Solved: Google Ads Conversion Rates Stalling? (Data Inside)

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out!

Struggling with Google Ads conversion rates is a really common frustration, so you're not alone. It's usually not one single thing, but a chain of small problems that add up. I'm happy to give you some initial thoughts on how I'd approach diagnosing this. It almost always comes down to a mismatch between who you're talking to, what you're saying, and what you're asking them to do. If we can get those three things aligned, the conversion rate usually starts to sort itself out.

Let's break it down.

We'll need to look at your customer, not just your keywords...

Before we even touch your Google Ads account, we have to talk about who you're actually trying to reach. This is where most campaigns fail before they've even spent a pound. Most businesses describe their customers with sterile demographics. "Companies in the finance sector with 50-200 employees." This tells you absolutely nothing of value and leads to generic ads that speak to no one.

You have to get this right, or you're just burning cash. You need to become an expert in your customer's specific, urgent, expensive, career-threatening nightmare. Your customer isn't just a job title; she's a leader terrified of her best developers quitting out of frustration with a broken workflow. Your customer isn't just 'looking for document management'; he's a partner at a law firm who's just had a near-miss on a critical filing deadline, exposing the firm to a malpractice suit. Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) isn't a person; it's a problem state.

Think about it like this:

• The Pain: What is the one thing that keeps them awake at 3 AM? Is it cash flow uncertainty? Losing top talent? Compliance risks? A competitor eating their lunch?
• The Agitation: What are the consequences of not solving this pain? A missed promotion? Having to lay off staff? The business failing? Personal reputational damage?
• The Dream: What does life look like after your solution is implemented? Predictable growth? A happy, productive team? The respect of their peers and board? A good night's sleep?

Once you've isolated that nightmare, you can find them. Forget broad keywords for a moment. Where do these people live online? What niche podcasts do they listen to on their commute, like 'Acquired'? What industry newsletters do they actually open, like 'Stratechery'? What SaaS tools do they already pay for, like HubSpot or Salesforce? Are they members of the 'SaaS Growth Hacks' Facebook group? Do they follow people like Jason Lemkin on Twitter? This intelligence isn't just data; it's the blueprint for your entire targeting and messaging strategy. If you don't do this work first, you have no business spending another penny on ads. It's the absolute foundation. A lot of agencies skip this part because it's hard work, but it's the only way to build a campaign that actually works.

I'd say you need to understand the real cost of a conversion...

The next big mindset shift is to stop asking "Why is my conversion rate so low?" and start asking "How high a Cost Per Lead (CPL) can I afford to acquire a truly great customer?" The answer lies in its counterpart: Customer Lifetime Value (LTV). If you don't know this number, you are flying blind. You're making decisions based on gut feel and vanity metrics, not on the actual economics of your business.

Let's do the maths. It's simpler than it sounds. You just need three numbers:

1. Average Revenue Per Account (ARPA): What do you make per customer, per month on average?
2. Gross Margin %: What's your profit margin on that revenue after accounting for the cost of goods sold or service delivery?
3. Monthly Churn Rate: What percentage of customers do you lose each month?

The calculation is straightforward:

LTV = (ARPA * Gross Margin %) / Monthly Churn Rate

For example, if your ARPA is £500, your gross margin is 80%, and your monthly churn is 4%, then:

LTV = (£500 * 0.80) / 0.04
LTV = £400 / 0.04 = £10,000

In this scenario, each customer is worth £10,000 in gross margin to your business over their lifetime. This single number changes everything. A healthy LTV to Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) ratio is typically 3:1. This means you can afford to spend up to £3,333 to acquire a single customer and still have a very healthy business model. If your sales process converts 1 in 10 qualified leads into a customer, you can afford to pay up to £333 for every single one of those qualified leads.

Suddenly that £50 CPL from your Google Ads campaign doesn't seem so bad, does it? In fact, if the leads are high quality, it looks like an incredible bargain. This is the maths that unlocks aggressive, intelligent growth. It frees you from the tyranny of chasing cheap, low-quality leads and allows you to focus on acquiring customers who will actually grow your business. Without this, you're just guessing.

Have a play with the calculator below to see how these numbers affect your own business. It might surprise you what you can actually afford to spend.

You probably should fix your message before you fix your ads...

Okay, so now you know exactly who you're talking to (their nightmare) and what they're worth to you (their LTV). Now we can talk about what to actually say in your ads and on your landing page. Your message must connect the customer's pain to your solution in a way they can't ignore. Generic, feature-led copy is a death sentence for conversion rates.

Here are a couple of frameworks we use that flat-out work. They force you to be customer-centric.

For B2B SaaS: The Before-After-Bridge

You don't sell a "FinOps platform"; you sell the feeling of relief. You paint a picture of their current hell (the Before), show them the promised land (the After), and then present your product as the vehicle to get them there (the Bridge).

• Before: "Your AWS bill just arrived. It’s 30% higher than last month, and your engineers have no idea why. Another fire to put out. Your CFO is asking questions you can't answer."
• After: "Imagine opening your cloud bill and smiling. You see exactly where every dollar is going, and waste is automatically eliminated. You walk into your next board meeting with confidence."
• Bridge: "Our platform is the bridge that gets you there. It gives you the visibility and control you need to master your cloud spend. Start a free trial and find your first £1,000 in savings today."

For High-Touch Services: Problem-Agitate-Solve

You don't sell "fractional CFO services"; you sell a good night's sleep. You find their open wound, pour salt in it, and then offer the bandage.

• Problem: "Are your cash flow projections just a shot in the dark?"
• Agitate: "Are you one bad month away from a payroll crisis while your competitors are confidently raising their next round? That uncertainty is costing you more than just money - it's costing you sleep and focus."
• Solve: "Get expert financial strategy for a fraction of a full-time hire. We build dashboards that turn uncertainty into predictable growth, so you can lead with confidence."

Notice how none of this talks about features? It's all about the customer's world, their problems, and their desired outcomes. Your Google Ads copy needs to reflect this. The headline should call out the pain or the dream state. The description should agitate the problem and hint at the solution. Then, your landing page needs to carry that exact same message through, expanding on it with proof, testimonials, and a clear call to action. Any break in this "message match" will kill your conversion rate.

You'll need a better offer... Delete the "Request a Demo" Button

This brings me to what is often the single biggest failure point in B2B advertising: the offer. The "Request a Demo" button is quite possibly the most arrogant Call to Action ever invented. It presumes that your prospect, a busy, high-value decision maker, has nothing better to do than book a 30-minute slot in their diary to be sold to by a stranger. It is high-friction, low-value, and instantly positions you as a commoditised vendor, just another person asking for their time.

Your offer has one job and one job only: to deliver a moment of undeniable value—an "aha!" moment that makes the prospect sell themselves on your solution. It needs to be a no-brainer for them to say yes.

If you sell SaaS, your advantage is massive. The gold standard is a free trial (no credit card details required) or a freemium plan. Let them use the actual product. Let them experience the transformation firsthand. When the product itself proves its value, the sale becomes a formality. You aren't generating Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs) for a sales team to chase; you are creating Product Qualified Leads (PQLs) who are already convinced and coming to you with buying intent. I remember working with a medical job matching SaaS client who managed to reduce their Cost Per User Acquisition from £100 down to just £7 across their Meta and Google Ads campaigns. A big part of that success was moving to a more compelling, low-friction offer. It completely changed their growth trajectory.

If you're not a SaaS company, you're not exempt. You have to bottle your expertise into a tool, a piece of content, or an asset that provides instant, tangible value. The offer has to solve a small, real problem for free to earn you the right to solve the whole thing. Here are some ideas:

• For a marketing agency: A free, automated SEO audit that shows them their top 3 keyword opportunities and technical issues.
• For a data analytics firm: A free 'Data Health Check' tool that flags the top inconsistencies in a sample of their database.
• For a corporate training company: A free 15-minute interactive video module on 'Handling Difficult Conversations' for new managers.
• For us, as an agency: We offer a free 20-minute strategy session where we audit failing ad campaigns. We provide real value, and if they like what they hear, they might want to work with us. If not, they still walk away with actionable advice.

Your low conversion rate might have nothing to do with your ads and everything to do with the fact you're asking for a marriage proposal on the first date. Change the offer to something of high value and low commitment, and watch what happens.

We'll need to diagnose the funnel drop-off...

Right, with the strategy sorted (ICP, LTV, Message, Offer), we can finally look at the tactical side of things. Your low conversion rate is happening somewhere in the journey from a person seeing your ad to them becoming a lead. You need to look at your Google Ads and Analytics data like a detective to find out where the leak is.

Here’s how I’d break it down:

1. Impressions but low Clicks (Low Click-Through Rate - CTR)
This means people are seeing your ad, but it's not compelling enough for them to click. The problem is definately with the ad itself.

• The Cause: Your ad copy is weak, generic, or doesn't speak to the searcher's intent. Your headline isn't grabbing attention. You're not using ad extensions effectively (sitelinks, callouts, etc.) to take up more space and provide more information. Or, your targeting is too broad, and you're showing up for irrelevant searches.
• The Fix: Review your Search Terms Report in Google Ads. Are you paying for clicks that have nothing to do with your offer? Add them as negative keywords immediately. Rewrite your ad copy using the frameworks we discussed earlier. A/B test different headlines that focus on benefits, not features. Ensure you have all relevant ad extensions fully built out.

2. Clicks but few Landing Page Views (High Bounce Rate immediately)
This points to a technical issue or a major disconnect between the ad and the page.

• The Cause: Your website is slow. Really slow. People have no patience. If your page takes more than 3 seconds to load, a huge chunk of your expensive clicks will just leave. The other major cause is a lack of "ad scent" - the ad promises one thing, and the landing page looks and feels completely different.
• The Fix: Use Google's PageSpeed Insights to test your landing page speed and fix what it tells you to. Ensure your landing page headline mirrors or directly relates to the ad headline the user just clicked. The visual identity and core message must be consistent.

3. Landing Page Views but no Conversions (This is your core problem)
This is the big one. You've paid for the click, they've landed on your page, but they're not taking the action you want. The leak is on the page itself.

• The Cause: This could be a number of things. Your value proposition isn't clear within the first 5 seconds. The copy is weak and doesn't build a case for your solution. There are no trust signals (testimonials, case studies, reviews, client logos). Your form is too long or asks for too much information. Your Call-to-Action (the offer) is weak ("Request a Demo"). The page design is cluttered and confusing.
• The Fix: Go back to your offer. Is it a no-brainer? Simplify it. Rewrite the landing page copy to focus entirely on the customer's pain and your solution's benefits. Add social proof everywhere – it's the most powerful persuasion tool you have. Shorten your lead form to the absolute minimum you need (you can always ask for more info later). Make your Call-to-Action button big, bold, and specific (e.g., "Start My Free Trial," not "Submit").

The flowchart below gives a visual path for diagnosing exactly where your problem lies. Start at the top and work your way down. This systematic approach stops you from randomly changing things and helps you focus your efforts where they'll have the biggest impact.

I'd say you need to focus on search intent...

Finally, since you're on Google Ads, we have to talk about search intent. This is the whole game on search. You're not just buying keywords; you're buying the intent behind the keyword. A mismatch here is a guaranteed way to waste money and get zero conversions. I see this all the time; people bid on broad, high-volume keywords and wonder why nobody converts. It's because the searchers weren't looking to buy anything.

There are broadly three types of intent:

1. Informational Intent: The searcher is looking for information. Keywords include "how to", "what is", "best ways to". For example, "how to improve cash flow". These people are top of the funnel. They are not ready to buy. Sending them to a sales page is a complete waste of a click. You should send them to a blog post or a guide. Tbh I'd probably exclude most of these keywords from a lead generation campaign unless you have a very sophisticated content marketing funnel.
2. Commercial Intent: The searcher is researching a purchase. They are comparing options. Keywords include "reviews", "comparison", "best [product type]", "[product] alternatives". For example, "Xero vs Quickbooks comparison". These people are in the middle of the funnel. They have a problem and are actively looking for a solution. Sending them to a landing page with a strong offer, like a free trial or a detailed comparison guide, can work very well. I've worked on SaaS campaigns where targeting competitor keywords was the most profitable part of the account.
3. Transactional Intent: The searcher is ready to buy. Now. Keywords include "buy", "price", "demo", "trial", "for sale", "[brand name] software". For example, "buy accounting software for small business". These are your money keywords. They have the highest intent and should be your top priority. These clicks must go to a dedicated landing page designed for one thing only: conversion.

Your job is to go through your Search Terms Report and categorise every click. If you're spending money on informational keywords and sending them to a sales page, that's a massive, easily-fixable leak in your budget and is probably tanking your conversion rate. You should be focusing 80% of your budget on transactional and commercial intent keywords. This pre-qualifies your traffic before they even click, meaning the people who land on your page are far more likely to be in the right mindset to convert.

I've detailed my main recommendations for you below:

Fixing a conversion rate issue is a process of systematic elimination, not guesswork. It requires a deep understanding of your customer and a brutally honest look at every single step of your funnel. It's not just about tweaking bids and keywords; it's about aligning your entire marketing message with a genuine customer need.

This can be a lot to take on, especially when you're busy running the business. Having an expert pair of eyes can often spot the obvious (and not-so-obvious) issues much faster. We do this day in, day out for businesses from early-stage SaaS startups to established eCommerce brands.

If you'd like to walk through your specific account and strategy, we offer a free, no-obligation 20-minute consultation. We can pull up your campaigns, look at the data together, and I can give you some specific, actionable feedback on where I think the biggest opportunities are. There's no hard sell; at worst, you walk away with a clear plan of attack.

Hope this helps!

Regards,

Team @ Lukas Holschuh