top of page
Search

How a B2B SaaS Company Generated 300 Qualified Leads Per Month Using Google Search Ads

  • Writer: Amit Chopra
    Amit Chopra
  • Jul 3
  • 3 min read

Client Overview

PeopleCore is a Bengaluru-based HR technology SaaS company offering an integrated HRMS platform — covering payroll automation, attendance, leave management, and performance reviews — to Indian businesses with 50–500 employees. Founded in 2018 by ex-Infosys engineers, PeopleCore had 180 paying clients and ₹3.2 crore in ARR when HO Digital was engaged. The company had grown entirely through outbound sales: cold calling, email outreach, and LinkedIn prospecting. After closing a Series A round, the CEO wanted to add an inbound channel to reduce the cost and variability of outbound.

The hypothesis was straightforward: HR managers and business owners search for 'HRMS software India' and 'payroll software for small business' on Google — if PeopleCore could capture that intent, it would generate warm leads that the sales team could close at higher rates than cold outbound contacts. HO Digital was given ₹3 lakh/month to test and prove this hypothesis within 3 months.

The Challenge

  • B2B SaaS CPCs are extremely high — 'HRMS software India' costs ₹180–380 per click due to competition from Keka, Darwinbox, Zoho People, and greytHR

  • No dedicated landing page — the company homepage was the destination for all ad traffic, with no specific demo CTA

  • No lead qualification — all form submissions went to the sales team, who were spending time on companies with 5 employees that were clearly not a fit

  • Decision cycle is 2–6 months for HRMS purchases — short-term attribution models undercount true ROI

  • The target buyer (HR Manager or MD of a 50–500 employee company) is very specific — broad audience targeting wastes budget quickly

  • Competitor conquest keywords were being bid on without comparison landing pages — clicks landed on the homepage and immediately bounced

Strategy: Phase-by-Phase

Phase 1 — Strategy, Landing Pages & Tracking Setup (Month 1)

Three buyer personas were defined: HR Manager evaluating HRMS, Business Owner seeking payroll automation, and IT Manager looking for integrations. Separate landing pages were built for each — each with a '14-Day Free Trial' primary CTA and a 'Book a Live Demo' secondary CTA. Critically, a 3-question lead qualification form was added post-click: company size, current HR software, and monthly payroll headcount. This meant every lead came pre-qualified. Full conversion tracking was set up for trial signups, demo bookings, and phone calls.

Phase 2 — SKAG Campaign Structure & Competitor Conquest (Month 2–3)

Campaigns were built using a Single Keyword Ad Group (SKAG) structure — one ad group per high-intent keyword to maximise Quality Score and ad relevance. High-value keywords at ₹120–280 CPC were targeted with exact-match precision. Competitor conquest campaigns for Keka, Darwinbox, and Zoho People searchers served comparison landing pages with a side-by-side feature and pricing comparison — winning 14% of competitor-intent clicks. LinkedIn audience layering added HR Director and CHRO job title targeting on top of search intent.

Phase 3 — Lead Scoring & CRM Integration (Month 4–6)

Google Ads conversion data was integrated with PeopleCore's HubSpot CRM to track keyword → lead → demo → trial → paid conversion by source. This revealed that 'HR software India' keywords converted to paying customers at 2.1× the rate of generic 'HRMS software' terms — despite similar CPCs. Budget was shifted to high-converting keyword clusters. A 15-day free trial landing page for retargeting pricing-page visitors converted at 22% — the highest page in the account.

📊 Campaign Results Dashboard — Before vs After

  • Monthly Qualified Demo Bookings: 0 → 62/month (vs 50-target)

  • Cost Per Qualified Lead: ₹890 (industry benchmark for HRMS: ₹3,200+)

  • Sales Pipeline Generated: ₹0 → ₹1.4 Cr/month qualified opportunity value

  • Demo-to-Trial Rate: 31% from Google vs 18% from outbound — better lead quality

  • Trial-to-Paid Rate: 24% from Google leads vs 11% from outbound

  • Competitor Conquest: 14% of Keka/Darwinbox searchers converted to PeopleCore demos

  • New ARR in 6 Months: ₹38L from Google Ads-sourced customers

Key Takeaways

  • B2B SaaS Google Ads require persona-specific landing pages — a generic homepage kills conversion rate

  • Lead qualification forms are non-negotiable — filtering unfit leads saves far more in sales hours than the 30% drop in lead volume

  • Competitor conquest campaigns with comparison pages are underused in Indian B2B SaaS and win meaningful traffic

  • Integrating Ads with CRM to measure keyword-to-revenue is the difference between managing a campaign and running a growth machine

What the Client Said

HO Digital built a lead generation machine that outperforms our outbound team on quality. Leads come pre-qualified with company size and current software — saving our SDRs 20 minutes per call. We've hired two new Account Executives purely to handle the inbound Google pipeline. — CEO, PeopleCore HR Tech

 
 
bottom of page