How a fintech scale-up unlocked international growth through strategic B2B paid search.

Client :
Qonto
Business Banking | Fintech Scale-up

Challenge :
Expanding across 4 European markets with different banking behaviors. Paid acquisition channels optimized for consumer mindset, not B2B decision cycles. No clear view of which accounts were truly incremental.

Result :
+215% Sales Qualified Leads YoY

Get your free Audit

The numbers that matter

+215%

B2B Sales
Qualified Leads YoY

-38%

Cost per Business
Account Opened

+142%

Cross-market
account growth

+89%

Enterprise
account sign-ups

The Challenge - Problem Statement

The problem

International expansion hitting acquisition walls.

Qonto, a business banking platform serving SMEs and freelancers across Europe, was scaling fast. Four markets. Tens of thousands of business accounts. But their paid acquisition engine wasn't built for international B2B complexity. Campaigns optimized for consumer-style instant conversions couldn't capture multi-touchpoint business decision cycles. Growth was linear at best.

Key challenges

Consumer-focused campaigns failing to address B2B buying cycles
Disconnected market strategies across France, Germany, Spain, and Italy
Attribution models crediting last-click conversions, missing true customer journey
High CPA in enterprise segment with no visibility into deal size or LTV

The diagnosis: Treating business account opening like consumer e-commerce. Qonto needed lead generation infrastructure built for longer sales cycles, decision committees, and international nuance.

Client Testimonial

"Ad’s up Consulting restructured our entire approach. They built campaigns that acknowledged how businesses actually buy financial services—nurturing consideration, not forcing instant sign-ups. Lead volume tripled, and crucially, account quality improved. We stopped wasting spend on tire-kickers."

Teresa Harbeck

Lead Paid Acquisition, Qonto

How we fixed it

B2B buying isn’t consumer shopping. Businesses research, compare, consult. Instant-conversion campaigns were generating noise, not revenue. The fix required restructuring acquisition around actual business decision-making behavior.

The Fix: B2B Lead Gen Transformation

We deployed full-funnel keyword mapping to separate awareness queries ("best business bank account") from intent queries ("Qonto pricing" + "open business account online"). Top-funnel campaigns targeted educational content and comparison guides. Bottom-funnel campaigns drove free trial sign-ups and demo requests.

Localization wasn’t translation—it was strategic adaptation. German campaigns emphasized security and compliance. French campaigns highlighted ease of use and administrative simplification. Spanish and Italian messaging focused on international payment capabilities. Each market got bespoke audience targeting, ad copy, and landing page experiences aligned with local banking culture.

Attribution was rebuilt from scratch. We moved from last-click to data-driven attribution, crediting all touchpoints in multi-week consideration cycles. This revealed that enterprise accounts required 8+ interactions before converting—completely invisible under previous model. Budget allocation shifted toward nurturing long-cycle prospects.

Key challenges

Audit: Mapped 4-market keyword universe across 12 business categories and company sizes
Restructure: Built separate funnel stages—awareness, consideration, decision—with stage-appropriate messaging
Localization: Created market-specific campaigns reflecting banking culture, regulatory environment, and SME pain points
Attribution: Implemented data-driven model tracking full customer journey from first search to account opening

Outcome

B2B lead volume increased +215% in first quarter post-launch. Cost per business account opened dropped -38%. Cross-market growth accelerated +142%, with Italy and Spain—previously underperforming—now contributing 40% of new accounts. Enterprise segment conversions up +89%.

3-month turnaround

Month 1:

Diagnosis

International keyword audit, buyer journey mapping, attribution model analysis

Finding: 67% of budget on bottom-funnel conversions missing 80% of consideration phase

Month 2:

Implementation

Full-funnel campaign build, market-specific localization, attribution platform deployment

Early wins: Lead volume +84%, CPA -22%, cross-market balance improving

Month 3:

Optimization

Enterprise segment refinement, landing page testing, budget reallocation to high-performing markets

Final results: Lead volume +215%, CPA -38%, cross-market growth +142%, enterprise conversions +89%

What made this work

B2B Buying Cycles Demand Different Strategies

Businesses don’t convert on first visit. They research, compare, consult stakeholders. Campaigns optimized for instant conversions miss the real opportunity—nurturing consideration over weeks, not hours.

International Doesn’t Mean Universal

Each market has distinct banking culture, regulatory expectations, and SME pain points. Generic campaigns translated into local languages fail. Strategy must adapt to how businesses in each country actually make banking decisions.

Attribution Reveals True Performance

Last-click attribution credits the final touchpoint, ignoring everything that built consideration. Data-driven models track the full journey—revealing which channels truly drive decisions, not just which get the last click before conversion.

Blog