The account
A Peruvian residential developer with seven projects running during the period and unit prices from US$60,000 to US$96,000. Spend managed: US$75,897 over six months, January to June 2026, on Search and Performance Max.
The problem
The portfolio was judged by platform CPL. Measured on reservations, the cost varied 6× between projects, from US$273 to US$1,624 per reserved unit. Three projects in the same district were bidding against each other.
What I did
- Split the three projects from the same district so they stopped competing for the same searches.
- Opened generic coverage in a campaign that had been running 100% on brand terms.
- Added 134 negative keywords to cut searches with no buying intent.
The result
239 reservations with a 3.83% lead-to-reservation rate, at US$317.56 per reserved unit. That’s between 0.33% and 0.53% of the unit price.
How to read this case
- Reservation is a signed booking with a deposit: the buyer’s first financial commitment and the step before the purchase contract. It’s the closest signal to a sale that media can influence.
- Why not ROAS. The buying cycle takes months and the conversion happens offline. In this business a platform ROAS measures noise, not revenue.
- Why not CPL. Project C had the highest CPL in the portfolio (US$25.21) and the best conversion to reservation (8.33%). The cheapest lead wasn’t the most profitable one. Budget was allocated by cost per reservation.
- Platform conversions aren’t leads. Google records conversions that don’t match the leads the client validated (6,248 in the six case projects). The case uses the client’s number.
- What’s excluded. A seventh project, going through a commercial restructuring, ran at US$1,624 per reservation with 1.30% conversion. Excluding it moves portfolio conversion from 3.60% to 3.83%. The full figure with all seven projects is US$359.87 per reservation.
Breakdown by project, Jan–Jun 2026
See the full table
| Project | Spend | Leads | CPL | Reservations | Cost per reservation | Lead → reservation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | US$15,015.05 | 1,688 | US$8.90 | 55 | US$273.00 | 3.26% |
| B | US$13,218.58 | 1,195 | US$11.06 | 44 | US$300.42 | 3.68% |
| C | US$12,403.98 | 492 | US$25.21 | 41 | US$302.54 | 8.33% |
| D | US$13,438.17 | 1,241 | US$10.83 | 44 | US$305.41 | 3.55% |
| E | US$5,782.67 | 362 | US$15.97 | 16 | US$361.42 | 4.42% |
| F | US$16,038.07 | 1,270 | US$12.63 | 39 | US$411.23 | 3.07% |
| Total | US$75,896.52 | 6,248 | US$12.15 | 239 | US$317.56 | 3.83% |
Spend is read from the platform. Leads and reservations come from the client’s sales report.
Source and scope
Spend from Google Ads (USD), Jan 1 – Jun 30, 2026. Leads and reservations from the client’s sales report, web channel, same period; the web channel is fed only by Google Ads. Base: six of seven projects with complete sales data. No direct CRM access: the data stops at the lead handed to the sales team and the reservation it reports. Ticket converted at S/3.37 per USD. Client anonymized.