Solved: Google Ads Campaigns Low Conversion Rate Diagnosis

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out. I'm happy to give you some initial thoughts and guidance based on what you've shared about your financial planning service campaigns hitting a wall with conversions.

That 0.6% conversion rate you're seeing from clicks to contact form submissions is definitely lower than you'd want, especially for a service where people are presumably looking for help. It's a common frustrating point, getting traffic but not leads. You're right to suspect it's likely either the traffic quality or the experience on your website/landing page, or maybe a bit of both. Based on my experience with low conversion rates like that when traffic volume is there, the first place I'd look *really* hard is at the destination – your website and landing pages.

Your website and landing pages are probably the first place to focus...

When you're getting clicks but the conversion rate is dismal, it usually points to the website or the specific offer you're presenting once people land there. This was a massive factor for several B2B SaaS clients we've worked with who had low conversions initially; fixing the website made a huge difference.

Think about who these young professionals are. They're just starting out, getting serious about money, maybe feeling a bit overwhelmed or unsure. They've clicked your ad, showing some interest, but something on your page isn't convincing them to take the next step and fill out a form. Is your landing page *really* tailored to them? Does it speak their language? Does it directly address the financial worries or goals they likely have at this stage in life? Things like student loans, buying a first home, saving for retirement (which feels ages away but needs thinking about), or just setting up a budget. You need to show them you understand their specific situation, not just offer generic "financial planning".

Then there's the offer itself. What exactly are you asking them to sign up for when they fill out that contact form? Is it just a generic "get in touch" or is there a clear benefit articulated? Maybe it's a free initial consultation, a financial health check, or a quick chat to see if you can help? The landing page copy needs to make the value of filling out that form crystal clear and compelling enough that they think, "Yeah, okay, this is worth giving them my details for." We often use a professional copywriter with experience in the specific niche (like SaaS, in some of our cases) to really nail this, as good copy makes a massive difference in persuasive power.

Beyond the messaging, consider the user experience. Is the contact form easy to find? Is it simple to fill out, not asking for loads of information upfront that might scare someone off? How fast does the page load? If it's slow or clunky, people will bounce. I've seen sites that are perfectly targeted but the form submission flow is broken or confusing, killing conversions.

Trust is another huge piece, especially with financial services. People are being asked to share sensitive information and potentially entrust you with their future finances. Does your website look professional and trustworthy? Do you have reviews or testimonials from happy clients (even if they're early ones)? Is your team visible? Are there clear contact details? Links to social profiles? Anything that builds credibility helps. Sometimes simple things like trust badges or clear privacy policies can nudge people over the line. Looking at the examples, the eCommerce store that wasn't converting initially looked cluttered, slow, lacked descriptions, and didn't look trustworthy – adding trust signals was a key suggestion there, and it applies here too.

Once the website looks solid, then dive deeper into traffic quality...

Assuming you've really hammered on the landing page and feel confident it's doing its job, *then* you need to scrutinise the traffic more closely. You mentioned both Search and Display campaigns, and they are quite different beasts in terms of intent.

For your Google Search campaigns, are the keywords you're targeting aligning precisely with someone actively seeking financial planning services *right now*? Are you targeting things like "financial advisor for young professionals", "start saving early", "budgeting help", "investment advice for beginners"? Or are you perhaps targeting broader, more informational keywords where someone might just be researching vaguely? If you're getting clicks from broad terms, they might not be in the problem-aware or solution-aware stage yet, which will lead to lower conversion rates on a "contact us" form. Negative keywords are also super important here to filter out irrelevant searches. For example, you wouldn't want clicks from people searching for "financial planning software free" if you offer a service, not software, or "financial planning degree" if you're not an educational institution.

Google Display is typically a different ballgame. It's more interruptive advertising. You're showing ads to people based on their interests, demographics, or browsing behaviour, not necessarily because they are actively searching for your service at that exact moment. While it can be great for building awareness or retargeting, relying on it for immediate contact form submissions can be tough and usually results in lower conversion rates compared to Search. The audience is often much broader, and they aren't necessarily in a 'buying' or 'enquiry' mindset when they see your ad on a news site or blog. If a large portion of your clicks are coming from Display, that would explain a lower blended conversion rate. I'd be wary of relying heavily on Display if contact form submissions is the primary goal right now. You could test different Display strategies, like focusing heavily on remarketing to website visitors who didn't convert from Search, as they've already shown a higher level of intent.

You should also be split testing your ad copy on both platforms. Does the ad copy directly reflect the offer on the landing page? Is it compelling enough to attract the *right* kind of young professional? Sometimes the ad attracts clicks, but from people who were expecting something slightly different, leading to them bouncing on the landing page.

Metrics to look at? For Search, drill into search terms. Are the terms generating clicks actually relevant? Look at quality scores – low quality scores can indicate misalignment between keywords, ads, and landing pages. On the landing page, look at bounce rate for traffic sources. A high bounce rate suggests people aren't finding what they expect or the page isn't engaging. Look at time on page. Are they spending long enough to read the offer? Use heat mapping and session recording tools (like Hotjar or Microsoft Clarity) to *watch* what users are doing on your page. Where are they clicking? Where are they getting stuck or leaving? This can give invaluable visual insights that analytics numbers alone won't.

That $110 CPL is high, but it's a symptom of the low conversion rate...

You mentioned the $110 CPL is killing you on costs, and yeah, that's understandable. But remember, CPL is calculated by taking your total ad spend and dividing it by the number of leads (contact form submissions). If your conversion rate is 0.6%, it means you need roughly 167 clicks (1 / 0.006) to get one conversion. If your average CPC (Cost Per Click) is anything over about $0.66 ($110 / 167), your CPL will be higher than $110. I'd look at your actual average CPC. If the CPC is reasonable for your industry but the CR is low, then the conversion rate is the primary driver of the high CPL.

The good news is, if you can increase your conversion rate, your CPL will automatically drop. Even getting to a 2% conversion rate would drop your CPL significantly (assuming the same CPC). A 2% conversion rate isn't unreasonable for a well-optimised landing page for a service like this, though financial services might be a bit lower due to the trust factor and perceived commitment.

We've seen CPLs vary wildly depending on the industry, competitiveness, and the service itself. For instance, we've had campaigns for home cleaning services getting leads for around £5, whilst HVAC services in a competitive area were seeing costs around $60 per lead. Financial planning is likely somewhere on the higher end due to the value of a potential client and the complexity of the service, but $110 does feel high if it's the blend from both Search and Display. If you can get your conversion rate up to even 1.5-2%, you'd see a dramatic drop in that CPL, potentially making the campaigns profitable.

Ultimately, I'd focus on making the website/landing page as compelling and trustworthy as possible first. Get that right, *then* refine your traffic targeting to ensure you're bringing the most relevant people to your improved page. It sounds like you've got traffic coming, the challenge is converting that traffic into actual leads you can work.

Here's a quick overview of the key things to tackle:

Tackling these points systematically should help you diagnose where the drop-off is really happening. Start with the website/landing page as that's the most common bottleneck with a low conversion rate getting clicks. Use analytics and user behaviour tools to see *how* people are interacting with your page.

Working through this sort of analysis and testing can be quite involved, requiring detailed platform knowledge and conversion rate optimisation expertise. Sometimes, having someone experienced take a look with fresh eyes and implement structured testing can identify issues and opportunities you might miss, and accelerate the process of lowering that CPL to a profitable level. There's quite a few variables involved, from campaign structure and targeting nuances to subtle points on the landing page design and copy that make a real difference.

We've certainly helped clients in similar situations turn around campaigns by focusing on these core areas. If you feel like you'd benefit from a deeper dive or just want to chat through your specific setup in more detail, we'd be happy to book in a free consultation to give you more tailored advice.

Regards,
Team @ Lukas Holschuh