How GrowthSpree Scaled VTEX's Enterprise Pipeline Across India, SEA, and the Middle East
A global enterprise commerce platform needed to win category share against Shopify Plus and BigCommerce in three new geographies — and prove that paid demand could fuel enterprise pipeline at efficient CPLs. Across a tightly governed ~$18,000 spend over Q2–Q3 2024, a full-funnel Google + LinkedIn engine moved VTEX from 0 to 22 qualified enterprise leads, cut average CPL by ~45%, and locked in Top 1–2 auction rank against the category leaders.
Key Takeaways
GrowthSpree partnered with VTEX to build a structured, full-funnel paid media engine across Google and LinkedIn — designed to surface enterprise decision-makers in India, SEA, and the Middle East and win category share against Shopify Plus and BigCommerce. The result was a steady, predictable stream of high-intent enterprise leads at progressively lower CPLs.
- 22 qualified enterprise leads from a starting baseline of zero, across India, SEA, and UAE.
- ~45% CPL reduction across key regions: UAE $748 → $512, India $357 → $161.
- Top 1–2 auction rank on "Shopify Plus," "B2B Commerce," and "Enterprise Ecom" keywords.
- 2.5× lead volume vs the June baseline, with 29% drop in cost-per-form.
- Google Ads drove >80% of leads; LinkedIn lifted CTR 0.43% → 0.74% with 60% CPC drop.
- >60% impression share against Shopify Plus and BigCommerce across India and SEA.
The Mission
VTEX is a global enterprise commerce platform helping the world's largest retailers modernize their B2B and B2C operations with a composable, headless stack. The mission for this 2024 program: strengthen VTEX's presence in India, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East — driving qualified enterprise leads while maintaining CPL efficiency and expanding category share against "Shopify Plus" and "B2B Commerce" alternatives.
The Challenge
Three new geographies. A crowded enterprise commerce category dominated by household-name competitors. SMB-skewed search traffic that drowned out enterprise intent. And a tight quarterly window to prove that paid demand could fuel real enterprise pipeline — not just impressions and clicks. The campaign needed to reach the right retail and commerce leader, in the right region, with the right TOFU/MOFU/BOFU layer, before competitors locked the auction.
What We Were Up Against
Our Strategy
We built a structured, three-phase paid engine — Launch & Test, Optimize & Compete, Expand & Scale — anchored on a clean TOFU → MOFU → BOFU funnel split. Each region got its own creative layer, each phase had a cost-efficiency ceiling, and every wasted-spend signal triggered a kill rule before it could compound.
Acquire enterprise-level decision-maker leads via Google & LinkedIn — not SMB volume.
Prove regional messaging resonance in India, SEA, and the Middle East with localized creative.
Establish a full-funnel TOFU → MOFU → BOFU system that sustains pipeline beyond one quarter.
Win category share against Shopify Plus, BigCommerce, and B2B Commerce competitors.
The GrowthSpree Approach
We ran a phased rollout — June for launch and aggressive search-term cleanup, July for competitor scaling against Shopify Plus, and August for geographic expansion into UAE and SEA with localized "Enterprise" themes. Google handled the bottom-of-funnel intent capture (>80% of leads); LinkedIn handled mid-to-bottom funnel decision-maker reach with retargeted IBM and Motorola case-study ads.
On top of that, we built creative refresh cycles every two weeks to prevent fatigue, introduced TCO, Ownership, and Simplify ad sets to layer in different buyer angles, and ran Demand Gen campaigns to seed awareness for enterprise CXOs at retail groups like Reliance Retail, Croma, Chalhoub Group, and Amazon.
How GrowthSpree Saved the Day
Search-Term Hygiene & Negative Keyword Cleanup
Cleaned 60% of wasted spend by aggressively filtering "Udaan"-style junk queries from "B2B Commerce" terms — every poor-fit query got negative-keyworded within 48 hours, narrowing the auction to true enterprise intent.
Full-Funnel Google + LinkedIn Engine
Google Ads (>80% of leads, 5–8% CTR) captured high-intent commercial keywords. LinkedIn (CTR 0.43% → 0.74%, CPC ↓60%) ran mid-to-bottom funnel decision-maker plays — including Google → LinkedIn retargeting of warmed audiences with IBM and Motorola case-study creative.
Geo-Localized Enterprise Themes
Phased out generic Shopify Plus and B2B Commerce ads and introduced regional "Enterprise" themes for India, SEA, and UAE — each with TCO, Ownership, and Simplify ad sets calibrated to the local buyer's pain points and competitive frame.
The Four Pillars That Made It Work
How a tightly governed three-month sprint moved VTEX from junk traffic to category dominance.
Launched B2B Commerce campaigns and immediately diagnosed the junk-traffic problem: searches like "Udaan" were burning enterprise spend on SMB intent. We deployed aggressive search-term reports, layered negative keywords, and tightened match types — cleaning 60% of wasted spend in the first 30 days.
~$1,000 estimated spend in launch month. Initial CTR ran at 7.7% but lead quality was low. The insight that came out of June became the foundation for July's competitor scaling phase.
Star insight: Without aggressive negative-keyword hygiene, "B2B Commerce" keywords would have continued bleeding SMB traffic at enterprise CPCs — making the rest of the program impossible to scale.
With the auction cleaned, we scaled into the highest-intent commercial keywords. India delivered 7 form fills from "b2b commerce platforms" and "best b2b ecommerce websites." SEA delivered 3 form fills from "b2b ecommerce business." Creative was refreshed every two weeks to keep CTR stable and prevent fatigue.
Outranked Shopify Plus and Enterprise category leaders across India and SEA with >60% impression share — meaning VTEX's ad showed in the top of the auction more often than its largest competitors on the most valuable keywords.
Star insight: Keyword intent matters. Refining "B2B Commerce" terms to filter SMB noise was pivotal — it lifted CTR to 8.03% and dropped CPL by 35% in the same month.
Launched the GS_Ecom-Enterprise campaign architecture across UAE and expanded SEA coverage. Form fills tripled in India (1 → 3) while UAE held steady at 1. UAE CPL dropped from $748 → $512; India CPL dropped from $357 → $161. Demand-Gen campaigns drove >37K impressions for awareness against retail CXOs.
LinkedIn CTR climbed from 0.43% to 0.65% with a 60% drop in CPC, driven by Google → LinkedIn retargeting that served IBM and Motorola case-study creative to warmed audiences. The result: enterprise leads coming directly from named-account creative.
Star insight: Localized copy + regional case-study hooks resonated best with enterprise CXOs. Demand-Gen seeded awareness while BOFU search captured the warmed intent — a clean handoff that doubled funnel efficiency.
Treated Google and LinkedIn as a single funnel, not two channels. Google ran BOFU intent capture on "Shopify Plus," "B2B Commerce," and "Enterprise Ecom" terms. LinkedIn ran MOFU/BOFU decision-maker plays targeting Store Managers, Regional Sales Managers, and Area Sales Managers across India and MENA. Audiences moved laterally across the two.
Top job titles engaged on LinkedIn: Store Manager, Regional Sales Manager, Area Sales Manager. Top companies by engagement: Reliance Retail, Croma, Chalhoub Group, and Amazon. Cross-channel retargeting cut CPC by 60% and lifted CTR from 0.43% to 0.74% over the program.
Star insight: Demand-gen is awareness fuel — but it only converts when BOFU search is ready to catch the warmed audience. The Google + LinkedIn handoff was the single most leveraged decision in the program.
The Results
Enterprise Leads
Reduction
Q2–Q3 2024
From a baseline of 0 enterprise leads to 22 high-intent conversions, Top 1–2 auction rank against Shopify Plus and BigCommerce, 2.5× lead volume vs June, 29% CPF improvement, and >60% impression share across India and SEA — all on a tightly governed ~$18K spend.
Performance Breakdown
How a phased, full-funnel engine converted three new geographies into a predictable enterprise pipeline.
Top Enterprise Audiences We Reached
High-intent engagement came from senior retail and commerce leaders at organizations including:
What Made It Work
The strategic lessons behind a repeatable, scalable enterprise paid engine.
Keyword intent beats keyword volume
Refining "B2B Commerce" terms to filter SMB noise was the single most leveraged decision of the program. It cleaned 60% of wasted spend, lifted CTR to 8.03% in July, and made everything downstream possible.
Two-week creative refresh cycles
Rotating creative every two weeks kept CTR stable and prevented fatigue even as spend climbed 16× from June to August — a discipline most enterprise campaigns skip and pay for in declining CTR.
Localized hooks resonated with CXOs
Regional "Enterprise" themes for India, SEA, and UAE — with TCO, Ownership, and Simplify ad sets — landed better with enterprise CXOs than any generic Shopify Plus alternative messaging.
Demand-Gen needs a BOFU handoff
Demand-Gen drove >37K awareness impressions, but those impressions only converted because BOFU search was ready to catch the warmed audience. Without the handoff, awareness spend would have been pure brand cost.
The Final Outcome
VTEX exited Q3 2024 with a repeatable, scalable enterprise paid engine — 22 qualified leads from a zero baseline, ~45% CPL reduction across key regions, Top 1–2 auction rank against Shopify Plus and BigCommerce, >60% impression share across India and SEA, and brand visibility expanded across three new enterprise segments. Here's where the program is headed next.
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