Case Study: Doubling Bank Customers at Half the Investment

Case Study: Doubling Bank Customers at Half the Investment

The Challenge

A mid-sized UK challenger bank was struggling to grow its customer base cost‑effectively. Existing programmatic and affiliate marketing efforts were fragmented and expensive, yielding low conversion rates, high network fees, and no real insight into what's driving performance.

Objectives

1. Increase new customer acquisitions by 100% year-on-year

2. Reduce cost per acquisition (CPA) by at least 50%

3. Gain full visibility and control over performance metrics

   
   

Ascendia’s Tailored Strategy

1. In-depth Intent and Mindset Segmentation

   • We started by layering Ascendia’s proprietary Intent Scoring Algorithm onto keyword and user behavior data.

   • Grouped users into segments like “ready-to-open-account” vs “research-stage” across channels.

   • This allowed us to set budget and strategy per mindset–dramatically improving relevance and bid optimisation.

2. Custom Affiliate Network Activation

   • Moved away from generic solutions and built a curated tiered affiliate network. Each publisher was mapped to a specific mindset and geographic target.

   • Eliminated redundant platform and override fees – shifting to a pure pay-on-performance model.

3. Dynamic Retargeting & Offer Optimisation

   • Leveraging Ascendia’s AI-powered retargeting, we captured bounce traffic and “almost-converter” sessions.

   • Overlayed real-time offers (e.g., instant account opening incentives) to boost conversion on the fly.

4. Transparent Dashboard + Weekly Optimisations

   • Delivered Ascendia’s intuitive real-time performance dashboard, giving the client full visibility: from user segment performance to CPA across affiliate tiers.

   • Weekly data-driven tweaks and A/B testing of messaging, creatives, and landing pages maximised momentum.

   • 
     

The Outstanding Results (in 6 Months)

Metric	Before	After	% Change
New Customer Acquisition	10,000/month	20,000/month	▲ +100%
Cost per Acquisition (CPA)	£80	£40	↓ –50%
Affiliate Network Spend	£800k total	£800k total	Same spend, doubled output
ROI (Lifetime Customer Value)	150%	300%	Doubled ROI

Why This Worked

• Data-First Mindset Targeting: By understanding each user’s intent, budgets were spent efficiently on high-opportunity segments.

• Zero-Fee Affiliate Model: The shift to a performance-only affiliate network delivered more conversions for the same budget.

• Rapid, Insight-Driven Optimization: Real-time dashboards and weekly review cycles meant no campaign stagnated.

• Alignment with Business Goals: Metrics tracked were meaningful – CPA, LTV, and client acquisition fit tightly with the bank’s KPI framework.

• 
  

Ascendia's Competitive Advantage

• We own and analyze data, not just pass it through passive networks.

• Our Intent Scoring Algorithm guides spend on users with the highest conversion potential.

• We deliver full transparency and accountability with real-time reporting.

• Businesses only pay when results are tangible—eliminating the risk of overpaying for underperformance.

  
  

Lesson Learned

With Ascendia’s customer‑aligned targeting, performance‑only model, and adaptive weekly optimisation, banks can double customer growth even while halving marketing spend. The result? A resilient, scalable, and data-led acquisition engine built to last.

Get in touch to Broaden your reach with a comprehensive global partnership marketing platform. Click Here