A challenger brand in a costly market
The client was a challenger in the employer-of-record market, up against rivals with far bigger budgets. Searches such as “EOR” and “global payroll” were expensive, and costs rose further as competitors raised their own ad budgets.
Google Ads was becoming the company’s main source of revenue. It had to grow fast, and every extra dollar still had to bring in leads the sales team could close.
We moved budget to the campaigns that closed
We judged each campaign on sales-qualified leads. We cut budgets on campaigns that underperformed and moved the money to high-converting keywords such as “payroll”. Those cheaper wins balanced out the higher cost of the most competitive terms, such as “EOR”.
We also worked with Google’s own account strategists. That helped us forecast spend, spot the point where more budget would stop paying back, and react quickly when competitors raised their bids.
We led the ads with price
New ad copy led with the low starting price per employee. It suited cost-conscious buyers and lowered the cost per lead across several campaigns.
We fixed the pages after the click
Visitor data showed that 91.5% of people who landed on the main employer-of-record page left it, and many went back to the pricing page. We recommended putting pricing on that page, to save buyers a step.
We also tested and improved the landing pages that converted best. One, a comparison of top employer-of-record providers, reached a 4.8% conversion rate.
Why it worked
Judging every campaign on sales-qualified leads moved budget to keywords that closed, such as “payroll”, which balanced out the higher cost of terms such as “EOR”. Leading the ads with the low starting price suited cost-conscious buyers and lowered the cost per lead. Better landing pages turned more clicks into leads, so spend could grow 20× while the return held at 3×.
The result
Monthly Google Ads spend grew 20×, from about $7k to a peak of $144k, while the return on investment held steady at 3×. Closed sales from Google Ads rose from $205k to $487k a month, and the customers the ads brought in were worth $2.8M a year in recurring revenue.
The client’s marketing lead summed up the growth: “I was so impressed with the campaigns’ growth, especially how we expanded targeting and adapted to competitive shifts in the market.”
