How Metadata Helped Pendo Scale Campaign Production 3× and Generate $5M in Pipeline

THE CHALLENGE

When Mackenzie took over digital marketing at Pendo, one thing was clear. The company moved fast. Much faster than a team of two could realistically keep up with if they were stuck inside native ad managers all day.

Pendo runs paid media across LinkedIn, Meta, Reddit, Google, DSPs, YouTube, and CTV.
The volume of campaigns, creative tests, copy variations, and new audience segments was growing constantly. This became even more pronounced as Pendo expanded beyond the CPO persona into CIO and CRO markets, requiring the program to reach new rooms of the house with distinct buying motions.   

And with pipeline as her core KPI, scaling efficiently was key:

“We’re held to a specific pipeline number from advertising every quarter, and Metadata gives us the confidence we can deliver against it.”

Without Metadata, the team was facing several issues.

• Hours spent manually setting up campaigns inside multiple UIs
• Slow testing cycles that delayed insights for design, content, and leadership
• Difficulty attributing ad influence to pipeline, especially at the top of funnel
• Limited bandwidth to run the high volume of experiments Pendo needed
• No way to create campaigns quickly enough to match the speed of the business

“We are a test first company,” Mackenzie explained. “But testing at scale is impossible when your team is stuck in campaign setup all day.”

The team was not looking for another reporting tool.
They needed real execution leverage.

THE SOLUTION

Pendo adopted Metadata early. They quickly realized that the value was not only speed. It was scale.

Metadata allowed Pendo to:

• Build and launch campaigns three times faster
• Run far more experiments with the same headcount
• Test messaging and creative across new buying centers
• Automatically optimize budget toward what works
• Attribute pipeline influence accurately
• Shift time away from repetitive setup work and into strategy

“My team can build campaigns in minutes. Without Metadata, the same campaign structure would take multiple hours. It completely changes how we allocate our time.”

Leveraging Metadata allows the team to spend more time on:

• Strategy
• Optimization
• Creative learnings
• Audience insights
• Full funnel guidance for SDRs, content, design, and leadership

Metadata became Pendo’s central testing engine. It enabled rapid validation of creative concepts.

“We can test dark mode versus light mode. We can test CPO versus CIO messaging. Then we share those insights across the entire company and that informs larger strategy motions.”

Clean attribution became another major win. With Metadata’s tracking, Pendo could finally connect campaign to lead, then to opportunity, and then to pipeline influence.

“Being able to say that this specific campaign influenced this opportunity is extremely valuable.”

THE RESULTS

Metadata has become one of Pendo’s most reliable revenue engines.

Pipeline and Lead Impact

• More than $5 million dollars in influenced pipeline generated from Metadata run campaigns
• More than 32K net new leads created, a primary KPI for the digital team

Speed and Efficiency

• Three times faster campaign creation
• A team of two that now works at the output level of a team of 6
• Significant cost efficiency by reducing wasted spend and reallocating budget to top performers
• An estimated two times improvement in return on ad spend across key channels

Strategic Impact

• Real time reporting and alignment across the funnel
• Creative and messaging insights shared across the entire GTM organization
• Faster experimentation cycles when expanding into new buyer rooms such as CIO and CRO

Organizational Impact

• A clear business case for renewals with measurable revenue influence
• Increased confidence in the platform’s impact from the CMO and CFO

“Metadata is an extension of our team. They keep us ahead of the curve, share industry insights, and help us scale.”

THE DETAILS

Behind the headline numbers is an operational transformation.

Before Metadata:

• Campaign creation was slow and resource heavy
• Creative testing was limited
• Attribution was unclear
• Scaling into new buyer roles required massive creative volume
• The team was stuck in reactive execution instead of proactive optimization

After Metadata:

1. A major increase in testing velocity

Metadata lets Pendo build and launch complex campaigns, including creative, copy, targeting, and audiences, in less than one hour.

This unlocked experiments that previously were not possible.

• New personas
• New buying rooms
• New creative formats
• Large scale A B tests
• Cross platform learnings shared with SDRs, content teams, and web teams

“We influence website design and content because Metadata lets us test everything quickly.”

2. Clean attribution that leadership trusts

Metadata provides a clear line from campaign to pipeline. This is what allows Mackenzie to defend the renewal each year with confidence.

• Pipeline generated
• Leads created
• Cost efficiency improvements
• Return on ad spend improvements
  

3. Strategic bandwidth

By cutting manual campaign work by 70% percent, the team now operates at a higher strategic altitude.

• Messaging insights
• Faster reporting
• Better cross functional alignment
• Improved decision making for leadership

4. A long term partnership, not just software

Pendo sees Metadata as an extension of their team.

• Early access to new AI and platform features
• Industry insight
• Hands on support
• Reliable communication and collaboration

“We have grown with Metadata through many product evolutions. The team itself is a huge part of the value.”

“THEY HELP US SCALE LIKE NO OTHER PLATFORM.”

“Metadata is more than a tool; it’s a strategic partner. We’ve driven over $5 million in influenced pipeline, generated 32K+ net-new leads, and tripled our campaign output with the same team. Metadata helps us move fast, and that’s how Pendo wins.”

Mackenzie Director of Digital Marketing @Pendo