How ActiveCampaign hit their paid media monthly ARR targets 18 months in a row while cutting ad spend in half

‍About

ActiveCampaign is a marketing automation platform, trusted by over 180,000 customers worldwide, that helps businesses create and automate personalized customer experiences to drive growth. 

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Challenge 

Prior to working with AdConversion, ActiveCampaign was making a significant investment in paid media. Though they were seeing positive results, they wanted to increase the efficiency of their program and cut ad spend while hitting their paid media monthly ARR targets. 

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Solution

1. Conducted a comprehensive ad group analysis on Google to identify a) keywords to prioritize and b) keywords with lower ad relevance to stop targeting. 

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2. Scaled both prospecting (custom segment) and remarketing campaigns on YouTube to generate large-scale awareness for a lower cost. 

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3. Identified low-performing industries to exclude across all LinkedIn Ad campaigns. 

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4. Tightened LinkedIn Ads targeting, layering on job titles, job functions, and member skills to reach ideal ICP. 

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5. Assigned higher conversion values to higher value events (e.g., trial request) to properly train LinkedIn’s algorithm. 

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6. Expanded remarketing content, creating separate campaigns for social proof, product marketing, and problem-focused ads  — going far beyond the generic free trial offer. 

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7. Implemented a multichannel remarketing strategy, reaching prospects across YouTube, Reddit, LinkedIn, and Meta, and creating a sense of omnipresence. 

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8. Created dozens of automated rules to prevent underperforming campaigns from overspending. 

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9. Carried out an extensive analysis of G2 reviews to identify top customer pain points and create ads related to them. 

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10.Tested new creative ideas to continuously improve CTRs and combat ad fatigue. 

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‍Results

In 18 months working with AdConversion, ActiveCampaign has surpassed their monthly ARR targets for paid media every single month while cutting their ad spend in half. In the past 2 months, they’ve exceeded their monthly targets by more than 50%.