Case · Lead generation · Paid social & search

Same budget. Best lead weeks of the year.

We didn’t increase the ad budget. We moved more of it up the funnel. The campaign period coincided with the three strongest lead weeks in the reporting window.

Client: Anonymous Danish B2C company Channels: Meta & Google Ads Reporting window: Weeks 16–33
Anders Berendt Svendsen, founder of Paivio Media
Anders Berendt Svendsen · Paid Media Strategist
+63%
higher average weekly lead volume in weeks 22–24 versus the other weeks shown
+76%
lead volume in the best week versus the average of the other weeks shown
DKK 0
added to the total ad budget
DKK 6.55
per landing page view at the top of the funnel

The journey

Not more budget – a different allocation

01 · The challenge

More leads without a bigger budget

The client ran paid media on Google and Meta, with organic search driving half of all site traffic. The question wasn’t how much to spend, but where in the funnel the money would work hardest.

02 · What we did

Weighting toward Meta top-of-funnel

Total spend held steady, but a larger share went to a Meta campaign optimised for landing page views: low-cost, relevant visits rather than direct conversions.

03 · The result

The three strongest weeks of the year

Weeks 22–24 were the strongest in the reporting window, with average weekly lead volume 63% above the comparison baseline in weeks 22–24, and the best week 76% above it. More than 60% of leads were qualified.

The numbers

Leads rose when top-of-funnel got more room

Weeks 22–24 averaged 63% more leads per week than the other weeks shown
Weekly lead volume versus comparison baseline (weeks 16–33) · total ad budget unchanged
Weekly lead volume as percentage changeCampaign weeks 22–24 highlighted. Percentage difference from the average of weeks 16–21 and 25–33. Absolute lead counts are not shown.-50%-25%0%+25%+50%+75%+100%Week 16: +16% versus baseline+16%16Week 17: +20% versus baseline+20%17Week 18: -5% versus baseline-5%18Week 19: +5% versus baseline+5%19Week 20: +23% versus baseline+23%20Week 21: +14% versus baseline+14%21Week 22: +66% versus baseline · campaign period+66%22Week 23: +48% versus baseline · campaign period+48%23Week 24: +76% versus baseline · campaign period+76%24Week 25: +10% versus baseline+10%25Week 26: +12% versus baseline+12%26Week 27: +25% versus baseline+25%27Week 28: +1% versus baseline+1%28Week 29: -18% versus baseline-18%29Week 30: -29% versus baseline-29%30Week 31: -46% versus baseline-46%31Week 32: -12% versus baseline-12%32Week 33: -18% versus baseline-18%33Week · baseline = average of weeks 16–21 and 25–33

Source: client lead data, presented as rounded percentage differences. Baseline: average weekly leads in weeks 16–21 and 25–33. When top-of-funnel was later scaled back, average weekly volume in weeks 29–33 was 24% below the comparison baseline.

What we learned

Top-of-funnel isn’t waste – it fills the funnel

  1. Measure top-of-funnel on what it creates

    Not last-click leads, but traffic, engagement and the demand that shows up later in search and retargeting.

  2. Reallocate before you increase

    The strongest lead weeks coincided with a shift in allocation toward the top of the funnel, without increasing total spend.

  3. Watch for delayed effects

    After top-of-funnel activity was scaled back, lead volume declined over time. This pattern suggests a lag worth testing, rather than proving causation.

  4. See every channel in one cockpit

    Leads, Meta spend and traffic side by side. Otherwise top-of-funnel looks like waste and gets cut.

The method

Precision Creative Engine

This case is a textbook example of the dual-track principle in our Precision Creative Engine: top-of-funnel and bottom-of-funnel do different jobs and must be measured differently.

We combine an audit-first view of creative and channels with a dedicated test budget and a cockpit dashboard, so decisions are made on the whole funnel – not just last click.

Results were observed over the period and are not from a controlled experiment. A holdout test is the natural next step to isolate the effect.

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