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Without knowing more about how many prospective customers are in a 5 mile radius it is hard to advise. That said, right off the bad I get concerned when I see

Without knowing more about how many prospective customers are in a 5 mile radius it is hard to advise. That said, right off the bad I get concerned when I see zero data on conversions, CPAs, click-to-call conversions, etc. You can't really measure performance for this sort of thing just by spend and clicks, particularly at that low volume. Get tracking setup first and foremost. And even if they can't pay online, look for other events you can tag as "micro-conversions" that that help form a funnel. Maybe it is checking pricing, maybe it is submitting a form for more info. Just get SOMETHING there to make a more informed decision off of. And then make sure you actually keep at it until you get a decent amount of data with which to make a decision. That's the best I can suggest to start. Everything else stems from that.

fma 9y ago
Thanks for your reply. Just to clarify - when you say, zero data on conversations, you are referring to some way to track if any Google ads customers, take action on the ad? After clicking on an ad, a potential customer is brought to the website that explains pricing. The website then says if you mention the 'web special' you get $50 off the first month. Also, this kind of business, typically has active ~150 customers to make $100k. In a month, you may have 20 sign up, 10 drop, etc. So, we're not going to have huge data set similar to an app download or an online store. # of potential customers...well a student between 1st grade and 12th grade are potential customers. With 4 elementary schools, 3 middle schools and 2 high school near by...back of the napkin (I don't have the #'s on me right now) would be 7000...in reality, no one in the USA has more than 1,200 customers, and that is in major city like Los Angeles (which we are not in).
- shostack 9y ago
  Yes, that's what I'm referring to. Mentioning a web special is not a great way to track. People don't remember those things, get confused by the question often, and it doesn't get you the data in the places you need it to be. Instead, look to track micro-conversion events around things like maybe creating an onClick() event that fires a conversion when someone clicks to reveal a code for a web special. Or do call tracking, or track address link clicks, or things like that. You'll have a much higher volume of these things than you will actual new customers, so you can make some optimizations sooner than you would if you needed to wait for sufficient data with a limited budget. Beyond that, you can use similar thinking to get offline data back into AdWords and Google Analytics via uploading of offline conversions[1,2]. Beyond that, Google Analytics has a beta for tracking Lifetime Value which is CRITICAL for any subscription-based business like this. Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but I'd be willing to wager that students are actually not your customers. Rather, parents are. So think about what keywords parents might be using. Search might be a good channel for you here, but well-targeted FB ads might be as well. [1] https://support.google.com/adwords/answer/2998031?hl=en https://support.google.com/adwords/answer/2998031?hl=en [2] https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/3191589?hl=en https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/3191589?hl=en

fma 9y ago

Thanks for your reply. Just to clarify - when you say, zero data on conversations, you are referring to some way to track if any Google ads customers, take action on the ad? After clicking on an ad, a potential customer is brought to the website that explains pricing. The website then says if you mention the 'web special' you get $50 off the first month. Also, this kind of business, typically has active ~150 customers to make $100k. In a month, you may have 20 sign up, 10 drop, etc. So, we're not going to have huge data set similar to an app download or an online store. # of potential customers...well a student between 1st grade and 12th grade are potential customers. With 4 elementary schools, 3 middle schools and 2 high school near by...back of the napkin (I don't have the #'s on me right now) would be 7000...in reality, no one in the USA has more than 1,200 customers, and that is in major city like Los Angeles (which we are not in).

shostack 9y ago
Yes, that's what I'm referring to. Mentioning a web special is not a great way to track. People don't remember those things, get confused by the question often, and it doesn't get you the data in the places you need it to be. Instead, look to track micro-conversion events around things like maybe creating an onClick() event that fires a conversion when someone clicks to reveal a code for a web special. Or do call tracking, or track address link clicks, or things like that. You'll have a much higher volume of these things than you will actual new customers, so you can make some optimizations sooner than you would if you needed to wait for sufficient data with a limited budget. Beyond that, you can use similar thinking to get offline data back into AdWords and Google Analytics via uploading of offline conversions[1,2]. Beyond that, Google Analytics has a beta for tracking Lifetime Value which is CRITICAL for any subscription-based business like this. Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but I'd be willing to wager that students are actually not your customers. Rather, parents are. So think about what keywords parents might be using. Search might be a good channel for you here, but well-targeted FB ads might be as well. [1] https://support.google.com/adwords/answer/2998031?hl=en https://support.google.com/adwords/answer/2998031?hl=en [2] https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/3191589?hl=en https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/3191589?hl=en