38% MoM Increase in Leads
1,561%
ROI with 18-day payback period
5th to 1st
in AI Search Share of Voice
+38%
MoM Increase in Leads
Customer Story
Popl.co
Popl.co is the complete In-Person Marketing (IPM) platform - combining digital business cards, universal lead capture, and contact enrichment into one centralized system that works at events, in the field, and beyond.
After partnering with AthenaHQ, Popl.co climbed from 5th to 1st position in AI Search rankings and boosted their visibility score by 189%.
Impact
When they discovered that 73% of B2B buyers were now using AI tools like ChatGPT for vendor research, they realized they needed to be visible where their customers were actually searching.
The impact was immediate: 38.85% monthly growth in AI-driven leads, with an impressive 1,561% ROI and just 18 days to payback.
Starting Point
5th position with just 11.2% Share of Voice in AI Search
Popl.co helps professionals and teams capture leads at events with their in-person marketing platform. But they faced a problem: their customers were increasingly using ChatGPT and other AI tools to find vendors, and Popl was barely visible.
After 3 months with AthenaHQ
Climbed to #1 in AI Search rankings- 38.85% monthly growth in leads from AI
- 1,561% ROI with 18-day payback
Why This Matters
The Problem
Popl was already successful with their in-person marketing platform. But they spotted a trend that worried them.
The Shift
73% of B2B buyers now start their vendor research in ChatGPT, not Google. When prospects searched for "digital business card solutions," Popl's competitors were showing up, but Popl wasn't.
The Plan
They needed to be visible where their customers were actually looking.
The Challenge
Popl.co was doing well with traditional marketing, but they noticed a shift.
More prospects mentioned finding competitors through ChatGPT.
Problems
Nearly invisible in AI Search results
No way to track how AI influenced their pipeline
Content that worked great for Google wasn't working for AI
Traditional SEO metrics looked fine, but leads were slowing
Solutions
Structured content for AI comprehension and citation
Built tracking for AI-influenced customer journeys
Rewrote content to align with generative engine behavior
Replaced SEO-only focus with AI-first visibility metrics
Where we Started
The numbers painted a clear picture — Popl was falling behind
Performance Metrics
Business Impact
+38.85%
AI-Driven Leads Grew Every Month
Return on Investment
Competitive Advantage
What Made the Difference
Better Content
We rewrote their pages to answer questions the way AI systems expect - clear, structured, and authoritative.
Real Measurement
We built tracking that could actually tell which leads came from AI Searches.
Multi-platform approach
We didn't just focus on ChatGPT. We optimized for Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, and others.
What This Means for B2B Companies
The Popl story reveals important lessons:
Move Early
It's Technical
Tracking is Broken
Buyers Changed
The Bottom Line
+38.85%
Grow in their leads from AI
10% to 29%
Jump in overall visibility
1,561%
ROI with 18-day payback
Quick Popl Shoutout
Popl partnerships
All in one
Interested in other winning stories?
50% increase in demos from AI Search
Lago achieved a 50% increase in demos from AI Search after implementing Athena. With 11x growth in AI Overview impressions and exploding citations, Athena became their command center for GEO.
11x
AI Overview impressions growth (3% → 33%)
2x
Citation rate growth (3.5% → 17%)
6x Share of Voice Lift in 60 Days
Grüns grew Share of Voice from 2.0% to 12.6% in 60 days, with 19% brand mentions and 23x citation rate driven by a prompt-led pillar-and-cluster strategy.
+19%
Brand mention rate growth (4% → 25%)
23x
Citation rate growth (0.3% → 7.0%)
10x Growth in ChatGPT Traffic
"We've seen a 10x increase in chatgpt.com referred traffic. Of which, these visitors are generally higher quality with lower bounce rates and longer engagement."
20%
net-new content opportunities identified by Athena
>30%
of prospects now come from GenAI Search