Solved: Running EOR ads without conversions, bot clicks detected

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out. Happy to give you some initial thoughts and guidance based on what you've shared about your Google Ads performance for your SaaS brand.

From the sounds of it, you're hitting a pretty common wall, especially with B2B SaaS when starting out. Let's dive into a few areas.

I'd say you need to give it more time...

You mentioned running ads for only two weeks. Honestly, for B2B SaaS campaigns, particularly on Google Ads, that's barely any time at all. Sales cycles in this space are often much, much longer than two weeks. People aren't typically making a decision to sign up for or purchase software, especially EOR software which sounds like a significant business function change, within that timeframe.

Optimisation itself takes time. Google's algorithms, even on manual bidding initially, need data to learn. You need clicks, yes, but crucially you need actions *after* the click to start seeing patterns and understanding what's working or not. Conversions provide the most valuable data signals. Without them, teh system is pretty blind, and so are you.

We've run quite a few campaigns for B2B SaaS clients. Some, very occasionally, see ROI or at least initial conversions within a few days if the offer is super compelling (like a completely free, no-card-required trial) and the targeting is spot on. But for the majority, it takes weeks, often months, to really dial in the targeting, the creative/copy, the offer, and the website to a point where you're consistently getting conversions at a viable cost per acquisition.

Think of it like this: you've just turned the key on a big machine. It needs time to warm up, for you to learn which levers to pull, and for the audience to actually move through the consideration process, which for a B2B service can be extensive. Two weeks worth of data, especially with issues like bot clicks skewing things, isn't representative of much at all yet.

It sounds like your website is the biggest bottleneck...

This is the most likely culprit for seeing clicks but no conversions, especially when combined with observations like bot or missed clicks in Clarity. If traffic *is* reaching your site, but nobody's taking the desired action (signing up, booking a demo, etc.), and you're seeing weird interactions, it strongly suggests the issue isn't necessarily the ads themselves (though that could contribute to traffic quality), but what happens once people land on your page.

I saw a very similar situation with an accounting SaaS client we worked with previously. Their ads were driving clicks, but conversion rates were abysmal. Looking at their site, it became clear why. The offer wasn't compelling – they only had a demo, while competitors offered extensive free trials. Changing accounting software is a huge commitment for a business; they need to be able to test it out thoroughly. The value proposition wasn't clear or persuasive ("Where business meets privacy" likely isn't the main concern for most businesses needing accounting software – they want reliability, features, ease of use). The landing page copy wasn't written to sell the value of taking that first step (signing up, trying it). And the site didn't instil much trust.

For your EOR SaaS, you need to ask similar questions: What is the very first step you want a business visitor to take? Is it signing up for a free trial? Requesting a demo? Downloading a guide? This needs to be the primary call to action, prominently displayed and persuasive.

Your offer needs to be compelling for your target audience. For SaaS, a completely free trial (no credit card required initially) is often the most effective way to lower the barrier to entry compared to just a demo or a paid trial. People want to kick the tires themselves.

The landing page itself is crucial. Is the copy persuasive? Does it clearly articulate the problem you solve and the unique value your EOR software provides? Does it speak directly to the decision-makers you're targeting? Professional, sales-focused copy makes a massive difference here. We often use copywriters with specific SaaS experience for this exact reason.

And finally, trust. Especially for a system handling something critical like EOR, businesses need to trust you. Are there testimonials? Case studies? Security badges? Clear contact information? Links to professional profiles or business pages? Anything that builds credibility will help.

The bot clicks you're seeing in Clarity could be a symptom of poor traffic quality (broad keywords, wrong targeting), but it can also be exacerbated by a poor website. If a bot or even a confused human lands on a page that doesn't immediately make sense or offer a clear path, they're likely to bounce immediately or interact weirdly. Fixing the landing page will often help clean up some of this behaviour.

Let's talk about traffic quality (keywords and targeting)...

While the website is likely the main issue, it's worth looking at the traffic you're sending. You mentioned phrase match keywords on Search and keyword-focused targeting on Demand Gen & Display.

For Search, phrase match is generally okay, but depending on the specific keywords, it can still pull in irrelevant searches. Are you regularly reviewing the Search Terms report to see what exact queries people used when your ads showed? You need to be adding negative keywords constantly to block irrelevant traffic.

Demand Gen and Display ads work differently. They reach people who aren't actively searching at that moment. Keyword targeting on these platforms can be very broad. Are you layering other targeting options? For B2B, just keywords on Display can be a recipe for low-quality traffic. Consider audience targeting – are you targeting specific job titles, industries, company sizes, or interests relevant to EOR decision-makers? Without layering, you could be showing ads to anyone who has an *interest* related to your keywords, which might not be businesses actively looking for EOR solutions.

As an example, we ran a campaign targeting B2B decision makers for another SaaS product on LinkedIn, where the targeting is much more granular (job title, company size, industry). Even there, getting a solid Cost Per Lead took optimisation time, but the traffic quality was inherently higher for B2B than broad Display.

Your focus should be on ensuring the people clicking are genuinely potential customers for your EOR software. If your keywords or audience targeting are too broad, you're paying for clicks that will never convert, regardless of how good your website is.

Manual vs. Automated Bidding...

Your CEO isn't wrong about the potential power of automated bidding strategies. Strategies like Target CPA or Max Conversions use machine learning to analyse tonnes of signals (device, location, time of day, user behaviour, etc.) to predict the likelihood of a conversion and adjust bids accordingly. This is something a human doing manual bidding simply can't do efficiently across many different users and auctions. It can be very effective at scaling performance and improving CPA *once* it has data.

However, these automated strategies need conversion data to learn from. They need to see who converts and under what conditions to figure out who to bid higher for. Since you currently have no conversions, an automated strategy like Max Conversions wouldn't have anything meaningful to optimise towards. It would effectively just be guessing.

Starting with manual bidding (or perhaps ECPC, which is a hybrid) can be fine initially while you're figuring things out and trying to get those first conversions. It gives you more direct control over bids and can be useful for traffic quality diagnostics. But long-term, if you want to scale efficiently, you'll likely want to transition to an automated strategy *after* you've fixed your conversion issues and started logging conversions reliably. You typically need a decent volume of conversions (often 15-30+ per month depending on the strategy and campaign type) for automated bidding to work well.

So, for now, stick with manual or ECPC, but the immediate priority is fixing the things preventing conversions from happening at all, so automated bidding becomes a viable option down the line.

Here's a summary of the key actionable steps I'd recommend focusing on right now:

Focusing on fixing the website and ensuring accurate conversion tracking are by far the most critical steps right now. Until you can get people who *do* click to convert on your site, pouring more money into ads won't solve the fundamental problem.

Getting B2B SaaS campaigns working efficiently, especially from scratch, involves balancing many different elements – the right platform, precise targeting, compelling ad creative and copy, a strong offer, a high-converting website/funnel, and a sound bidding strategy, all while managing expectations around sales cycles. It's a complex process that often requires deep experience and constant iteration to get right.

Sorting through traffic quality, optimising landing pages, setting up robust tracking, and implementing effective bidding strategies for SaaS can be quite involved. If you find you'd like a more detailed review of your specific account setup and website, or just want to chat through how to tackle these challenges, feel free to consider booking in a free consultation. It's often helpful to get an expert perspective tailored to your exact situation.

Regards,
Team @ Lukas Holschuh