How we cut the cost of a B2B lead on LinkedIn by more than half
Cost-per-click on LinkedIn in long-sales-cycle B2B can make your head spin. In the first seven months the client spent over 50,000 PLN, recorded a thousand form opens — and left with just 14 contacts. This case study shows how an ABM and full-funnel strategy unblocked the funnel and increased the number of leads more than sixfold.
The results that unblocked the B2B funnel
Cost per lead
Down from 3,603 PLN to 1,536 PLN after implementing the ABM + full-funnel strategy.
Form conversion rate increase
Up from 1.4% to 8.5% with almost the same number of form opens.
Scaling with a smaller budget increase
The budget grew 2.7×, while the number of leads grew more than 6×.
Real contacts instead of abandoned forms
Before: 1,000 form opens and only 14 contacts.
A bottomless well: lots of clicks, almost no contacts
The long-sales-cycle B2B sector has some of the highest costs-per-click on LinkedIn, and decision-makers are resistant to ads. In the first months of the engagement (January–July 2025) the client spent over 50,000 PLN on LinkedIn Ads. Users clicked eagerly — we recorded as many as 1,000 form opens — but left only 14 contacts. The reason: they opened the form and fled, because they had neither purchase intent nor trust in the brand yet.
ABM + Full-Funnel instead of a cold form
A strategy built on two pillars: warming up traffic before showing the form, and targeting based on the client's product knowledge.
Pillar 1: Account-Based Marketing + Full-Funnel instead of a cold form
Asking for data "cold" in such a complex industry is burning budget. Instead of showing the contact form right away, we first warmed up traffic with brand-awareness and reach campaigns. The form reached only people who had previously engaged with the brand.
Pillar 2: Targeting based on the client's product knowledge
The strategy worked because the client committed to it 100%. Verestro's marketing and sales teams prepared lists of specific banks and financial institutions, matching the fintech product to the right audience, and the messaging we refined together had to be flawless at the level of bank boards.
Verestro brand campaign
A video building brand awareness among banks and financial institutions before the user sees the contact form.
Numbers, not generalities
| Period | CPL |
|---|---|
| Jan–Jul 2025 (start) | 3,603 PLN |
| After ABM + full-funnel | 1,536 PLN |
A 57% drop while the number of leads grew at the same time.
| Metric | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Form opens | ~1,000 | 1,051 |
| Number of leads | 14 | 89 |
| Conversion rate | 1.4% | 8.5% |
| Budget | baseline | 2.7× |
| Number of leads (volume) | baseline | 6×+ |
A side effect: a strong LinkedIn presence made decision-makers start reaching out organically — via the website and chat, without direct advertising.
Three lessons for tough B2B
- 01
In long-cycle B2B, showing the form too early is burned budget
Warming up traffic before showing the form raised conversion more than sixfold.
- 02
The client's product knowledge matters as much as the agency's strategy
Account lists and the right language for bank boards — one wouldn't have worked without the other.
- 03
An effective ABM strategy scales with the budget
2.7× the spend delivered 6×+ the leads, not a proportional increase in cost.
Are your B2B campaigns generating clicks but not leads?
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