No. 10 · Paid Media

Cost per SQL cut in half

A US campaign was struggling until we changed two things: customer logos as social proof, and a refreshed audience. Cost per SQL fell 50% month over month.

Paid mediaFunnel reportingOctober 2026From The FullFunnel Dozen

Cost per SQL, month over month

Previous monthBaseline

September−50%

FullFunnel-reported September figures.

The short answer

We added customer logos to the ads and updated the audience, then tracked the turnaround through a funnel dashboard fed by HubSpot, covering leads, demos, opportunity to customer, and cost per SQL.

ChangesCustomer logos, new audience

PeriodSeptember 2026

IssueOctober 2026

How it worked

Problem, fix, proof

The problem

Where did the campaign stand?

The US campaign was struggling, and the client was watching it through a HubSpot-fed funnel dashboard. Any fix had to show up there, as leads, demos, and cost per SQL.

The fix

What did we change?

Two changes, made together:

Customer logos added to the creative as social proof
An update to the campaign’s audience

Social proof plus a fresh audience.

The proof

How do we know it worked?

We walked the client through September in the funnel dashboard, and the client’s sales leads described the lead quality as good. All figures are FullFunnel-reported, and the client hasn’t confirmed a baseline.

The result

What changed?

Cheaper sales-qualified leads in September, with the client’s own sales team calling the quality good.

157

Leads in September

Demos booked

70%

Opportunity to customer

−50%

Cost per SQL, month over month

FullFunnel-reported September figures from the HubSpot-fed funnel dashboard.

Period

September 2026

Source

HubSpot-fed funnel dashboard

Figures

FullFunnel-reported

Sound familiar?

Signs your campaign needs a reset

Talk to us about it

Cost per SQL keeps climbing and nobody knows which lever to pull.

Your ads don’t show that companies like the buyer already use you.

The same audience has seen the same ads for months.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Was the drop all down to the ads?

Not necessarily. The client credits part of the change to how deal stages are now marked in HubSpot, not only to lead quality. We report the drop as a result for the period, not a clean attribution.

Did the dashboard show anything else?

Yes. A region-level view showed one smaller region turning 4 of its 6 leads into opportunities, even though it looked weak at first glance.

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