158 Phone Calls at CA$17.77 Per Call — Junk Car Buyer, Canada
The Client
A junk car buying business operating across Canada. Their model is simple — they buy unwanted, written-off, and end-of-life vehicles directly from owners and resell them. Every lead has to be a car seller. A parts enquiry is worthless to them.
When we took over the account, Google Ads was running — but it was pulling in the wrong people entirely. The phones were ringing for the wrong reasons, and the budget was being eaten alive by searchers who had no intention of selling a car.
Paying for Calls They Couldn't Do Anything With.
One Job: Get Calls From People Who Want to Sell a Car.
Rebuild the Keyword Strategy Around Seller Intent Only
We stripped out every keyword that could attract a parts buyer, scrapper, or repair searcher. The account was rebuilt around one specific intent — people who want to sell or get rid of a junk car. Tight match types, tight ad groups, no overlap.
Build a Negative Keyword List That Actually Does Its Job
We built an aggressive negative keyword list covering parts, repairs, salvage yards, scrap metal, and every variation we could identify from search term reports. Weekly reviews kept it clean. The wrong traffic stopped landing almost immediately.
Track Every Conversion — Not Just the Calls
We set up tracking across all three contact channels — phone calls, form submissions, and WhatsApp conversations. For the first time, the account had a complete picture of what the ads were actually generating, not just a partial one.
Let the Algorithm Work With Accurate Signals
With clean targeting and complete conversion data feeding the bidding strategy, Smart Bidding could finally optimise toward the right outcome. The algorithm started finding more of the right people — and the cost per real lead dropped.
Three Ways to Contact. All Three Counted.
Most lead gen accounts track one conversion type and miss the rest. We tracked all of them — giving the algorithm every signal and giving the client a true picture of their lead volume.
The Results — Directly From Google Ads
| Metric | Result |
|---|---|
| Total Ad Spend | CA$2,807.65 |
| Phone Calls | 158 |
| Cost Per Call | CA$17.77 |
| Conversion Channels | Calls + Forms + WhatsApp |
| Market | Canada |
| Campaign Type | Search (Lead Gen) |
What Actually Changed
The budget didn't increase. The market didn't change. What changed was who the ads were shown to. Relevance isn't a nice-to-have in lead gen — it's the whole game. When you stop paying for the wrong conversations, the right ones get dramatically cheaper.