High-performance acquisition and market dominance: CPA optimisation and expansion through Display.
1. Context and Stakes
The engagement concerned a leading IT security software vendor, specialising in protection solutions for consumers and small businesses. In an ultra-saturated global market where decision cycles are short and impulsive, the objective was to drastically increase licence sales volume while respecting an extremely strict cost-per-acquisition (CPA) ceiling.
2. The Strategic Challenge
The security software sector imposes immediate profitability constraints that our expert had to meet:
- Search saturation: Costs per click (CPC) on « antivirus » or « web security » keywords are among the highest in the B2C market, making generic queries hard to run profitably.
- Awareness battle: Facing long-established competitors with colossal budgets, the brand had to stand out through message relevance and digital omnipresence.
- Margin erosion: With a subscription business model, every dollar invested in initial acquisition had to be optimised to guarantee a positive customer lifetime value (LTV) from the first year.
3. Strategic Solutions Delivered
The approach led by our expert diversified the levers and automated bidding intelligence to maximise the reach of the one-million-dollar budget:
A. Surgical optimisation of Search campaigns
We carried out a complete clean-up of the semantic structure.
- Intent focus: Refocusing budget on high-purchase-intent keywords (e.g. « buy antivirus », « best security software 2026 ») while eliminating purely informational queries.
- Advanced negative keywords: Setting up massive exclusion lists to avoid any waste on terms linked to « free » or third-party technical support.
B. Expansion through the Google Display Network (GDN)
To escape the price war on Search, we activated the power of the Display network (Google Display Network).
- In-market audience targeting: Serving visual banners to users identified by Google as actively looking for a security solution.
- Greater awareness: This strategy generated a massive volume of low-cost impressions, strengthening brand recall and indirectly feeding organic and paid search campaigns.
C. Automating target-CPA bidding
To guarantee the profitability of the $1M invested, we generalised the use of automated bidding strategies.
- Smart Bidding: Configuring the algorithms to hit a fixed target CPA. Google’s AI thus adjusted bids in real time, only placing the vendor in auctions with the highest probability of profitable conversion.
- Continuous A/B testing: Systematic ad rotation to identify the messages generating the best conversion rate.
D. Copywriting and offer differentiation
Developing ad content highlighting the product’s unique advantages (lightweight software, protection against new threats such as ransomware). The goal was to turn IT security, often perceived as a constraint, into a promise of peace of mind and performance for the user.
4. Results
Senior management of this international set-up stabilised and grew the acquisition channel:
- CPA reduced and controlled: Cost-per-acquisition targets met and maintained despite increased competitive pressure on Search.
- Higher sales volume: The Display network delivered significant incremental sales that Search alone could no longer provide at a profitable cost.
- Brand dominance: Constant visibility at strategic audience crossroads, positioning the vendor as a trusted alternative to the market’s long-standing leaders.
Methodological note: This case demonstrates our ability to orchestrate large budgets in technology « commodity » environments, where victory belongs to whoever best masters the balance between volume and unit cost.
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