HubSpot maintains a robust customer success story program. They publish 20–30 case studies each year about how satisfied customers use HubSpot to grow their businesses.
Since 2020, Case Study Buddy has been a key partner in capturing those stories and turning them into powerful case studies. Together, we…
🎯 Generated 3X more case studies per month
🎯 Freed up 100+ hours/month for the marketing team
🎯 Exceeded HubSpot’s coverage gap goals by 26%
Sam Cahoon, Associate Product Marketing Manager, says none of this would have been possible without Case Study Buddy’s airtight process.
“When I met Case Study Buddy, I was immediately floored by how seamless they made the entire process.”
CHALLENGE
Q: What did you think when you took over HubSpot’s case study program?
Sam: It sounded daunting from the start. There are over nine different steps that go into a single case study; it’s an extremely time-consuming, complex, and detail-oriented process, especially when you consider that the North American team alone produces 20–30 case studies each year.
Q: Why is creating a customer success story so complicated?
Sam: There are so many parts to this process: reaching out to the customer, creating questions that align with product positioning, conducting the interview, taking detailed notes, writing up the case study, doing a review that includes the customer to make sure we’re telling a story they want to tell, handling revisions, and then actually publishing and promoting the case study. It’s a lot to take on!
Q: What did you think of HubSpot’s pre-existing relationship with Case Study Buddy when you transitioned into the role?
Sam: At first, I thought, “I really hope they are easy to work with or this might just be impossible.” [laughs] But when I met Case Study Buddy, I was truly floored by how seamless they made the entire process.
Q: Why was Case Study Buddy involved in the first place?
Sam: Case Study Buddy added efficiency, reliability, and thoughtfulness to the entire case study process. We had so many different customer stories that we wanted to create. For example, we wanted stories focused on Sales Hub or Marketing Hub and we wanted to showcase our buzziest brands. But there was no standardized process to make that happen or unified approach to case study creation. That’s why we partnered with Case Study Buddy.
“I’ve been able to save 25 hours a week through the help of Case Study Buddy.”
SOLUTION
Q: Can you describe how you collaborate with Case Study Buddy on a typical project?
Sam: We confirm the customers to highlight and choose the coverage gaps and positioning that we’d like to focus on for each story.
After that, Case Study Buddy handles the customer coordination, conducts the interview, writes up case studies that are powerful, customized and full of proof, coordinates the review process, and then delivers them to our inbox for us to publish.
I was so relieved. The partnership with Case Study Buddy made my job as a product marketer significantly simpler and more impactful.
Q: Does the partnership save you time on production?
Sam: Case Study Buddy has freed so much of my time as a product marketer. I’ve been able to save 25 hours a week through the help of Case Study Buddy relieving so many of the stressful and more time-consuming elements of case study creation. I can focus more on creativity, distribution and strategy, while they handle the majority of coordination, project management, and in-depth, customer–specific research that goes into each case study.
Q: What’s the best part of working with Case Study Buddy?
Sam: In working with Case Study Buddy, we were given a project manager. Her name is Julie. And with every single project, I’ve seen 100% reliability, professionalism, and just perfect customer coordination.
It’s a great representation of HubSpot’s own values, and a big part of why I place so much trust in the Case Study Buddy team to handle any project, no matter the size.
“Today, we no longer have those problems because of Case Study Buddy’s portal and tip-top project management.”
Q: Why is good project management so important?
Sam: At any given moment, we have up to 12 projects ongoing from 10 different regions requiring input from 15+ stakeholders. Without Case Study Buddy, it would be an overwhelming amount to manage.
In the past, we would be talking about dozens, maybe hundreds, of email chains, and communication across multiple continents. Handling all of that is rather complex. Today, we no longer have those problems because of Case Study Buddy’s portal and tip-top project management.
Q: You were one of the first customers onboarded into Case Study Buddy’s new client portal. What did you think?
Sam: The client portal is a game changer. For any case study, I can see everyone who’s involved in production, what part of the process they’re in, and receive constant updates to keep our stakeholders informed.
We’ve been able to organize all of our different projects going on at any given time. I can immediately see, update by update, everything that’s going on and provide constant updates to my management team and everyone who’s involved with the case study process.
“With Case Study Buddy’s help, we are able to create 3X as many case studies on a monthly basis as we could before.”
RESULTS
Q: Has offloading so much of the case study creation process to Case Study Buddy increased your output?
Sam: With Case Study Buddy’s help, we’re able to create 3X as many case studies on a monthly basis as we could before. They make the process so organized and stress-free.
Q: You create so many case studies that you must believe in their impact. How are you measuring their success?
Sam: We track attributed revenue, views, and coverage gap goals. When it comes to monthly recurring revenue attributed to our case studies, we were able to exceed our target by 74% with the help of Case Study Buddy. We didn’t just hit our coverage gap goals this year, we skyrocketed past them.
Q: What’s the long-term value of this partnership?
Sam: The case studies that Case Study Buddy creates are a never-ending gift because we use them in sales and marketing. We use them in every element of our sales outreach process, in every element of closing a deal, in releasing a new product, and in providing customer proof for our existing products.
Q: Would you recommend Case Study Buddy to others?
Sam: Yes, because Case Study Buddy has proven adaptable and relentlessly open to feedback. We can trust them with any customer, from the biggest brand to the smallest, niche user, and they’ll create a perfect end product from start to finish.
“We didn’t just hit our coverage gap goals this year, we skyrocketed past them.”
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