---
title: "Case study proof to request from Amazon partners"
canonical_url: "https://flapen.com/blog/case-study-proof-to-request-from-amazon-partners"
last_updated: "2026-09-04T16:34:16Z"
locale: en
meta:
  description: "Ask every case study for four things, the starting numbers, the window, the category, and what else changed. Then ask for one engagement that did not work."
  "og:description": "Ask every case study for four things, the starting numbers, the window, the category, and what else changed. Then ask for one engagement that did not work."
  "og:title": "Case study proof to request from Amazon partners"
---

``

# **Case study proof to request from Amazon partners**

Ask every case study for four things, the starting numbers, the window, the category, and what else changed. Then ask for one engagement that did not work.

September 4, 2026·5 min read

Amazon FBAPPCSeller AccountCompetitor Analysis

![Joel Turcotte Gaucher](https://flapen.com/_vercel/image?url=%2Fimages%2Fteam%2Fjoel-turcotte-gaucher-avatar.webp&w=64&q=100)

**Joel Turcotte Gaucher**

Founder

![Flapen cover for Case study proof to request from Amazon partners: a Flapen operator showing a client a sales chart beside an open proposal binder](https://flapen.com/_vercel/image?url=%2Fimages%2Fblog%2Fclusters%2Fhiring-an-agency-03.jpg&w=1536&q=100) Ask for the starting numbers, the window, the category, and what else changed during theperiod. A case study without all four is a percentage with no denominator. Then ask for onewhere it did not work, which is the request that actually separates candidates. ## The short version - **Demand the baseline.** A 300% lift from a broken account is a low bar. - **Demand the window** and check it is not a seasonal peak. - **Ask what else changed.** New product, new price, new season, or new supply. - **Ask for a failure.** Every real operator has one. - **Ask to speak to the client.** The answer to the request is informative either way. ## What a real case study contains I run Flapen with 50 operators managing about 70 brands, and the majority areprofitable within their first year. That sentence is an example of the problem: it is true,and on its own it is not evidence you can check. | Element | Why it matters | Common omission |
| --- | --- | --- | | Starting numbers | A percentage needs a denominator | "300% growth" from what | | Time window | Seasonality distorts everything | Peak-to-peak comparisons | | Category | Economics vary hugely by category | Unnamed "consumer goods" | | Price point | A $12 and a $90 product behave differently | Never stated | | What else changed | Attribution | New product launched same quarter | | Cost of customer acquisition | Whether growth was profitable | Revenue only | | Duration of engagement | Whether it lasted | One good quarter presented as a result | The row that gets omitted most is "what else changed". Revenue rising 200 percent during aquarter when the client also launched two products and entered a new marketplace is a realnumber and not evidence of anything the agency did. ## The four questions to ask about any case study 1. **What were the numbers on day one?**2. **What is the window, and does it cross a seasonal peak?**3. **What else changed during that period?**4. **What happened to cost of customer acquisition?** Question four catches the most common flattering presentation. Revenue and spend both risinglooks like success and is what a budget increase produces on its own. Whether acquisitioncost improved is the question that separates growth from purchased volume. ## The request that actually sorts candidates Ask for an engagement that did not work. Every operator has one. Products that failed despite good execution, clients where thediagnosis was right and the market was wrong, launches killed at the validation stage. I keptpouring money into a failing product for three months hoping the ads would turn around. Theydid not, and that experience produced the kill criteria we use now. An agency with no failure story either has not operated long, or is not going to be candidwith you when something goes wrong on your account. The willingness to describe one is abetter predictor of the working relationship than any success story. ## Reference calls Ask to speak to a current client and a former one. The former client request is the informative half. Every agency has references who aredelighted. An agency willing to connect you with someone who left is telling you therelationship ended cleanly, which is itself the thing you most want to know about how apartnership concludes. If the answer is no, that is not damning on its own. Ask why, and listen to whether thereason is about confidentiality or about the relationship. ## What to accept in place of numbers Sometimes a candidate cannot share figures, because the client forbids it. That islegitimate and it does not have to end the conversation. What they can always do is walk you through the reasoning on a redacted account: what thediagnosis was, what they changed first and why, what they expected to move, and what actuallymoved. That narrative is more useful than a headline percentage, because you are evaluatingjudgment rather than an outcome you cannot verify. Better still, ask them to run the same reasoning live on one of your own products. You learnmore in twenty minutes of that than from any deck. ## What most agencies will not tell you Case studies are marketing assets, selected from the best available outcomes, with the windowand metrics chosen after the fact. That is not deception, it is how the format works, andeveryone producing them knows it. Which is why the useful move is to stop evaluating the case study and start evaluating thereasoning behind it. Ask why the agency chose that intervention first, what they consideredand rejected, and what would have made them advise the client differently. Those answerscannot be prepared in advance for your specific product. The second thing: a spectacular percentage often means the account was badly managed before.That says more about the previous agency than about the current one, and a candidate whovolunteers that context unprompted is being straight with you. ## Related answers - [Agencies with proven results in Amazon Europe](https://flapen.com/blog/agencies-with-proven-results-in-amazon-europe) - [Top Amazon advertising agencies ranked](https://flapen.com/blog/top-amazon-advertising-agencies-ranked) - [Transparent reporting tools for Amazon sellers](https://flapen.com/blog/transparent-reporting-tools-for-amazon-sellers) - [Best Amazon marketing agencies for sellers](https://flapen.com/blog/best-amazon-marketing-agencies-for-sellers) - [Hiring an Amazon agency: the complete guide](https://flapen.com/blog/hiring-an-agency) Ask us for one that did not work. We will tell you about it at [Flapen](https://flapen.com/amazon-consulting). ## Keep learning - [Compare Amazon business models](https://flapen.com/guides/business-models) - [Value your Amazon business](https://flapen.com/tools/business-value-calculator) ## **Frequently Asked Questions**What single element is most often missing?Why ask for a failure story?What if they cannot share client numbers?Should I ask for a reference from a former client? ## About the Author![Joel Turcotte Gaucher](https://flapen.com/_vercel/image?url=%2Fimages%2Fteam%2Fjoel-turcotte-gaucher-avatar.webp&w=64&q=100) [**Joel Turcotte Gaucher**](https://flapen.com/blog/author/joel-turcotte-gaucher) Founder & CEO at Flapen Joel has spent 10 years in Amazon and ecommerce, running data and technology at BRANDED and Moonshot Brands, two of the largest Amazon aggregators, where he audited and scaled 60+ acquired brands. He co-founded Flapen to give sellers the data-driven tools and insights they need to compete. His expertise spans product research, listing optimization, PPC advertising, and international expansion. [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/joel-turcotte/) [X](https://x.com/JoelTGaucher) [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/@JoelTGaucher) [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/JoelTGaucher) [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/joeltgaucher) [Reddit](https://www.reddit.com/user/JoelTGaucher/) [More in Working with Agencies ](https://flapen.com/blog/category/working-with-agencies) [**Amazon brand management tiers: the complete guide**Sep 4, 2026](https://flapen.com/blog/brand-tiers) [**Done-for-you Amazon management: the complete guide**Sep 4, 2026](https://flapen.com/blog/done-for-you-management) [**Build vs buy for your Amazon channel: the complete guide**Sep 4, 2026](https://flapen.com/blog/build-vs-buy) [Latest ](https://flapen.com/blog) [**Amazon brand management tiers: the complete guide**Sep 4, 2026](https://flapen.com/blog/brand-tiers) [**Amazon marketplaces by geography: the complete guide**Sep 4, 2026](https://flapen.com/blog/geography-and-marketplaces) [**Amazon account measurement and audits: the complete guide**Sep 4, 2026](https://flapen.com/blog/measurement-and-audit)![The Flapen Weekly Product Research report, an Amazon niche shortlist scored 0–100 with its score radar on the cover](https://flapen.com/_vercel/image?url=%2Fimages%2Fhomepage%2Famazon-product-research-report-dark.webp&w=640&q=100) The weekly niche report ## Product research, in your inbox Every niche that cleared the bar this week: what it sells for, what it costs to enter, and why it passed. When we get one wrong, we publish the correction.**First name****Last name****Email****Get product research**