From Zero Conversions to 3.5% CVR: A CRO Turnaround
A struggling paid campaign with zero conversions was transformed through CRO and query cleanup into a 3.5% converting lead engine.
The Challenge
A creative studio was running Google Ads campaigns that generated traffic but zero conversions. Money was going out, clicks were coming in, but the phone wasn't ringing and forms weren't filling. The landing pages weren't designed for conversion, and the keyword targeting was attracting the wrong visitors.
Goals
- Transform a zero-conversion campaign into a lead generator
- Redesign landing page experience for mobile-first conversion
- Eliminate wasted spend on non-converting search queries
- Establish sustainable CPA below profitability threshold
The Strategy
Approach
We addressed both sides of the conversion equation: the landing page experience and the traffic quality. A mobile-first redesign focused on above-the-fold CTAs, while weekly search term analysis eliminated queries that were draining budget without converting.
Key Tactics
- Redesigned landing page with above-the-fold CTA and simplified form
- Implemented mobile-first layout for dominant traffic source
- Established weekly search query report review cadence
- Re-weighted budget toward proven converting themes
- Created intent mapping between keywords and landing page messaging
The Results
The combined CRO and query cleanup transformed a failing campaign into a consistent lead source, with conversion rate going from 0% to 3.51% while simultaneously reducing cost per click.
The Zero Conversion Problem
The creative studio had done everything "right"—built a Google Ads campaign, set up conversion tracking, allocated budget. But the results were brutal: traffic was flowing, money was draining, and conversions were at exactly zero.
It would have been easy to blame the channel ("Google Ads doesn't work for our business") or the market ("our customers don't click ads"). But the real problem was simpler and more fixable: the landing page wasn't built for conversion, and the traffic wasn't the right traffic.
Diagnosing the Landing Page
The original landing page had several critical issues:
- Desktop-centric design: Beautiful on a laptop, unusable on mobile—where most traffic came from
- CTA below the fold: Visitors had to scroll to find any action to take
- Complex form: Too many fields created friction that stopped form completion
- Message mismatch: Ad copy promised one thing, the page delivered another
The Mobile-First Redesign
We rebuilt the landing page around mobile conversion:
- Above-the-fold CTA: Contact action visible immediately without scrolling
- Simplified form: Reduced to essential fields only—name, email, brief description
- Click-to-call button: One-tap phone calling for mobile visitors
- Message match: Headline and copy that aligned with ad messaging
The goal was simple: make the desired action obvious and friction-free on any device.
Fixing the Traffic Quality
Landing page fixes only work if the traffic is viable. We implemented weekly search query report reviews to identify and eliminate waste:
- Negative keyword expansion: Blocking queries that attracted wrong-fit visitors
- Budget re-weighting: Shifting spend toward themes with conversion potential
- Intent mapping: Matching keyword groups to appropriate landing page messaging
Each week, the targeting got tighter and the traffic got better.
The Efficiency Flywheel
Something interesting happened: as conversion rate improved, so did everything else.
- Better landing page experience improved quality scores
- Higher quality scores lowered cost per click by 29.3%
- Lower CPCs meant more clicks for the same budget (+54.1%)
- More high-quality clicks meant more conversions
This is the flywheel effect of CRO done right: fixing conversion rate improves the economics of the entire campaign.
From Zero to Lead Engine
October 2025 delivered what seemed impossible a few months earlier:
- 6 conversions (from 0)
- 3.51% conversion rate
- $75.74 cost per conversion
- CTR up 25.3%
And crucially, clicks grew 54% while spend increased only 8.8%. The campaign became more efficient as it scaled.
The Bottom Line
Zero conversions isn't a death sentence for a campaign. It's a diagnosis: something between click and conversion is broken. In this case, the fixes were straightforward—mobile-first design, above-the-fold CTAs, and cleaner targeting.
The same traffic that produced zero conversions converted at 3.51% after CRO. The traffic wasn't the problem. The experience was.
Key Insights
- Zero conversions often isn't a traffic problem—it's a landing page problem. The same traffic converted at 3.51% after CRO.
- Mobile-first design isn't optional; for this client, mobile accounted for the majority of traffic but the original page was desktop-focused.
- Above-the-fold CTAs dramatically reduce friction; visitors who see the action immediately are more likely to take it.
- Weekly search query cleanup compounds efficiency; each removed bad query improves overall campaign performance.
- CPC reduction and conversion rate improvement created a flywheel: better pages led to better quality scores led to lower costs.
