16 qualified opportunities in days for a Swiss accounting firm

Overview

The client provides ERP and Accounting-as-a-Service solutions for small and midsize businesses in French-speaking Switzerland. In the first week of outreach, we generated 16 qualified opportunities from a laser-targeted list of 7,359 decision makers—while keeping email bounce rates to a rock-bottom 1.27%.

Serving a niche, French-speaking market, they needed to win new clients without blowing their acquisition budget. In just two weeks, we rolled out a personalized, AI-driven cold email campaign—with capped billable leads to keep risk in check—and started conversations with exactly the right prospects.

The result: a predictable, scalable pipeline built for long-term growth.

About the client

A tech-enabled accounting provider serving SMEs across French-speaking Switzerland. Offers packaged bookkeeping and tax/annual close services (with optional HR/payroll), positioned as faster and more cost-effective than traditional accounting firms. The team tracks success on booked meetings and is highly ROI-sensitive due to lower-MRR tiers (≈$185-620).

Challenges the Client Faced

• Small, language-specific TAM (≈250k SMEs).

• Needed meeting-ready leads (not info requests) to measure close rates.

• Tight CAC/payback expectations given subscription price points.

• Wanted a capped monthly lead volume until conversion quality proved out.

• Required message control, on-brand French copy, and robust deliverability.

Without a scalable lead generation system, every new engagement felt like a gamble, impacting internal confidence and long-term planning.

Why they chose Celestic

After evaluating multiple options, they ultimately decided to partner with Celestic for some key reasons:

1. Month-to-month flexibility with a hard cap on billable leads.

2. AI-personalized French emails tailored to each prospect’s site and role.

3. Rapid activation: full cold-outreach system (multi-domain/40+ inboxes, warmed) stood up in ~14 days.

4. Deep ICP targeting beyond generic firmographics; lists matched to buyer profile.

5. ROI-first approach focused on leads and revenue, not vanity metrics.

6. Hardened deliverability and operational plumbing to route positive replies and Calendly bookings to the team in real time.

Solution Implemented

Celestic began by building a solid infrastructure to support high-volume, deliverability-optimized outreach:

• Launched a six-touch, four-month French sequence mixing hard/soft CTAs and light variants (length, CTA style, job-title use).

• AI personalization ingested each prospect’s website to stay on-brand and problem-aware; all copy approved by the client pre-launch.

• Cadence: Day 1, 15, 30, 60, 90, 120 to avoid fatigue.

• Deliverability: domain/account warmup, live health monitoring, and rotation/quarantine when reputation dipped.

• Timeline: ~14 days of setup/warmup; first live sends mid-July 2025.

Execution process (phased):

1. Setup & Strategy (Week 1–2): configure multiple domains and 40+ inboxes (SPF/DKIM/DMARC), warm inboxes, build precisely filtered lead lists, craft multivariant copy with human-sounding AI, align segments/messaging with the client.

2. Launch (Week 2–4): activate sequences across inboxes; route positive replies directly to the team; soft-nurture low-intent responses; deliver Calendly links/replies instantly via Slack/email.

3. Optimization & Scale (Ongoing): continuous A/B tests (subjects, CTAs, send times, tone); weekly targeting refinement; scale volume as reply rates and sender reputation stabilize; weekly syncs with reports and next steps.

Results

• 7,359 contacts reached.

• Bounce rate: 1.27%.

• 16 positive, sales-ready opportunities generated within the first few days.

• Open/click tracking intentionally disabled to prioritize inboxing and reduce spam rates.

• (Client noted “multiple clients closed,” details pending.)

“The first results of our collaboration are positive. We have several interested contacts and hope that in September things pick up and we achieve more conversions.” — Marketing Manager, Switzerland (translated)

If you’re an accounting firm that wants meeting-ready leads with a capped, pay-per-lead program, let’s map your plan.