Vedantu

 1️⃣ Walk me through your background and why Vedantu?

I have about 13+ years in performance and growth marketing, largely in lead-driven, high-scale businesses. I’ve managed ₹10+ Cr annual budgets across Google Search, Display, YouTube, Meta, and programmatic, with a strong focus on CPL, lead quality, and conversion efficiency.

At Quikr, I worked extensively on high-intent lead generation for categories like real estate, home services, and interiors — which is very similar to Vedantu’s inside-sales-led conversion model. At Novo Nordisk, I scaled structured SEM programs with heavy compliance, attribution, and ROI tracking.

Vedantu excites me because it’s not just traffic or installs — it’s about driving quality student leads and working closely with sales and ops to convert them, which is exactly where my strength lies.

2️⃣ How would you structure performance marketing for Vedantu?

I’d structure it in three clear layers:

1. Demand Capture (High Intent)

  • Google Search (brand, course, exam-specific, city + course)
  • Retargeting on Search, Display, YouTube

2. Demand Creation (Mid Funnel)

  • YouTube + Meta for concept-led and exam-awareness creatives
  • City-level geo campaigns for offline centers

3. Conversion Optimization

  • Dedicated landing pages by exam, class, and city
  • Lead form simplification + WhatsApp click-to-lead
  • CRM-level lead scoring and feedback loop with inside sales

The key focus would be lead quality, not just CPL, so I’d continuously optimize based on SQL rate, enrollment rate, and ROAS, not just marketing metrics.

3️⃣ How do you ensure lead quality, not just volume?

This is where most performance teams fail.

I ensure lead quality by:

  • Keyword intent mapping (separating exploratory vs enrollment-ready queries)
  • Using negative keywords aggressively
  • Custom landing pages aligned to ad intent
  • CRM feedback loop: I track which keywords and campaigns generate actual enrollments, not just leads

At Quikr, this approach helped us reduce junk leads and improve conversion by ~18%, even when CPL went slightly up — overall ROI improved.

4️⃣ How would you work with inside sales and CRM teams?

I treat sales as my primary stakeholder, not a downstream team.

My approach:

  • Weekly sync with inside-sales managers
  • Define lead scoring rules together (time to call, source quality, city, exam)
  • Track metrics like Contact Rate, First Call Conversion, and Enrollment Rate
  • Pause or optimize campaigns that look good on CPL but convert poorly

This alignment is critical for Vedantu since speed-to-call and follow-up quality directly impact enrollments.

5️⃣ How will you optimize CPL and ROAS at scale?

My optimization levers are:

  • Keyword segmentation by intent & exam cycle
  • Smart bidding with tCPA / Max Conversions, backed by clean data
  • Continuous A/B testing of ads and landing pages
  • Geo-based bid modifiers for offline centers
  • Budget reallocation weekly based on conversion cohorts

At Novo Nordisk, this discipline helped reduce CPA by 22% while scaling spend.

6️⃣ How would you approach offline center marketing?

For offline centers, I’d run hyper-local performance playbooks:

  • City + area-based search campaigns
  • Google Business Profile optimization
  • Local SEO for ‘coaching near me’ searches
  • Click-to-call & WhatsApp-first funnels
  • Local testimonials & center-specific creatives

I’ve done similar setups for real estate and home services, where location relevance directly impacts lead quality.

7️⃣ How do you measure success beyond dashboards?

For me, success is:

  • Enrollment cost, not just CPL
  • Month-on-month improvement in lead-to-enrollment ratio
  • Stability of CPL during peak seasons
  • Clear attribution visibility for leadership

I build dashboards in Power BI / Looker Studio, but the real KPI is whether sales teams say: ‘These leads are converting better.

8️⃣ What would you do in your first 90 days at Vedantu?

First 30 days

  • Deep dive into funnels, CRM, and sales feedback
  • Identify leakage points (form drop-offs, follow-up delays)

Next 30 days

  • Restructure search campaigns by exam + city
  • Launch new landing page experiments
  • Improve retargeting coverage

Last 30 days

  • Scale what’s working
  • Build a predictable budget-to-enrollment model
  • Align quarterly targets with sales & ops
  • The goal is predictable, scalable enrollments, not just traffic spikes.

9️⃣ Why should we hire you over others?

Because I bring a business-owner mindset to performance marketing.

I’ve handled large budgets, worked with inside-sales-heavy models, understand CRM + attribution, and I’m comfortable being accountable for real outcomes, not just media metrics.

Vedantu needs someone who can sit between marketing, sales, and ops — that’s exactly where I’ve operated most of my career.

Q10. If you had to present a performance marketing plan for Vedantu, how would you do it?

I’d structure Vedantu’s performance marketing plan around three core objectives:
  • Predictable student enrollments
  • High-quality lead generation
  • Scalable ROI across online and offline
The plan would be built on intent-led acquisition, strong conversion funnels, and tight sales alignment.

Q11. Can you break this plan down channel-wise?

Yes. I’d divide the plan into four channel pillars:

1️⃣ Google Search (40–45% budget)
  • Exam + class + intent-based keywords (JEE, NEET, CBSE, Olympiads)
  • Brand + non-brand split
  • City-specific campaigns for offline centers
  • Strong negative keyword framework
Goal: Capture high-intent, enrollment-ready demand.

2️⃣ YouTube & Meta (25–30% budget)
  • YouTube for concept clarity, exam fear, success stories
  • Meta for remarketing and mid-funnel education
  • Separate creatives for parents vs students
Goal: Build trust and warm up demand.

3️⃣ Retargeting (15–20% budget)
  • Search RLSA
  • YouTube remarketing
  • Meta + Display retargeting
  • WhatsApp click-to-lead
Goal: Improve conversion efficiency and reduce cost per enrollment.

4️⃣ SEO & Local SEO (10–15% budget)
  • Exam + topic-based content
  • City-wise pages for offline centers
  • Google Business Profile optimization
Goal: Build long-term, low-cost demand pipeline.”

Q12. How will you structure the funnel?

The funnel will be intent-led and exam-specific:
  • Top Funnel: YouTube + Meta awareness
  • Mid Funnel: Website visits, video viewers, lead magnets
  • Bottom Funnel: Search, retargeting, WhatsApp, call ads
Each exam (JEE, NEET, CBSE) will have:
  • Dedicated landing pages
  • Custom messaging
  • Separate performance tracking

Q13. How will you control CPL and lead quality together?

I’d control CPL without sacrificing lead quality by:
  • Segmenting keywords by seriousness level
  • Filtering casual users via landing page messaging
  • Using lead forms with intent qualifiers
  • Optimizing budgets based on enrollment data from CRM
If CPL increases slightly but enrollment improves, I’d consider that a win.

Q14. How will you align this with inside sales?

I’d build a closed-loop system:
  • Define lead scoring rules with sales
  • Track speed-to-call and contact rate
  • Weekly review of source-wise enrollments
  • Pause campaigns generating low-quality leads
Performance marketing will be accountable for revenue outcomes, not just leads.

Q15. How will offline centers fit into this plan?

For offline centers, I’d run hyper-local performance playbooks:
  • City + locality-based search campaigns
  • Call-only and WhatsApp-first ads
  • Center-specific landing pages
  • Local SEO + reviews
Each center would have its own CPL and enrollment benchmarks.

Q16. What KPIs will you track to judge success?

I’d track KPIs at three levels:

Marketing KPIs
  • CPL, CTR, CVR
  • Cost per qualified lead
Sales KPIs
  • Contact rate
  • Lead-to-enrollment ratio
Business KPIs
  • Cost per enrollment
  • ROAS
  • LTV to CAC ratio

Q17. How would you scale this plan?

Once unit economics are stable:
  • Scale budgets in high-performing exams & cities
  • Expand long-tail keywords
  • Increase retargeting coverage
  • Introduce automation for bids and reporting
Scale comes after predictability, not before.

Q18. What risks do you see in this plan?

Key risks are:
  • Poor sales follow-up
  • Over-optimization for CPL
  • Creative fatigue
  • Exam seasonality
I’d mitigate these with CRM integration, creative refresh cycles, and exam-wise budget planning.

Q19. Leads are coming, but enrollments are dropping. How do you do root cause analysis?

I break this down step-by-step across the funnel:

Marketing layer – Has intent changed?
  • Keyword mix
  • Ad messaging vs landing page promise
Conversion layer – Are users dropping on forms or pages?
  • Form completion rate
  • Page load time
Sales layer – Are leads being contacted on time?
  • Speed-to-call
  • Contact rate
Outcome layer – Where exactly is the drop?
  • Lead → contact
  • Contact → counseling
  • Counseling → enrollment
Once I isolate the exact drop point, the fix becomes obvious.

Q20. CPL is stable but lead quality is poor. What’s the root cause?

Stable CPL with poor quality usually means intent dilution.

Common causes:
  • Broad match keywords expanding too much
  • Awareness creatives driving low-intent leads
  • Generic landing pages not filtering users
I’d immediately audit:
  • Search terms report
  • Audience segments
  • Campaign-level enrollment data
Then tighten intent, even if CPL increases slightly.

Q21. Google Ads performance suddenly drops. What’s your RCA approach?

I follow a 3-level RCA:

Level 1: Platform checks
  • Bid strategy changes
  • Budget caps
  • Auction insights
Level 2: Account checks
  • Keyword match types
  • Negative keyword gaps
  • Quality Score changes
Level 3: External factors
  • Exam seasonality
  • Competitive aggression
  • Creative fatigue
This avoids knee-jerk optimizations and helps fix the real issue.

Q22. Offline center leads are high, but walk-ins are low. Why?

This is usually a location relevance or sales issue.

Possible root causes:
  • Geo targeting too wide
  • Poor call follow-up
  • Center location mismatch vs user intent
  • No urgency in creatives
I’d compare:
  • Distance of lead vs center
  • Call recordings
  • Walk-in conversion by locality
Then tighten geo-radius and update messaging.

Q23. You increased budgets but results didn’t scale. What went wrong?

Scaling without performance usually means unit economics weren’t stable.

Root causes:
  • Limited high-intent search volume
  • Creative fatigue
  • Retargeting pool saturation
  • Sales bandwidth constraints
I’d pull back, stabilize CPL and enrollment rate, then scale gradually.

Q24. How do you do RCA with sales teams without blame?

I use data, not opinions.

I show:
  • Source-wise contact rate
  • Time-to-first-call impact
  • Enrollment by lead age
This keeps discussions objective and helps marketing and sales solve the problem together.”

Q25. What’s a real RCA example from your experience?

At Quikr, we saw rising leads but flat revenue. RCA showed:
  • Sales follow-ups were delayed during peak volume
  • High-intent leads were cooling off
We reallocated budget to fewer, higher-quality campaigns and aligned call capacity. Revenue recovered without increasing spend.
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