The challenge

Coming from the payment space, SumUp supports its merchants across its main three pillars: payment, POS, and account and card.

Through its SuperApp, SumUp can provide merchants with a free business account, merchant cash advance options, an online store, and an invoicing solution. SumUp also integrates in-person and remote payment acceptance seamlessly with its card terminals and point-of-sale registers.

To continue growing efficiently, SumUp needed a way to reach significantly more local merchants across cities and verticals without dramatically expanding outbound headcount.

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  Fragmented SMB market across many cities and verticals

  
  
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  Heavy reliance on local signals (maps, reviews, websites, social content)

  
  
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  Busy leads who tune out generic outreach

  
  

The team had built internal automation for prospecting but was hitting operational bottlenecks:

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  Managing a growing number of email addresses and domains

  
  
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  Handling invoicing for each domain, which consumed significant time

  
  
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  Running email warmups at scale

  
  
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  Outbound content stayed identical across campaigns, which risked hurting deliverability

  
  

Coverage stayed limited, and many ideal merchants were never contacted.

How Artisan's AI BDR, Ava, powers local SMB outreach

SumUp deployed Artisan’s AI BDR, Ava, to automate outbound sales using rich local business data and third-party signals. With targeting powered by Google Maps, Google Reviews, LinkedIn, and Instagram, SumUp now reaches SMBs that were previously inaccessible through traditional outbound. Ava now:

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  Finds and enriches local merchants that match SumUp’s ideal customer profile

  
  
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  Uses local data and social signals to personalize every email

  
  
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  Runs multi-touch sequences that feel timely and relevant

  
  
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  Routes positive replies to the team for demos, onboarding, and activation

  
  

Why it worked

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  Local targeting at scale: Rich data pinpoints the right SMBs

  
  
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  Quality outreach: Messages reference each business’s real context

  
  
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  Efficient growth: More pipeline without adding a large outbound team

  
  
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  Clear insight: Visibility into which markets and signals convert best

  
  

How SumUp runs outreach day to day

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  Define priority markets and merchant segments

  
  
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  Launch local campaigns powered by B2B and Local Data

  
  
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  Let Ava handle research, personalization, and sequences

  
  
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  Jump into warm replies to move merchants into demos and onboarding

  
  
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  Review performance by market and refine targeting

  
  

Results in year 1

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  Cost Per Lead: $52

  
  
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  Positive responses: 8-15 per week from previously unreachable local SMBs

  
  
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  Personalized emails sent: 400,000+

  
  
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  Expanded coverage: More qualified merchants reached in each target market

  
  

SumUp scaled high-quality local merchant outreach by letting Artisan generate and send the kind of emails their best rep would write, powered by deep local data and signals.

If you’re ready to see what Artisan can do for you, get in touch.