Not enough demand

Cost per lead cut by two thirds over sixteen months

The most completely documented record we hold: spend, leads and cost per lead are all recorded, and they reconcile exactly. Cost per lead fell from $172 to $61 across four phases.

Counted a business outcome

Leads, calls or conversions were counted. Revenue was not — no record here measures it.

Industry: Exterior cleaning and power washing
Business model: Home services
Company stage: Undisclosed
Constraint identified: Not enough demand
Channel: Google Ads
Time period: 16 months, reported in four phases
Budget: $15,903 total recorded spend
Client: Published anonymously at the client’s request

Where it started

An exterior cleaning company with a strong local reputation could generate leads, but not at a cost that made them worth having.

The constraint, and why

The business converted well once it had a conversation. The limit was the cost of getting one, which made scale unaffordable.

What actually changed

Landing page rebuilt for conversion before any budget was increased
Separate search and direct-call campaigns rather than one blended campaign
Budget and bidding adjusted to the seasonal cycle of the business
Continuous tuning after launch rather than a set-and-report cadence

Residential and commercial work within roughly a 35-mile service radius. Budget recorded at $2,000 per month.

Measured results

Leads
193
Measured in the platform, not reconciled to finance · Google Ads
Cost per lead
Before: $172.12After: $61.04
A 65% reduction between the first and last phase
Measured in the platform, not reconciled to finance · Google Ads, reported per four-month phase
Leads per phase
21 → 33 → 43 → 85
Measured in the platform, not reconciled to finance · Google Ads, four-month phases
Blended cost per lead
$82.40
Measured in the platform, not reconciled to finance · Google Ads. $15,903 total spend ÷ 193 leads reconciles exactly.
Cost per click
$8.06
Measured in the platform, not reconciled to finance · Google Ads

What is different now

The business could forecast what a lead would cost, and the number got better each phase instead of drifting.

Limitations and atypical circumstances

Leads are counted in Google Ads. The record does not show how many became paying jobs, or what those jobs were worth.
The phase leads (21 + 33 + 43 + 85 = 182) do not sum to the 193 total, so the phases and the total are measured slightly differently.
The source record names two different Maryland towns for the service area, and the recorded total spend does not reconcile with sixteen months at $2,000 per month. Both are transcription issues in the source, not in the measurement.
No written client release is on file for this record.

Permission

Published anonymous, authorised by Monastic (owner authorisation to publish anonymised records) on 2026-10-01.

No written release from the client is on file. The record is published anonymously and contains no client name. If you would like a reference conversation with a current client instead, ask for one — that is a fair thing to expect.

Source

Google Ads campaign record — exterior cleaning, Maryland

Outcomes this addressed

Lower cost to acquire
A pipeline I can forecast