--- title: "B2B SaaS: 141% of Pipeline Target | Case Studies | Artisan Interactive" description: "One of our B2B ad case studies: how a B2B SaaS provider went from 71% to 141% of its pipeline target in one quarter by aiming search at bigger buyers." url: "https://www.artisaninteractive.com/results/b2b-saas/" author: "Scott Woodard" publisher: "Artisan Interactive" published: "2026-11-10" modified: "2026-11-10" language: "en-US" --- > One of our B2B ad case studies: how a B2B SaaS provider went from 71% to 141% of its pipeline target in one quarter by aiming search at bigger buyers. # B2B SaaS: 141% of pipeline target. *— Not more leads. Bigger buyers, and record pipeline in one quarter.* A B2B SaaS provider selling to HR executives across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific had just finished a quarter at 71% of its pipeline target, with each sales opportunity costing more than twice what it had at the start of the year. Rather than chase more leads, we pointed the search budget at the buyers most likely to become large deals. One quarter later, paid pipeline reached a record $5.4M, 141% of target, on 6% less search spend. **141%** Pipeline vs target, up from 71% **3.2×** Enterprise pipeline, in one quarter **6%** Less spent on search ## Opportunities cost twice as much. Pipeline hit 71%. Over the year, the paid program had grown steadily more expensive where it mattered most. The share of leads that became sales opportunities fell from 15% to 7%, and the cost of each opportunity rose from $4.3K to $9.9K. The final quarter closed with pipeline at 71% of target. Part of the budget was going to campaigns that looked productive in the ad platforms but never produced a lead sales accepted. And brand search, normally the cheapest source of demo requests, was sending people to a homepage that had stopped converting. **Chart: The year before the change.** Over the year before the change, the share of leads becoming sales opportunities fell from 15% to 7%, and the cost of each opportunity rose from $4.3K to $9.9K. ## What we changed 1 ### Aim at the largest buyers Using the account’s long-term lead history, we raised bids for very large employers and returning visitors and lowered them for mid-size companies. New keywords came from searches that had already turned into sales opportunities. **3.2×**enterprise pipeline, from $1.1M to $3.7M 2 ### Fund only what reaches sales We stopped paying for campaigns that produced conversions in the ad platforms but no leads in the CRM, and paused 11 small ad groups that weren’t producing leads. That money went to the search campaigns already producing opportunities. **$21K**a quarter moved into search 3 ### Defend the brand for less Brand campaigns moved to bidding for the top position, and brand ads moved from the homepage to a dedicated demo page. Brand clicks got cheaper, and the people clicking started converting again. **31%**lower cost per brand click ## Where judgment changed the plan AI recommendations are a starting point. On four decisions that shaped this quarter, what sales was seeing in the CRM changed the call. **Four calls behind the result** 4 recommendations · 4 reshaped What the model recommended What we did What the model recommended Match keywords more broadly to reach more searches What we did *Kept broad matching only where keywords had a record of leads, and dropped it on Microsoft. Search cost per lead fell 10%.* Let automated bidding set brand bids *Bid for the top position instead. Brand cost per click fell 31% that quarter.* Keep Google’s newest campaign type running, with 14 conversions so far *Paused it after $1,600. None of the 14 became a lead.* Scale display, at $222 per conversion *Paused prospecting. Display spent $22.6K the quarter before and produced no leads sales accepted.* Two quarters · Google and Microsoft ## The result: bigger deals and record pipeline Paid pipeline reached $5.4M, 141% of target and the highest the program had recorded. Each sales opportunity cost about the same as the quarter before, $9.6K against $9.9K, but it was worth far more: average pipeline per opportunity rose from $69K to $168K. Enterprise pipeline more than tripled, from $1.1M to $3.7M. The ad accounts got leaner at the same time. Search spend fell 6% while leads from search rose 4%, and the cost of each lead fell from $464 to $419. Across the paid program, leads were up 49% on the same quarter a year earlier, at the same cost per lead. **Chart: Pipeline by company size.** Paid pipeline by company size. The quarter before: $1.1M enterprise and $0.9M other, $2.1M in all. The quarter after: $3.7M enterprise and $1.7M other, $5.4M in all. **Chart: Pipeline against target.** Pipeline against target. The quarter before: 71%, $2.1M of pipeline, $0.8M short of a $2.9M target. The quarter after: 141%, $5.4M of pipeline, $1.6M above a $3.8M target. *The enterprise gain came from several large deals, not one.* ### Quarter by quarter | Quarter | Before | After | | --- | --- | --- | | Paid pipeline | $2.1M | $5.4M | | Pipeline vs target | 71% | 141% | | Enterprise pipeline | $1.1M | $3.7M | | Pipeline per opportunity | $69K | $168K | | Cost per opportunity | $9.9K | $9.6K | | Search spend | $202K | $190K | | Search leads | 436 | 454 | | Search cost per lead | $464 | $419 | *Pipeline and opportunity figures are from the client’s CRM. Search spend, leads, and cost per lead are from Google and Microsoft.* ## What we did next The following quarter brought deep budget cuts, so the work turned to getting more from every visit. A new landing page for one of the main non-brand campaigns lifted its conversion rate from 0.69% to 2.19%, and a redesigned demo page beat the old one, 2.01% to 1.11%. When automated bidding was tested on brand, conversions fell 48% and cost per conversion rose 145% within a week. We moved brand back to manual bids, and the next month brand cost per conversion fell from $384 to $176. Microsoft got the same test-and-cut treatment. Its non-brand campaigns were relaunched and tested several more times, never matched Google’s costs, and were cut. Microsoft brand campaigns later became the cheapest source of opportunities in the program. ## Let’s find what your account has been missing. A 30-minute strategy call ends with a read on what your account is counting, what’s working, and where the budget should go. [Book a strategy call](https://www.artisaninteractive.com/contact/) --- Source: https://www.artisaninteractive.com/results/b2b-saas/ Site guide: https://www.artisaninteractive.com/llms.txt