First, the team came in with clear hypotheses: - Brand search might not be incremental. - Non-brand search was likely driving meaningful lift, but perhaps inefficiently. - Paid social looked promising, but they needed causal proof before scaling it.

Test #1: Brand Search This 3-week test showed basically no incremental lift from brand search. That gave Gainbridge confidence to pull back spend and look for better opportunities elsewhere.

Test #2: Paid Social This test found a roughly 6% incremental lift at strong efficiency. Gainbridge now had evidence to reallocate budget out of brand search and into a channel that was actually driving growth.

Test #3: Non-Brand Search This test found a 20% incremental lift — a strong result that validated the channel’s importance while also raising a new question: where inside non-brand search was the most value coming from?

Tests #4 and #5: Keyword Cluster Tests Gainbridge split non-brand search into CD and annuity keyword clusters. The hypothesis was that CD-related terms would prove more valuable. But the results showed annuity keywords were more valuable than expected and represented the strongest opportunity for continued scaling.