B2B Lead Generation for Cooltra
Cooltra, the leading moto sharing brand in Europe, hired Gotoclient to accompany them in opening their B2B business and setting up a lead generation engine back in October 2020. The first three-month period aimed to set up their lead generation engine and understand the future realistic expected goals. We generated + 70 a month. Having started as a test to understand what the results could be, today, the campaign is still active + 18 months later and generates + 200 business-to-business opportunities for Cooltra branches in five key (Spain, Portugal, Italy, France and Germany) European markets. Gotoclient has taken an A/B + grow by testing approach with the campaign, which currently runs on Google Ads, Cooltra organic landing pages and LinkedIn Ads.
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Clear Objectives
The objectives of the campaign have varied by period:
PHASE 1 (October 2020 + December 2020)
1.1. Objectives: Prove we could set up a lead generation engine through several online tools in the key market – and home country – Spain
1.2. KPIs: Proving positive ROI, calculated as follows: ((Lifetime client value * Number of clients)/Total investment)
Results of phase 1:
1.1. Objective accomplished– lead generation engine was possible. We tested three ways: LinkedIn Ads, Google Ads, and one-to-one agreements with business associations in the critical Spanish region of Catalonia. Results were positive, and we quickly understood that Google Ads was outperforming the other channels, as follows:
1.1.1. Lead level. Approx. 50 leads were generated:
– 80% on Google Ads
– 15% LinkedIn Ads
– 5% Agreements with associations
1.1.2. Sales qualified lead (SQL) level. Approx. 20 leads were generated:
– 50% on Google Ads
– 40% LinkedIn Ads
– 10% Agreements with associations
1.2. KPIs: Results proved positive, with a lifetime revenue associated with actual closed deals higher than the media investment and the client’s agency cost.
PHASE 2 (The calendar year 2020)
2.1. Objectives: Manage an ongoing lead generation ‘platform’ for Cooltra in Spain, Portugal and Italy
2.2. KPIs: Generate at least eight sales qualified leads per month across the three countries and close at least four deals per month (96sales qualified leads for the whole year and 48 closed sales)
Results of phase 2:
2.1. Objective accomplished– lead generation engine was possible. As a result, there is now a robust B2 B demand generation platform for Cooltra business.
2.2. KPIs: 104 sales qualified leads (target exceeded by 8%), 84 closed deals (target exceeded by 40%)
PHASE 3 (The calendar year 2021)
3.1. Objectives: Manage an ongoing lead generation ‘platform’ for Cooltra in Spain, Portugal and Italy, and extend it to France and Germany.
3.2. KPIs: Generate at least 20 sales qualified leads per month across the three countries, and close at least ten deals per month (100 sales qualified leads and 50 deals by 31st May)
Results of phase 3:
3.1. Objective already accomplished– we have added France and Italy as thriving markets.
3.2. KPIs: 180 sales qualified leads (target exceeded by 80%), 135 closed deals
Innovation and Creativity
The uniqueness of our campaign relies on the following factors:
- First, it has become an ongoing and always-on lead generation platform for Cooltra. Most brands struggle with B2B continuous lead generation.
- To meet the goals, we have taken a creative based approach as follows:
2.1. Isolation of winning factors and building new creative strategies from them, test, fine-tune and grow results. Examples of this have been:
2.1.1. copy vocabulary – keyword isolation through AB test. Both on Google Ads and LinkedIn Ads, set of new creatives based on winning keywords.
2.1.2. AB tests them again, understanding results down the funnel and, once we have made them successful, apply them throughout the whole conversion funnel (from the impression to the lead generation), focusing investment on those.
2.2. Out-of-the-box new approaches for creatives tightened with specific audience pain points. For example, to respond to the audience’s need for Adhoc solutions, one of the ads showcased a scooter on a chair on a tightrope. One other ad presented a scooter wrapped in measuring tape. - We have linked the creative with an always-improving AB one. More than 400 different ads have been tested, launched and improved since the start of the campaign. (on LinkedIn Ads: 102 Ads in Spain, 46 in Italy, 37 in France, 31 in Portugal, and on Google Ads: 142 Ads in Spain, 29 in Italy, 11 in France, 4 in Portugal, and 3 in Germany)
- The campaign is also unique in terms of localisation. While most campaigns are translated into languages through an online translation system, every ad translation has been hand crafted by local B2B experts, natives of each country, taking local particularities into account.
Human Touch
Our campaign requires + 20 hours a week of ongoing work, composed of Agency Director, Account Director and Cooltra’s Account Manager work. That bulk of work integrates daily human tracking, campaign optimisation, measurement, and, once a month, strategy revisiting.
But the amount of human time behind the campaign is only a quantitative metric. Regarding quality, it is exceptionally relevant to underline that we follow Patrick Lencioni’s Getting Naked principles. We train our team to eliminate the three fundamental fears (losing business, feeling inferior, and being embarrassed) by celebrating mistakes, taking bullets for our clients and making everything about them, honouring their work and doing the dirty ones. In Cooltra’s case, within these eighteen months of the relationship, celebrating their job and doing the dirty work have proved instrumental in solidifying a stable long-term relationship. It is apparent in every Teams meeting that the relationship goes far beyond an agency-client one. We can proudly say (and even prove!) that there is only one team behind the success of Cooltra’s B2B demand generation in their five key markets.
Smart Execution
We have taken a learn-by-executing approach, eliminating tactics that do not work and expanding on those that work. For instance, one of the initial approaches was to reach out to business associations in the Catalonia area. We successfully reached out and generated interest, but we weren’t from a conversion perspective. So we just dropped the tactic.
Beyond associations, since its inception 20 months ago, the strategy is now repivoting, mainly affecting the LinkedIn Ads lead generation. From an audience perspective, we have been running a vertical approach, tackling specific markets and breaking down the messaging by market. However, those audience sizes were relatively small and started presenting symptoms of tiredness, so we are now taking the company size strategy, where the critical mapping factor is the offer rather than the message. For instance, we will now offer TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) guides to big companies and corporations. In contrast, we will showcase several case studies for mid-market companies in the consideration stage.
The strategy is revisited monthly, along with its monthly data consolidation assessment. In addition, we measure every single buyer journey stage (from the impression to contract signature) and look at strategy gaps for us to suggest solutions and improvements.
Constant retrofeedback from Cooltra’s sales team is taken on board every week, leading to changes in keywords, ads, or LinkedIn lead gen forms.
Every month, the total number of optimisations varies from 5 to 20. See last mays’ example below. *See annex 1
Results and Effectiveness
The objectives of the campaign have varied by period:
PHASE 1 (October 2020 + December 2020)
1.1. Objectives: Prove we could set up a lead generation engine through several online tools in the key market – and home country – Spain
1.2. KPIs: Proving positive ROI, calculated as follows: ((Lifetime client value * Number of clients)/Total investment)
Results of phase 1:
1.1. Objective accomplished– lead generation engine was possible. We tested three ways: LinkedIn Ads, Google Ads, and one-to-one agreements with business associations in the critical Spanish region of Catalonia. Results were positive, and we quickly understood that Google Ads was outperforming the other channels, as follows:
1.1.1. Lead level. Approx. 50 leads were generated:
– 80% on Google Ads
– 15% LinkedIn Ads
– 5% Agreements with associations
1.1.2. Sales qualified lead (SQL) level. Approx. 20 leads were generated:
– 50% on Google Ads
– 40% LinkedIn Ads
– 10% Agreements with associations
1.2. KPIs: Results proved positive, with a lifetime revenue associated with actual closed deals higher than the media investment and the client’s agency cost.
PHASE 2 (The calendar year 2020)
2.1. Objectives: Manage an ongoing lead generation ‘platform’ for Cooltra in Spain, Portugal and Italy
2.2. KPIs: Generate at least eight sales qualified leads per month across the three countries and close at least four deals per month (96sales qualified leads for the whole year and 48 closed sales)
Results of phase 2:
2.1. Objective accomplished– lead generation engine was possible. As a result, there is now a robust B2 B demand generation platform for Cooltra business.
2.2. KPIs: 104 sales qualified leads (target exceeded by 8%), 84 closed deals (target exceeded by 40%)
PHASE 3 (The calendar year 2021)
3.1. Objectives: Manage an ongoing lead generation ‘platform’ for Cooltra in Spain, Portugal and Italy, and extend it to France and Germany.
3.1. KPIs: Generate at least 20 sales qualified leads per month across the three countries, and close at least ten deals per month (100 sales qualified leads and 50 deals by 31st May)
Results of phase 2:
3.1. Objective already accomplished– we have integrated France and Italy as thriving markets.
3.2. KPIs: 180 sales qualified leads (yearly target already exceeded by 80%), 135 closed deals (yearly target already exceeded by 12.5%). See below the results for May 2022 only.
*See annex 2
*See annex 3
