience in this case study of its work with the primarily soy candle selling store. 

Image Source: ShipStation

It summarizes the story using a small takeaway section on the right, allowing readers to check the relevance of this content quickly. 

Then, it explains the relationship in more detail using text, feel-good imagery, and embedded social media content.

• Video content can complement text to offer more authenticity
• You can set the tone with your choice of imagery
• Sometimes, all it takes is one impressive statistic to grab attention (“95% quicker label printing”)

Helping Customers Help Others: Semrush, Re:signal, and Learning with Experts

In this case study, we look beyond the immediate impact of our product. And explore how one of our partners has used Semrush tools to enhance its service. 

By doing so, we appeal to marketing agencies that aim to deliver high-quality customer experiences.

Our analysis uses simple language throughout. We illustrate our main points with metrics and screenshots that our target readers will immediately understand.

• A desirable headline statistic (59% organic traffic increase) inspires audiences to learn more
• Basic client introductions help set the scene and invite readers to relate quickly
• A scannable table of contents tells your target customer what to expect 

The Bottom Line on Writing Case Studies

While nailing how to write a business case study can take time, it’s an incredibly effective way of showing prospective customers you have the best solution to their problems.

Real-life examples and accounts of your product in action can instill trust in ways that other types of content can’t. They consolidate your reputation and make buyers more likely to convert.

So, maintain strong customer relationships, apply relevant market insights, look to other brands for inspiration, and follow the processes in this guide. The result: engaging, results-driven case studies to help your business grow.

Hacking the Case Interview

If you’re interviewing for a business role at Amazon, there is a good chance that you’ll receive at least one case study interview, also known as an Amazon case interview. Amazon roles that include case study interviews as part of the interview process include:

• Business Analyst
• Business Development
• Corporate Strategy
• Product Manager
• Product Marketing

To land an Amazon job offer, you’ll need to crush every single one of your case interviews. While Amazon case study interviews may seem ambiguous and challenging, know that they can be mastered with proper preparation.

If you are preparing for an upcoming Amazon case interview, we have you covered. In this comprehensive Amazon case interview guide, we’ll cover:

• What is an Amazon case study interview
• Why Amazon uses case study interviews
• The 6 steps to ace any Amazon case interview
• Amazon case interview tips
• Recommended Amazon case study interview resources

If you’re looking for a step-by-step shortcut to learn case interviews quickly, enroll in our case interview course . These insider strategies from a former Bain interviewer helped 30,000+ land tech and consulting offers while saving hundreds of hours of prep time.

What is an Amazon Case Study Interview?

Amazon case study interviews, also known as Amazon case interviews, are 20- to 30-minute exercises in which you are placed in a hypothetical business situation and are asked to find a solution or make a recommendation.

First, you’ll create a framework that shows the approach you would take to solve the case. Then, you’ll collaborate with the interviewer, answering a mix of quantitative and qualitative questions that will give you the information and data needed to develop an answer. Finally, you’ll deliver your recommendation at the end of the case.

Case interviews have traditionally been used by consulting firms to assess a candidate’s potential to become a successful consultant. However, now a days, many companies with ex-consultants use case studies to assess a candidate’s capabilities. Since Amazon has so many former consultants in its business roles, you’ll likely encounter at least one case study interview.

The business problems that you’ll be given in an Amazon case study interview will likely be real challenges that Amazon faces today:

• How can Amazon improve customer retention for their Amazon Prime subscription service?
• How can Amazon improve its digital streaming service?
• How can Amazon increase ad revenues from merchant sellers?
• How should Amazon deal with fake products among its product listings?
• How can Amazon Web Services outcompete Microsoft Azure?

Depending on what team at Amazon you are interviewing for, you may be given a business problem that is relevant to that specific team.

Although there is a wide range of business problems you could possibly be given in your Amazon case interview, the fundamental case interview strategies to solve each problem is the same. If you learn the right strategies and get enough practice, you’ll be able to solve any Amazon case study interview.

Why does Amazon Use Case Study Interviews?

Amazon uses case study interviews because your performance in a case study interview is a measure of how well you would do on the job. Amazon case interviews assess a variety of different capabilities and qualities needed to successfully complete job duties and responsibilities.

Amazon’s case study interviews primarily assess five things:

• Logical, structured thinking : Can you structure complex problems in a clear, simple way?
• Analytical problem solving : Can you read, interpret, and analyze data well?
• Business acumen : Do you have sound business judgment and intuition?
• Communication skills : Can you communicate clearly, concisely, and articulately?
• Personality and cultural fit : Are you coachable and easy to work with?

Since all of these qualities can be assessed in just a 20- to 30-minute case, Amazon case study interviews are an effective way to assess a candidate’s capabilities.

In order to do well on the personality and cultural fit portion, you should familiarize yourself with  Amazon’s Leadership Principles before your interview. At a high level, these principles include:

• Customer obsession : Leaders start with the customer and work backwards
• Ownership : Leaders are owners and act on behalf of the entire company
• Invent and simplify : Leaders expect and require innovation and invention from their teams and always find ways to simplify
• Learn and be curious : Leaders are never done learning and always seek to improve themselves
• Insist on the highest standards : Leaders have relentlessly high standards
• Think big : Leaders create and communicate a bold direction that inspires results
• Frugality : Accomplish more with less
• Earn trust : Leaders listen attentively, speak candidly, and treat others respectfully
• Dive deep : Leaders operate at all levels and stay connected to the details
• Deliver results : Leaders focus on key inputs for their business and deliver them with the right quality and in a timely fashion

The 6 Steps to Solve Any Amazon Case Interview

In general, there are six steps to solve any Amazon case study interview.

1. Understand the case

Your Amazon case interview will begin with the interviewer giving you the case background information. While the interviewer is speaking, make sure that you are taking meticulous notes on the most important pieces of information. Focus on understanding the context of the situation and the objective of the case.

Don’t be afraid to ask clarifying questions if you do not understand something. You may want to summarize the case background information back to the interviewer to confirm your understanding of the case.

The most important part of this step is to verify the objective of the case. Not answering the right business question is the quickest way to fail a case interview.

2. Structure the problem

The next step is to develop a framework to help you solve the case. A framework is a tool that helps you structure and break down complex problems into smaller, more manageable components. Another way to think about frameworks is brainstorming different ideas and organizing them into different categories.

For a complete guide on how to create tailored and unique frameworks for each case, check out our article on case interview frameworks .

Before you start developing your framework, it is completely acceptable to ask the interviewer for a few minutes so that you can collect your thoughts and think about the problem.

Once you have identified the major issues or areas that you need to explore, walk the interviewer through your framework. They may ask a few questions or provide some feedback.

3. Kick off the case

Once you have finished presenting your framework, you’ll start diving into different areas of your framework to begin solving the case. How this process will start depends on whether the case interview is candidate-led or interviewer-led.

If the case interview is a candidate-led case, you’ll be expected to propose what area of your framework to start investigating. So, propose an area and provide a reason for why you want to start with that area. There is generally no right or wrong area of your framework to pick first.

If the case interview is interviewer-led, the interviewer will tell you what area of the framework to start in or directly give you a question to answer.

4. Solve quantitative problems

Amazon case study interviews may have some quantitative aspect to them. For example, you may be asked to calculate a certain profitability or financial metric. You could also be asked to estimate the size of a particular market or to estimate a particular figure.

The key to solving quantitative problems is to lay out a structure or approach upfront with the interviewer before doing any math calculations. If you lay out and present your structure to solve the quantitative problem and the interviewer approves of it, the rest of the problem is just simple execution of math.

5. Answer qualitative questions

Amazon case study interviews may also have qualitative aspects to them. You may be asked to brainstorm a list of potential ideas. You could also be asked to provide your opinion on a business issue or situation.

The key to answering qualitative questions is to structure your answer. When brainstorming a list of ideas, develop a structure to help you neatly categorize all of your ideas. When giving your opinion on a business issue or situation, provide a summary of your stance or position and then enumerate the reasons that support it.

6. Deliver a recommendation

In the last step of the Amazon case interview, you’ll present your recommendation and provide the major reasons that support it. You do not need to recap everything that you have done in the case, so focus on only summarizing the facts that are most important.

It is also good practice to include potential next steps that you would take if you had more time or data. These can be areas of your framework that you did not have time to explore or lingering questions that you do not have great answers for.

Amazon Case Interview Tips

Below are eight of our best tips to help you perform your best during your Amazon case study interview.

1. Familiarize yourself with Amazon’s business model

If you don’t understand Amazon’s business model, it will be challenging for you to do well in their case interviews. If you are interviewing for the Amazon Web Services team, you should know how Amazon makes money as a cloud service provider. If you are interviewing for the Amazon Prime team, you should be familiar with how their subscription service works.

2. Read recent news articles on Amazon

A lot of the times, the cases you’ll see in an Amazon case study interview are real business issues that the company faces. Reading up on the latest Amazon news will give you a sense of what Amazon’s biggest challenges are and what major business decisions they face today. There is a good chance that your case study interview will be similar to something that you have read in the news.

3. Verify the objective of the case 

Answering the wrong business problem will waste a lot of time during your Amazon case study interview. Therefore, the most critical step of the case interview is to verify the objective of the case with the interviewer. Make sure that you understand what the primary business issue is and what overall question you are expected to answer at the end of the case.

4. Ask clarifying questions

Do not be afraid to ask questions. You will not be penalized for asking questions that are important and relevant to the case. 

Great questions to ask include asking for the definition of an unfamiliar term, asking questions that clarify the objective of the case, and asking questions to strengthen your understanding of the business situation.

5. Do not use memorized frameworks

Interviewers can tell when you are using memorized frameworks from popular case interview prep books. Amazon values creativity and intellect. Therefore, make every effort to create a custom, tailored framework for each case that you get.

6. Always connect your answers to the case objective

Throughout the case, make sure you are connecting each of your answers back to the overall business problem or question. What implications does your answer have on the overall business problem?

Many candidates make the mistake of answering case questions correctly, but they don’t take the initiative to tie their answer back to the case objective.

7. Communicate clearly and concisely

In an Amazon case study interview, it can be tempting to answer the interviewer’s question and then continue talking about related topics or ideas. However, you have a limited amount of time to solve an Amazon case, so it is best to keep your answers concise and to the point.

Answer the interviewer’s question, summarize how it impacts the case objective, and then move onto the next important issue or question.

8. Be enthusiastic

Amazon wants to hire candidates that love their job and will work hard. Displaying enthusiasm shows that you are passionate about working at Amazon. Having a high level of enthusiasm and energy also makes the interview more enjoyable for the interviewer. They will be more likely to have a positive impression of you.

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Amazon Case

In what ways does Bezos’s decision to develop and deliver the Kindle and Kindle Fire show systematic and intuitive thinking? I think that Bezo’s decision to develop and to deliver the Kindle show systematic and intuitive thinking through competitive strategy to assure the success of the company. Competitive strategy refers to a strategy that is designed to create value for customers by providing lower prices or unique features not offered by rival organizations.

This is proven based on Amazon ‘s quarterly filing ending March 31 ,2010 when their net sales had increased to 45% in the electronics category. Jeff Bezo, CEO of Amazon. com says ” as we continue to offer increased selection, lower prices and additional product lines within our electronics and other general merchandise category, we expect to see the relative mix of sales from this category increase! ” Another reason would be seeing an opportunity only Amazon. com can give long form reading to be digitalized.

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They have analyzed their strengths and capacities that helped them develop a new innovation in the market. From there, they were able to produce a refined product called Kindle that has the ability to review nd remember more what a person reads follow people of interest and allows one to see their Public notes and manage his books, highlights, and notes.

Question 2 How do you describe the competitive risk in Amazon’s environment as Wal-Mart, Barnes and Noble, and other retailers strengthen their online offerings?

Having the most of the services that Amazon provides myself it is my go to place for every time I am trying to make a purchase. In my opinion, since Amazon has established a great amount of customers and being the one of the most organized and friendly online place where you can purchase practically anything, it will be hard or other competitors to achieve such results. Also the greatest benefit to some people is not paying taxes on the products that they purchase which is currently being disused by the Government to have amazon costumers to pay a tax.

Question 3 Amazon is continuously looking for new markets to exploit. As CEO Bezos addresses the strategic opportunity of delivering streaming video, he calls on you for advice.

Amazon’s presence and technology are already established in this market. But what decision error and traps might cause him to make the wrong decisions regarding Amazon’s future moves, and why? What can he do to best avoid these mistakes? Question 4 What are the latest initiatives coming out of Amazon? How do they stack up in relation to actual or potential competition?

How has the decision to produce the Fire turned out? Is Bezos making the right decisions as he guides the firm through todays many business challenges? Latest initiatives that are coming out, is Prime membership. The benefits include: FREE Two-Day Shipping on eligible items. Note: If the item you’re ordering is out of stock or unavailable to ship, we’ll get it to you two days after it’s back in stock. Remember to check the cut-off time shown on the detail page. Items are delivered every day but Sunday, and orders over $1300 may require a signature.

FREE Standard Shipping on eligible items. FREE No-Rush Delivery (typical delivery one week after placing an order). Note: You may receive promotional credit for selecting No-Rush Shipping. Credit will be automatically applied to your Amazon. com account once the first package from a No- Rush Shipping-eligible order ships. You’ll receive an e-mail as soon as the credit is available.

You may select No-Rush Shipping as many times as it’s offered to you, but ou won’t be eligible for the credit if you cancel your No-Rush Shipping order or return items from it.

Shipping Upgrades to expedite delivery. Free Prime Instant Video access for paid or free trial members in the U. S. and Puerto Rico.

Note: Instant Video isn’t available to customers receiving free Amazon Prime shipping benefits through Amazon Student, Amazon Mom, or as guests of another membership. Kindle Owners’ Lending Library access to members in the U. S. For more information, go to Kindle Owners’ Lending Library. Note: Customers in a paid membership, free rial or receiving a free month of Prime benefits with a Kindle Fire activation are eligible.

The Kindle device must be associated with the Prime account that’s eligible for the benefit. Early access for members in the U. S. to download a new book for free every month from the Kindle First picks. For more information, go to Kindle First. An estimated 200 million fire tablets have been shipped worldwide since 2009 and another 1 billion are predicted to ship over the next five years.

Market intelligence firm ABI Research estimates that 22% of the U. S. tablet users spend $50 or more per onth and 9% spend $100 or more – much higher than the spending levels observed for smartphone users.

Related posts:

• Kindle Fire Amazon
• Amazon business model case study
• Case Study- The Amazon of Innovation
• Amazon, a customer-centric company
• Amazon.Com Case Study 3
• Amazon Case Study 2
• Amazon.com Case study

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Customer Stories / Software & Internet

Canva Helps Enterprises Redefine Brand Management and Collaboration with Design Tools Powered by AWS

Overview | Opportunity | Solution | Outcome | AWS Services Used

Supports collaboration

Largest user to date, delivers performance.

Delivers strong application performance for tens of thousands of users

Security and compliance

Support global businesses.

Expands to support global businesses

Creating presentations, brochures, or logos used to mean relying on a graphic designer, marketing department, or expensive, complex software application. Canva has changed the game. The visual communications platform, used by 65 million people in 190 countries, allows anyone to design. Taking advantage of a simple user interface, people can quickly drag and drop items from a content library containing thousands of templates and build their own custom-designed presentation, logo, or even T-shirt. “We are rooted in the idea of making design accessible to everyday people, which is why we created a simple and easy-to-use platform,” says John Eitel, global vice president of sales and success at Canva.

Canva has always offered a free version of its software, but in 2015 the company introduced Canva Pro, a subscription version for small and medium businesses and entrepreneurs. “Most small and medium businesses can’t afford designers and access to expensive design tools,” Eitel says. “Canva Pro provides access to an extensive range of design tools and templates, as well as a wide range of creative elements to help small businesses do their work more effectively.”

Opportunity | Launches Canva for Enterprise on AWS

After launching Canva Pro, Canva sought to respond to the needs of larger enterprises. “We found that enterprises had a lot of design projects in their pipeline, but their sales and marketing teams were waiting up to eight weeks for simple edits and changes to be implemented by designers,” says Eitel. “That gave us the idea to offer a new enterprise solution.”

As Canva began to develop Canva for Enterprise, the company sharpened its focus on reliability, security, and scalability. “Those are the three main things enterprises are looking for,” Eitel says. “They need to ensure their distributed global teams can access designs at all times, and we need to assure users that they can scale as their teams grow, in a secure way.”

To meet these needs, Canva knew it would run Canva for Enterprise on Amazon Web Services (AWS) Cloud, which has been the company’s preferred cloud for its free and Pro versions since its inception. Canva uses AWS services including  Amazon Elastic Container Service  (Amazon ECS) for image processing and  Amazon Simple Storage Service  (Amazon S3) for data storage. Additionally, it relies on  Amazon SageMaker  and  Amazon Personalize  for personalization of the user experience and  Amazon Inspector  for security assessments. “AWS has always provided scalability, enhanced security, and high availability,” says Jim Tyrrell, head of Infrastructure at Canva.

Being on AWS gives us credibility in the enterprise space by enabling us to check every box and answer our users’ security questions confidently.”

John Eitel Global Vice President of Sales and Success, Canva

Solution | Drives Scalability and Doubles Business Growth

Canva launched Canva for Enterprise in November 2019, offering an enterprise platform designed to help large teams collaborate more effectively. Brands using Canva for Enterprise include HubSpot, PayPal, Danone, and Warner Music Group. Using this version of the platform, teams of up to thousands of users can share designs and create together seamlessly no matter where they are located. Teams using Canva have tripled the number of presentations in the past year, and teams create more than 6 million presentations in Canva each week. Jenn Proud, head of Global Marketing Design for HubSpot, says, “There's so much rapid scaling happening, the only way for a design team to keep up is to create infrastructure around design. Canva has been the perfect solution for that without having to build something custom on our own.”

By running Canva for Enterprise on AWS, Canva is confident the platform can easily expand. “We’ve recently launched innovative new features around presentations and video, which led to increased requirements for computational power and storage. We would never have been able to scale this solution without AWS,” Tyrrell says. That scalability has also enabled Canva to rapidly grow its business. The company has doubled in size by employees and revenue every year since its launch, and has seen a 320 percent increase in both paid and freemium users of the online platform over the past year. “We’re seeing a lot of success for Canva for Enterprise in verticals such as real estate, media & entertainment, consumer packaged goods, and technology,” says Eitel. “We’re currently onboarding our largest team and largest user so far, and we have no concerns about scaling to support that.”

Outcome | Ensures Reliable Collaboration and Performance for Enterprises

Canva ensures a seamless experience for its Canva Pro and Enterprise users by running on multiple AWS Regions and Availability Zones for high availability. “Our users depend on our solution to collaborate, and we have to make sure our users are not getting locked out of the system,” says Eitel. “We’ve tested our Enterprise platform with teams of tens of thousands of users and never encountered issues.”

This reliability also enhances the performance needs of the company’s design users. “If users can’t access their designs or the platform is lagging or slow to respond, they will find another solution. But because of the way we have architected our solution on AWS, our users can easily share designs and collaborate” says Tyrrell.

Meets Enterprises Security and Compliance Requirements

To offer Canva for Enterprise as a secure platform, the business uses AWS Identity and Access Management (AWS IAM) to securely manage access to AWS services and AWS Key Management Service (AWS KMS) to encrypt data. “Enterprises have compliance teams and tight regulatory requirements, and they can’t purchase a tool like ours if we don’t meet their expectations,” Eitel says. “Being on AWS gives us credibility in the enterprise space by enabling us to check every box and answer our users’ security questions confidently.”

Additionally, Canva ensures compliance by taking advantage of AWS Regions. “We have sales teams for Canva for Enterprise in Australia, the United States, and China. We’ll also be launching in Europe and Latin America soon,” says Eitel. “Knowing we can expand our business with AWS Global Infrastructure, especially if we need to comply with different data privacy regulations, eases my mind.” 

Looking ahead, Canva plans to introduce new video editing capabilities, such as a background remover for online videos. Eitel says, “We’ll continue to help our global users collaborate on video while performing complex editing tasks, supporting these capabilities with the power of our platform on AWS.”

 To learn more, visit  aws.amazon.com/websites .

About Canva

Based in Australia, Canva is a global visual communication platform that empowers the world to design. Its Canva Pro and Canva for Enterprise solutions empower millions of businesses to unlock their creativity and achieve their goals.

AWS Services Used

Amazon elastic container service.

Amazon ECS is a fully managed container orchestration service that makes it easy for you to deploy, manage, and scale containerized applications.

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Amazon Simple Storage Service

Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) is an object storage service offering industry-leading scalability, data availability, security, and performance.

AWS Identity and Access Management

AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) provides fine-grained access control across all of AWS. With IAM, you can specify who can access which services and resources, and under which conditions.

AWS Key Management Service

AWS Key Management Service (KMS) makes it easy for you to create and manage cryptographic keys and control their use across a wide range of AWS services and in your applications.

Explore Canva's journey of innovation using AWS

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