Taking a specialist B2B trader online to deliver predictable, high-value leads

Case Study Publish Date: January 2026
Industry: Wholesale Gems and Jewelry
Start of Project: August 2025 - initial launch finished within 3 weeks - support is on-going

Gemtation GmbH is a Swiss B2B gemstone trader serving a highly specialised audience: professional Swiss goldsmiths.
Historically, the business relied almost entirely on traditional acquisition methods such as personal relationships, phone calls and in-person visits. While effective, this approach made growth difficult to scale and increasingly hard to track.

Over time, it became clear that demand existed beyond the immediate network. Prospective buyers were actively researching suppliers online, but Gemtation had no website to support this intent. Only a basic Instagram presence. The lack of a digital foundation also limited the effectiveness of industry advertising and made it harder to follow up systematically on enquiries.

The objective was therefore not “digital transformation” for its own sake, but to create a lean, credible and measurable acquisition channel, without unnecessary complexity or wasted spend.

The business had:

• No website or digital presence, besides Instagram.
• An extremely niche audience (mainly Swiss goldsmiths) with a small but high-value buyer pool.
• The need for a low-friction, high-signal way to capture and qualify leads, plus a credible online presence to support targeted advertising and industry placements.

There was also understandable scepticism. Given the niche nature of the market, the founders wanted to avoid investing in a website that looked good but failed to generate real business value.

Before the project started, success was clearly defined as:

• 2-4 qualified enquiries per month
• At least one additional conversion per month, in line with the company’s historically high enquiry-to-deal rate

Five months in, the site is meeting the initial lead goals and converting at a rate consistent with the niche.

• Keyword and SERP positioning for Swiss/B2B queries (localised where relevant).
• Competitor funnel research, including mystery-enquiry reviews (testing competitors’ follow-up emails and incentives) to identify best-practice follow-ups.

• Built a custom data extraction workflow using Google Colab to collect publicly available data of Swiss goldsmith businesses, which generated an additional 201 B2B contacts for outbound sales. 
• Cold outreach system implemented with:
  - email tracking (opens, clicks),
  - behavioural lead scoring,
  - prioritised follow-ups for “hot” prospects.

This created a parallel outbound channel to test performance against inbound demand.

• Targeted placements in industry outlets (GOLD’OR magazine: four placements, Oct–Jan) and listings in goldsmith supplier directories.
• Ads referencing a unique commercial advantage: legacy inventory from a former Swiss trader. That message produced direct interest and was explicitly cited by multiple leads.

Example for the B2B print ad placed in GOLD'OR magazine:

• Simple email automation and follow-up sequences designed to convert and re-engage: initial acknowledgement, qualification prompts, tailored follow-ups for warm-but-not-ready leads.
• Newsletter sign-up strategy (light touch) to capture relevant industry contacts not ready to request quotes.

• GA4 + Google Tag Manager setup, form event tracking and conversion goals.
• Submission-to-conversion funnel tracked to measure lead-to-deal velocity.
• Basic CRM integration (leads pushed to CRM/email automation platform) for timely follow-up.

• SSL, sitemap, robots, basic on-page SEO, page speed optimisations and responsive tests.
• Accessibility basics and cross-browser checks to ensure professional presentation.
• Minimal CMS training so the client could update inventory and add landing pages quickly.

• Website inbound leads: 4 in Sep / 2 in Oct / 3 in Nov / 2 in Dec / 4 in Jan → 15 leads → 6 conversions
• Magazine/placement inbound leads: 4 leads → 2 conversions
• Total inbound leads and conversions (Sep–Jan): 19 leads → total: 8 conversions
  This represents a 40-50% conversion rate on highly qualified, ready to purchase inbound enquiries.

• Outbound (cold outreach system):
  201 contacts approached → 14 replies  (7%) → 1 confirmed conversion + 1 pending

  This highlights a clear pattern:
  Inbound leads convert significantly better because buyers initiate contact when they already have active intent.

• Average deal value: ~€3k → revenue to date ~€27k (9 × €3k), with strong expectations of repeat business (historic pattern: 70%+ return rate)
• Additional newsletter signups: 42 industry contacts (small, but strategically useful in a tight market). These signups did not fill in the enquiry form.

The website achieved the initial goal of delivering at least one extra conversion per month and is on track for the first-year objective.

• The founder now has a credible, shareable presence: “look at our site” replaces Instagram DMs and informal phone calls.
• Ads and magazine placements became usable because the site let leads self-qualify.
• The business can now nurture a small, relevant contact list rather than relying solely on one-off approaches.

In narrow B2B markets, credibility and friction reduction beat volume.
The two-step form captured qualified interest without scaring buyers away. The online presence made paid and editorial placements meaningful. And a clear commercial message (the legacy inventory) produced direct enquiries.

A key learning from the project is the structural difference between inbound and outbound demand.
When prospects discover Gemtation and initiate contact themselves, conversion rates are significantly higher than when the business reaches out first.
The website and industry presence therefore act not just as lead generators, but as intent filters by pre-qualifying buyers before any sales interaction takes place.

In short: make it easy to say yes and give buyers a credible reason to do so.

• Expand landing pages for specific gemstone categories and bespoke services.
• Publish niche relevant content, clustered by topics, to build authority and improve organic discoverability.
• Increase placements in trade magazines and directories.
• Extend follow-up automations and add remarketing for warm leads.
• Track repeat revenue and refine LTV modelling for paid media decisions.