Cutting Cost per Contact by 95%
Summary
Tranter had advertised on Google Ads in the US before, at a very high cost per contact. With my setup and strategy, yearly ad spend went from $73,789 to $5,648, while click-through rate rose from 3.1% to 9.9% and contacts grew from 86 to 160. Cost per contact fell from $858.02 to $35.30.
−95%
Cost per contact vs 2021
$40.42
Per contact (was $858.02)
160
Contacts in a full year (was 86)
The challenge
In 2021 Tranter ran Google Ads in the US and spent $73,789.83, which brought in 86 contacts: $858.02 per contact. In 2022 they spent $10,654.58 for 35 contacts, $304.42 per contact, before the ads were stopped.
The approach
I asked to pilot my own strategy, challenging the old setup to prove my case. First, I restructured the ad account completely. Instead of one central account, I set up a manager (MCC) account with a separate sub-account for each market, such as the US and Canada. That made sure spend was split properly between markets, and let us set real goals per market, localise, and fine-tune copy, ads and landing pages for each campaign. I also ran a tracking audit, making sure micro-conversions and contacts were tracked correctly, so better data was fed back to Google's algorithms.
The outcome
Over the full year of 2023, ad spend dropped to $5,648, 46.9% lower than 2022. Click-through rate rose to 9.9% (+141%), conversion rate to 3.1% (+416%) and contacts to 160 (+357%). Cost per contact landed at $35.30, 88% lower than 2022 and down from $858.02 in 2021. Less spend, more relevance and far more contacts.
My first move was to lower ad spend: spend the money wisely and measure the impact before raising budgets and volumes again. Testing strategies and approaches is key. Experience tells you what should work better, but you let the data speak for itself. Tranter is still a client today. What started in North America has grown into a global marketing partnership across multiple channels, with sharper strategies and always-on activity alongside campaign initiatives.