Hi there,
Thanks for reaching out! Really appreciate you getting in touch. I've had a look over your situation with your digital veterinary service and I'm happy to give you some initial thoughts and guidance based on my experience. It sounds like you've already had some good initial success spending $15k on Google Ads which is a brilliant start. Wanting to scale that up to $45k is a great goal, but it's not as simple as just increasing the budget, as you've probably figured. To do it profitably, you'll need a much more structured and deliberate approach than what a basic Upwork consultant might provide. Your lack of A/B testing is a huge red flag, but also a massive opportunity. Let's get into some areas where I think you can make some big improvements.
You probably should start with your foundation: the website and conversion funnel...
Right, first things first. Before you even think about pumping more money into ads, we have to look at what happens when people click them. You mentioned people make purchases by filling out a form. This form, and the page it sits on, is the single most important part of your entire advertising system. If this part isn't working perfectly, then any extra money you spend on ads is just going to leak away. It's like pouring water into a bucket with holes in it. You can pour faster, but you're still losing most of the water. Your current rudimentary setup probably hasn't focused on this much, but it's where the real gains are made.
I've seen so many businesses, especially service-based ones, that have decent ads but a terrible website or landing page. They get clicks, but very few conversions, and wonder why their cost per lead is sky-high. Your website needs to be a machine built for one thing and one thing only: getting that visitor to fill in the form.
So, what does that look like?
-> Persuasive Copy: This is massive. The words on your page need to grab the visitor, explain the value of your service clearly and concisely, and convince them that you are the solution to their problem. It's not just about listing features. It's about benefits. How does your service make a pet owner's life easier? How does it give them peace of mind? You need professional-level sales copy here. We often use a dedicated copywriter for our clients because it makes that much of a difference. It's an investment that pays for itself many times over. The headline, the sub-headings, the bullet points, the call-to-action button text – every single word matters and should be tested.
-> Professional, Trustworthy Design: People are handing over medical information about their pets and their payment details. Your site has to look and feel completely trustworthy. A cluttered, slow-loading, or amateur-looking page will send people running for the hills. Think about trust signals. Do you have reviews or testimonials from happy pet owners? Can you feature logos of any publications you've been mentioned in? What about displaying clear contact information, your business address, maybe even photos of your veterinary team? These things build confidence and reduce friction.
-> A Clear, Unmissable Call-to-Action (CTA): What is the one action you want someone to take? Fill out the form. The entire page should guide them towards that action. Your main button should stand out, be above the fold (visible without scrolling), and use action-oriented text like "Get Your Prescription Now" instead of a boring "Submit". You should also remove all other distractions from the page. Get rid of unnecessary links, navigation menus, social media buttons... anything that could lead them away from the form. A dedicated landing page, separate from your main website homepage, often works best for ad traffic for this exact reason.
-> The Form Itself: How long is the form? Are you asking for too much information upfront? Every extra field you ask someone to fill in will cause some people to give up. Only ask for the absolute essentials needed to qualify them as a lead. You can always gather more information later. Make it as easy and frictionless as possible.
Getting your landing page conversion rate up by just a few percentage points can have a monumental impact. Let's say you currently get 1000 visitors and have a 5% conversion rate, giving you 50 leads. If we can optimise the page and get that conversion rate up to 8%, you now have 80 leads from the same amount of traffic. That's a 60% increase in leads without spending a penny more on ads!
Next step: Optimise your Google Ads campaigns
Okay, so let's assume you've got a high-converting website ready to go. Now it's time to really dig into your Google Ads campaigns and make sure they're performing as well as possible.
As you mentioned, you're not currently doing any A/B testing. This is critical. A/B testing, also known as split testing, is where you run two slightly different versions of your ads or landing pages at the same time to see which one performs better. It's a constant process of refinement and improvement. You should be testing everything: headlines, ad copy, images, call-to-action buttons, even the form fields on your landing page.
Here are some areas to focus on:
-> Keyword Research: Are you targeting the right keywords? Are you using a mix of broad, phrase, and exact match keywords? Are you using negative keywords to exclude irrelevant traffic? A thorough keyword research process is essential to make sure you're only bidding on terms that are likely to convert. Think about what pet owners are actually searching for when they need a digital veterinary service. Are they searching for specific medications, symptoms, or types of animals? Use keyword research tools to uncover hidden opportunities.
-> Ad Copy Optimisation: Your ad copy needs to be compelling and relevant to the keywords you're targeting. It needs to highlight the benefits of your service and include a clear call to action. Use ad extensions to add extra information and make your ads stand out. Test different headlines, descriptions, and calls to action to see what resonates best with your target audience.
-> Bidding Strategy: Are you using the right bidding strategy? Are you manually bidding on keywords, or are you using automated bidding strategies like Target CPA or Maximize Conversions? Automated bidding can be a great way to improve performance, but it's important to make sure you have enough conversion data for the algorithms to work effectively. You might want to start with manual bidding to get a better understanding of which keywords are most profitable, then switch to automated bidding once you have enough data.
-> Landing Page Relevance: Your ads should be sending traffic to the most relevant page on your website. If someone clicks on an ad for a specific medication, they should be taken directly to a page about that medication, not just your homepage. This is known as landing page relevance, and it's a key factor in determining your Quality Score, which affects your ad rankings and costs.
By focusing on these areas, you can significantly improve the performance of your Google Ads campaigns and drive more qualified leads to your website. I remember one client we worked with in the software niche was able to acquire 3,543 users at a cost of £0.96 per user using Google Ads, so that's the kind of impact a well-optimised campaign can have.
Consider Meta Ads to reach a broader audience
While Google Ads is great for capturing people who are actively searching for your services, Meta Ads (Facebook/Instagram) can be a powerful way to reach a broader audience who may not even know they need your services yet. With Meta Ads, you can target pet owners based on their interests, demographics, and behaviours. For instance, you can target people who like pages about specific breeds of dogs or cats, or who are interested in pet health and wellness.
Here are some audience prioritization tips for Meta Ads:
1. Detailed targeting (interests, behaviors, demographics): For new accounts, start by testing detailed targeting, interests and behaviors. Think about what stuff people in your target audience like, what pages they follow, what interests they might list on their profile. The key here is to ensure that the interests you're targeting contain a significant number of people that fit your buyer persona.
2. Retargeting and lookalike audiences: I often see clients not testing all available retargeting audiences, and testing lookalikes that are too broad and not specific to the conversions they want to drive. Once you have enough data from interest targeting, it's time to try retargeting and lookalike audiences. Start with the events that are most meaningful to you (as close as possible to your conversion event). So if your objective is to drive sales, then make a lookalikes of purchasers, checkouts, adds to cart, etc. in that order, as soon as you have enough conversions for that event.
I recall another software client where we drove 4,622 registrations at $2.38 Cost Per Registration for a B2B Software using Meta Ads. So you can see the potential is there if you get the targeting right.
In conclusion
Scaling your Google Ads spend from $15k to $45k is definitely achievable, but it requires a strategic and data-driven approach. By focusing on optimising your website and conversion funnel, refining your Google Ads campaigns, and potentially expanding to Meta Ads, you can significantly increase your leads and revenue. Don't just throw more money at the problem. Invest in expertise and optimisation, and you'll see a much better return on your investment.
I hope this initial guidance has been helpful. I'd be happy to discuss your situation in more detail and provide a more tailored strategy for scaling your digital veterinary service. Feel free to reach out if you'd like to schedule a call.
Best regards,
