Case Study

Building a Self Optimizing Outbound Engine for a B2B Marketing Agency

How Connective helped a B2B marketing agency with a small but mighty team and limited budget generate significant pipeline and revenue from a self-optimizing outbound engine.

The Challenge

A small B2B marketing agency's growth was constrained by limited resources. They had little money to run ads or "big plays" and needed a go-to-market motion that could be set up quickly that would drive consistent pipeline. Connective scoped a system that could identify and contact the right prospects automatically, personalize messaging, and continuously improve performance - without adding headcount and without significant budget requirements.

Key pain points included:

• Limited budget for large-scale go-to-market campaigns
• Small team with no dedicated outbound operations support
• Inconsistent prospect targeting and follow-up
• No mechanism for learning from or improving campaign performance

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The Solution

Connective designed and implemented a mostly autonomous, self-improving outbound email system powered by AI and automation. The new workflow combined several tools to handle prospecting, personalization, optimization, and delivery with minimal human input.

System Highlights

• Clay: Used for list building, enrichment, research, and ICP fit scoring to ensure the right prospects entered the pipeline.
• Claude: Generated succinct, high-quality outbound email drafts tailored to each prospect and campaign.
• n8n (AI Agents): Monitored outbound campaign performance, identified winning emails, generated and saved performance insights, and automatically updated or replaced underperforming messages.
• Instantly: Served as the primary outbound platform for email sends, campaign scheduling, and deliverability management.

Together, these tools created a continuous feedback loop, collecting signals, refining outreach, and improving results with every send.

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The Outcomes

• Consistent high-quality lead flow: The system generated approximately five qualified leads per week that converted to direct conversations.
• High conversion efficiency: Nearly 50% of leads turned into paying customers through warm, personalized outreach.
• Significant revenue impact: Within six months, the outbound system produced a recurring revenue stream of roughly $50,000 in MRR.
• Automated campaign optimization: AI agents continuously improved subject lines, email copy, and target lists based on live performance data.
• Scalable, low-cost acquisition channel: The agency gained a sustainable outbound engine that runs with minimal manual effort and near-zero ad spend.

What began as a need for affordable lead generation became a self-sustaining growth engine, powered by automation, informed by data, and refined by AI.

Why It Matters

This project demonstrates how even small teams can compete at scale with the right automation architecture. By engineering a connected outbound system, Connective gave the client a predictable, high-return acquisition channel that continues to learn and improve over time.