Solved: Google Ads Leads to Trials (A Step-by-Step Fix)

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out. Happy to give you some initial thoughts on your situation.

It sounds like you're dealing with a very common but frustrating problem. You're getting clicks from Google Ads, you're spending the money, but those clicks aren't turning into trials. It feels like pouring water into a leaky bucket, and the specific focus on Birmingham adds another layer to it. Tbh, just focusing on "improving the conversion rate" is looking at the symptom, not the cause. The real issue usualy lies deeper in the strategy, often in a combination of who you're targeting, what you're offering them, and what you're saying.

Let's unpack this. Most people think advertising is about finding customers. It's not. It's about getting your message in front of the right people at the exact moment they have a problem you can solve, and then making it an absolute no-brainer for them to take the next step. Your conversion rate isn't low because of a magic button you haven't pressed; it's low because there's a disconnect somewhere in that journey. We'll need to find it and fix it.

We'll need to look at who you're *really* targeting...

The first and most common mistake I see is targeting the wrong people. On Google Ads, this comes down to keyword intent. You could have the best software in the world, but if you're showing up for searches where people are just browsing or looking for information, you'll burn through your budget with nothing to show for it. Focusing on Birmingham is fine if your software has a genuine geographical constraint, but if it doesn't, you might be artificially limiting your potential pool of customers from the get-go. Is there a reason you're only targeting Birmingham? If your a national or international service, you might be missing out.

Your goal is to get in front of people who are "problem-aware" and "solution-aware." They know they have an issue, and they're actively looking for a tool to fix it. This is about being brutally selective with your keywords.

Think about it like this. Someone searching for "what is project management software" is in a completely different headspace to someone searching for "best Asana alternative for small teams". The first is kicking tyres, the second is ready to buy.

I remember one B2B SaaS client we worked with, an outreach tool. They were getting loads of clicks but very few trials. When we looked at their search terms, they were bidding on broad terms like "lead generation". This brought in everyone from marketing students writing essays to business owners just curious about the topic. It was a total waste. We switched their focus to what we call "high-intent" keywords. These are keywords that scream "I need a tool right now."

You need to apply this same logic. Stop paying for educational searches and start paying for commercial ones. Go into your Google Ads account, look at the "Search terms" report, and be ruthless. Add any broad, informational terms to your negative keywords list. This one change alone can have a massive impact. We actualy got one software client 3,543 users at just £0.96 cost per user using Google Ads, and a big part of that was just tightening up the keyword targeting to eliminate waste.

This is about pre-qualifying your audience before they even click. You only want to pay for a click from someone who is already half-convinced they need a solution like yours. Everyone else is just a costly distraction.

I'd say you need to fix your offer...

Okay, so let's say you've nailed the targeting. You're getting the right people to your site. Why are they still not signing up for a trial? The next suspect is almost always the offer itself. The "trial" is a high-friction request. You're asking for someone's time and commitment before you've delivered any real value.

And let's be honest, the "Request a Demo" button is even worse. It's the most arrogant call to action in B2B marketing. It assumes a busy person wants to schedule a meeting to be sold to. It screams "I am a vendor, and I want your time." It's an instant turn-off.

Your offer’s only job is to deliver an "aha!" moment. It needs to solve a small, real problem for them, for free, to earn you the right to solve the bigger problem for money. For SaaS, this is your secret weapon. The gold standard is a completely free trial (no credit card) or a generous freemium plan. Let them use the actual product. Let them experience the transformation themselves. When the product proves its own value, the sale becomes a formality.

I've seen so many SaaS companies make this mistake. One that sticks in my mind was an accounting software business. Their website was all about "privacy" and they asked you to book a demo. Who is going to switch their entire accounting system—a massive, painful process—for a vague promise of "privacy" without even trying the software first? Their competition was offering months-long free trials and big discounts. It's no contest.

You need to ask yourself, what is the single biggest barrier to someone trying our software? Is it the setup time? The learning curve? The credit card requirement? Find that barrier and obliterate it.

-> Is it complex to set up? Offer a free, 15-minute onboarding call with a human to get them started.
-> Is the value not immediately obvious? Create a "sandbox" version with pre-populated data so they can see the end result instantly.
-> Are you asking for a credit card? Stop it. You're killing your conversion rate. The small number of low-quality users you might get is a tiny price to pay for the huge increase in signups from genuinely interested people.

A trial isn't just a trial. It's the beginning of your sales process. We've run campaigns where we've generated thousands of trials for B2B SaaS clients, like one where we got 5,082 software trials at a $7 cost per trial, and another with 1,535 trials. That doesnt happen by having a restrictive offer. It happens by making it irresistibly easy for the right person to say "yes."

You probably should overhaul your messaging and landing page...

So you've got the right person, and a frictionless offer. The final piece of the puzzle is the message. Your landing page has one job: to convince the visitor that your software is the answer to their prayers, and that starting a trial is the logical next step. Most landing pages fail miserably at this.

Stop talking about your features. Nobody cares about your "synergistic workflow integration" or your "AI-powered dashboard." They care about their problems. Your ad copy and landing page copy needs to speak directly to their pain.

Use the Before-After-Bridge framework. It's simple and it works.

Before: Describe their current world. A world of frustration, wasted time, and missed opportunities. Paint a vivid picture of the nightmare they're living in.
After: Describe the promised land. A world where their problem is solved, they look like a hero to their boss, and they can finally get a good night's sleep.
Bridge: Position your software as the simple, elegant bridge that takes them from the "Before" to the "After."

See the difference? It's not about features, it's about transformation. This copy needs to be front and centre on a dedicated landing page. Do not, under any circumstances, send paid traffic to your homepage. Your homepage is a library with a dozen different doors. Your landing page should be a corridor with only one door at the end, and that door should be a big, bright button that says "Start My Free Trial Now".

Your landing page needs to be surgically clean.
-> A single, powerful headline that echoes the user's problem.
-> A clear sub-headline that presents your solution.
-> Bullet points explaining the benefits (not features).
-> Social proof: testimonials, logos of companies using your software, case study snippets.
-> A single, unmissable Call to Action (CTA) button.

Remove the navigation menu. Remove links to your blog. Remove anything that could possibly distract them from the one action you want them to take. Every element on that page that doesn't contribute to getting a trial signup is a liability and should be deleted. A professional copywriter and a clean design can genuinely double or triple your conversion rate overnight. It's that powerful. You'd be suprised how many issues a simple, focused page can solve.

You'll need to understand your real numbers...

This all might sound like a lot of work, and you might be thinking, "But won't this increase my costs?" This brings me to the final, and most important, mindset shift. You need to stop obsessing over the Cost Per Lead (CPL) or Cost Per Trial, and start focusing on your Customer Lifetime Value (LTV).

The real question isn't "How low can my cost per trial be?" but "How high a cost can I afford to acquire a fantastic, long-term customer?" Knowing this number changes everything. It's what separates businesses that timidly dip their toes in advertising from those that scale aggressively and dominate their market.

Let's do some quick, back-of-the-napkin maths. You'll need to plug in your own numbers, but the formula is simple.

1. Average Revenue Per Account (ARPA): What's a customer worth to you each month? Let's say it's £200.
2. Gross Margin %: What's your profit margin on that revenue? Let's say it's 80%.
3. Monthly Churn Rate: What percentage of customers do you lose each month? Let's say it's 5%.

The calculation is: LTV = (ARPA * Gross Margin %) / Monthly Churn Rate

So, for our example:
LTV = (£200 * 0.80) / 0.05
LTV = £160 / 0.05
LTV = £3,200

In this scenario, every customer you sign up is worth £3,200 in gross margin to your business over their lifetime. Now we have a number we can work with.

Suddenly, that £20 or £30 you were scared of paying for a trial doesn't seem so expensive, does it? It looks like a bargain. When you know you can afford to pay up to £106 for a trial, you can bid more aggressively on those high-intent keywords. You can afford to hire a professional copywriter. You can afford to properly test your landing pages. This is the maths that unlocks growth. Without it, you're flying blind and will always be too scared to invest what's necessary to win.

This is how we've been able to achieve results like reducing a client's Cost Per Acquisition from a painful £100 down to just £7. It wasn't one magic trick; it was a systematic process of fixing the targeting, improving the offer, and understanding the economics of their business.

I've detailed my main recommendations for you below:

As you can see, turning around a failing ad campaign isn't about finding one secret setting. It's a methodical process of aligning your targeting, your offer, and your message with the deep-seated needs of your ideal customer, all underpinned by a solid understanding of your business's economics. It takes expertise to diagnose the specific points of failure and a rigorous testing process to fix them.

Getting this right can be the difference between a business that struggles and one that scales predictably. If you'd like to go through your specific account and strategy in more detail, we offer a free, no-obligation initial consultation where we can do just that. It's often the fastest way to get clarity and find the biggest opportunities for growth.

Hope this helps!

Regards,

Team @ Lukas Holschuh