CPL from $455 to $176.
196 leads in five months.
How Kiin rebuilt the LinkedIn Ads account of Lumi AI, an agentic analytics platform for ERP data, from the ground up, then fixed the leak behind the form.
Really enjoyed working with KIIN. They managed our LinkedIn ads end-to-end and did a fantastic job. They were proactive in identifying issues and opportunities, continuously improving performance, and helping us build a robust growth engine that consistently generated weekly meetings with our ICP. Highly recommend working with them.
196 leads in five months. 57% of them at $55 CPL from warm retargeting.
$44K of spend in the new account. Blended CPL averaged $225 against $455 at handover, and $176 in the best month.
Blended CPL was $455 when Kiin took over.
The campaigns produced some leads, but the economics were hard and the structure could not scale.
- Thought Leader Ads with no CTA. Strong engagement, zero leads captured.
- $2,500+ a month on non ICP industries.
- UAE absorbing $1,145 a month with zero leads.
- Entry and Training seniority eating budget with zero return.
- US and New Zealand in one campaign, breaking pacing.
- No MOFU or BOFU split. Every campaign chased the same audience.
- No conversion tracking after the form was submitted.
What the account data actually showed.
The US took 64.6% of budget at $330 CPL. Australia took 4.8% at $124.
How Kiin read itDon't cut the US: it still produced 60 leads. Move budget toward the markets where each dollar works harder.
The job title report found the buyers the job function report hid.
| Job title | Impr. | Clicks | CTR | Spend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VP of Analytics | 4,903 | 104 | 2.1% | $784 |
| Manager of AI | 3,668 | 100 | 2.7% | $419 |
| Director of Analytics | 2,876 | 73 | 2.5% | $444 |
| Head of Analytics | 3,998 | 89 | 2.2% | $492 |
| Senior Data Analyst | 4,970 | 156 | 3.1% | $437 |
| Founder (general) | 612 | 11 | 1.8% | $54 |
How Kiin read itLinkedIn files data roles under the IT job function, so the function report looked wrong. At title level the buyers were clear: VPs, Heads and Directors of Analytics, and Managers of AI. Senior Data Analysts clicked most but don't buy, so they came out.
New account. Clean structure.
Rather than fix the old account, Kiin built a fresh USD account and migrated only the best audiences and assets. Structure first, then targeting, then creative.
- 01Clean attribution
No legacy data polluting the signals.
- 02Funnel groups
Separate TOFU, MOFU and BOFU campaign groups.
- 03Geo split
North America and Rest of World in their own groups.
- 04Manual CPC
Bid caps replace LinkedIn's Maximum Delivery default.
- 05Exclusions
Fresh audience exclusion lists from day one.
Every exclusion came straight from the audit.
| Area | Removed | Added or kept |
|---|---|---|
| Industries | Insurance, Hospitality, Capital Markets, Healthcare, Airlines, Higher Education, Real Estate | Logistics and Supply Chain, Retail, Food and Beverage, Manufacturing, IT Services, Management Consulting |
| Seniority | Entry, Training, Unpaid | Director, VP, CXO, Senior (monitored) |
| Job titles | Senior Data Analyst, Member, Investor, Mentor | VP of Analytics, Head of Data, Director of BI, Manager of AI |
| Location | Recent visitors and temporary location | Permanent location only |
| Geography | US and New Zealand in the same campaign | US + Canada and Rest of World in separate groups |
| Bidding | Maximum Delivery (LinkedIn default) | Manual CPC with bid caps |
Thought Leader Ads hit 7.7% CTR on cold audiences. They produced zero leads.
- Lead gen forms on warm Thought Leader Ad campaigns
- 14 assets split into their own campaigns, out of auto rotation
- Retargeting audiences built from post engagement
- CTA links in top of funnel post copy
- Video Thought Leader Ads alongside image
Sunday was the cheapest day. Lead gen CPL: $49.
Auction competition drops on Sundays and VP level data leaders in North America catch up on LinkedIn on Sunday evening. Most advertisers pause weekends. Here that would have cut 34% of lead gen leads.
So whatMidnight to 9am EDT was the UK and UAE audience in their own working day. Dayparting to North American office hours would have wrecked the Rest of World campaigns. Peak slots: 3pm and 5pm EDT. n = 126 leads.
LinkedIn leads up 30%. Calendly bookings down by half.
The leads weren't worse. People closed the form meaning to book later, and never did. Manual BDR follow up was too slow.
The fix: follow up while the lead is still on LinkedIn.
The moment a form is submitted: “If you haven't already, here's the link to book.”
Source is LinkedIn paid social and status is not Connected: feeds the BDR queue automatically.
Unbooked leads get a LinkedIn connection and message sequence within a day of the form.
The no show sequence now also triggers on leads who never booked, before they go cold.
Blended CPL fell from $455 at handover to $176 in August.
| Month | Spend | Leads | CPL |
|---|---|---|---|
| May | $9,891 | 40 | $247 |
| Jun | $9,925 | 47 | $211 |
| Jul | $10,851 | 44 | $247 |
| Aug | $9,137 | 52 | $176 |
| Sep 1 to 8 | $2,609 | 13 | $201 |
| Total | $44,056 | 196 | $225 |
Includes $1,643 of April launch spend with no leads. Old account, Dec 2025 to Apr 2026: $42,493 spend.
57% of all leads came from warm retargeting, at $55 CPL.
How Kiin reads itBOFU is capped by the size of the retargeting pool. Judge top of funnel on cost per new pool member, not just direct leads.
Six things this account taught us.
5 to 9% CTR on cold audiences. Zero pipeline until a form went on.
Sunday CPL $49, 37% cheaper than Tuesday. Weekend $55 vs weekday $68.
US: 64.6% of budget at $330. Australia: 4.8% at $124. Rebalance, don't cut.
August was the best month for leads and the worst for bookings.
BOFU made 57% of leads at $55. Grow the pool and BOFU grows.
1 send per member per 30 days, per sender. A second sender can double volume.
Want this on your account?
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