Lowering CPL by 78.09% on LinkedIn and 54.26% on Meta for NUS Business School

We ran the EMIM campaign for three months, with one clear mandate: bring in more leads, and more importantly, better leads. The strategy centred on getting the right audience to fill out and submit forms, and to download the programme brochure. Since we were speaking to working professionals, we leaned into lead-gen campaigns on Meta and LinkedIn, paired with SEM and Performance Max on Google. Going into the partnership, NUS Business School's cost per lead was running high, so reducing that number became our north star from day one.

Client

NUS Business School consistently ranks among the world's top business schools, and it's built a reputation for delivering a transformative experience to learners at every stage of their careers. For this campaign, we focused on one of its flagship offerings: the NUS Executive MSc in Management (EMIM). It's a part-time, hybrid executive master's built for experienced professionals, combining structured, real-world management learning with the flexibility to keep working while you study. Most of the coursework happens online, with participants committing up to 10 hours a week, though the programme also includes short in-person sessions at the start and end of the journey. It's designed for professionals who want to level up their careers without hitting pause.

About

Given NUS Business School's academic standing, we knew we couldn't approach this like any other lead-gen campaign. We spent real time understanding the audience profile before touching a single ad. Our goal wasn't only to bring the CPL down, but also to raise the quality of every lead coming through the funnel. That focus paid off: alongside the CPL wins, we also moved the needle on marketing-qualified leads during the EMIM run, and NUS and KPI Media are now building out campaigns for the school's next programme together. We came in this with a head start. Our prior work with education brands, including NUS Society, gave us a strong foundation for shaping a campaign strategy tailored to NUS Business School specifically.

Approach & Strategy

Audience Persona Creation
EMIM speaks to a niche market: professionals who want to grow their careers without stepping away from their jobs. That meant the executives we targeted needed to commit both time and money to learn directly from industry experts, and our persona work had to reflect that reality precisely.

Funnel Marketing Design
Because we were speaking to executives, every channel, creative, and line of copy had to be deliberately polished, professional, and tailored to how senior decision-makers actually engage online. Lead generation was the goal, but we built creatives and channel selection to serve every stage of the funnel, not just the bottom.

A/B Testing
With only three months to work with, speed mattered. We ran continuous A/B tests to optimise the campaign, and every decision was grounded in data, not guesswork.

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Results

The partnership delivered strong, measurable results:

Brought down overall CPL by 54.26% on Meta and 78.09% on LinkedIn
Improved leads by 113.63% on Meta and 128.12% on LinkedIn

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Conclusion

This partnership shows what KPI Media can deliver even on a short timeline: a three-month campaign that moved the numbers in a real, meaningful way for the client. Our experience working with education brands and niche, high-value audiences has given us a playbook we can keep refining, and this campaign is a strong proof point.

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