Fintech · Payment infrastructure

Target CPA was $500. We delivered $180.

A global payment gateway needed quality B2B leads - businesses ready to integrate their payment solution. The target was $500 per qualified lead. We hit $180. We also scaled spend from $3k to $20k/month in 5 months, cracked the offline conversion attribution problem, and kept the account running clean despite repeat policy suspensions in a highly sensitive financial category.

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5 months to scale · ongoing
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Payment infrastructure
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$3k → $20k/month
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10+ countries
what I WAS working with

Problems and solutions

B2B lead generation for a payment gateway is a different challenge from most paid search campaigns. The audience is narrow, the decision cycle is long, and the financial category brings compliance risk that can kill campaigns overnight. Five problems had to be solved before any meaningful scale was possible.

WHAT WAS BROKEN
No qualified B2B leads - traffic existed but businesses weren't converting to active integrations
No offline conversion tracking - deals closed offline were invisible to Google Ads bidding
No country-level data - no clarity on which markets were profitable for B2B acquisition
No ad copy strategy for financial category - generic messaging triggering policy flags
No scale plan - budget was flat at $3k with no roadmap for growth
WHAT WE BUILT INSTEAD
Search campaigns built around B2B decision-maker intent - "payment gateway for business", "accept online payments", integration-focused queries
Offline conversion import - CRM deal data fed back into Google Ads to train bidding on real business leads
Country-by-country testing framework - 10+ markets tested, 5 profitable ones identified and scaled
Policy-safe ad copy system - RSA variations, extensions, and headlines designed to pass financial review
5-month budget scaling plan - $3k → $20k tied to CPA performance milestones
By the numbers

Results at a glance

The pipeline was dry. They were getting traffic but not the right kind - businesses that would actually integrate and process payments. They needed a structured B2B lead generation strategy across multiple emerging markets, a clear CPA target ($500 max), a way to bring offline conversion signals back into Google Ads, and someone who could navigate the minefield of financial advertising policies without the account going dark.

$180

Cost per qualified lead

target was $500

6.6x

Ad spend growth

$3k → $20k/mo

5

Months to full scale

now ongoing

10+

Countries tested

profitable ones found

BEHIND THE CAMPAIGNS

See the work behind the dough

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"Our target was $500 per qualified lead and we thought that was already ambitious. Getting to $180 while scaling from $3k to $20k a month - in emerging markets, in a category that kept getting us suspended - was beyond what we expected. What stood out was never feeling like the account was being left to run itself. Every suspension was handled fast, every market decision came with a reason, and the leads kept coming."

PG
Payment Gateway Team

Global payment infrastructure

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