Sharper Targeting
MissionWired: A 41% Sales Acceptance Rate From Sharper Targeting
MissionWired: A 41% Sales Acceptance Rate From Sharper Targeting
Client
MissionWired
Engagement
August 2024 to August 2026
Scope
LinkedIn, Google Search, Google Display, paid content distribution
MissionWired is one of the country’s largest fundraising and marketing agencies for nonprofits. They partnered with Arba Digital to build paid acquisition into a system their own team could operate. Over two years, the program moved lead quality well above industry benchmarks and sharpened efficiency across every channel.
24–48%
paid lead to marketing qualified lead rate, against a 5% to 15% industry benchmark
41%
sales acceptance rate across all digital leads
72%
lower cost per click while holding presence across the target audience
The Opportunity
MissionWired leads a category with steady demand; they publish research that leading nonprofit decision makers actively seek out, and they have a coordinated team ready to follow up on qualified conversations. The opportunity was to align and optimize paid media behind those strengths so that every dollar reached the organizations most likely to engage.
We started with audience definition, where the fastest gain was available. We refocused targeting on nonprofit fundraising decision-makers and introduced dynamic job title targeting aligned to the ideal customer profile. That first move created the foundation for every efficiency gain that followed, and the gains arrived quickly.
Opportunity One: Reach More of the Market for Every Dollar Invested
Efficiency became the growth lever. In early 2025, we shifted the strategy toward brand awareness, extending presence across the same decision-makers at a fraction of the previous cost. Cost per click improved by 72% against lead generation campaigns while the program continued reaching 40% of the target audience.
Brand awareness creative from the 2025 shift: a testimonial treatment and the Recurring newsletter sign-up ad.
Creative from real people multiplied the gain. Sponsored posts and video published by named MissionWired team members outperformed brand-account creative on cost per click nearly every time we tested them. One video post from a team member delivered a $0.67 cost per click and a 4.96% click-through rate, the strongest engagement the program produced in two years.
Search climbed alongside paid social. We rebuilt keyword strategy and creative and lifted click-through rate 32% year-over-year, while adding impression share on the Digital Co-Op brand term and on nonprofit donor acquisition, co-op digital marketing, and nonprofit lead generation.
Presence rose across every channel. The next opportunity was making sure it converted into a pipeline the team could follow up on.
Opportunity Two: Aim the Program at Accepted Pipeline
Efficiency became the growth lever. In early 2025, we shifted the strategy toward brand awareness, extending presence across the same decision-makers at a fraction of the previous cost. Cost per click improved by 72% against lead generation campaigns while the program continued reaching 40% of the target audience.
Creative from real people multiplied the gain. Sponsored posts and video published by named MissionWired team members outperformed brand-account creative on cost per click nearly every time we tested them. One video post from a team member delivered a $0.67 cost per click and a 4.96% click-through rate, the strongest engagement the program produced in two years.
Search climbed alongside paid social. We rebuilt keyword strategy and creative and lifted click-through rate 32% year-over-year, while adding impression share on the Digital Co-Op brand term and on nonprofit donor acquisition, co-op digital marketing, and nonprofit lead generation.
Presence rose across every channel. The next opportunity was making sure it converted into a pipeline the team could follow up on.
Opportunity Three: Let the Right Format Multiply an Existing Asset
In 2026, we launched our strongest acquisition campaign yet. It brought more new contacts onto MissionWired’s list than any other campaign across the two-year engagement, at a cost per acquisition 40% stronger than the next best performing campaign.
The campaign was built around a guidebook MissionWired already built, delivered through LinkedIn’s document ad format. The guidebook cover doubles as the ad graphic, which makes the cover a valuable creative decision. Rebuilding it with bold lettering and a clear call to action improved cost per lead against the original.
The rebuilt guidebook cover, which opens the LinkedIn document ad and carries the call to action.
By the close of the engagement, the program was performing at its peak across quality, efficiency, and creative.
“The Arba team was incredibly helpful in identifying efficiencies in our program so that we could maximize our paid media budget. They were also great collaborators in problem-solving all aspects of our program – from identifying new tactics and creative ideas to brainstorming lead hand-off processes. We’re grateful for their thoughtfulness and innovation!”
Beth Miller Burton
The Handoff
In August 2026, the program moved in-house with everything the team needed to keep building. MissionWired received a full two-year performance review, a documented set of proven formats and offer language, a status report on every open initiative with recommended next steps, and a sequenced plan for the team’s first 90 days running the program independently.
MissionWired took ownership of a program running at its strongest, along with the playbook to keep it there.