How GrowthSpree Built Protean an Integrated ABM + Performance Marketing Engine
A leading digital solutions innovator needed to scale lead generation across five enterprise product lines — E-sign Pro, ONDC, Vidyasaarathi, Rise, and CKYC — while reaching senior decision-makers in BFSI, education CSR, and financial services. A dual-engine program combining Account-Based Marketing with multi-channel performance marketing reached 10,360+ companies, surfaced 422 interested conversations, converted 68 manual hot leads, and added 650 paid leads with 35 MQLs across Meta, Google, and LinkedIn.
Key Takeaways
GrowthSpree partnered with Protean to build a dual-engine acquisition program — Account-Based Marketing for high-value enterprise reach, plus multi-channel performance marketing for cost-efficient scale. The two motions ran in parallel, with insights from one feeding the targeting of the other.
- 10,360+ unique companies reached across 4 ABM product lines — E-sign Pro, ONDC, Vidyasaarathi, Rise.
- 422 interested ABM replies + 68 manual hot leads across BFSI, CSR, education, and tech.
- E-sign Pro led ABM volume: 5,920 companies engaged with 189 interested replies — the highest of any product.
- Vidyasaarathi led ABM quality: 23 manual hot leads from 1,644 companies — the highest hot-lead conversion.
- 650 paid leads at ~₹692 blended CPL with Meta hitting the program-low CPL of ₹285.71.
- 35 performance MQLs across Meta, Google, and LinkedIn — Meta most efficient at ₹8,000 cost/MQL.
The Mission
Protean is a 30-year-old leader in digital solutions, building enterprise-grade infrastructure for India's largest BFSI, government, and education ecosystems. Its product suite — E-sign Pro (e-signature), Rise (pension platform), ONDC (Open Network for Digital Commerce integration), Vidyasaarathi (education CSR funding), and CKYC (Central KYC repository) — spans high-value verticals where the buyer is a senior executive at a bank, government body, or large enterprise. The 2024–2025 mission: scale lead generation across all of them simultaneously, without losing lead quality or letting CPL drift upward.
The Challenge
Four product lines. Four distinct buyer personas. Multiple regulated industries. The challenge wasn't generating leads — it was generating the right leads, for the right product, at the right stage of the funnel, without confusing the market or burning budget on misaligned spend. A purely performance-marketing approach would have driven volume but missed enterprise decision-makers. A purely ABM approach would have surfaced quality but lacked scale. The answer had to be both — running in parallel, sharing intelligence, and reinforcing each other.
What We Were Up Against
Our Strategy
We built a dual-engine program where Account-Based Marketing and multi-channel performance marketing ran in parallel — each playing the funnel role it was designed for, and each feeding intelligence to the other. ABM owned enterprise relationships; performance marketing owned scale; and the integration between the two became the program's compounding edge.
Increase lead generation for high-value products: E-sign Pro, ONDC, Rise, and Vidyasaarathi.
Optimize lead generation efficiency across both ABM and performance marketing through sharper targeting.
Boost lead quality by leveraging ABM for personalized outreach to enterprise decision-makers.
Combine the two motions — ABM insights feed paid targeting; paid retargeting captures ABM interest.
The GrowthSpree Integrated Framework
ABM as the enterprise engagement engine. We targeted high-value accounts in education, CSR, financial services, and technology with custom-tailored messaging — Vidyasaarathi for CSR and education buyers, ONDC for sellers and buyers in the digital commerce network, E-sign Pro and Rise for senior executives in BFSI and tech. Across all four products, ABM reached 10,360+ unique companies and surfaced 422 interested replies plus 68 manual hot leads.
Performance marketing as the scale layer. Meta drove volume at the lowest CPL (₹285.71) across 420 leads — especially strong for ONDC and Rise. Google handled bottom-of-funnel intent capture for E-sign Pro with long-tail keyword targeting. LinkedIn carried enterprise-grade MQL generation for E-sign Pro and Rise — higher CPL but higher conversion quality.
The integration loop. Insights from ABM interactions refined paid ad targeting; paid retargeting captured ABM-interested prospects who didn't reply on the first touch. The two motions weren't separate budgets — they were halves of one engine.
How GrowthSpree Saved the Day
Account-Based Marketing · Enterprise Engagement
Personalized outreach to 10,360+ companies across 4 product lines — Vidyasaarathi (education CSR), ONDC (digital commerce), E-sign Pro (BFSI/tech), Rise (BFSI). Custom-tailored messaging by product and persona surfaced 422 interested replies + 68 hot leads.
Performance Marketing · Multi-Channel Scale
Meta for volume (420 leads at ₹285 CPL — lowest of the program), Google for intent (E-sign Pro long-tail keywords), LinkedIn for enterprise MQLs (Rise + E-sign Pro). ₹450K total spend produced 650 leads and 35 MQLs.
Integration Loop · ABM ↔ Paid
ABM intelligence refined paid ad targeting — only the personas that replied got retargeted. Paid retargeting captured ABM-interested prospects who hadn't yet replied — closing the loop. The integration turned two motions into one compounding engine.
The Four Pillars That Made It Work
How an integrated ABM + Performance Marketing program turned four product lines into one coordinated demand engine.
Concentrated ABM intensity on E-sign Pro — Protean's e-signature flagship — targeting senior executives at BFSI and technology companies. The campaign engaged 5,920 unique companies (57% of total ABM reach) and surfaced 189 interested replies (45% of all ABM responses) plus 19 manual hot leads. On paid, Google Ads ran long-tail keyword campaigns for E-sign Pro generating high-quality leads despite a higher per-lead cost — optimized over time with conversion tracking refinement.
E-sign Pro has the strongest commercial intent of the product portfolio — every BFSI and large-enterprise transaction needs a compliant e-signature workflow. ABM personalized the executive conversation; Google Ads captured the bottom-funnel search intent. The two layers compounded into the largest individual product motion of the program.
Star insight: E-sign Pro is where ABM and performance marketing reinforced each other most clearly. Executives saw the personalized ABM message, then encountered E-sign Pro creative on Google search — making the brand impossible to ignore.
Vidyasaarathi (education CSR funding) ran personalized outreach to corporate CSR teams and education program leaders at 1,644 companies — yielding 85 interested replies and 23 manual hot leads (the highest hot-lead count of any product, 14% of all interested replies). ONDC (digital commerce) targeted sellers and buyers across 1,361 companies with custom messaging — generating 101 interested replies (7.4% reply rate, the highest in the program) and 16 hot leads.
Vidyasaarathi's audience is small and high-intent — CSR teams with specific education funding mandates. Personalized ABM is the only motion that surfaces them at scale. ONDC's audience is fragmented across sellers and buyers in the network — generic ads couldn't differentiate them, but custom messaging by role unlocked the highest reply rate of the program.
Star insight: Vidyasaarathi and ONDC together produced 39 hot leads — 57% of all hot leads across the ABM program — on just 29% of the total company reach. Specialty ABM rewards personalization disproportionately.
Rise (Protean's pension and retirement platform) ran ABM against senior BFSI executives at 1,435 companies — surfacing 47 interested replies and 10 manual hot leads. On paid, LinkedIn supplemented the motion with BOFU creative aimed at the same enterprise persona, generating quality MQLs despite a higher CPL than Meta.
Rise's buyer is a narrow, high-value segment — corporate decision-makers selecting pension/retirement infrastructure. The ABM + LinkedIn pairing was purpose-built for this persona: ABM warmed the named accounts, LinkedIn served the consideration creative, and retargeting captured everyone who showed interest across either layer.
Star insight: Rise's reply-to-hot conversion rate (21%) was tied with Vidyasaarathi at the top of the program. When the persona is narrow and the message is precise, hot-lead conversion compounds.
Ran three paid channels in parallel, each with its own funnel role. Meta took the largest share of leads at the lowest CPL (₹120K spend → 420 leads at ₹285.71 CPL → 15 MQLs at ₹8,000/MQL). Google captured high-intent E-sign Pro searches (₹250K → 160 leads at ₹1,562 CPL → 12 MQLs). LinkedIn drove enterprise MQLs for Rise and E-sign Pro (₹80K → 70 leads at ₹1,142 CPL → 8 MQLs at ₹10,000/MQL).
Each channel played to its strength rather than being forced into the same role. Meta is unmatched for cost-efficient lead volume; Google is unmatched for bottom-funnel intent; LinkedIn is unmatched for enterprise persona reach. The total: 650 leads + 35 MQLs at a blended ~₹692 CPL — sustainable, scalable, and aligned to the MQL targets.
Star insight: Meta was the most cost-efficient channel on both CPL and cost per MQL (₹8,000) — punching above its weight on quality, not just volume. The lesson: assume nothing about channel-quality stereotypes; let the data assign roles.
The Results
Reached via ABM
+ 68 Hot Leads
at ~₹692 Blended CPL
Across 4 product lines and 3 paid channels: 10,360+ companies reached, 422 interested replies, 68 hot leads, 650 paid leads, 35 MQLs — with Meta at the lowest ₹285.71 CPL and Vidyasaarathi delivering the highest hot-lead conversion. One integrated engine, two motions, one demand machine.
Performance Breakdown
How a dual-engine ABM + Performance Marketing program turned four product lines into one coordinated pipeline.
Protean's Product Suite & Target Industries
The integrated program activated four core product lines across five high-value verticals:
What Made It Work
The strategic lessons behind a repeatable, integrated ABM + Performance Marketing engine.
ABM and paid aren't competing budgets
Treating ABM and performance marketing as two halves of one engine — sharing insights, audiences, and retargeting pools — is what made the program compound. ABM warmed the named accounts; paid retargeting captured the warmed-but-unconverted prospects who needed another touch.
Specialty ABM beats generic volume
Vidyasaarathi reached just 16% of total companies but produced 34% of all hot leads. The narrower and more specific the persona (CSR teams with education funding mandates), the more disproportionate the return on personalized outreach.
Channel stereotypes don't survive data
Meta wasn't just the cheapest CPL — it was also the cheapest MQL (₹8,000). Google wasn't just the most expensive — it was the most enterprise-aligned for E-sign Pro. Let each channel earn its funnel role through data, not assumption.
Follow-up speed is a CPL multiplier
When hot leads sit in a queue for days instead of hours, opportunity decays. Automated follow-up triggers and CRM integration aren't operational nice-to-haves — they're CPL levers in disguise. The next quarter's focus.
The Final Outcome
Protean exited the 2024–2025 cycle with a repeatable, dual-engine acquisition program — 10,360+ companies reached, 422 ABM replies, 68 hot leads, 650 paid leads, and 35 MQLs across Meta, Google, and LinkedIn. The integration loop between ABM and paid created a compounding effect: each motion sharpened the other. Here's where the program is headed next.
Frequently Asked Questions
One Integrated Engine. Two Compounding Motions.
A quick 30-minute conversation, no strings attached. See how an integrated ABM + Performance Marketing program can turn multiple product lines into one coordinated demand engine.
Book a Strategy Call →