Prepared for Happy Hours
October 16, 2026 · KlientBoost
October 16, 2026 · KlientBoost
Your account bought sign-ups, but mostly from people who weren't shopping for a time tracking app. We rebuild your Google search around buyer intent and your target ICP, and track all the way to a paying user.
A real product, a clear niche, and an account that reached the wrong people.
June 26 to September 22, 2026, the account's full history. Sign-ups use your Sign-up conversion only.
| Campaign | Dates | Spend | Clicks | CPC | CTR | Sign-ups | Per sign-up | Lands on |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| test-search | 6/26 to 7/4 | $653 | 841 | $0.78 | 4.2% | 3 | $218 | Homepage |
| Search (invoice generator) | 6/29 to 7/30 | $1,837 | 1,524 | $1.21 | 7.1% | 3 | $612 | Invoice builder |
| search_v2 | all goals | 7/1 to 7/13 | $1,933 | 300 | $6.44 | 9.1% | 9 | $215 | Homepage |
| search | invoice_generator | 7/29 to 8/3 | $713 | 216 | $3.30 | 8.1% | 0 | n/a | Invoice builder |
| search | all | 8/5 to 9/9 | $5,509 | 652 | $8.45 | 6.8% | 30 | $184 | Homepage |
| search | invoice_generator2 | 8/5 to 9/9 | $4,528 | 1,015 | $4.46 | 4.3% | 14 | $323 | Invoice builder |
| search | time_tracking | 9/10 to 9/22 | $2,747 | 153 | $17.96 | 9.4% | 3 | $916 | Homepage |
| Total | $17,920 | 4,701 | $3.81 | 5.7% | 62 | $289 |
Search impression share stayed at 25% or less in every campaign. Ad rank, not budget, was the bigger reason in 5 of 7.
Average cost per click by month. Cost per sign-up moved between $205 and $357 the whole time.
| Month | Spend | Clicks | CPC | Sign-ups | Per sign-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| June (from 6/26) | $616 | 471 | $1.31 | 3 | $205 |
| July | $4,287 | 2,346 | $1.83 | 12 | $357 |
| August | $7,880 | 1,471 | $5.36 | 31 | $254 |
| September (to 9/22) | $5,138 | 413 | $12.44 | 16 | $321 |
Six things your account data shows, straight from Google Ads.
The other 10 sign-ups came through searches Google doesn't show. Google counted every sign-up as a win, so it went looking for more of the same people.
| Search | Sign-ups |
|---|---|
| hour tracker | 1 |
| invoice online | 1 |
| free time tracking app for freelancers | 1 |
| what is expensify | 1 |
| make money online | 4 |
| how to make money online | 2 |
| how to make money from home | 2 |
| how to earn money online | 2 |
| make money now online | 2 |
| 11 other make-money searches | 1 each |
Spend by what people searched, across the $13,929 Google shows search terms for (78% of spend). Searches naming your target audience: $40.
| Search | Spend | Clicks | Sign-ups |
|---|---|---|---|
| invoice template | $497 | 101 | 1 |
| invoice template | $298 | 30 | 1 |
| free invoice template | $253 | 40 | 1 |
| free invoice generator | $238 | 31 | 0 |
| make money online | $236 | 28 | 4 |
| how to make money from home | $200 | 20 | 2 |
| invoicing for freelancers | $164 | 1 | 0 |
| how to make money online | $159 | 20 | 2 |
| earn money online | $123 | 16 | 0 |
| vericlock login | $121 | 1 | 0 |
| receipt maker | $119 | 20 | 0 |
Same search can appear in more than one campaign. 1,460 searches got a click; 1,057 of them got exactly one.
"get paid online" was set to exact match and took $2,220. Google reads "make money online" as close enough. There were no negative keywords in the account, so nothing kept these searches out.
Spend by each keyword's latest Quality Score. "track hours" scored 1, "time tracking" 3. Six of seven campaigns had one ad group and one ad covering every topic at once.
| Keyword | Match | Spend | Sign-ups* | Quality Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| get paid online | Exact | $2,220 | 22 | 4 |
| easy invoice builder | Broad | $1,013 | 4 | n/a |
| free invoice template | Exact | $692 | 5 | 3 |
| track hours | Phrase | $630 | 0 | 1 |
| expense management | Phrase | $584 | 1 | n/a |
| time tracking | Phrase | $409 | 0 | 3 |
| timesheet | Phrase | $204 | 0 | 1 |
*Conversions as counted by the campaign at the time. 104 keywords spent $6,181 with no conversion of any kind.
Days each site showed in your auctions, out of 82. The Penny Hoarder, a make-money site, showed up only from July 29 to September 9, the same weeks as the make-money traffic. Toggl and Bonsai never showed.
| Segment | Spend | Sign-ups | Per sign-up |
|---|---|---|---|
| Desktop, Google Search | $12,878 | 47 | $274 |
| Mobile, Google Search | $3,674 | 12 | $306 |
| Tablet, Google Search | $224 | 2 | $112 |
| Search partners | $794 | 0 | n/a |
| Display | $350 | 1 | $350 |
| Age 25 to 34 | $3,649 | 13 | $281 |
| Age 65+ | $900 | 1 | $900 |
| Texas | $3,496 | 11 | $318 |
| California | $1,658 | 7 | $237 |
| Florida | $1,689 | 6 | $282 |
62 sign-ups across 7 age bands and 23 states is too few to set bids by. These become levers once paid users are tracked.
Same budget, pointed at people shopping for software like yours.
What the traffic cost you, what it could earn, and the targets we hold ourselves to.
That works out to about $9,000 per paying user, because most of the budget reached people who were never going to buy. Clean traffic on our side and a customer worth more on yours close the gap.
Projected, not promised. Cost per click is held at your account's $3.81 average. Spend is your call. Click to trial and trial to paid are what better traffic and better pages improve. Lifetime value is what your pricing and retention grow. $240 is $10 a month for 24 months, so put in your real number.
Month 1 builds the tracking and campaigns and launches. After 30 days live we set quarterly goals with you, then push efficiency toward them every month.
One place to start. Built to grow.
Google Ads management: the greater of $2,500 or 10% of the ad spend we manage. No setup fee. We'll start with a three-month pilot, then go month to month with 30 days' written notice.
Fix the account and capture the right traffic first. Once the early wins are on the board, Future Growth shows the next levers, whenever you choose to pull them.
The timeline starts at your kickoff call. Our team schedules it once the agreement is signed, usually within a few days.
How onboarding works. It starts as soon as the agreement is signed.
This timeline is paced on what we typically see across clients, with room built in for feedback and approvals. Wherever we can move faster, we will.
Review the plan and sign the agreement. Onboarding starts right away.
At KlientBoost, we're always looking for ways to increase your performance and revenue. As part of our ongoing partnership, we'll recommend new opportunities as your business grows.
