When cost per click keeps increasing, most businesses can’t expect to lower CPAs without a significant change to their lead journey. Instant quoting is one of the most effective shifts available.
Straight up, with higher average CPC’s, a £1.30 CPA isn’t something most could achieve – however an instant quote system opens up new possibilities.
For a national turf installation client, an instant quote solution proved to increase conversion rates, not only driving costs down but allowing for higher total lead volume. In addition, out of hours enquires were dealt with automatically and avoided the Monday morning backlog.
Key benefits of Instant Quotes
In today’s one click world, lead gen systems relying on ‘contact us for a quote’ are simply too slow to meet modern expectations. If you can provide an instant quote to potential customers and still capture contact details, you can remove friction and improve sales.
What makes instant quote systems so powerful? A few key benefits stand out:
Higher Ad clickthrough rates
Users actively looking for prices are more likely to engage with content that promises answers online. Ad copy including phrases such as ‘Get an Instant Quote Online’ tends to attract more clicks – helping improve Quality Scores and channel costs.
Improved conversion rates
By aligning with what users expect (instant results), you reduce drop-off and hesitation. Prospects stay engaged because they’re rewarded with value immediately. Fewer steps, less friction, more conversions.
Reduced out of hours opportunity loss
Being away from the desk when leads arrive lowers the chances of a successful sale. Automating as much as possible minimises lost opportunities.
Reduced admin time
With the basic quotation and initial communication now automated, sales and admin teams can now focus on converting warm, pre-qualified prospects.
The low cost solution implemented
With a modest budget for this project, it was essential to avoid time developing all the required code. Instead, the approach was to utilise off-shelf WordPress plugins and supplement with custom code where required.
In this case, we combined smart use of Gravity Forms and Perks add-ons with a few lightweight custom plugins to create a seamless experience for both the customer and the admin team.
Here’s a high-level breakdown of how the system was implemented. No proprietary details, just the key components that made it work.
- Gravity Form with multiple choice image fields
- Intuitive image-based fields allowed for easy form completion whilst allowing for the input logic for pricing
- Custom plugins for pricing table upload and extraction
- Allowed base prices to be uploaded and extracted conditionally
- Gravity Perks: Conditional Pricing
- Applied tiered and discounted pricing dynamically based on form inputs and base pricing
- Custom email quote templates
- Delivered quotes instantly via email (we chose not to show pricing on-screen to encourage email-based workflows)
- Post-content merge tags + custom plugin
- Automatically generated follow-up quote detail pages + booking links and question forms, customised to each lead’s original form inputs
- Zapier & Google Sheets
- As an interim CRM solution, Zapier was used to pass quotes and bookings to Google sheets for admin management and reporting
Whilst quote solution exist, the combination of plugins and custom work allowed for a solution uniquely tailored to the client without the high costs of a fully bespoke solution.
As an extra bonus, we were able to fully report on all submitted quotes using Google sheets data and Lookers to produce a true CPA value – that is marketing spend vs submitted quotes & bookings.
The results
While seasonality was expected to positively affect CPA during this period, we were able to utilise A/B testing to compare the results. We rolled this system out gradually across five regional sites, testing the old form vs. the new Instant Quote version.
What we saw:
As CPA fell to £1.30, lead volume rose to peak levels before budget was reduced once booking capacity was reached.
- Form conversion rate more than doubled
- CPA dropped to £1.30, despite no significant change in channel strategy
- Higher CTRs on ads featuring quote messaging (e.g. “Get an Instant Quote Online”)
Lowering bidding targets was possible once the client started to hit booking saturation, allowing the CPA to fall faster whilst still providing enough lead volume. Furthermore, as diaries started to fill, the client was able to activate a higher pricing band within the quotation solution, delivering increased profits.
It’s worth noting: a £1.30 CPA is exceptionally low. This isn’t something most advertisers in high-CPC categories can achieve unless they dramatically reduce funnel friction. The key is that improving form completion rates is a key unlock across any sector.
What this means for your business
If your business relies on lead generation, ask yourself…. ‘can we remove friction?’ Any delay in the buying process negatively affects marketing campaigns and, depending on the level of investment required, should be removed.
You don’t need a huge dev team or complex CRM to implement cost saving quote solutions for your business. The right mix of tools can be wired up efficiently to give you an edge in a competitive space.
This isn’t just relevant for the turf industry. The same principle likely applies to sectors such as:
- Cleaning and removals
- Landscaping and trades
- B2B service quotes
- Home improvement sectors
Modern buyers are impatient and that’s ok, you just need to close the gap and turn it into an opportunity – before your competitors do.