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100 Best Case Study Questions for Your Next Customer Spotlight

Published: November 29, 2022

Case studies and testimonials are helpful to have in your arsenal. But to build an effective library, you need to ask the right case study questions. You also need to know how to write a case study .

Case studies are customers' stories that your sales team can use to share relevant content with prospects . Not only that, but case studies help you earn a prospect's trust, show them what life would be like as your customer, and validate that your product or service works for your clients.

Before you start building your library of case studies, check out our list of 100 case study questions to ask your clients. With this helpful guide, you'll have the know-how to build your narrative using the " Problem-Agitate-Solve " Method.

What makes a good case study questionnaire?

The ultimate list of case study questions, how to ask your customer for a case study, creating an effective case study.

Certain key elements make up a good case study questionnaire.

A questionnaire should never feel like an interrogation. Instead, aim to structure your case study questions like a conversation. Some of the essential things that your questionnaire should cover include:

• The problem faced by the client before choosing your organization.
• Why they chose your company.
• How your product solved the problem clients faced.
• The measurable results of the service provided.
• Data and metrics that prove the success of your service or product, if possible.

You can adapt these considerations based on how your customers use your product and the specific answers or quotes that you want to receive.

What makes a good case study question?

A good case study question delivers a powerful message to leads in the decision stage of your prospective buyer's journey.

Since your client has agreed to participate in a case study, they're likely enthusiastic about the service you provide. Thus, a good case study question hands the reins over to the client and opens a conversation.

Try asking open-ended questions to encourage your client to talk about the excellent service or product you provide.

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Categories for the Best Case Study Questions

• Case study questions about the customer's business
• Case study questions about the environment before the purchase
• Case study questions about the decision process
• Case study questions about the customer's business case
• Case study questions about the buying team and internal advocates
• Case study questions about customer success
• Case study questions about product feedback
• Case study questions about willingness to make referrals
• Case study question to prompt quote-worthy feedback
• Case study questions about the customers' future goals

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Case Study Interview Questions About the Customer's Business

Knowing the customer's business is an excellent way of setting the tone for a case study.

Use these questions to get some background information about the company and its business goals. This information can be used to introduce the business at the beginning of the case study — plus, future prospects might resonate with their stories and become leads for you.

• Would you give me a quick overview of [company]? This is an opportunity for the client to describe their business in their own words. You'll get useful background information and it's an easy prompt to get the client talking.
• Can you describe your role? This will give you a better idea of the responsibilities they are subject to.
• How do your role and team fit into the company and its goals? Knowing how the team functions to achieve company goals will help you formulate how your solution involves all stakeholders.
• How long has your company been in business? Getting this information will help the reader gauge if pain points are specific to a startup or new company vs. a veteran company.
• How many employees do you have? Another great descriptor for readers to have. They can compare the featured company size with their own.
• Is your company revenue available? If so, what is it? This will give your readers background information on the featured company's gross sales.
• Who is your target customer? Knowing who the target audience is will help you provide a better overview of their market for your case study readers.
• How does our product help your team or company achieve its objectives? This is one of the most important questions because it is the basis of the case study. Get specifics on how your product provided a solution for your client. You want to be able to say "X company implemented our solution and achieved Y. "
• How are our companies aligned (mission, strategy, culture, etc.)? If any attributes of your company's mission or culture appealed to the client, call it out.

How many people are on your team? What are their roles? This will help describe key players within the organization and their impact on the implementation of your solution.

Case Study Interview Questions About the Environment Before the Purchase

A good case study is designed to build trust. Ask clients to describe the tools and processes they used before your product or service. These kinds of case study questions will highlight the business' need they had to fulfill and appeal to future clients.

• What was your team's process prior to using our product? This will give the reader a baseline to compare the results for your company's product.
• Were there any costs associated with the process prior to using our product? Was it more expensive? Was it worth the cost? How did the product affect the client's bottom line? This will be a useful metric to disclose if your company saved the client money or was more cost-efficient.
• What were the major pain points of your process prior to using our product? Describe these obstacles in detail. You want the reader to get as much information on the problem as possible as it sets up the reasoning for why your company's solution was implemented.
• Did our product replace a similar tool or is this the first time your team is using a product like this? Were they using a similar product? If so, having this information may give readers a reason to choose your brand over the competition.
• What other challenges were you and your team experiencing prior to using our product? The more details you can give readers regarding the client's struggles, the better. You want to paint a full picture of the challenges the client faced and how your company resolved them.
• Were there any concerns about how your customers would be impacted by using our product? Getting answers to this question will illustrate to readers the client's concerns about switching to your service. Your readers may have similar concerns and reading how your client worked through this process will be helpful.
• Why didn't you buy our product or a similar product earlier? Have the client describe any hesitations they had using your product. Their concerns may be relatable to potential leads.
• Were there any "dealbreakers" involved in your decision to become a customer? Describing how your company was able to provide a solution that worked within those parameters demonstrates how accommodating your brand is and how you put the customer first. It's also great to illustrate any unique challenges the client had. This better explains their situation to the reader.
• Did you have to make any changes you weren't anticipating once you became a customer? Readers of your case study can learn how switching to your product came with some unexpected changes (good or bad) and how they navigated them. If you helped your client with troubleshooting, ask them to explain that here.

How has your perception of the product changed since you've become a customer? Get the interviewee to describe how your product changed how they do business. This includes how your product accomplished what they previously thought was impossible.

Case Study Interview Questions About the Decision Process

Readers of the case study will be interested in which factors influenced the decision-making process for the client. If they can relate to that process, there's a bigger chance they'll buy your product.

The answers to these questions will help potential customers through their decision-making process.

• How did you hear about our product? If the client chose to work with you based on a recommendation or another positive case study, include that. It will demonstrate that you are a trusted brand with an established reputation for delivering results.
• How long had you been looking for a solution to this problem? This will add to the reader's understanding of how these particular challenges impacted the company before choosing your product.
• Were you comparing alternative solutions? Which ones? This will demonstrate to readers that the client explored other options before choosing your company.
• Would you describe a few of the reasons you decided to buy our product? Ask the interviewee to describe why they chose your product over the competition and any benefits your company offered that made you stand out.
• What were the criteria you used when deciding to buy our product? This will give readers more background insight into the factors that impacted their decision-making process.
• Were there any high-level initiatives or goals that prompted the decision to buy? For example, was this decision motivated by a company-wide vision? Prompt your clients to discuss what lead to the decision to work with you and how you're the obvious choice.
• What was the buying process like? Did you notice anything exceptional or any points of friction? This is an opportunity for the client to comment on how seamless and easy you make the buying process. Get them to describe what went well from start to finish.
• How would you have changed the buying process, if at all? This is an opportunity for you to fine-tune your process to accommodate future buyers.
• Who on your team was involved in the buying process? This will give readers more background on the key players involved from executives to project managers. With this information, readers can see who they may potentially need to involve in the decision-making process on their teams.

Case Study Interview Questions About the Customer's Business Case

Your case study questions should ask about your product or solution's impact on the customer's employees, teams, metrics, and goals. These questions allow the client to praise the value of your service and tell others exactly what benefits they derived from it.

When readers review your product or service's impact on the client, it enforces the belief that the case study is credible.

• How long have you been using our product? This will help readers gauge how long it took to see results and your overall satisfaction with the product or service.
• How many different people at your company use our product? This will help readers gauge how they can adapt the product to their teams if similar in size.
• Are there multiple departments or teams using our product? This will demonstrate how great of an impact your product has made across departments.
• How do you and your team currently use the product? What types of goals or tasks are you using the product to accomplish? Get specifics on how the product actively helps the client achieve their goals.
• If other teams or departments are using our product, do you know how they're using it? With this information, leads can picture how they can use your product across their teams and how it may improve their workflow and metrics.
• What was the most obvious advantage you felt our product offered during the sales process? The interviewee should explain the benefits they've gained from using your product or service. This is important for convincing other leads you are better than the competition.
• Were there any other advantages you discovered after using the product more regularly? Your interviewee may have experienced some additional benefits from using your product. Have them describe in detail what these advantages are and how they've helped the company improve.
• Are there any metrics or KPIs you track with our product? What are they? The more numbers and data the client can provide, the better.
• Were you tracking any metrics prior to using our product? What were they? This will allow readers to get a clear, before-and-after comparison of using your product.
• How has our product impacted your core metrics? This is an opportunity for your clients to drive home how your product assisted them in hitting their metrics and goals.

Case Study Interview Questions About the Buying Team and Internal Advocates

See if there are any individuals at the customer's company who are advocates for your product.

• Are there any additional team members you consider to be advocates for our product? For example, does anyone stick out as a "power user" or product expert on your team? You may want to interview and include these power users in your case study as well. Consider asking them for tips on using your service or product.
• Is there anyone else on your team you think we should talk to? Again, the more people can share their experience using your product, the better.
• Are there any team members who you think might not be the biggest fans of our product or who might need more training? Providing extra support to those struggling with your product may improve their user experience and turn into an opportunity to not only learn about their obstacles but turn them into a product fan
• Would you share some details about how your team implemented our product? Get as much information as possible about the rollout. Hopefully, they'll gush about how seamless the process was.
• Who from your company was involved in implementing our product? This will give readers more insight into who needs to be involved for a successful rollout of their own.
• Were there any internal risks or additional costs involved with implementing our product? If so, how did you address them? This will give insight into the client's process and rollout and this case study question will likely provide tips on what potential leads should be on the lookout for.
• Is there a training process in place for your team's use of our product? If so, what does it look like? If your company provided support and training to the client, have them describe that experience.
• About how long does it take a new team member to get up to speed with our product? This will help leads determine how much time it will take to onboard an employee to your using your product. If a new user can quickly get started seamlessly, it bodes well for you.
• What was your main concern about rolling this product out to your company? Describing their challenges in detail will provide readers with useful insight.

Case Study Interview Questions About Customer Success

Has the customer found success with your product? Ask these questions to learn more.

• By using our product can you measure any reduced costs? If it has, you'll want to emphasize those savings in your case study.
• By using our product can you measure any improvements in productivity or time savings? Any metrics or specific stories your interviewee can provide will help demonstrate the value of your product.
• By using our product can you measure any increases in revenue or growth? Again, say it with numbers and data whenever possible.
• Are you likely to recommend our product to a friend or colleague? Recommendations from existing customers are some of the best marketing you can get.
• How has our product impacted your success? Your team's success? Getting the interviewee to describe how your product played an integral role in solving their challenges will show leads that they can also have success using your product.
• In the beginning, you had XYZ concerns; how do you feel about them now? Let them explain how working with your company eliminated those concerns.
• I noticed your team is currently doing XYZ with our product. Tell me more about how that helps your business. Illustrate to your readers how current customers are using your product to solve additional challenges. It will convey how versatile your product is.
• Have you thought about using our product for a new use case with your team or at your company? The more examples of use cases the client can provide, the better.
• How do you measure the value our product provides? Have the interviewee illustrate what metrics they use to gauge the product's success and how. Data is helpful, but you should go beyond the numbers. Maybe your product improved company morale and how teams work together.

Case Study Interview Questions About Product Feedback

Ask the customer if they'd recommend your product to others. A strong recommendation will help potential clients be more open to purchasing your product.

• How do other companies in this industry solve the problems you had before you purchased our product? This will give you insight into how other companies may be functioning without your product and how you can assist them.
• Have you ever talked about our product to any of your clients or peers? What did you say? This can provide you with more leads and a chance to get a referral.
• Why would you recommend our product to a friend or client? Be sure they pinpoint which features they would highlight in a recommendation.
• Can you think of any use cases your customers might have for our product? Similar industries may have similar issues that need solutions. Your interviewee may be able to provide a use case you haven't come up with.
• What is your advice for other teams or companies who are tackling problems similar to those you had before you purchased our product? This is another opportunity for your client to talk up your product or service.
• Do you know someone in X industry who has similar problems to the ones you had prior to using our product? The client can make an introduction so you can interview them about their experience as well.
• I noticed you work with Company Y. Do you know if they are having any pain points with these processes? This will help you learn how your product has impacted your client's customers and gain insight into what can be improved.
• Does your company participate in any partner or referral programs? Having a strong referral program will help you increase leads and improve customer retention.
• Can I send you a referral kit as a thank-you for making a referral and give you the tools to refer someone to us? This is a great strategy to request a referral while rewarding your existing customers.
• Are you interested in working with us to produce additional marketing content? The more opportunities you can showcase happy customers, the better.

Case Study Interview Questions About Willingness to Make Referrals

• How likely are you to recommend our product to a friend or client? Ideally, they would definitely refer your product to someone they know.
• Can you think of any use cases your customers might have for our product? Again, your interviewee is a great source for more leads. Similar industries may have similar issues that need solutions. They may be able to provide a use case you haven't come up with.
• I noticed you work with Company Y; do you know if they are having any pain points with these processes? This will help you learn how your product has impacted your client's customers and gain insight into what can be improved.

Case Study Interview Questions to Prompt Quote-Worthy Feedback

Enhance your case study with quotable soundbites from the customer. By asking these questions, prospects have more insight into other clients and their success with your product — which helps build trust.

• How would you describe your process in one sentence prior to using our product? Ideally, this sentence would quickly and descriptively sum up the most prominent pain point or challenge with the previous process.
• What is your advice to others who might be considering our product? Readers can learn from your customer's experience.
• What would your team's workflow or process be like without our product? This will drive home the value your product provides and how essential it is to their business.
• Do you think the investment in our product was worthwhile? Why? Have your customer make the case for the value you provide.
• What would you say if we told you our product would soon be unavailable? What would this mean to you? Again, this illustrates how integral your product is to their business.
• How would you describe our product if you were explaining it to a friend? Your customers can often distill the value of your product to their friends better than you can.
• What do you love about your job? Your company? This gives the reader more background on your customer and their industry.
• What was the worst part of your process before you started using our product? Ideally, they'd reiterate how your product helped solve this challenge.
• What do you love about our product? Another great way to get the customer's opinion about what makes your product worth it.
• Why do you do business with us? Hopefully, your interviewee will share how wonderful your business relationship is.

Case Study Interview Questions About the Customers' Future Goals

Ask the customer about their goals, challenges, and plans for the future. This will provide insight into how a business can grow with your product.

• What are the biggest challenges on the horizon for your industry? Chances are potential leads within the same industry will have similar challenges.
• What are your goals for the next three months? Knowing their short-term goals will enable your company to get some quick wins for the client.
• How would you like to use our product to meet those challenges and goals? This will help potential leads understand that your product can help their business as they scale and grow.
• Is there anything we can do to help you and your team meet your goals? If you haven't covered it already, this will allow your interviewee to express how you can better assist them.
• Do you think you will buy more, less, or about the same amount of our product next year? This can help you gauge how your product is used and why.
• What are the growth plans for your company this year? Your team? This will help you gain insight into how your product can help them achieve future goals.
• How can we help you meet your long-term goals? Getting specifics on the needs of your clients will help you create a unique solution designed for their needs.
• What is the long-term impact of using our product? Get their feedback on how your product has created a lasting impact.
• Are there any initiatives that you personally would like to achieve that our product or team can help with? Again, you want to continue to provide products that help your customers excel.
• What will you need from us in the future? This will help you anticipate the customer's business needs.
• Is there anything we can do to improve our product or process for working together in the future? The more feedback you can get about what is and isn't working, the better.

Before you can start putting together your case study, you need to ask your customer's permission.

If you have a customer who's seen success with your product, reach out to them. Use this template to get started:

Thank you & quick request

Hi [customer name],

Thanks again for your business — working with you to [solve X, launch Y, take advantage of Z opportunity] has been extremely rewarding, and I'm looking forward to more collaboration in the future.

[Name of your company] is building a library of case studies to include on our site. We're looking for successful companies using [product] to solve interesting challenges, and your team immediately came to mind. Are you open to [customer company name] being featured?

It should be a lightweight process — [I, a product marketer] will ask you roughly [10, 15, 20] questions via email or phone about your experience and results. This case study will include a blurb about your company and a link to your homepage (which hopefully will make your SEO team happy!)

In any case, thank you again for the chance to work with you, and I hope you have a great week.

[Your name]

If one of your customers has recently passed along some praise (to you, their account manager, your boss; on an online forum; to another potential customer; etc.), then send them a version of this email:

Hey [customer name],

Thanks for the great feedback — I'm really glad to hear [product] is working well for you and that [customer company name] is getting the results you're looking for.

My team is actually in the process of building out our library of case studies, and I'd love to include your story. Happy to provide more details if you're potentially interested.

Either way, thank you again, and I look forward to getting more updates on your progress.

You can also find potential case study customers by usage or product data. For instance, maybe you see a company you sold to 10 months ago just bought eight more seats or upgraded to a new tier. Clearly, they're happy with the solution. Try this template:

I saw you just [invested in our X product; added Y more users; achieved Z product milestone]. Congratulations! I'd love to share your story using [product] with the world -- I think it's a great example of how our product + a dedicated team and a good strategy can achieve awesome results.

Are you open to being featured? If so, I'll send along more details.

Case Study Benefits

• Case studies are a form of customer advocacy.
• Case studies provide a joint-promotion opportunity.
• Case studies are easily sharable.
• Case studies build rapport with your customers.
• Case studies are less opinionated than customer reviews.

1. Case studies are a form of customer advocacy.

If you haven't noticed, customers aren't always quick to trust a brand's advertisements and sales strategies.

With every other brand claiming to be the best in the business, it's hard to sort exaggeration from reality.

This is the most important reason why case studies are effective. They are testimonials from your customers of your service. If someone is considering your business, a case study is a much more convincing piece of marketing or sales material than traditional advertising.

2. Case studies provide a joint-promotion opportunity.

Your business isn't the only one that benefits from a case study. Customers participating in case studies benefit, too.

Think about it. Case studies are free advertisements for your customers, not to mention the SEO factor, too. While they're not promoting their products or services, they're still getting the word out about their business. And, the case study highlights how successful their business is — showing interested leads that they're on the up and up.

3. Case studies are easily sharable.

No matter your role on the sales team, case studies are great to have on hand. You can easily share them with leads, prospects, and clients.

Whether you embed them on your website or save them as a PDF, you can simply send a link to share your case study with others. They can share that link with their peers and colleagues, and so on.

Case studies can also be useful during a sales pitch. In sales, timing is everything. If a customer is explaining a problem that was solved and discussed in your case study, you can quickly find the document and share it with them.

4. Case studies build rapport with your customers.

While case studies are very useful, they do require some back and forth with your customers to obtain the exact feedback you're looking for.

Even though time is involved, the good news is this builds rapport with your most loyal customers. You get to know them on a personal level, and they'll become more than just your most valuable clients.

And, the better the rapport you have with them, the more likely they'll be to recommend your business, products, or services to others.

5. Case studies are less opinionated than customer reviews.

Data is the difference between a case study and a review. Customer reviews are typically based on the customer's opinion of your brand. While they might write a glowing review, it's completely subjective and there's rarely empirical evidence supporting their claim.

Case studies, on the other hand, are more data-driven. While they'll still talk about how great your brand is, they support this claim with quantitative data that's relevant to the reader. It's hard to argue with data.

An effective case study must be genuine and credible. Your case study should explain why certain customers are the right fit for your business and how your company can help meet their specific needs. That way, someone in a similar situation can use your case study as a testimonial for why they should choose your business.

Use the case study questions above to create an ideal customer case study questionnaire. By asking your customers the right questions, you can obtain valuable feedback that can be shared with potential leads and convert them into loyal customers.

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in June 2021 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

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47 case interview examples (from McKinsey, BCG, Bain, etc.)

One of the best ways to prepare for   case interviews  at firms like McKinsey, BCG, or Bain, is by studying case interview examples. 

There are a lot of free sample cases out there, but it's really hard to know where to start. So in this article, we have listed all the best free case examples available, in one place.

The below list of resources includes interactive case interview samples provided by consulting firms, video case interview demonstrations, case books, and materials developed by the team here at IGotAnOffer. Let's continue to the list.

• McKinsey examples
• BCG examples
• Bain examples
• Deloitte examples
• Other firms' examples
• Case books from consulting clubs
• Case interview preparation

Click here to practise 1-on-1 with MBB ex-interviewers

1. mckinsey case interview examples.

• Beautify case interview (McKinsey website)
• Diconsa case interview (McKinsey website)
• Electro-light case interview (McKinsey website)
• GlobaPharm case interview (McKinsey website)
• National Education case interview (McKinsey website)
• Talbot Trucks case interview (McKinsey website)
• Shops Corporation case interview (McKinsey website)
• Conservation Forever case interview (McKinsey website)
• McKinsey case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)
• McKinsey live case interview extract (by IGotAnOffer) - See below

2. BCG case interview examples

• Foods Inc and GenCo case samples  (BCG website)
• Chateau Boomerang written case interview  (BCG website)
• BCG case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)
• Written cases guide (by IGotAnOffer)
• BCG live case interview with notes (by IGotAnOffer)
• BCG mock case interview with ex-BCG associate director - Public sector case (by IGotAnOffer)
• BCG mock case interview: Revenue problem case (by IGotAnOffer) - See below

3. Bain case interview examples

• CoffeeCo practice case (Bain website)
• FashionCo practice case (Bain website)
• Associate Consultant mock interview video (Bain website)
• Consultant mock interview video (Bain website)
• Written case interview tips (Bain website)
• Bain case interview guide   (by IGotAnOffer)
• Digital transformation case with ex-Bain consultant
• Bain case mock interview with ex-Bain manager (below)

4. Deloitte case interview examples

• Engagement Strategy practice case (Deloitte website)
• Recreation Unlimited practice case (Deloitte website)
• Strategic Vision practice case (Deloitte website)
• Retail Strategy practice case  (Deloitte website)
• Finance Strategy practice case  (Deloitte website)
• Talent Management practice case (Deloitte website)
• Enterprise Resource Management practice case (Deloitte website)
• Footloose written case  (by Deloitte)
• Deloitte case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)

5. Accenture case interview examples

• Case interview workbook (by Accenture)
• Accenture case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)

6. OC&C case interview examples

• Leisure Club case example (by OC&C)
• Imported Spirits case example (by OC&C)

7. Oliver Wyman case interview examples

• Wumbleworld case sample (Oliver Wyman website)
• Aqualine case sample (Oliver Wyman website)
• Oliver Wyman case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)

8. A.T. Kearney case interview examples

• Promotion planning case question (A.T. Kearney website)
• Consulting case book and examples (by A.T. Kearney)
• AT Kearney case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)

9. Strategy& / PWC case interview examples

• Presentation overview with sample questions (by Strategy& / PWC)
• Strategy& / PWC case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)

10. L.E.K. Consulting case interview examples

• Case interview example video walkthrough   (L.E.K. website)
• Market sizing case example video walkthrough  (L.E.K. website)

11. Roland Berger case interview examples

• Transit oriented development case webinar part 1  (Roland Berger website)
• Transit oriented development case webinar part 2   (Roland Berger website)
• 3D printed hip implants case webinar part 1   (Roland Berger website)
• 3D printed hip implants case webinar part 2   (Roland Berger website)
• Roland Berger case interview guide   (by IGotAnOffer)

12. Capital One case interview examples

• Case interview example video walkthrough  (Capital One website)
• Capital One case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)

12. EY Parthenon case interview examples

• Candidate-led case example with feedback (by IGotAnOffer)

14. Consulting clubs case interview examples

• Berkeley case book (2006)
• Columbia case book (2006)
• Darden case book (2012)
• Darden case book (2018)
• Duke case book (2010)
• Duke case book (2014)
• ESADE case book (2011)
• Goizueta case book (2006)
• Illinois case book (2015)
• LBS case book (2006)
• MIT case book (2001)
• Notre Dame case book (2017)
• Ross case book (2010)
• Wharton case book (2010)

Practice with experts

Using case interview examples is a key part of your interview preparation, but it isn’t enough.

At some point you’ll want to practise with friends or family who can give some useful feedback. However, if you really want the best possible preparation for your case interview, you'll also want to work with ex-consultants who have experience running interviews at McKinsey, Bain, BCG, etc.

If you know anyone who fits that description, fantastic! But for most of us, it's tough to find the right connections to make this happen. And it might also be difficult to practice multiple hours with that person unless you know them really well.

Here's the good news. We've already made the connections for you. We’ve created a coaching service where you can do mock case interviews 1-on-1 with ex-interviewers from MBB firms . Start scheduling sessions today!

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What are the most common case study interview questions at McKinsey, BCG and Bain?

If you’re preparing to interview at a top management consulting firm like McKinsey, BCG or Bain (MBB), you might be wondering what kind of questions you can expect to receive in your case interviews .

In this article we take a look at the most common types of case questions asked by interviewers at the world’s top-3 consulting firms. We also consider how you can develop the skill of structuring answers to case questions.

The 10 most common case interview questions

To identify the most common case interview questions posed by interviewers at McKinsey, BCG and Bain, we surveyed CaseCoach users who interviewed at one of the firms for a generalist role in 2023. We found that 90% of the 260+ case interviews reported by respondents fell into one of 10 question types:

The respondents in our study all interviewed for generalist consulting positions at McKinsey, BCG and Bain. It’s no coincidence that the case interview questions that they were asked align to the typical challenges and opportunities faced by CEOs.

However, it’s important to bear in mind that this is not an exhaustive list. If you’re interviewing for a practice-focused role on the firms’ expert career track you may be given cases that focus on your area of specialization, rather than the topics in our list.

Your target firm and location may also have a bearing on the type of cases you are given. This is because MBB offices tend to use the work they have done for clients to develop their case questions for candidates.

Knowing the frameworks that correspond to these questions is critical

As a management consulting candidate, it’s vital that you have an understanding of the issues behind the most common case questions and know the frameworks for tackling them inside out.

In our Interview Prep Course, we provide detailed examples of how to structure these questions at the beginning of a case interview. We also explain how different circumstances should influence your approach.

You can learn more about structuring frameworks for specific types of cases in our articles on mastering profitability questions , answering revenue growth questions and nailing market sizing question s.

You can also find examples of the following types of cases in our Case Library :

• Profit improvement
• Market entry
• Mergers and acquisitions
• Response to a competitive threat

If you’re not a CaseCoach subscriber, you can gain access to these examples by signing up for a free account.

You must be able to create custom approaches to answering case study interview questions

When it comes to answering a case question effectively, applying a framework in a ‘cookie-cutter’ fashion simply won’t allow you to give the best possible answer or impress your interviewer with your structuring skills.

In fact, respondents in our survey reported that many of the cases they received could be assigned to several case types and could not be solved by applying an off-the-shelf framework. A profitability question may have a focus on market growth or launching a product, for example. To structure a response to this kind of question, candidates need to combine several frameworks and use them as building blocks for creating their answer.

Even common questions require a custom approach: a profitability question that relates to a chain of restaurants, for example, will naturally require a different approach to a question on the same topic in the manufacturing industry.

Interviewers want to understand how your mind works and to see you think on your feet. Increasingly, they are using non-traditional cases (such as those set in the public sector) to test this. Ten percent of the respondents in our survey couldn’t assign the questions they had faced to a particular case type, suggesting that they were given an unusual problem to solve.

As a candidate, you’ll need to demonstrate that you are capable of proposing a custom structure to any case question, rather than simply relying on a framework.

What does a good custom structure look like?

An effective structure should focus on the right question and then break it down into an exhaustive set of independent drivers. The structure should also provide an approach to solving the case and supply helpful insights. In other words, it should pass ‘the AIM test’:

• Answer-focused: a strong case structure will be focused on the right question and will provide an approach to solving the case.
• Insightful: the structure should be tailored to the specific situation posed by the case question and should provide helpful insights.
• MECE: this stands for ‘mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive’. A good MECE structure will break the question down into an exhaustive set of independent drivers that neither overlap nor omit anything important.

You should use the AIM test as a guide for structuring your answers to case questions. If your structure meets all the criteria, it should provide a strong foundation upon which to solve the case. You can learn more in our article on case structuring and how to do it effectively .

Structuring skills take time and practice to develop

Building the muscle required to structure answers to a wide range of case questions, combine frameworks and develop your own approach to solving non-traditional cases takes a great deal of preparation.

First, you need to build an inventory of frameworks that you can use as building blocks to develop custom structures. You can do this by watching the structuring lectures in our Interview Prep Course , which covers topics such as the AIM test, business and academic frameworks, and using logical approaches to craft bespoke structures for unusual cases.

You then need to gain exposure to a variety of cases. You can choose from the 100+ questions in our Case Library and then schedule a practice session with a partner from our diverse community of top candidates in our Practice Room .

Structuring is one of the case interview skills you can practice alone in addition to practicing with a partner. Our Interview Prep Course includes 60+ structuring drills – which provide multiple solutions to each problem – to help you do this.

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What Is a Case Study?

What is a case study interview, how to prep for a case study interview, case study interview example questions, during the case study interview.

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Forage puts students first. Our blog articles are written independently by our editorial team. They have not been paid for or sponsored by our partners. See our full  editorial guidelines .

Table of Contents

A case study interview isn’t your average interview. While most interviews ask you to give examples of how you use your skills on the job, in a case study interview, you’ll use those skills in front of the interviewer to solve a real-life problem.

It’s like auditioning for the school play. But instead of showing you can sing and dance, you’re using a case interview to show how you provide innovative solutions to pressing business problems. Not sure how to get ready for this kind of interview? We’ve got you covered. This guide explains how to prep for a case study interview.

Case studies are used across a variety of industries — everything from business to medicine. They are an in-depth examination, analysis, and critique of a real-world scenario the company experienced. People discuss the situation and explore what they learned while forming new solutions to try when they face a similar situation in the future and hope to improve their performance.

For example, doctors and nurses use case studies to improve how they diagnose and treat patients. Using real patient information, the medical team analyzes the case to see what the team may have missed and why they missed it. Learning from these errors helps the team better prepare for similar cases in the future to improve patient care.

While many industries use case studies to iterate and improve their performance, not every company uses case study interviews. This type of interview is very common at consulting companies (no matter what kind of consulting it is). But it’s not unusual for companies outside of consulting to use case interviews for marketing or operations roles.

In a case study interview, you’re given a real-world situation the company has faced and are tasked with analyzing it and suggesting a course of action.

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Skills you’ll build: Prioritizing, planning, data analysis, error spotting, communication, strategic thinking

Businesses use case study interviews to assess your abilities in real-time. While you’ll probably draw on a variety of skills, most case study interviews assess:

• Strategic thinking
• Analytical skills
• Common sense

The advantage of a case study interview is that the interviewer can evaluate your ability in each of these areas and see how you’ll actually use them on the job.

What Is a Fit Interview?

Some people use “case study interview” and “fit interview” interchangeably. While a fit interview and a case study interview both ask behavioral interview questions , they are not the same thing.

A case study interview assesses your ability to do the job. It primarily evaluates how you approach business problems and use your skills to solve them. A fit interview is about company culture fit. The interviewer asks questions that assess how well you’ll fit into the company, like asking you questions about what motivates you or how you lead .

Fit and case interviews are important parts of the evaluation process. Getting the job done is just as critical as getting along with coworkers and supporting the company’s mission. Depending on where you interview, you may have one fit interview and one case study interview, or the fit interview may be a smaller part of the case study interview.

What You’ll Learn in a Case Study Interview

A case study interview allows the hiring manager to see your skills in action and how you approach business challenges. But it also teaches you a lot about the company (even if you’re doing most of the talking).

In a sense, you’re behaving as an employee during a case study interview. This gives you a peek behind the curtain, allowing you to see the company’s inner workings, like how they approach business problems and what they expect from you and your performance.

For example, you may offer a novel approach to solving a problem during a case interview. How does the interviewer react to it? Are they impressed? Surprised? Is there a scowl or frown on their face? Their reaction gives you insights into how the company will likely receive your solutions.

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Skills you’ll build: Critical thinking, creativity, brainstorming

Depending on the specific company, you may have the case study interview questions in advance, but you may not. Whether you do or don’t, here’s how to prepare for a case study interview.

Conduct Deep Research

Good interview prep for any interview means researching the company. That includes things like learning more about the company’s mission and the challenges the industry faces. But when you’re preparing for a case study interview, your research needs to go deeper. 

When you answer a case study question, your answer has to be specific to the company’s clients or business objectives. For example, if you’re interviewing for a role in strategy consulting , your answer shouldn’t focus on aspects of human resources consulting (unless it’s particularly relevant).

Your research needs to include the kinds of clients the company works with and what types of problems the company solves. For example, the company may only consult for Fortune 100 companies that need accounting advice. Keep these facts in mind as you prepare for the interview.

Case Study Interview Formats

There are four types of case study interview formats:

• Candidate-led: The interviewer asks you a specific question (or gives you a prompt), and you walk the interviewer through a detailed answer.
• Employer-led: The interviewer leads you through a series of specific (and predetermined) prompts and questions, no matter your answers.
• Presentation: You’re given a problem in advance to create and present a detailed case study.
• Video: Similar to a presentation case study interview, you’ll create a video presentation of the case study.

Most companies will tell you in advance which style of case study interview you should prepare for. But if they don’t, reach out to your recruiter or check the company’s website. Many include the essential details you need to prepare for the case study interview.

Seek Out Company-Specific Tips

Speaking of companies and their websites, not only do many companies that use case study interviews tell you the format, they often include helpful tips and tricks to help candidates prepare. This includes what to expect, what the company is looking for skill-wise, and what kinds of responses they want. They may even have a few practice questions and videos you can use to help you prep.

Unlike other common interview questions , it’s not as easy to prepare an answer to case study interview questions. Even though you know it’s a case study interview, you don’t necessarily know the specifics of the case or what problems you’ll be asked to solve.

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That said, it’s likely your case study interview questions will cover one or several of these concepts:

• Entering new markets
• Increasing profits
• Cutting costs
• Turnarounds
• Mergers and acquisitions
• Pricing strategy
• Developing new products
• Industry analysis
• Competitive response

While there are many ways to answer case study interview questions, a few basic prep tips can help you get ready for every question.

In addition to what you usually bring to a job interview , make sure you bring a notepad and pen or pencil to a case study interview. Taking notes will help you better understand the questions and formulate your answers. It also gives you a place to calculate numbers and figures if you need to. Not every case study interview allows calculators, so you’ll need to be ready to do your calculations manually.

Ask Specific Questions

As you’re working through the case study, you can and should ask any clarifying questions you need. The interviewer wants to hear specific, detailed answers that solve the problem. So, whenever you’re unclear, ask a follow-up question to not only get what you need but to give the interviewer what they need. 

That said, your question(s) should be very specific. You need to verify exactly what the interview is asking so you can create an appropriate answer. Say the interviewer gives you a broad question: The client’s revenue is falling. How do you help them increase it? You can follow up with a very specific question or two to make sure you understand what the interviewer is asking:

You’re asking how I would help the client raise revenue, correct? Are you also asking how I would help them increase their profit and cut costs?

>>Related: 5 Top Questions to Ask in an Interview (and Why You Should Ask Them)

Talk Them Through It

A big part of the case study interview is seeing you in action. However, in this case, “see” really means “how you think.” Since the interviewer can’t hear your inner monologue, you’ll need to practice thinking out loud.

While the interviewer wants to hear your solution, they also want to hear how you got there. That means talking through your entire thought process. Instead of saying, “I’d do X,” you have to explain how you arrived at your decision while you’re getting there.

Because not everyone thinks out loud, it may feel unnatural to you, and you likely won’t be expected to do it on the job. But it’s crucial to practice this skill — and it is a skill — because the interviewer is expecting you to do it in a case study interview.

Want to give a case study a shot? Try out a Forage consulting virtual simulation program and gain the skills you’ll need to ace a case study interview.

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2024 Guide: 23 Data Science Case Study Interview Questions (with Solutions)

Case studies are often the most challenging aspect of data science interview processes. They are crafted to resemble a company’s existing or previous projects, assessing a candidate’s ability to tackle prompts, convey their insights, and navigate obstacles.

To excel in data science case study interviews, practice is crucial. It will enable you to develop strategies for approaching case studies, asking the right questions to your interviewer, and providing responses that showcase your skills while adhering to time constraints.

The best way of doing this is by using a framework for answering case studies. For example, you could use the product metrics framework and the A/B testing framework to answer most case studies that come up in data science interviews.

There are four main types of data science case studies:

• Product Case Studies - This type of case study tackles a specific product or feature offering, often tied to the interviewing company. Interviewers are generally looking for a sense of business sense geared towards product metrics.
• Data Analytics Case Study Questions - Data analytics case studies ask you to propose possible metrics in order to investigate an analytics problem. Additionally, you must write a SQL query to pull your proposed metrics, and then perform analysis using the data you queried, just as you would do in the role.
• Modeling and Machine Learning Case Studies - Modeling case studies are more varied and focus on assessing your intuition for building models around business problems.
• Business Case Questions - Similar to product questions, business cases tackle issues or opportunities specific to the organization that is interviewing you. Often, candidates must assess the best option for a certain business plan being proposed, and formulate a process for solving the specific problem.

How Case Study Interviews Are Conducted

Oftentimes as an interviewee, you want to know the setting and format in which to expect the above questions to be asked. Unfortunately, this is company-specific: Some prefer real-time settings, where candidates actively work through a prompt after receiving it, while others offer some period of days (say, a week) before settling in for a presentation of your findings.

It is therefore important to have a system for answering these questions that will accommodate all possible formats, such that you are prepared for any set of circumstances (we provide such a framework below).

Why Are Case Study Questions Asked?

Case studies assess your thought process in answering data science questions. Specifically, interviewers want to see that you have the ability to think on your feet, and to work through real-world problems that likely do not have a right or wrong answer. Real-world case studies that are affecting businesses are not binary; there is no black-and-white, yes-or-no answer. This is why it is important that you can demonstrate decisiveness in your investigations, as well as show your capacity to consider impacts and topics from a variety of angles. Once you are in the role, you will be dealing directly with the ambiguity at the heart of decision-making.

Perhaps most importantly, case interviews assess your ability to effectively communicate your conclusions. On the job, data scientists exchange information across teams and divisions, so a significant part of the interviewer’s focus will be on how you process and explain your answer.

Quick tip: Because case questions in data science interviews tend to be product- and company-focused, it is extremely beneficial to research current projects and developments across different divisions , as these initiatives might end up as the case study topic.

How to Answer Data Science Case Study Questions (The Framework)

There are four main steps to tackling case questions in Data Science interviews, regardless of the type: clarify, make assumptions, gather context, and provide data points and analysis.

Step 1: Clarify

Clarifying is used to gather more information . More often than not, these case studies are designed to be confusing and vague. There will be unorganized data intentionally supplemented with extraneous or omitted information, so it is the candidate’s responsibility to dig deeper, filter out bad information, and fill gaps. Interviewers will be observing how an applicant asks questions and reach their solution.

For example, with a product question, you might take into consideration:

• What is the product?
• How does the product work?
• How does the product align with the business itself?

Step 2: Make Assumptions

When you have made sure that you have evaluated and understand the dataset, start investigating and discarding possible hypotheses. Developing insights on the product at this stage complements your ability to glean information from the dataset, and the exploration of your ideas is paramount to forming a successful hypothesis. You should be communicating your hypotheses with the interviewer, such that they can provide clarifying remarks on how the business views the product, and to help you discard unworkable lines of inquiry. If we continue to think about a product question, some important questions to evaluate and draw conclusions from include:

• Who uses the product? Why?
• What are the goals of the product?
• How does the product interact with other services or goods the company offers?

The goal of this is to reduce the scope of the problem at hand, and ask the interviewer questions upfront that allow you to tackle the meat of the problem instead of focusing on less consequential edge cases.

Step 3: Propose a Solution

Now that a hypothesis is formed that has incorporated the dataset and an understanding of the business-related context, it is time to apply that knowledge in forming a solution. Remember, the hypothesis is simply a refined version of the problem that uses the data on hand as its basis to being solved. The solution you create can target this narrow problem, and you can have full faith that it is addressing the core of the case study question.

Keep in mind that there isn’t a single expected solution, and as such, there is a certain freedom here to determine the exact path for investigation.

Step 4: Provide Data Points and Analysis

Finally, providing data points and analysis in support of your solution involves choosing and prioritizing a main metric. As with all prior factors, this step must be tied back to the hypothesis and the main goal of the problem. From that foundation, it is important to trace through and analyze different examples– from the main metric–in order to validate the hypothesis.

Quick tip: Every case question tends to have multiple solutions. Therefore, you should absolutely consider and communicate any potential trade-offs of your chosen method. Be sure you are communicating the pros and cons of your approach.

Note: In some special cases, solutions will also be assessed on the ability to convey information in layman’s terms. Regardless of the structure, applicants should always be prepared to solve through the framework outlined above in order to answer the prompt.

The Role of Effective Communication

There have been multiple articles and discussions conducted by interviewers behind the Data Science Case Study portion, and they all boil down success in case studies to one main factor: effective communication.

All the analysis in the world will not help if interviewees cannot verbally work through and highlight their thought process within the case study. Again, interviewers are keyed at this stage of the hiring process to look for well-developed “soft-skills” and problem-solving capabilities. Demonstrating those traits is key to succeeding in this round.

To this end, the best advice possible would be to practice actively going through example case studies, such as those available in the Interview Query questions bank . Exploring different topics with a friend in an interview-like setting with cold recall (no Googling in between!) will be uncomfortable and awkward, but it will also help reveal weaknesses in fleshing out the investigation.

Don’t worry if the first few times are terrible! Developing a rhythm will help with gaining self-confidence as you become better at assessing and learning through these sessions.

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Product Case Study Questions

With product data science case questions , the interviewer wants to get an idea of your product sense intuition. Specifically, these questions assess your ability to identify which metrics should be proposed in order to understand a product.

1. How would you measure the success of private stories on Instagram, where only certain close friends can see the story?

Start by answering: What is the goal of the private story feature on Instagram? You can’t evaluate “success” without knowing what the initial objective of the product was, to begin with.

One specific goal of this feature would be to drive engagement. A private story could potentially increase interactions between users, and grow awareness of the feature.

Now, what types of metrics might you propose to assess user engagement? For a high-level overview, we could look at:

• Average stories per user per day
• Average Close Friends stories per user per day

However, we would also want to further bucket our users to see the effect that Close Friends stories have on user engagement. By bucketing users by age, date joined, or another metric, we could see how engagement is affected within certain populations, giving us insight on success that could be lost if looking at the overall population.

2. How would you measure the success of acquiring new users through a 30-day free trial at Netflix?

More context: Netflix is offering a promotion where users can enroll in a 30-day free trial. After 30 days, customers will automatically be charged based on their selected package. How would you measure acquisition success, and what metrics would you propose to measure the success of the free trial?

One way we can frame the concept specifically to this problem is to think about controllable inputs, external drivers, and then the observable output . Start with the major goals of Netflix:

• Acquiring new users to their subscription plan.
• Decreasing churn and increasing retention.

Looking at acquisition output metrics specifically, there are several top-level stats that we can look at, including:

• Conversion rate percentage
• Cost per free trial acquisition
• Daily conversion rate

With these conversion metrics, we would also want to bucket users by cohort. This would help us see the percentage of free users who were acquired, as well as retention by cohort.

3. How would you measure the success of Facebook Groups?

Start by considering the key function of Facebook Groups . You could say that Groups are a way for users to connect with other users through a shared interest or real-life relationship. Therefore, the user’s goal is to experience a sense of community, which will also drive our business goal of increasing user engagement.

What general engagement metrics can we associate with this value? An objective metric like Groups monthly active users would help us see if Facebook Groups user base is increasing or decreasing. Plus, we could monitor metrics like posting, commenting, and sharing rates.

There are other products that Groups impact, however, specifically the Newsfeed. We need to consider Newsfeed quality and examine if updates from Groups clog up the content pipeline and if users prioritize those updates over other Newsfeed items. This evaluation will give us a better sense of if Groups actually contribute to higher engagement levels.

4. How would you analyze the effectiveness of a new LinkedIn chat feature that shows a “green dot” for active users?

Note: Given engineering constraints, the new feature is impossible to A/B test before release. When you approach case study questions, remember always to clarify any vague terms. In this case, “effectiveness” is very vague. To help you define that term, you would want first to consider what the goal is of adding a green dot to LinkedIn chat.

5. How would you diagnose why weekly active users are up 5%, but email notification open rates are down 2%?

What assumptions can you make about the relationship between weekly active users and email open rates? With a case question like this, you would want to first answer that line of inquiry before proceeding.

Hint: Open rate can decrease when its numerator decreases (fewer people open emails) or its denominator increases (more emails are sent overall). Taking these two factors into account, what are some hypotheses we can make about our decrease in the open rate compared to our increase in weekly active users?

6. Let’s say you’re working on Facebook Groups. A product manager decides to add threading to comments on group posts. We see comments per user increase by 10% but posts go down 2%. Why would that be?

To approach this question, consider the impact of threading on user behavior and engagement. Analyze how threading changes the way users interact with posts and comments. Identify relevant metrics such as the number of comments per post, new post frequency, user engagement, and duplicate posts to test your hypotheses about these behavioral changes.

Data Analytics Case Study Questions

Data analytics case studies ask you to dive into analytics problems. Typically these questions ask you to examine metrics trade-offs or investigate changes in metrics. In addition to proposing metrics, you also have to write SQL queries to generate the metrics, which is why they are sometimes referred to as SQL case study questions .

7. Using the provided data, generate some specific recommendations on how DoorDash can improve.

In this DoorDash analytics case study take-home question you are provided with the following dataset:

• Customer order time
• Restaurant order time
• Driver arrives at restaurant time
• Order delivered time
• Customer ID
• Amount of discount
• Amount of tip

With a dataset like this, there are numerous recommendations you can make. A good place to start is by thinking about the DoorDash marketplace, which includes drivers, riders and merchants. How could you analyze the data to increase revenue, driver/user retention and engagement in that marketplace?

8. After implementing a notification change, the total number of unsubscribes increases. Write a SQL query to show how unsubscribes are affecting login rates over time.

This is a Twitter data science interview question , and let’s say you implemented this new feature using an A/B test. You are provided with two tables: events (which includes login, nologin and unsubscribe ) and variants (which includes control or variant ).

We are tasked with comparing multiple different variables at play here. There is the new notification system, along with its effect of creating more unsubscribes. We can also see how login rates compare for unsubscribes for each bucket of the A/B test.

Given that we want to measure two different changes, we know we have to use GROUP BY for the two variables: date and bucket variant. What comes next?

9. Write a query to disprove the hypothesis: Data scientists who switch jobs more often end up getting promoted faster.

More context: You are provided with a table of user experiences representing each person’s past work experiences and timelines.

This question requires a bit of creative problem-solving to understand how we can prove or disprove the hypothesis. The hypothesis is that a data scientist that ends up switching jobs more often gets promoted faster.

Therefore, in analyzing this dataset, we can prove this hypothesis by separating the data scientists into specific segments on how often they jump in their careers.

For example, if we looked at the number of job switches for data scientists that have been in their field for five years, we could prove the hypothesis that the number of data science managers increased as the number of career jumps also rose.

• Never switched jobs: 10% are managers
• Switched jobs once: 20% are managers
• Switched jobs twice: 30% are managers
• Switched jobs three times: 40% are managers

10. Write a SQL query to investigate the hypothesis: Click-through rate is dependent on search result rating.

More context: You are given a table with search results on Facebook, which includes query (search term), position (the search position), and rating (human rating from 1 to 5). Each row represents a single search and includes a column has_clicked that represents whether a user clicked or not.

This question requires us to formulaically do two things: create a metric that can analyze a problem that we face and then actually compute that metric.

Think about the data we want to display to prove or disprove the hypothesis. Our output metric is CTR (clickthrough rate). If CTR is high when search result ratings are high and CTR is low when the search result ratings are low, then our hypothesis is proven. However, if the opposite is true, CTR is low when the search result ratings are high, or there is no proven correlation between the two, then our hypothesis is not proven.

With that structure in mind, we can then look at the results split into different search rating buckets. If we measure the CTR for queries that all have results rated at 1 and then measure CTR for queries that have results rated at lower than 2, etc., we can measure to see if the increase in rating is correlated with an increase in CTR.

11. How would you help a supermarket chain determine which product categories should be prioritized in their inventory restructuring efforts?

You’re working as a Data Scientist in a local grocery chain’s data science team. The business team has decided to allocate store floor space by product category (e.g., electronics, sports and travel, food and beverages). Help the team understand which product categories to prioritize as well as answering questions such as how customer demographics affect sales, and how each city’s sales per product category differs.

Check out our Data Analytics Learning Path .

12. Write a SQL query to select the 2nd highest salary in the engineering department.

Note: If more than one person shares the highest salary, the query should select the next highest salary.

When asked for the “2nd highest” value, focus on getting a singular value. Filter the data to include only relevant entries (e.g., engineering salaries), order the results, and use LIMIT and OFFSET to isolate the value. First, limit to the top two distinct salaries and select the second, or use OFFSET to skip the highest and get the second highest.

Modeling and Machine Learning Case Questions

Machine learning case questions assess your ability to build models to solve business problems. These questions can range from applying machine learning to solve a specific case scenario to assessing the validity of a hypothetical existing model . The modeling case study requires a candidate to evaluate and explain any certain part of the model building process.

13. Describe how you would build a model to predict Uber ETAs after a rider requests a ride.

Common machine learning case study problems like this are designed to explain how you would build a model. Many times this can be scoped down to specific parts of the model building process. Examining the example above, we could break it up into:

How would you evaluate the predictions of an Uber ETA model?

What features would you use to predict the Uber ETA for ride requests?

Our recommended framework breaks down a modeling and machine learning case study to individual steps in order to tackle each one thoroughly. In each full modeling case study, you will want to go over:

• Data processing
• Feature Selection
• Model Selection
• Cross Validation
• Evaluation Metrics
• Testing and Roll Out

14. How would you build a model that sends bank customers a text message when fraudulent transactions are detected?

Additionally, the customer can approve or deny the transaction via text response.

Let’s start out by understanding what kind of model would need to be built. We know that since we are working with fraud, there has to be a case where either a fraudulent transaction is or is not present .

Hint: This problem is a binary classification problem. Given the problem scenario, what considerations do we have to think about when first building this model? What would the bank fraud data look like?

15. How would you design the inputs and outputs for a model that detects potential bombs at a border crossing?

Additional questions. How would you test the model and measure its accuracy? Remember the equation for precision:

Because we can not have high TrueNegatives, recall should be high when assessing the model.

16. Which model would you choose to predict Airbnb booking prices: Linear regression or random forest regression?

Start by answering this question: What are the main differences between linear regression and random forest?

Random forest regression is based on the ensemble machine learning technique of bagging . The two key concepts of random forests are:

• Random sampling of training observations when building trees.
• Random subsets of features for splitting nodes.

Random forest regressions also discretize continuous variables, since they are based on decision trees and can split categorical and continuous variables.

Linear regression, on the other hand, is the standard regression technique in which relationships are modeled using a linear predictor function, the most common example represented as y = Ax + B.

Let’s see how each model is applicable to Airbnb’s bookings. One thing we need to do in the interview is to understand more context around the problem of predicting bookings. To do so, we need to understand which features are present in our dataset.

We can assume the dataset will have features like:

• Location features.
• Seasonality.
• Number of bedrooms and bathrooms.
• Private room, shared, entire home, etc.
• External demand (conferences, festivals, sporting events).

Which model would be the best fit for this feature set?

17. Using a binary classification model that pre-approves candidates for a loan, how would you give each rejected application a rejection reason?

More context: You do not have access to the feature weights. Start by thinking about the problem like this: How would the problem change if we had ten, one thousand, or ten thousand applicants that had gone through the loan qualification program?

Pretend that we have three people: Alice, Bob, and Candace that have all applied for a loan. Simplifying the financial lending loan model, let us assume the only features are the total number of credit cards , the dollar amount of current debt , and credit age . Here is a scenario:

Alice: 10 credit cards, 5 years of credit age, $\$20K$ in debt

Bob: 10 credit cards, 5 years of credit age, $\$15K$ in debt

Candace: 10 credit cards, 5 years of credit age, $\$10K$ in debt

If Candace is approved, we can logically point to the fact that Candace’s $\$10K$ in debt swung the model to approve her for a loan. How did we reason this out?

If the sample size analyzed was instead thousands of people who had the same number of credit cards and credit age with varying levels of debt, we could figure out the model’s average loan acceptance rate for each numerical amount of current debt. Then we could plot these on a graph to model the y-value (average loan acceptance) versus the x-value (dollar amount of current debt). These graphs are called partial dependence plots.

Business Case Questions

In data science interviews, business case study questions task you with addressing problems as they relate to the business. You might be asked about topics like estimation and calculation, as well as applying problem-solving to a larger case. One tip: Be sure to read up on the company’s products and ventures before your interview to expose yourself to possible topics.

18. How would you estimate the average lifetime value of customers at a business that has existed for just over one year?

More context: You know that the product costs $\$100$ per month, averages 10% in monthly churn, and the average customer stays for 3.5 months.

Remember that lifetime value is defined by the prediction of the net revenue attributed to the entire future relationship with all customers averaged. Therefore, $\$100$ * 3.5 = $\$350$… But is it that simple?

Because this company is so new, our average customer length (3.5 months) is biased from the short possible length of time that anyone could have been a customer (one year maximum). How would you then model out LTV knowing the churn rate and product cost?

19. How would you go about removing duplicate product names (e.g. iPhone X vs. Apple iPhone 10) in a massive database?

See the full solution for this Amazon business case question on YouTube:

20. What metrics would you monitor to know if a 50% discount promotion is a good idea for a ride-sharing company?

This question has no correct answer and is rather designed to test your reasoning and communication skills related to product/business cases. First, start by stating your assumptions. What are the goals of this promotion? It is likely that the goal of the discount is to grow revenue and increase retention. A few other assumptions you might make include:

• The promotion will be applied uniformly across all users.
• The 50% discount can only be used for a single ride.

How would we be able to evaluate this pricing strategy? An A/B test between the control group (no discount) and test group (discount) would allow us to evaluate Long-term revenue vs average cost of the promotion. Using these two metrics how could we measure if the promotion is a good idea?

21. A bank wants to create a new partner card, e.g. Whole Foods Chase credit card). How would you determine what the next partner card should be?

More context: Say you have access to all customer spending data. With this question, there are several approaches you can take. As your first step, think about the business reason for credit card partnerships: they help increase acquisition and customer retention.

One of the simplest solutions would be to sum all transactions grouped by merchants. This would identify the merchants who see the highest spending amounts. However, the one issue might be that some merchants have a high-spend value but low volume. How could we counteract this potential pitfall? Is the volume of transactions even an important factor in our credit card business? The more questions you ask, the more may spring to mind.

22. How would you assess the value of keeping a TV show on a streaming platform like Netflix?

Say that Netflix is working on a deal to renew the streaming rights for a show like The Office , which has been on Netflix for one year. Your job is to value the benefit of keeping the show on Netflix.

Start by trying to understand the reasons why Netflix would want to renew the show. Netflix mainly has three goals for what their content should help achieve:

• Acquisition: To increase the number of subscribers.
• Retention: To increase the retention of active subscribers and keep them on as paying members.
• Revenue: To increase overall revenue.

One solution to value the benefit would be to estimate a lower and upper bound to understand the percentage of users that would be affected by The Office being removed. You could then run these percentages against your known acquisition and retention rates.

23. How would you determine which products are to be put on sale?

Let’s say you work at Amazon. It’s nearing Black Friday, and you are tasked with determining which products should be put on sale. You have access to historical pricing and purchasing data from items that have been on sale before. How would you determine what products should go on sale to best maximize profit during Black Friday?

To start with this question, aggregate data from previous years for products that have been on sale during Black Friday or similar events. You can then compare elements such as historical sales volume, inventory levels, and profit margins.

Learn More About Feature Changes

This course is designed teach you everything you need to know about feature changes:

More Data Science Interview Resources

Case studies are one of the most common types of data science interview questions . Practice with the data science course from Interview Query, which includes product and machine learning modules.

Hacking the Case Interview

If you are interviewing for a business strategy or operations role at Google, there is a high chance that you will be given at least one case interview or case study interview. Roles at Google that have case interviews as part of the interview process include:

• Strategy & Operations
• Product Management
• Business Partnerships
• Business Analyst

In order to land these jobs at Google, you will need to pass every single one of your case interviews. While Google case interviews may seem ambiguous and intimidating at first, know that they can be conquered with the right preparation and practice.

If you are unfamiliar with how to solve or prepare for Google case interviews, we have you covered. In this comprehensive Google case interview guide, we’ll cover:

• What is a Google case interview
• Why Google uses case interviews
• The 6 steps to ace any Google case interview
• Google case interview examples and answers
• Google case interview tips
• Recommended Google case 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 a Google Case Interview?

Google case interviews, also known as Google case study interviews, are 30- to 45-minute exercises in which you are placed in a hypothetical business situation and are asked to find a solution or make a recommendation.

To do this, you’ll create an overall framework that shows what 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. At the end of the case, you’ll deliver your recommendation.

Case interviews have traditionally been used by consulting firms to assess a candidate’s potential to become a successful consultant, but many companies with ex-consultants now use them to assess an interview candidate’s capabilities. Since Google hires so many former consultants in its business roles, you’ll likely encounter at least one case interview in your interview process.

The business problems that you’ll be given in a Google case interview will likely be real challenges that Google faces today:  

• How can Google increase its revenues from enterprise businesses?
• How can Google reduce costs among its customer service call centers while maintaining customer satisfaction?
• Google has seen a steep decline in the number of Google searches in Japan. What is causing this decline and what should Google do to address this?
• How can Google improve customer retention among small and medium-sized businesses?

Depending on what team at Google you are interviewing for, you’ll likely 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 Google 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 Google case interview.

Why does Google Use Case Interviews?

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

Google’s case interviews assess five major qualities:

• 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 30- to 45-minute case, Google case interviews are an effective way to assess a candidate’s capabilities.

The 6 Steps to Solve Any Google Case Interview

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

1. Understand the case

Your Google 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

Google case interviews typically 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

Google case interviews will also typically 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 Google 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.

Google Case Interview Examples and Answers

Example #1:  What differences would you take into account when selling a product to a client in India versus a client in Argentina?

Sample solution: To answer this, create a framework that shows the most important characteristics or qualities of each country that you would want to look into. For example, one potential framework may look into the customer needs and preferences, the competitive landscape, market trends, and Google’s capabilities across the two countries.

Example #2:  If you were a Google Search competitor entering a new market and had a small market share, how would you convince advertisers to advertise with you?

Sample solution: To answer this question, you should be familiar with Google Search. You can create a framework that outlines the product’s strengths and weaknesses so that you can identify gaps in customer needs. 

At a high level, the strengths of Google Search is that it has the widest reach since it is the most used search engine. It also has high targeting specificity since it has lots of data on long-tail keywords. However, the main drawback is how competitive and expensive it can be for advertisers to use. Customer service can also be slow for smaller customers given the number of customers Google services. Finally, the product can be complicated for advertisers to set up initially.  Therefore, when entering a new market as a Google Search competitor, it may make sense to target customers with smaller budgets and sell them on low-prices, fast customer service, and ease of set up.

Example #3:  What are three areas that Google should invest in?

Sample solution: To answer this question, it may be helpful to clarify what Google’s primary objective is. Are they looking to increase profits, revenues, or number of users? The ideas that you brainstorm may vary depending on their actual goals.  Next, develop a framework to organize your ideas. You may want to think about areas of investments as short-term investments, medium-term investments, and long-term investments.

Example #4:  If you were the CEO of AdSense, what would be your strategy to improve the product?

Sample solution: As always, create a framework to help you organize your ideas in a clear and easy to follow way. To improve AdSense, you can think about improving the product for advertisers, improving the product for search users, and improving the product for Google’s profitability. Using a framework like this one will help you consider all of the different ways that AdSense can be improved.

Example #5:  How much money do you think YouTube makes daily from ads?

Sample solution: This is an estimation question. Before doing any math calculations, make sure to lay out a structure or approach for how you would estimate this figure. 

You may want to start by estimating the number of people in the world, the percentage that use YouTube, the percentage that use YouTube on any given day, the average amount of time spent on YouTube in a day, the number of ads seen for that period of time, and then estimating the amount YouTube earns per ad that is shown. Multiplying all of these figures will give you your answer.

Example #6:  How would you set the price for the YouTube masthead? The YouTube masthead is a digital billboard placed on YouTube’s homepage for 24 hours, reaching about 60 million people.

Sample solution: In general, there are three ways to price a product: pricing by the cost to produce the product, pricing by the economic value the product provides customers, and pricing by the price of competitors’ similar products.

Since the cost of putting up a digital billboard is minimal, the first pricing strategy is not helpful. Looking at the second pricing strategy, you can price the digital billboard based on how much it would have cost the potential customer to get 60 million ad impressions. Looking at the third pricing strategy, you can look into how much other types of advertising that reach a similar number of people costs. For example, you could look into how much Super Bowl ads cost.

Example #7:  How would you market the Google Ads product to a potential client?

Sample solution: To develop an effective marketing strategy, you may want to look into the client’s needs, competitor offerings, and Google Ads’ features or benefits. Exploring these three areas will help you identify the features or benefits of Google Ads that are superior to competitor products that the client values.

Example #8:  How would you estimate the market size of Google display ads on websites?

Sample solution: This is another estimation question. As always, outline a structure before you begin doing any math calculations. 

You may want to start by estimating the global population, estimating the percentage that have internet, estimate the average number of sites visited per day, estimate the percentage of websites that have ads, estimate the percentage of these websites that use Google display ads, estimate the revenue Google generates per ad. If you multiply the product of these figures by 365 days in a year, you’ll get an estimate of the market size of Google display ads.

Example #9:  How would you determine the number of staff members needed in the customer support team next year?

Sample solution: One potential approach for solving this question could look like the following. 

Start with Google’s annual revenues and estimate the average revenue generated per customer to determine the number of customers Google services. For each customer, estimate the frequency in which they call customer support and the average length of a support call. Assuming that a staff member works eight hours per day, you can estimate the number of staff members you’d need to meet the volume of support calls.

You may need to grow this number by Google’s historical growth rate to account for expected revenue growth next year.

Example #10:  If you were setting up a new ecommerce business, what are the things you would look at?

Sample solution: This is a market entry case. Potential areas you should consider looking into in your framework include: the attractiveness of the market, the competitive landscape, the company’s capabilities, and the expected profitability.

Example #11 : How should YouTube deal with spam?

Sample solution: There are many different ways to deal with spam. To ensure that you brainstorm ideas in a clear and comprehensive way, develop a framework to categorize all of the different ways of dealing with spam. You may want to think about this as: preventing spam from being posted, detecting spam, and removing spam.

Example #12 : Let’s say that Google is considering acquiring iRobot, a company that builds consumer robots, such as the Roomba. What would you consider when deciding whether to make this acquisition?

Sample solution: This is an acquisition case. To determine whether or not this is an attractive acquisition, you may want to look into: the attractiveness of the consumer robots market, the attractiveness of iRobot as a company, the potential synergies from the acquisition, and the financial implications of the acquisition.

Example #13 : Estimate the time it takes a Google Street View car to collect footage in a city.

Sample solution: To answer this question, first clarify which city the interviewer is talking about. Then, outline your approach for how you would do this calculation. 

You might want to start by estimating the length and width of the city area. Then, estimate how wide a street is and the average distance between streets. If you think of a city as a grid that consists of vertical and horizontal lines, you can use these estimates to calculate the total street length in the city.

Afterwards, estimate the average speed of a Google Street View car, taking into traffic and stoplights. Dividing the total street length by the average speed of a Google Street View car will get you an estimate of how long it would take to collect footage.

Example #14 : How would you define the strategy for YouTube over the next 5 years?

Sample solution: This question is very similar to Example #3. Before answering, it may be helpful to clarify what YouTube’s primary objective is. Are they looking to increase profits, increase number of users, or increase user engagement? You may want to think about strategy as short-term strategy and long-term strategy.

Example #15 : Let’s say that Google is considering getting into the ride share business. What should they consider when making the decision on whether or not to enter?

Sample solution: This is a market entry case and the approach is similar to Example #10. Potential areas you should consider looking into in your framework include: the attractiveness of the ride share market, the competitive landscape, the company’s capabilities, and the expected profitability.

Google Case Interview Tips

Below are eight of our best tips to help you perform your best during your Google case interviews.

1. Familiarize yourself with Google’s business model

If you don’t understand Google’s business model, it will be challenging for you to do well in their case interviews. Therefore, you should know that Google makes the majority of its revenue by selling advertising and you should be familiar with the products and services that Google offers for the specific team you are interviewing for.

2. Read recent news articles on Google

Often, the cases you’ll see in a Google case interview are real business issues that the company faces. Reading up on the latest news on Google will give you a sense of what Google’s biggest challenges are and what major business decisions they face today. There may be a good chance that you’ll be given a case that is 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 Google case 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 issue, 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. Google 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 a Google case 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 a Google 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

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

Recommended Google Interview Resources

Here are the resources we recommend to land a Google job offer:

For help landing interviews

• Resume Review & Editing : Transform your resume into one that will get you multiple interviews

For help passing case interviews

• Comprehensive Case Interview Course (our #1 recommendation): The only resource you need. Whether you have no business background, rusty math skills, or are short on time, this step-by-step course will transform you into a top 1% caser that lands multiple consulting offers.
• Case Interview Coaching : Personalized, one-on-one coaching with a former Bain interviewer.
• Hacking the Case Interview Book   (available on Amazon): Perfect for beginners that are short on time. Transform yourself from a stressed-out case interview newbie to a confident intermediate in under a week. Some readers finish this book in a day and can already tackle tough cases.
• The Ultimate Case Interview Workbook (available on Amazon): Perfect for intermediates struggling with frameworks, case math, or generating business insights. No need to find a case partner – these drills, practice problems, and full-length cases can all be done by yourself.

For help passing behavioral & fit interviews

• Behavioral & Fit Interview Course : Be prepared for 98% of behavioral and fit questions in just a few hours. We'll teach you exactly how to draft answers that will impress your interviewer.

Land Multiple Tech and Consulting Offers

Complete, step-by-step case interview course. 30,000+ happy customers.

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26+ Best Case Study Questions for Customer Interviews

Updated July 2024 : Case studies are a critical element of most SaaS marketing strategies. But what case study questions do you ask in the customer interview to ensure you elicit the details AND emotion you need for an authentic and compelling story?

In research we conducted this year, SaaS marketers ranked case studies the #1 most effective marketing tactic to increase sales—ahead of general website content, SEO, blog posts, social media and other marketing tactics.

But gathering the insights, data and customer quotes that make a case study resonate takes some finesse. This is why it’s so important to develop a set of relevant case study questions for interviews with customers.

Get 26 case study questions, PLUS 19 bonus questions for use case, adoption and switcher stories. Download the cheat sheet now .

What case study interview questions should you ask?

In this post, we share the 26 powerful case study questions we use when conducting a case study interview.

We also included favorite case study interview questions and hot tips from customer marketing and advocacy practitioners in our industry:

• Natalie Gullatt , Customer Lifecycle and Growth Manager, Artera 
• Cecilia Wainio , Customer Growth, Jitterbit
• Helen Feber , Founder, Referential
• Luis González , Head of Global Customer Advocacy, Alteryx
• Deirdre Puleo , former Content Strategist, Wix 
• Kaily Baskett , Director of Revenue Growth, SlapFive
• Jeff Ernst , CEO, SlapFive
• Gabriela Contreras , Independent Marketing Consultant
• Erin O’Quinn , Senior Manager, Customer Marketing, VMware by Broadcom
• Cassie Stevenson , Global Customer Advocacy Lead, Qumulo
• Cindy Aitken ,  Director, Customer Marketing, Collibra
• Diana Yanez-Pastor , Independent Customer Advocacy Marketing Consultant

With these insight-eliciting case study questions in your back pocket, you’ll be able to uncover nuggets of gold that will help you create a customer story that really resonates with your prospects and leads.

Also learn how to conduct a good case study interview

In this post, we also cover tips for conducting a great case study interview, as well as some common interview mistakes to avoid.

Before the case study interview

Find a convenient time for the interview, prepare your case study questions in advance, should you send the case study questions to your customer ahead of time, make your customer comfortable, 26 case study questions for interviews with customers, bonus case study interview questions, an email interview won’t cut it, take notes and record the interview, watch out for these 4 common interview mistakes.

Get a cheat sheet with 26 case study questions, PLUS 19 bonus questions for use case, adoption and switcher stories. Download the cheat sheet now .

Keep in mind that there are 3 important phases to any case study:

• Before: What were the customer’s pain points, challenges, priorities and aspirations before they found you?
• During: Why did the customer choose your solution? How did the implementation go? How are they using your solution?
• After: What can the customer do now that they couldn’t do before? What impact has your solution had on their business?

The best case studies draw readers in by walking them through these phases by using customer quotes and details that bring the story to life and make it more compelling.

Your customers are busy—and they’re doing you a big favor by participating in the case study—so be as flexible as possible when you’re scheduling the case study interview. And while you’ll likely want to talk to them for hours, be respectful of their time and ask for 30 minutes.

You’ll probably have just 30 or 40 minutes to capture your customer’s story so be thoroughly prepared before you even schedule the case study interview.

Hot tip: How to prepare for an interview

Here are three things you should do before each interview: 1. Ask the CSM or account manager about the account. 2. Review the account details in the CRM or customer management tool. 3. Customize your interview questions to ensure they align with the story you’d like to tell, your company’s goals and the customer’s success.

This is hotly debated amongst customer marketing and advocacy professionals. 

Some people worry that sending the case study interview questions in advance will result in less candid and natural responses. 

Others argue that it’s important to provide the case study questions for interviews with customers ahead of time so they have time to think about their responses and dig for metrics.

So, we did a quick poll and here’s the consensus:

I think we can all agree that we want our customers to be at ease during the interview. At the very least, that means sending the metrics-related questions ahead of time. 

Want to scale your case study production? Partner with Uplift .

Before the interview starts, it’s important to make the customer feel comfortable and explain the process—what to expect during the interview and after. Make sure the customer understands that they have complete control over what’s included in the final draft.

“Thank you so much for agreeing to tell us your story. Once we write the story, we’ll send it to you to review. We won’t publish anything you’re not 100% happy with. Are you okay if I record the call?”

Introductions and warm-up

1. Can you briefly tell me about yourself and your role? 

2. What is most meaningful to you about the work you do? 

Case study question #2 makes the story more personal and the answer often aligns with the company’s strategic initiatives.

3. What are you most proud of with this implementation/solution?

Case study question #3 helps put the interviewee into a positive mindset and you can sometimes get great intel that enables more detailed discussion—and this can lead to a more attention-grabbing story.

4. What keeps you up at night as it relates to your job?

Case study question #4 is one of my favorites because leaders who want to drive transformation will obsess over it. They don’t “turn off” ideating at 5pm. They think about it while they’re driving, doing chores… and trying to fall asleep. So for me, this question allows me to get to the core of their thinking—and you’ll often get the most human answer.

5. What was going on at your company that sent you looking for a solution like [company name]? 

5a. Follow-up: Why was this such a big problem for you and your company? 5b. Follow-up: What was the consequence of doing nothing?

Case study question #5 is a non-threatening way to ask what wasn’t working, and helps bring context to the conversation.

Case study question #5b usually uncovers a longer-term or more critical potential problem and helps get to the root of the ‘so what’ of challenges.

6. Before you landed on [our solution], how did you try to solve the problem?

6a. Follow-up: Why didn’t those solutions work?

7. What criteria did the new solution need to meet?

8. What were the top 3 things you wanted to achieve with the new solution? 

9. What are the 3 biggest reasons you chose [our solution] over competitors and the option of doing nothing? 

9a. Follow-up: Did anything else impress you at this early stage?

Emily Amos, CEO & Founder, Uplift Content

Hot tip: Get better answers

Use rapid framing to elicit prioritized responses. Don’t ask: Why did you purchase this solution? Instead ask: What are the top 3 reasons you purchased this solution from us, instead of another vendor?

10. When you first started working with [company name], how did you come up with the implementation plan?

11. What was the implementation process like? 

12. What challenges did you hit along the way and how did [company name] help you through it?

Case study question #12 is great for building trust. It’s also the #1 most frequently asked question on customer reference calls by a wide margin.

13. What changes did you notice early on? How did things progress?

14. Can you tell me about how you’re using [our solution] and how it’s helped you? 

15. Was there anything that surprised you or stood out to you about [our solution]?

16. How has [our solution] made your job easier? 

16a. Follow-up: What about your department or other departments? The company as a whole?

17. What has your personal experience been like working with the [solution/team]?

18. If you couldn’t use our solution ever again, what would that be like? 

Case study question #18 can lead to some great sound bites.

Hot tip: Create distance

Say to your customer: “Assume I know nothing.” This encourages the customer to provide more context, which is where the golden nuggets really come out. 

19. What would you consider to be the biggest success of your relationship with [company name]?

20. What can you do now that you couldn’t do before? 

Case study question #20 is great for eliciting before/after context.

21. Where have you seen the biggest increase/impact?

21a. Follow-up: Can you quantify those results? For example…

Case study question #21a helps you encourage the interviewee by mentioning specific metrics or outcomes. 

22. What have these results meant for your business? 

22a. Follow-up: Were you expecting to see the type of results you experienced?

Case study question #22 gives the interviewee an opportunity to explain how the results are personal and meaningful.

23. How has [company name] evolved with you? How has it managed to remain your ideal solution both then and now?

23a. Follow-up: Can you think of an example of how working with [company name] has changed your thought process, strategy or the way you do business?

Case study question #23 can open up unique avenues of questioning and capture the dynamic nature of the relationship between you and your customer.

24. What unexpected benefit did you find or what did you learn along the way that you’ll take with you through your career?

Case study question #24 is great because it gets the customer excited about what they do.

25. If another company asked you if you would recommend working with us, what would you say and why? 

Case study question #25 is helpful because it gets the interviewee to provide quotes that summarize the company’s value props succinctly.

26. Is there anything you wish I’d asked?

Case study question #26 can give you some of your best quotes.

Do you want your case studies to have a particular focus? Do you want to tell a:

• Use case story?
• Adoption story?
• Competitive steal story?

Do you want to create:

• Customer-led blog posts providing advice or best practices?
• Customer-led blog posts providing thought leadership?
• Video stories?

If you answered yes…

…you need specific case study interview questions.

We created a cheat sheet with the 26 case study questions above, PLUS 19 additional questions for stories with a specific storyline or focus.

Download the interview questions cheatsheet – with the 19 bonus questions.

Don’t settle for a case study interview done by email. Not only are people more candid in conversation, but you’ll also be able to ask spur-of-the-moment case study questions and explore ideas as they’re presented.

Here are the 4 best ways you can conduct your case study interview:

• face-to-face (this is the best and most personable choice; try to arrange this if your customer is in your region)
• phone interview
• repurposing webinar

A recording and transcription of the case study interview will ensure accuracy and give you peace of mind. Down the road, you can also use the transcript for other marketing activities, such as grabbing testimonials and pull quotes, writing blog posts and more.

Use an app to record phone calls, or use Zoom or Google Meet to record video calls. Make sure you have permission to record the conversation.

Learn how to write a SaaS case study in 9 steps.

1 . Using yes/no questions

Does your list have any yes/no questions? If so, be ready with follow-up questions. Better yet, revise the case study question so it’s open-ended to elicit a more thoughtful response.

2 . Not pushing for numbers

Don’t be afraid to ask for numbers, concrete examples or more information. You need these for a quality case study and this is your chance to get them. Don’t be afraid to repeat case study questions or rephrase them to make sure you get what you need.

3 . Not allowing the conversation to flow

You don’t need to be rigid about asking every single question on your list. The best insights are often unexpected so allow the conversation to flow a little—but don’t get too far off-topic or you’ll run out of time.

4 . Not listening to your customer

Don’t think you already have all the answers. Go into the case study interview with an open mind and be ready to listen.

Scale your case study production

We write case studies for high-growth SaaS companies like ClickUp, WalkMe and Lean Data.  Check out our case study writing service .

26 Case Study Interview Questions to Help You Uncover Gold Get the powerful questions we use in interviews, plus 19 bonus questions for use case, adotpion and switcher stories.

As the founder of Uplift Content, Emily leads her team in creating done-for-you case studies, ebooks and blog posts for high-growth SaaS companies like ClickUp, Calendly and WalkMe. Connect with Emily on Linkedin

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Learn from Emily’s 17 years of aha moments, mistakes, observations, and insights—and find out how you can apply these lessons to your own marketing efforts.

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9 Types of Questions in Actual Case Interviews

Case interviews at management consulting firms are among the most difficult job interviews, but they are also quite predictable. Once you know the types of questions they ask, preparation is straightforward.

Using years of experience at McKinsey, as well as field reports from thousands of candidates, I’ve crafted a list of 8 common case interview questions, and in this article, I’ll show you how to answer each of them.

Case interview questions – Overview

Types of case interview questions .

Most questions in case interviews belong to one of these 9 types:

1. Framework/issue tree questions 2. Market-sizing and guesstimate questions 3. Valuation questions 4. Brain teaser questions 5. Chart insight questions 6. Value proposition questions 7. Information questions 8. Math problems 9. Solution-finding questions

In this article, we’ll discuss how to answer each question, along with the necessary tips and tricks.

How to answer case interview questions

There are the fo ur basic steps to answer case interview questions:

• Step 1: Clarify any unclear points in the question
• Step 2: Announce approach and ask for time
• Step 3: Draw issue trees to solve the given problem
• Step 4: Pitch your answer and end with a takeaway conclusion.

This general outline may vary depending on each type and each question – for example, brain teasers or information questions need only the last step, while market-sizing and framework questions need all four steps to deliver the perfect answer.

Type 1 – Framework/Issue tree questions

These are on top of the list among popular case interview questions!

If the interviewer asks you to identify factors contributing to a problem or to break down an entity (such as the revenue of a business), he/she is telling you to draw an issue tree.

And to draw a spot-on issue tree, you need to master consulting problem-solving foundations , the MECE principle , and common consulting frameworks . You should check out our other articles on these topics before moving on, because mastering the issue tree is the key to acing every possible case interview.

You also need good business intuition to draw good issue trees, so that’s all the more reason to start reading every day.

Gastronomia – a gourmet restaurant chain has found the turnover rate among its highly-skilled chefs increasing dramatically for the last 3 years; this has led to a noticeable decline in food quality and increased training costs, among other negative effects.

Which factors would you consider when tackling this turnover problem?

Job: Factors from the job itself. Further divided into 3 sub-branches

• Compensations: are the salaries, bonuses, and benefits attractive enough?
• Difficulty: is the job too difficult?
• Nature: is the job too boring, too unengaging, too repetitive…?

Company: Factors from the work environment within the restaurant chain, surrounding the affected jobs. Further divided into 2 sub-branches

• Cultural environment: is the culture at Gastronomia compatible with the chefs?
• Physical environment: is the physical working environment at Gastronomia safe, comfortable, convenient…?

Competitors: Factors from outside the restaurant chain, related to competing job offers. Further divided into 2 sub-branches.

• Inside industry: are other restaurant chains competing with Gastronomia for skilled personnel?
• Outside industry: are there new career options or changes in existing alternatives that draw chefs away from restaurant chains like Gastronomia?

For detailed guides on issue trees, frameworks and their principles, see the articles on Issue Trees , Case Interview Frameworks, and MECE Principle

Type 2 – Market-sizing & guesstimate

These questions go along the lines of “How many trees are there in Central Park?” or “What’s the market size of pick-up trucks in the USA?”

The key to nailing market-sizing and guesstimate questions lies in not the closest results, but the most logical and structured approaches. In fact, the interviewer expects you to follow these four steps:

Step 1: Clarify: Make sure you and the interviewer are on the same page regarding every detail and terminology, so you won’t be answering the wrong question.

Step 2: Break down the problem: Break the item in the question (number of trees in Central Park, market size of pickup trucks) down into smaller, easy-to-estimate pieces.

Step 3: Solve each piece: Estimate each small piece one at a time; each estimation should be backed by facts, figures, or at least observations.

Step 4: Consolidate the pieces: Combine the previous estimations to arrive at a final result; be quick with the math, but don’t rush it if you aren’t confident.

Unless you come up with something about 10 times the reasonable estimate, don’t worry about being “wrong” – the interviewer is unlikely to have a “correct” number in mind, he/she just wants to see your structured mindset.

This question type is so common, we devote a whole article to it, and our Case Interview End-to-End Secrets Program have a separate package on these questions. Check out our comprehensive guide on Market-Sizing & Guesstimate Questions for more details!

Now, here’s a quick example for you to try and get used to this type:

How many smartphones are sold each year, globally?

• Smartphones are phones using exclusively touch-screens.
• “Sold” means sold to the end-consumers. 
• The market size is calculated at present.

Break down the problem:

The global smartphone market can be divided into three segments – developed countries, developing countries, and undeveloped countries.

In each segment, the annual unit sales of smartphones depend on four variables:

• The percentage of “phone-owning age” people among the population
• The percentage of smartphone owners within the “phone-owning age” group.
• The average, annual, per capita “consumption” of smartphones for those owners.

Solve each piece:

• The population is 1.5 billion in developed countries, 5.5 billion in developing countries, and 1 billion in undeveloped countries.
• 80% of the world population is in the “phone-owning age” (Global life expectancy is 70 and everyone older than 15 years counts towards the “phone-owning age” group)
• 100% of the phone-owning age in developed countries will own a smartphone; the figure in developing countries is 75%, while in undeveloped countries it’s 10%.
• The average smartphone user replaces their phone every 3 years – so they “consume” 0.33 phones each year.

=> Estimated global smartphone market: 1.53 billion units per year

=> Actual 2019 global smartphone sales:  1.37 billion units (error margin: 11.7%).

This market-sizing question is solved using a four-step process, which is explained in this article:  Market-Sizing & Guesstimate Questions

Type 3 – Valuation questions

Valuation questions are about estimating the monetary value of a business, and these are very popular in case interviews too!

Valuation questions are a blend of guesstimation/market-sizing, math, and business. They also require basic finance knowledge. There are three ways to estimate the value of a business:

• The NPV Method: take the net cash flow generated by the business, and discount it to the present to account for time value of money. Basically “this company is worth X dollars because it gives me Y dollars over Z years”. This approach works best when the cash flow from the business is positive and stable.
• The Market Method: take one index of the firm (which can be stocks or anything depending on the industry) and multiply it with an industry multiple (the value of one unit of the said index). In other words, “this company is worth AxB dollars because it has A traffic and each traffic is worth B dollars”. This approach works best when the market is transparent and data on similar firms are accessible – usually with major, established industries such as commercial airlines.

In real case interviews, you have to justify your approach then ask the interviewer to give you the necessary data.

Our client wants to sell his organic-food restaurant (called “Cato’s Cabbage Farm”) to retire. How much is his restaurant worth?

(Supposed the interviewer gives you the following data: his current income from the restaurant is $100,000 per year; two other restaurants in the neighborhood – one with 2 times more customers, and another about 0.75 times, have been sold at $1,800,000 and $1,000,000 respectively).

NPV Method: Cato’s Cabbage Farm value = $100,000 / 10% = $1,000,000

Market Method:

Assume the number of customers for Cato’s Cabbage Farm is 1 “customer unit”, then the two neighborhood restaurants get 2 and 0.75 “customer units”.

• Industry multiple: ($1,800,000+$1,000,000) / (2+0.75) = ~$1,018,182
• Cato’s Cabbage Farm value = $1,018,182 x 1 = $1,018,182

Type 4 – Brain teasers

Brain teasers are the least predictable case interview questions – but even these can be learned!

Brain teasers are riddles designed to test unconventional, creative, and logical thinking. A famous example of this is Accenture’s “How do you put a giraffe in a fridge?”.

Although not as popular as before, brain teasers might still appear in consulting interviews; therefore, you should spend some time to prepare.

Most brain teasers can be allocated into these seven types:

• Logical questions are pure logic riddles – there’s no trick, no illusion, no creativity.

In our Case Interview End-to-End Secrets Program , there are +200 brain teasers to help you prepare for these “unpredictable” questions. You can also read our article about Case Interview Brain Teasers for insights on all of these exciting brain teasers, as well as 30 example questions and answers!

How do you put a giraffe in a fridge?

Open the fridge, put the giraffe in, then close the fridge. The question never says how big the fridge or the giraffe is.

For the logic and approach behind each kind of brain teasers, see the article on Brain Teasers.

Type 5 – Chart insight questions

You can’t be a management consultant without mastering the use of charts – the complex, scary-looking real-world charts such as those included in our Case Interview End-to-End Secrets Program.

In management consulting and case interviews, most charts are one (or a combination) of these four basic types:

• Bar charts compare the values of several items at one point in time, or 1-2 items at several time intervals.
• Line charts illustrate time-series data, i.e trends in data over a continuous period.
• Pie charts illustrate proportions, i.e “parts of a whole” analyses.
• Scatter-plots use data points to visualize how two variables relate to each other.

To read these charts and answer chart-insights questions effectively, you must follow a structured, comprehensive process:

You can find a more detailed guide in the Charts section in our article about Consulting Math.

What can you draw from the following chart?

Trends in chart:

• Steady rise in the number of confirmed deaths to about 70-80 per million;
• Both changes started around March 10-11.
• These sudden rises can be explained by events occurring in early-March, and 2.
• If number of cases is kept low, the threat from COVID-19 will remain minimal, considering a mortality rate of only 2%.

Type 6 – Value proposition questions

No business or consulting candidate can succeed without understanding the customers!

Value-proposition questions are not only about correctly identifying customer preferences, but also about analyzing and delivering the answer in a structured fashion. The former relies heavily on business knowledge and intuition, but the latter can be trained methodically and quickly. Personally, I use a “double issue-tree” – essentially a table with customer segments on one axis and proposed values on the other:

For segmenting customers, you can use the following table. However, don’t over-rely on it, since there may be more relevant and insightful question-specific segmentations.

In some cases, clarification is also necessary – both to avoid “answering the wrong question” and to narrow down the range of customers/values you need to cover in the answer.

What will a customer consider when buying a Toyota sedan?

Clarification: A sedan must be branded “Toyota” to be a Toyota sedan – cars with other Toyota-owned brands such as Lexus or Ranz do not count in this question.

Situational Assessment:

Toyota sedans occupy the entry-level and mid-range price segments, so Toyota customers will be more price-conscious than, for example, Lexus customers.

They are also less likely to lean considerably towards one particular factor, so achieving a balance is extremely important.

Functionality factors:

• Comfort: Toyota sedans are mostly for everyday use, so customers should feel comfortable being inside the car.
• Utility: Toyota sedans are used for multiple purposes, so convenience for a wide range of uses is important.

Cost factors

• Purchase price: A car can be an expensive investment while Toyota’s low-to-mid-range customers are more price-conscious, so having a cheap/reasonable price is important.
• Fuel and maintenance: Maintenance and fuel costs over time are likewise inversely related to the decision to buy a Toyota sedan.

Physical factors

• Performance: Customers are usually drivers themselves, who often pay attention to the technical characteristics of the car (speed, acceleration, handling, etc.)
• Visual design: The car should possess the same level of visual appeal as other competitors in the same segment.
• Build quality: Parts of the car should be assembled in a reasonably good manner.

Emotional factors

• Branding: The car should come from a well-known, reputable brand
• Personal preferences: Some customers choose specific cars simply because they “like” the car.

Type 7 – Information questions

In any problem-solving process, information is one of the overarching concerns!

“Information questions” essentially ask if the piece of data you use is obtainable in the first place. In real consulting work, data is not always available – client team members may refuse to cooperate or there’s simply no data on the subject.

There are many kinds of information sources in case interviews/consulting works, but I’ll divide them into primary and secondary sources. Primary sources means you must do the research yourself (or pay someone else to do it for you), such as customer surveys or mystery shoppings. If someone already did that research, and you use their results, it’s called a secondary source – you can get these from the client , the consulting firm you work for, or third-parties such as market research firms or external industry experts.

You can find out more about these sources and how to cite them in real case interviews through this free Prospective Candidate Starter Pack, which contains a glossary of data sources in consulting.

Our Prospective Candidate Starter Pack has a sheet containing all the possible sources of information in case interviews and consulting projects, among numerous other free resources; you can download and use it to answer these questions, by subscribing to our newsletter at the end of this article.

How do you assess your target customer’s preferences for sports cars?

Primary sources: customer survey, customer interviews, Secondary sources: industry reports, client sales reports, third-party expert interview, client expert interview

Type 8 – Math problems

A lot of information in case interviews and consulting work comes in the quantitative form, so you won’t escape Math by joining the consulting industry!

When you have to do the math, perform back-of-the-envelope calculations in a structured fashion, and say out loud what you’re writing. For one thing, it’s safe; for another, you show that you’re careful, organized, and reliable – just like actual consultants.

We have a Math Practice Tool right here! Use it every day, and you’ll be a master of mental calculations in no time flat!

We have a dedicated article on Consulting Math, which you should definitely read.

Type 9 – Solution-finding questions

What’s the point of analyzing a problem, if not to solve it?!

When dealing with solution questions, keep these four points in mind:

• Firstly, in case interviews as well as real consulting projects, solutions must always solve every root cause of a problem, so remember to check if your solutions are relevant and comprehensive.
• Secondly, every solution must be actionable – if your solutions are too expensive, too time-consuming, etc. for the client, they’re useless.
• Thirdly, the interview expects a highly-structured answer; so segment your solutions based on their characteristics (long-term vs short-term is the easiest segmentation)

Last but not least, deliver at least two solutions, preferably three to five. Otherwise, you’ll appear uncreative and lazy to the interviewer’s eyes.

Nailing these questions relies on having excellent business intuition; our Case Interview End-to-End Program has a dedicated Business Intuition package, but you should also train a habit of reading consulting and business articles daily, to sharpen your business mind.

A restaurant that relies solely on on-premise dining found the loss of adjacent parking space (due to termination of contract) harming their revenue. How can they fix that?

The solutions for the restaurant’s parking space problem can be divided into two types:

• Short-term solutions: Find new parking space around the neighborhood, or renegotiate for old parking space (possibly at a higher price).
• Long-term solutions: Introduce takeaway items and off-premise dining.

Reminders on case interview questions

The questions are not clear-cut in candidate-led cases.

There are two extremes in consulting case interview format: interviewer-led (McKinsey) and candidate-led (BCG, Bain).

Interviewer-led cases, on one hand, consist of multiple, clear-cut questions in a larger business case context; the candidate navigates through these questions to arrive at the solutions.

Candidate-led cases, on the other hand, have one big problem, which the candidate must break down into small pieces to identify the root causes and deliver solutions.

This list, therefore, is much more relevant to the interviewer-led format; nonetheless, this guide is still quite beneficial for candidate-led cases, because when solving that big problem, you’ll have to tackle small issues similar to the 8 aforementioned question types.

Mastering the fundamentals is crucial to consistent performance

Although it’s good to study the case interview questions, it is no substitute for mastering the fundamental principles.

Learning the exercises without the basics is like building a house without a foundation. My poor neighbor’s house developed a huge crack right down the center because of its weak foundation, so make sure to build your case interview prep a strong one by knowing the basics first.

Once you’ve mastered the fundamentals, you’ll become much more flexible – this quality is getting increasingly important because case interviews are getting less predictable, and more realistic.

If you haven’t, I advise you to read these articles (especially the first 4) before practicing the question types:

• Case Interview 101
• Issue Tree – The Complete Guide
• MECE Principle
• Case Interview Frameworks
• McKinsey Case Interview – Interviewer-led Format
• BCG & Bain Case Interview – Candidate-led Format

Expect the unexpected

If you study those nine question types, rest assured that you’ve covered the majority of questions in case interviews.

However, these are not all the possible questions you might be given. In actual cases, there are always questions that cannot be categorized neatly. If you do not prepare for these questions, it’s easy to be thrown off-balance.

So, how do you prepare for “the unexpected”?

• Master the basics: Focus your efforts on the basics, once you’ve mastered them it’d be comfortable to move on to higher, more sophisticated levels.
• Business Intuition : You need business intuition for a business-related job, it’s simple as that. Nearly every case concerns business in one way or another – even public sector cases. This is why we also teach business intuition in our Case Interview E2E Secret Program.
• Have mock case interviews : Practice case interviews with ex-consultants will help you get a sense of what might happen or how you might be evaluated in actual cases. Highly experienced coaches from MConsultingPrep will review your performance, giving you the most valuable feedback and actionable tips & techniques.

Scoring in the McKinsey PSG/Digital Assessment

The scoring mechanism in the McKinsey Digital Assessment

Related product

Case Interview End-to-End Secrets Program

Elevate your case interview skills with a well-rounded preparation package

Six types of charts in case interview are: Bar/Column chart, Line chart, Percentage chart, Mekko chart, Scatter plot chart, Waterfall chart.

A case interview is where candidates is asked to solve a business problem. They are used by consulting firms to evaluate problem-solving skill & soft skills

Case interview frameworks are methods for addressing and solving business cases.  A framework can be extensively customized or off-the-shelf for specific cases.

Online Case Study Answer Generator for Students

Here Is Your Case Study Analysis

If you want to quickly and effectively carry out case study analyses, you’ve come to the right place. Just for you, we’ve created a free AI-powered tool that can analyze case studies on any subject!

Our app will be the perfect solution for those who don’t want to spend a ton of time structuring their texts and looking for examples. Use it to save time and nerves!

• ️🎉 Benefits of Our Generator
• ️🤖 How to Use
• ️✨ Case Study Definition
• ️🔎 Structure of a Case Study
• ️✍️ Writing Steps
• ️🔝 Top 12 Topics & Examples
• ️🔗 References

🎉 Benefits of Our Case Study Analysis Generator

Our generator is one of the best, and there are many reasons for us to say so:

🤖 How to Use Our Case Study Answer Generator

Getting a case study analysis has never been simpler—see for yourself!

• Paste your case study into the field.
• Add questions or issues you need to resolve in your analysis.
• Press “Analyze now.”
• Receive the results!

Keep in mind that the answers given by the tool are to be used for reference purposes only.

✨ Case Study Analysis Definition

A case study analysis aims to examine a problem and find a solution. It is traditionally used in business and other spheres, like education, healthcare, and social sciences. The main feature of such research is that it’s rooted in a real-world context.

Researchers use direct observations, interviews, tests, and samples to gather data for their case studies. This information is then applied to develop solutions and recommendations backed with evidence.

🔎 Structure of a Case Study Analysis

Usually, a case study analysis comprises 6 parts. Each one is dedicated to a certain aspect and serves its respective aim. Let’s go through them and see how they differ.

Introduction

An introduction defines the context of the examined topic and provides substantial background on the case study’s subject. When you write it, keep in mind the following questions:

• What is your case study about?
• What is the primary reason for your research?
• Why is it essential to conduct it?

Problem Statement

The next part introduces the central problem the study will be concentrating on. Typically, it’s concerned with a challenge faced by a person or organization in question. The problem statement provides a clear focus for the whole research.

Now, it’s time for the most gripping part—the analysis itself. When it comes to business problems, students can employ various approaches:

• SWOT analysis  evaluates the firm’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
• Descriptive statistics recaps the main characteristics of the collected data using various measures.
• Identification of causes approach looks for the underlying reasons behind the issue.
• Stakeholder researches the perspectives of different stakeholders involved in the case.

This part proposes several ways to settle the issue in question. The solutions must be pragmatic and achievable. It’s also worth to mention their pros and cons and thus identify the most potent ones.

Recommendations

This part revolves around the best potential solution to the problem determined in the previous section. It explains how to execute it practically and how it will help eliminate the issue. It may also propose ways to deal with other minor dilemmas involved in the case.

Conclusions

Now, it’s time for the final section of the analysis: your  conclusions . Here is what to do:

• Restate the results of your case study analysis and elucidate how they relate to the research’s main problem.
• Be sure to underline how vital your study is and how it helps make the issue more controllable.
• Make further proposals based on your findings.

✍️ How to Write a Case Study

Now you know what to include in your case study. But how do you write one that is truly outstanding? Just follow our step-by-step guide:

1. Pick a Case to Explore

Choosing the right topic is essential. You need to do it early on to ensure that the research subject is sufficiently explored.

For example, suppose you want to examine how COVID-19 has affected the hospitality sector. In that case, you can choose either a representative case, such as a large hotel chain, or an outlier case, such as a small Bed and Breakfast that has managed to survive the pandemic. The latter case may sound more interesting, but if there's not enough information available on it, it's best to choose the former.

2. Formulate a Problem Statement

Now, you should clearly and concisely formulate the central problem you will be focusing on. To do it, answer the 5 Ws:

• What is the problem you’re researching?
• Who is affected by it?
• Where does it occur?
• When did the problem arise?
• Why is this issue significant?

If you need help with this part of your analysis, you can always use our research problem generator .

3. Gather Evidence & Collect Data

Data gathering can be done through both primary and secondary sources of information . You can use a range of research techniques, such as observations, surveys, and interviews. It is crucial to make sure the data you’ve collected is pertinent to the case study.

4. Describe Your Findings & Analyze Them

Next, you analyze trends and themes in your data. This analysis must be supported by facts and evidence. Use various analysis methods to make your study more in-depth.

5. Provide Solutions & Recommendations

Develop several possible solutions using the information you’ve gathered. Once you’ve done it, answer the following questions:

• What are the pros and cons of these solutions?
• Which one can be the most beneficial?
• How can the entity you’re analyzing implement it in practice?

The more detailed your recommendations are, the better. If possible, try to include aspects such as timeline, resource allocation, and KPIs for monitoring.

🔝 Top 12 Case Study Topics & Examples

Want inspiration for your analysis? Or maybe you need help picking a case to explore? Check out this list of topics with examples!

• Operations and Information Management: A Case Study of CC Music
• Netflix and Blockbuster: Case Study
• Strategic Planning Case Study: Process Management
• HRM Incident: Case Study Analysis
• Case Study Summary: Hiring a Sustainable Development Specialist
• Organizational Change: Qatargas Case Study
• Childhood Development Case Study
• Case Study of Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant and Workplace
• Strategic Marketing: Amazon Go Case Study
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Case Study
• Social Determinants of Health: Case Study
• Recovering Supply Chain Operations: A Case Study of Nissan

Now you know how to complete a case study! Remember that the tiring process of analyzing can be effectively streamlined if you use our free case study answer generator. Try it out—you won’t regret it!

We also recommend using our transition words maker and personal statement generator to enhance your writing.

❓ Case Study Analysis Generator: FAQ

❓ what questions to answer in a case study.

A case study must either prove or disprove an existing theory. It also aims to find a solution to the research's central question. This question can vary depending on your topic and subject. You present the answer in your research findings and conclusions.

❓ How Do You Write a Case Study Analysis?

First, you introduce your case and provide its background. Then, you gather information and analyze it to develop several solutions. Finally, you propose the best solution and give recommendations on how to implement it. Also, remember to explain how your case study will deepen the existing knowledge.

❓ What Are the 4 Most Important Parts of Case Study?

Every case study begins with the introduction of a topic and its background. Then, you present an analysis of sources that can provide knowledge on the case. The third part is the analysis of collected data. Your case study ends with conclusions based on your findings.

❓ What Are Some Examples of Case Studies?

Case studies are frequently used in psychology to shed light on peculiar circumstances. Famous case study examples include Sigmund Freud's Little Hans as well as John Martin Marlow's study of Phineas Gage, the man who had a railroad spike driven through his brain.

Updated: Jun 5th, 2024

🔗 References

• Case Study: Definition, Examples, Types, and How to Write: Verywell Mind
• What Is a Case Study?: Evidence Based Nursing
• What the Case Study Method Really Teaches: Harvard Business Review
• Using Case Studies to Teach: Boston University
• What Is a Case Study? Definition, Elements and 15 Examples: Indeed
• Writing a Case Study: University of Southern California
• Writing a Case Study – Student Academic Success: Monash University