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Growth Marketing Team
How Outschool turned state education funding into a paid acquisition lever
GMT built a state-by-state paid media program for Outschool’s Education Savings Account business line and contributed to setting a new company record for this business line.
+30%
above the set 2026 ESA new-buyer target; best new-buyer month in Outschool ESA history
+86%
Google spend in peak season with CAC held flat
CAC Held Steady
0% Year-over-Year Increase in CAC
Client
Outschool, an online learning marketplace for kids
Target audience
Families that pay for classes with a state education savings account funds
Channels
Google Search, Performance Max, Demand Gen and YouTube Shorts; Meta
Data timeframe
2025 – 2026
01 · The challenge
Every state is its own market
Government educational programs let families spend state education funds on approved learning, and Outschool is an approved provider in many states. But each state runs on its own rules, budgets and calendar, so one national ad strategy could not work.
When GMT took over advertising in early 2025, there had been few ad campaigns launched and no dedicated ad effort for this audience:
02 · What we did
A playbook for each state, built around families’ needs
We treated this business segment as a portfolio of state markets. Each state got its own messaging, landing pages, budget and cost target, and spending moved quickly to wherever funding had just been released.
1
Rebuilt the foundations
We audited the account, set messaging guidelines, wrote a state-by-state plan and allocated budget to the strongest potential areas.
2
Set state-specific cost targets
Using our understanding of the value of these customers set state-targets to make the most efficient use of budget
3
Timed campaigns to funding releases
Given the different funding drops, create a campaign calendar aligned with scholarship recipients funding releases.
4
Closed tracking gaps
Set up tracking for a conversion event high enough in the funnel to signal purchase before users drop off to a third party site.
03 · Results
Targets beaten, then a record
This business line beat its new-buyer targets through 2026. Including setting a company record for this business line, as Google spent 86% in peak season with no rise in CAC.
+30%
above the set 2026 ESA new-buyer target; best new-buyer month in Outschool ESA history
+86%
Google spend in peak season with CAC held flat
CAC Held Steady
0% Year-over-Year Increase in CAC
04 · In their words
“
We noticed a step change with GMT
Our target business segment is not an easy thing to wrap your head around, and we definitely noticed a step change when GMT started working on this part of our business.
Christine Glandorf
VP of Business Development, Outschool
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