The LinkedIn Ad Experiment: What Happened When We Paused All Other Channels for 30 Days

When your business runs paid ads across multiple platforms—Google, Meta, LinkedIn, and the rest—it’s easy to assume they all contribute equally to lead gen. But we wanted clarity. So, we did something most marketing teams avoid: we turned everything off except LinkedIn Ads for an entire month.

The results were both surprising and eye-opening, especially for how we think about budget allocation, audience quality, and the long-term role of LinkedIn in B2B growth. Here’s what we learned from going all in.

The Setup: Why We Did It

For context, our business sells a high-consideration B2B service with a longer sales cycle. Our average lead value is substantial, so quality trumps quantity. Like many teams, we had our campaigns spread out—running search ads, LinkedIn sponsored content, Instagram remarketing, and even a few display placements.

But we noticed that most of our sales-qualified leads mentioned LinkedIn at some point in their journey. To validate our assumptions, we decided to commit to LinkedIn as our sole paid channel for 30 days, using only Sponsored Content and Message Ads to maintain consistent visibility.

How the Experiment Was Run

We didn’t just recycle old creative. We rebuilt our ad funnel for the month with tailored messaging at every stage. That included:

• A top-of-funnel campaign with thought leadership posts and lightly branded assets
• Mid-funnel content like case studies and testimonials
• A lead gen form offering a downloadable playbook, using a linkedin ads tool to streamline audience segmentation

We monitored key metrics daily and pre-agreed not to panic if volume dropped in the first week.

Week 1: Fewer Leads, But Higher Engagement

As expected, pausing Google and Meta dropped our overall lead volume by nearly 40%. But the leads that did come through LinkedIn behaved differently.

They spent longer on our site, read more pages, and were more likely to schedule a meeting within 48 hours of submitting the form. Instead of needing three email follow-ups, most replied after one.

It became clear that while we had fewer people in the funnel, those who entered were more aligned with our offering from the start.

Week 2-3: Sales Noticed the Difference

Our sales team flagged something interesting—they were having better conversations. The leads knew what we did, had realistic expectations, and asked deeper questions. That wasn’t always the case with our Meta or Display traffic, which often brought curious but unqualified users.

The time to first meeting decreased, and more importantly, so did the no-show rate. We tracked a 27% increase in show-up rates for sales calls during this time, which might not sound massive, but it made a real impact on pipeline efficiency.

Week 4: Where LinkedIn Lags (and Where It Excels)

Not everything was rosy. LinkedIn is expensive. Our average CPC more than doubled compared to our Google campaigns, and impression volume was lower than what Meta could achieve on the same budget.

But what LinkedIn lacked in volume, it made up for in intent. Using a linkedin ads tool helped us refine our targeting mid-month, filtering out job titles that looked good on paper but didn’t convert.

By the end of the 30 days, we had generated fewer total leads—but 40% more qualified leads compared to our monthly average. That was a trade-off we were happy to make.

So, Would We Do It Again?

Absolutely. But not forever.

Going all in on LinkedIn helped us understand its real value—not just as a top-of-funnel awareness driver, but as a highly effective mid-to-bottom funnel channel for decision-makers.

Since the experiment, we’ve added Google Ads back into our mix but reallocated budget away from Meta and Display. LinkedIn now takes a higher share of our monthly spend, and we’re using it more strategically—with tighter messaging, refined targeting, and better creative sequencing.

Final Thoughts

Sometimes the only way to get clear answers is to do something drastic. Pausing every other channel allowed us to isolate LinkedIn’s performance and gave us a much better handle on what it delivers versus what it costs.

It’s not the cheapest platform, and it’s not perfect for every business. But if you’re targeting senior decision-makers in niche industries and want high-quality leads, few platforms compete with what LinkedIn can offer—especially when paired with the right linkedin ads tool to optimize campaigns.

If you’re considering a similar experiment, plan carefully, track everything, and get buy-in from sales early. You might be surprised at what 30 focused days can teach you.