Goldrush – Fixing a Broken Marketing Funnel for Better ROI

Challenges Identified:

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).

What We Did (Diagnostic Phase):

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.

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 Shift:
- Scaled top-performing native channels by +50% (without increasing overall spend).
- Ensured Google and Meta got qualified traffic from native campaigns.

Metric	Before	After	Change
Total Conversions	100%	184%	+84%
Media Spend	100%	100%	No change
New Customer CPA (nCPA)	–	↓38%	More efficient
Branded Spend %	42%	19%	Reinvested in growth

Key Takeaways:

Data clarity wins: Removing brand noise and fixing tracking showed the true cost of customer acquisition.
Right click matters: First-click attribution highlighted which ads actually drove conversions later.
Smarter re-investment: Saving on brand terms funded more high-quality traffic from native ads.

Next Steps: