Growing Account Opens 3× Over
for a Leading Trading Platform
High lead volumes weren't translating into account opens. We rebuilt the acquisition funnel end-to-end — and tripled the lead-to-account-open rate in months.
The engagement
A fintech platform with 30 years of market presence — and a lead pipeline that wasn't converting.
Our client is an online trading platform backed by a financial conglomerate with close to 30 years of experience in the Indian financial services industry, spanning investments, trading, and wealth management. Despite that legacy and strong brand recognition, their Google Ads campaigns were generating high volumes of leads that rarely translated into actual account openings.
The ask was direct: increase overall account opens and reduce the cost per account opened. First Launch was brought in to audit the entire acquisition funnel — from keyword targeting and ad copy through to landing pages and the account sign-up flow — and rebuild it for quality-first conversion.
Four friction points costing account opens
The platform operated in one of India's most competitive digital spaces — and the existing campaigns were quietly working against them.
Five optimisations that rebuilt the acquisition funnel
We worked end-to-end — from keyword strategy to retargeting — filtering for quality, reducing friction, and converting intent into accounts.
The funnel, before and after
How the key acquisition indicators shifted across the engagement period.
| Lead-to-Account Open Rate | 5% |
| Lead Quality | Mixed — high junk ratio |
| Target Audience | New traders (lower LTV) |
| Sign-Up Flow | Multi-step, high drop-off |
| Location Targeting | Broad, undifferentiated |
| Retargeting | Not deployed |
| Lead-to-Account Open Rate | 16% |
| Lead Quality | Qualified, location-filtered |
| Target Audience | Experienced traders (higher LTV) |
| Sign-Up Flow | Streamlined, reduced friction |
| Location Targeting | High-signal geographies only |
| Retargeting | Active mid-funnel re-engagement |
Rate Improvement
Conversion Rate
Optimisations
via Quality Score Gains
Campaign performance at a glance
Data snapshots from across the engagement — from campaign architecture to final account open results.
Questions about this engagement
Common questions about how we grew account opens 3× for a leading online trading platform.
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The platform was generating a high volume of leads through Google Ads, but very few were converting into actual account opens. The lead-to-account-open rate was just 5% — meaning 95 out of every 100 leads were being lost somewhere in the funnel. Junk leads, poor audience targeting, and a friction-heavy sign-up flow were all contributing factors.
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We mapped keywords and leads by location to identify which geographies were sending qualified, trade-ready users — and which weren't. By reallocating budget toward high-signal regions and refining targeting to attract experienced traders over first-time investors, we significantly reduced junk lead volume while improving overall lead quality.
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We identified significant drop-off between steps in the account opening process. Working with the client's product team, we streamlined the flow to reduce friction — fewer required fields, clearer progress cues, and a simpler path from form submission to account activation. This directly contributed to the improvement in lead-to-open conversion.
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Retargeting was a critical mid-funnel lever. Users who had completed the initial lead form but hadn't yet opened an account represented warm, high-intent prospects. We retargeted them with personalised ads and relevant offers to re-engage them at the right moment — converting what would have been lost leads into account holders.
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We tackled competition at the keyword and copy level. By aligning ad copies and landing page content precisely to target keywords, we improved Quality Scores — which both reduced CPCs and increased ad relevance relative to competitors. Better targeting also meant we were competing for the right audience rather than fighting for everyone.
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The lead-to-account-open rate grew from 5% to 16% — a 3× improvement — alongside a meaningful reduction in cost per lead driven by improved Quality Scores across the account. Lead flow improved substantially, and the incoming audience mix shifted toward the experienced traders the platform was targeting.
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