Overview
As the leading SaaS platform for creators in the U.S., Kajabi faced a familiar challenge at scale: paid media performance was plateauing while costs were climbing. Winston Francois was brought in to manage their paid media mix allocation and optimize Paid Search and Paid Social channels for both efficiency and growth.
Our objectives:
- Reduce wasted spend
- Maintain visibility on branded search
- Improve conversion efficiency
- Reinvest savings into higher-return channels
The challenge
By early 2024, the brand was overspending on branded Paid Search — maintaining top-of-page dominance but at diminishing marginal returns. CPCs were inflated, impression share was high but not translating into incremental conversions, and channel ROI was underperforming compared to other paid social placements.
The goal was to rebalance paid investment while protecting brand intent traffic and improving profitability per click.
The strategy
Winston Francois implemented a full Paid Media Mix Optimization framework:
1. Re-engineered Paid Search bidding
- Shifted from aggressive top-of-page bidding to efficiency-based automated bidding.
- Introduced impression-share thresholds to maintain visibility while reducing cost.
2. Cross-channel budget reallocation
- Redirected saved spend from branded search into higher-growth Paid Social audiences.
- Focused on high-intent creator cohorts and lookalike modeling from CRM data.
3. Incrementality testing & measurement alignment
- Established clear attribution boundaries between organic and paid brand traffic.
- Used conversion lift and blended CAC to evaluate success across the funnel.
The results
| Metric | Change | Impact |
|---|---|---|
| Spend | ↓ 58% | $2.1M in savings reinvested in Paid Social and lifecycle channels |
| CPC (Cost per Click) | ↓ 29% | Improved cost efficiency per brand click |
| CTR (Click-through Rate) | ↑ 1.11% | Higher quality traffic despite lower impression share |
| Impressions | ↓ 42% | Reduced over-exposure on low-value brand terms |
| Abs. Top-of-Page Share | ↓ 86% → 73% | Intentional down-weighting for efficiency |
| Top-of-Page Share | ↓ 94% → 86% | Still dominant presence on key brand queries |
| Conversion Rate | ↑ 140% | Major improvement in conversion efficiency |
| Conv. Value per Click | ↑ 28% | More revenue generated per paid interaction |
With spend reduced by 58%, the brand saved $2.1 million over nine months while driving a 140% lift in conversion rate and a 28% improvement in conversion value per click. By reallocating spend to higher-performing social audiences and refining the search strategy, Kajabi achieved both greater profitability and channel balance — proving that smarter, data-driven efficiency can outperform brute-force media investment.
Bonus: Creator Commerce podcast
Winston Francois produced the Creator Commerce podcast featuring Kajabi President Ahad Khan interviewing top Kajabi Heroes in an engaging long-form video podcast format.
The impact
Winston Francois helped Kajabi break out of a paid media efficiency trap. By rebalancing the media mix, reducing waste, and reinvesting savings into higher-return channels, the partnership delivered measurable gains across spend, conversion, and profitability — all while maintaining brand visibility where it mattered most.