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Case studyFinTech & Payments

Merchant Acquisition Engine for a European Payments Company

How Salesable built a multi-channel acquisition engine that onboarded 350 merchants from 1,920+ leads and cut acquisition time by a third.

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350Merchants Onboarded
18%Lead-to-Merchant Conversion
33%Faster Acquisition (6 → 4 Months)

Objective

Build a scalable digital acquisition engine that turns MQLs into SQLs and onboarded merchants, while improving conversion and shortening the time it takes to acquire each merchant.

Approach highlights

  1. 01

    AI-driven sourcing with intent signals (95% data accuracy)

  2. 02

    Multi-channel: Meta, Google, LinkedIn + email outreach

  3. 03

    Dedicated SDR team scaled 3 → 5 reps as volume grew

  4. 04

    Vertical-specific messaging on pain points & buying triggers

  5. 05

    Full-funnel ownership: MQL qualification to SQL handoff

Channel roles & performance insight

  1. Top of Funnel
    01

    Meta Ads · Google Display

  2. Mid Funnel
    02

    Email Outreach · LinkedIn

  3. Bottom Funnel
    03

    LinkedIn + SDR Qualification

Insight

LinkedIn + SDR outreach delivered the highest MQL→SQL rates. Email enabled scale at lower cost. Paid media drove top-of-funnel awareness and retargeting.

Performance summary

PhaseLeadsConversion Rate
Phase 14004%
Phase 29308.7%
Phase 3 · steady-state MQL→SQL59027%
Total → merchants onboarded1,920 → 35018%

Key outcomes

€560K → €1.8M

Avg. Transaction Volume

3.2× growth per merchant

27%

Steady-State MQL→SQL

Once targeting was refined

1,920+

Leads Generated

Hospitality, travel & retail

Challenges & learnings

Early campaigns converted at just 4% because targeting was too broad. Narrowing to high-potential segments and matching messaging to each vertical’s pain points and buying triggers more than doubled conversion to 8.7% in Phase 2, before reaching steady state.

Attribution

Salesable
Lead generation & qualification
Client team
Managed closures & onboarding
MQL
Prospect who has requested or agreed to a demo
SQL
BANT-qualified (budget, authority, need, timeline)
Solutions used

The capabilities behind the result.

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GROW

AI for Revenue

AI for research and personalisation, with people running qualification.

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ENGAGE

Revenue Acquisition

Campaigns that turn a target list into engaged demand.

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ENGAGE

Revenue Development

Outreach and follow-up that turn interest into meetings.

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FIND

Revenue Intelligence

Find the accounts and buyers worth pursuing, by fit and intent.

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