CASE STUDY
Goldrush – Fixing a Broken Marketing Funnel for Better ROI
INDUSTRY
Casino
REGION
South Africa
COMPANY SIZE
2000+ Employees
GOAL
Unlock Profitable Growth Without Raising Media Spend
THE CHALLENGE
A Marketing Funnel Running on Bad Data
- ✗Unclear Google Ads setup: Brand, non-brand, and competitor keywords were mixed together, making performance hard to track.
- ✗Inaccurate data: Duplicate conversions and wrong attribution distorted the real ROI.
- ✗No clarity across channels: Lots of spend on Meta and native ads, but no idea which clicks actually converted.
- ✗Misleading performance: Branded campaigns showed low CPA, hiding poor results from new customer acquisition.
- ✗No focus on long-term value: Decisions were made without looking at customer lifetime value (LTV) or cost to acquire new customers (nCPA).
THE APPROACH
Diagnostic Phase: Finding the Truth in the Data
📊 Data Audit
Cleaned up conversion tracking to remove double-counting and fix last-click bias.
🔗 Attribution Upgrade
Implemented Wicked Reports to see which channels delivered quality first-click traffic.
🔍 Channel Comparison
Analyzed performance across Google, Meta, and native ad partners — found two native networks driving most profitable first clicks.
THE SOLUTION
Improvements Made
🧹 Google Ads Cleanup
- Separated brand, generic, and competitor keywords for better control
- Fixed conversion tracking to eliminate fake conversions
- Reduced branded keyword spend to fund new customer acquisition
- Added LTV and new-customer CPA tracking for better decisions
💰 Budget Reallocation
- Scaled top-performing native channels by +50% without increasing overall spend
- Ensured Google and Meta received qualified traffic from native campaigns
- Freed up budget from branded terms to invest in new customer acquisition
THE RESULTS
Before vs After
+84%
More Conversions
↓38%
Lower nCPA
0%
Budget Increase
19%
Branded Spend (Was 42%)
| Metric | Before | After | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Conversions | 100% | 184% | +84% |
| Media Spend | 100% | 100% | No change |
| New Customer CPA (nCPA) | Baseline | ↓38% | More efficient |
| Branded Spend % | 42% | 19% | Reinvested in growth |
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Lessons From the Goldrush Case
1
Data clarity wins
Removing brand noise and fixing tracking revealed the true cost of customer acquisition.
Removing brand noise and fixing tracking revealed the true cost of customer acquisition.
2
First click matters
First-click attribution highlighted which ads actually drove conversions down the funnel.
First-click attribution highlighted which ads actually drove conversions down the funnel.
3
Smarter re-investment
Saving on branded terms funded more high-quality traffic from top native ad channels.
Saving on branded terms funded more high-quality traffic from top native ad channels.
🚀 Next Steps
- →Continue scaling top-performing native platforms weekly
- →Use LTV data in bidding strategies for smarter automation
- →Launch ongoing creative testing on Meta to attract more potential customers
- →Run quarterly audits to keep tracking clean as campaigns grow
