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Cost Per Lead Fell
Every Month For Five Months.

I took over a ₹1 crore-a-month account in its least efficient month on record. Here's what I found, what I changed, and what it did.

Henry Harvin Education & Professional Training · Google Ads · 1 April – 30 August 2026
The Result
−5.9%
Cost per lead, ₹465 → ₹438 — down every month for five months
+15.7%
Conversion rate
11.17% → 12.93%
121.8K+
Leads generated
across the engagement
₹5.4Cr+
Ad spend under
direct management
Cost per lead, month by month ₹465 → ₹438
AprMayJunJulAug

Five consecutive monthly declines — while cost per click rose 8.9%

The Problem & What I Changed

The Problem

Before touching a bid, I mapped where efficiency actually sat. Cost per lead ranged 25× across the account — ₹47 to ₹1,185. That isn't variance, it's a routing problem. 32 of 55 campaigns were running above blended CPL while absorbing 47% of spend. Twelve efficient campaigns were capped by budget. And with Target CPA running on 53 of 55 campaigns, the bidding was only ever going to be as good as the conversion signal underneath it — which had gaps.

The Intervention

  • Keywords — match types and intent tiers restructured so budget follows purchase intent, not search volume
  • Location targeting — split by state-level economics; regional and national demand price differently and shouldn't share a bid
  • Landing pages — rebuilt for the highest-spend verticals, where a point of conversion rate is worth the most
  • Tracking — conversion measurement corrected first, so automated bidding optimised toward real leads
  • Campaign optimisation — budget systematically reallocated from the ₹1,100 CPL tail toward the ₹331 CPL core
9 of 12 major campaigns improved CPL +8,906 additional leads vs the prior conversion rate Modelled ₹2.7Cr+ of spend moved to better efficiency 54 campaigns across 8 verticals
CampaignSpendApr CPLAug CPLChange
French Language₹40.6 L₹526₹430−18.4%
Japanese Language₹17.2 L₹474₹398−15.9%
SAP Generic₹32.7 L₹392₹331−15.5%
Six Sigma Generic₹26.2 L₹737₹637−13.6%
01

Measurement comes before bidding. Automated bidding is a signal amplifier. Feed it an unreliable conversion signal and it will scale the wrong thing efficiently.

02

Budget caps on efficient campaigns are the most expensive error in a large account. Twelve capped campaigns held 29% of spend — the account was throttling its own winners.

03

A 25× CPL spread is a routing problem, not a creative problem. The fix is moving money, not making more ads.

04

Falling CPL against rising CPC is the only efficiency that counts. Clicks got 8.9% more expensive over these five months. The gain came from the funnel, not the market.

Spending at this scale and not sure where the waste is?

Let's Talk

Figures from the client's Google Ads campaign export, 1 April – 30 August 2026. Changes measured April vs August. Figures marked Modelled are derived, not observed — engagement click volume evaluated at the pre-engagement conversion rate. All amounts INR.