A Sydney FinTech startup was spending $840 to acquire each customer. D1 Marketing rebuilt their entire marketing funnel and reduced CAC to $263 while tripling their acquisition volume.
The Challenge
A Sydney-based FinTech company offering a SME cash flow management platform had Series A funding and a mandate to scale user acquisition aggressively. Their problem: customer acquisition cost (CAC) of $840 was dangerously high relative to their 12-month average revenue per user of $1,200. With a 3:1 LTV:CAC ratio target, they needed to either increase LTV (difficult in the short term) or reduce CAC significantly.
CAC Audit: Where the Money Was Going
We audited their marketing spend across all channels:
- Google Search Ads: $48 CPL, but only 4% of free trials converted to paid — too broad targeting
- Meta Ads: Generating leads at $62 CPL but zero qualified SME owners — wrong audience
- LinkedIn: Not running — the most obvious oversight for B2B FinTech
- Email: 1,400 free trial users with a 3-email onboarding sequence — poor conversion
- Referral: No referral programme in place despite NPS of 72
The Rebuilt Funnel
Acquisition: Channel Rationalisation
- Shut down broad Meta Ads — not aligned with SME owner audience
- Rebuilt Google Search with SME owner intent queries only (“small business cash flow software”, “invoice tracking app Australia”)
- Launched LinkedIn Ads targeting: Business Owner/Director + company size 2–50 employees + Australia
- Introduced Google YouTube pre-roll targeting in-market for business software
Activation: Onboarding Overhaul
- Extended email sequence from 3 to 14 emails over 30 days
- Added in-app onboarding checklist with milestone rewards
- Introduced “success call” triggered by email for non-activating trials (day 5)
Referral: Programme Launch
- Built referral programme: 2-month free subscription per referred customer
- Emailed entire free trial and paid user base on launch
- Added referral prompt to onboarding sequence (day 14)
Results at 6 Months
- CAC: $263 (down from $840 — 3.2× reduction)
- Monthly New Paid Customers: 147 (up from 38)
- Trial-to-Paid Conversion: 18% (up from 4%)
- Referral Channel: 22% of new customers
- LTV:CAC Ratio: 4.6:1 (from 1.4:1)
- Series B: Funded 4 months after our engagement began
See our B2B marketing: B2B Marketing Sydney · LinkedIn Ads Sydney
Industry: FinTech | Location: Sydney, NSW | Channels: Multi-Channel | Result: 3.2× CAC reduction, 3.9× volume increase