I recently ran 3 free lead generation demos for new clients using $100 in ad spend each. These were done with transmission shop owners in 3 different states in larger metro areas. Even though they were hundreds of miles apart, you will notice that the results are very similar.
These statistics should give you a good baseline on how your current Internet marketing campaign is running.
Area A - $100 Spend
- 32 clicks
- $3.16 average cost per click
- 6 Leads generated
- 20.69% conversion rate
- $15.69 cost per lead
Area B - $100 Spend
- 38 clicks
- $2.66 average cost per click
- 5 leads generated
- 13.16% conversion rate
- $20.20 cost per lead
Area C - $100 Spend
- 32 clicks
- $3.23 average cost per click
- 5 leads generated
- 15.62% conversion rate
- $20.66 cost per lead
What Do The Numbers Mean?
A "Lead" is a local customer quote request with a valid name, telephone number, year/make/model and description of vehicle problem. It does not include telephone calls where the customer may have called the shop versus filling out the online form. Any direct call-in lead would increase the conversion rate even higher.
Bottom line: In August 2012, approximately 5 transmission repair leads can be generated in $100 in advertising spend on Google. IE, if you are spending $1,000 a month in Google in a larger metro area, you should be generating a minimum of 30-50 leads per month. If you are not, either the bidding is far higher there, or either your keywords, ad or landing/page website is not optimized properly.
As a comparison, in 2006 you could generate approximately 50 leads for $100. The bidding war has increased the cost by 10 times in 6 years. This much higher cost makes it even more important to have good keywords, a good ad and a solid web page/landing page that is converting visitors to leads. Otherwise you may be wasting piles of money.
Questions For Transmission Repair Shop Owners:
- Are you currently doing any online marketing?
- Do you evaluate the return on your online marketing investment?
- Does your website regularly bring you new leads?
- How do you determine your online marketing budget?
- Are you satisfied with the number of leads you are getting?
- How are your website leads sent to you or your manager?
- What is the usual delay between receiving a lead and contacting that lead?
- Are you concerned that you are not spending enough / spending too much on marketing?
- Are you worried that your current online marketing plan isn't as efficient as it could be?
- Do you feel like you don't understand online auto repair behavior as well as you could?
- When you search "transmission repair" on Google, do you see your competitors, but not your shop?
- If you are already on Google, are you actually receiving a regular amount of leads per day?
