Legacy Digital

Case study · Local service ads

More conversions. Lower cost per lead. Ads that actually pay for themselves.

For a Charleston-area auto detailing business, we grew booked demand while cutting wasted spend — then locked quality so premium services stop buying the wrong clicks.

Book a 15-minute strategy call See growth plans

Lower cost per lead. More booked customers.

Recent Google Ads results for a Charleston-area service business — proof that disciplined spend can grow demand without wasting budget.

Cost per conversion

$8.40

Down 42% month over month — more leads for the same ad dollars

Conversions in one month

64

Up 73% vs the prior month on roughly the same spend (~$537)

Conversion rate

17.8%

Up 24% — clicks turning into real customer actions

Average CPC

$1.50

Down 28% — cheaper clicks without starving demand

Core campaign efficiency

24%

Conversion rate on the volume search campaign · $7.56 cost/conv

Phone call leads

22

Direct calls tracked from ads — ready-to-talk customers

Snapshot from a recent performance month for this account. Your market and services will differ — the point is disciplined spend that compounds.

Why this matters for owners

Cheap clicks mean nothing if they aren’t buyers. We grew conversions while cutting cost per lead nearly in half — then protected premium services so Google couldn’t burn budget matching high-ticket coating keywords to low-ticket wash searches.

How we protected the wins

  1. Stopped AI from wasting premium budget Disabled Google’s “AI Max” on the ceramic coating campaign so it stopped over-matching into cheap-intent queries.
  2. Locked hard negative keywords Blocked terms like “wash” and “detailing” from the premium campaign so every dollar chased coating intent — not bargain detailing.
  3. Chose quality when volume looked “pretty” Inflated premium conversions from the wrong queries were cut on purpose. The account kept an efficient core engine (including 38 conversions at $9.60 on the volume campaign) while premium traffic became high-intent only.

The outcome

An account that can scale: strong conversion efficiency, lower cost per lead, and premium campaigns that aren’t secretly buying the wrong customers. That’s the foundation before you raise budgets.

What’s next: scale quality volume

July cleaned the pipe. August focuses on growing volume again without reopening the leak.

  • Reintroduce select Broad / Phrase Match on the premium campaign — with negatives locked — so Google finds relevant premium variations instead of slipping back into wash queries.
  • Audit location bid modifiers for high-value Charleston-area zones (including Mount Pleasant). If cost-per-lead stays stable, raise modifiers gradually to regain premium ad position.

Legacy Digital

Want this level of clarity on your ads or local growth?

Book a short strategy call. We’ll tell you where volume is lying to you — and what to tighten first.

Book your strategy call

Prefer email first? q@legacydigital.com