Case study · Google Ads · Education

4S Study Abroad on Google Ads: 8,859 enquiries at ₹278

4S Study Abroad is an overseas education consultancy in Dubai, UAE, placing students in Canada, the UK, Germany, Australia and Europe. Over 19 quarters, ₹24.6 lakh of Google Ads brought 8,859 enquiries at ₹277.91 each.

It was not a straight line, and the bad year is on this page too. Every number comes from the Google Ads account.

Book your free strategy callSee the five phases
4S Study Abroad on Google AdsQ2 2020 to Q4 2024
Enquiries
Q2 2020Q1 2021Q4 2021Q3 2022Q2 2023Q1 2024Q4 2024

Enquiries as Google Ads records them, by quarter. Hover or tap a quarter.

View as a table
MonthEnquiries
Q2 202067.5
Q3 2020675
Q4 2020976.5
Q1 2021669
Q2 2021558
Q3 20211,070
Q4 2021705
Q1 2022671
Q2 2022333
Q3 20221,266
Q4 2022179
Q1 2023473
Q2 2023153
Q3 2023202
Q4 202359
Q1 202482
Q2 2024197
Q3 2024285
Q4 2024238
Enquiries
8,859Enquiries
Per enquiry
₹278Per enquiry
Click to enquiry
16.47%Click to enquiry
Cost per enquiry, Q4 23 to Q4 24
−59.6%Cost per enquiry, Q4 23 to Q4 24
The challenge

A decision, not a purchase

Nobody buys a degree in one visit. A student fills in a form, a counsellor follows up, and the placement closes offline weeks or months later. The only thing Google Ads can count is the enquiry.

Demand is seasonal around the September and January intakes, every destination is its own auction, and big consultancy networks and universities bid on the same searches.

  • Four destination markets to fill
  • A cost per enquiry the counsellors can convert
  • Through a pandemic and every change to Google's campaign types
Where the ceiling wasSearch impression share

12.13%

Share won

72.76%

Lost to Ad Rank

15.12%

Lost to budget

The ceiling on this account was never money. Three quarters of the available searches were lost to ad rank, and only 15% to budget.

Destination first

One campaign set per destination

Instead of one catch-all campaign, each destination got its own campaigns, budgets and bids. Canada, Germany and the UK took 86.5% of spend and brought 91.3% of enquiries.

Germany was the efficiency winner, Canada the volume engine. Generic and university-specific campaigns were the leak: 6% of spend, 2.4% of enquiries, at ₹695 each.

  • Germany: ₹234.01 per enquiry, 8.12% CTR
  • Canada: 38% of enquiries at ₹267.15
  • Generic terms: 2.5 times the average cost
Spend share and cost per enquiry, by destination19 quarters
Canada36.99% of spend · ₹267 per enquiry
Germany26.67% of spend · ₹234 per enquiry
United Kingdom22.84% of spend · ₹298 per enquiry
Australia5.21% of spend · ₹334 per enquiry
Europe, incl. medical2.14% of spend · ₹342 per enquiry
Malaysia0.12% of spend · ₹498 per enquiry
Generic and university-specific6.03% of spend · ₹695 per enquiry
View as a table
DestinationCampaignsSpendCTREnquiriesPer enquiry
Canada9₹9,10,6968.23%3,409₹267.15
Germany5₹6,56,6548.12%2,806₹234.01
United Kingdom9₹5,62,3563.82%1,886₹298.13
Australia8₹1,28,2003.69%384₹333.57
Europe, incl. medical2₹52,6257.41%154₹341.72
Malaysia1₹2,98710.80%6₹497.86
Generic and university-specific10₹1,48,4781.70%214₹695.45

Destinations are grouped from campaign names, so read them as indicative.

Channels and devices

Search did the work, mostly on phones

Search took 98.66% of spend and brought 98.7% of enquiries. The automated formats ran as small, controlled tests.

Switch between campaign types and devices to see each share.

  • Smart: ₹165.93 per enquiry, the cheapest in the account
  • Performance Max: 11 enquiries, no value signal to learn from
  • Display: zero enquiries, so it was stopped
Where the enquiries came fromShare of total

Search (40 campaigns)₹277.81 each

Spend98.66%
Enquiries98.70%

Smart (1)₹165.93 each

Spend0.70%
Enquiries1.18%

Performance Max (1)₹1,199.39 each

Spend0.54%
Enquiries0.12%

Display (2)no enquiries

Spend0.10%
Enquiries0.00%

Search did the work. The one Smart campaign brought the cheapest enquiries in the account, 40% below average, on 0.7% of the budget. Performance Max and Display were tests that did not convert.

Five phases

Nineteen quarters, five chapters

Not a straight line: a restart, a scale-up, a peak, a mistake and a rebuild. Pick a year.

Phase 1 · Q2 - Q4 2020

Restart and proof of concept

The account restarted in April 2020, when borders were shut and intakes were being deferred. Spend was raised step by step, from ₹19,854 in Q2 to ₹1,55,688 in Q4, and each step had to keep cost per enquiry in check.

It did better than that: cost per enquiry fell 45.8%, from ₹294.14 to ₹159.43, and conversion rate climbed from 18.80% to 33.14%, the highest of the whole period. Q3 2020 had a 10.07% CTR, also the best on record.

₹3.23L

Spend

1,719

Enquiries

₹187.94

Per enquiry

28.73%

Conversion rate

The recovery

From the worst quarter to better than average

The like-for-like test: the same quarter, a year apart. More spend, but far more enquiries for it, and each one cost less than half as much.

  • Enquiries up 303.4%
  • Cost per enquiry down 59.6%
  • Conversion rate back to 17.37%
Q4 2023 against Q4 2024Same quarter, a year apart
Q4 2023Q4 2024Change
Spend₹39,377₹64,227+63.1%
Clicks6111,370+124.2%
CTR4.88%6.67%+36.7%
Average CPC₹64.45₹46.88−27.3%
Enquiries59238+303.4%
Cost per enquiry₹667.41₹269.86−59.6%

Four quarters after its worst result, the account was beating its own 19-quarter average of ₹277.91.

What the data proves

Six lessons from nineteen quarters

What held true across the whole account, good years and bad.

Proof

Straight from the Google Ads account

The account overview for the whole period, as Google shows it. Click the screenshot to open it full size.

4S Study Abroad Google Ads overview, 1 Apr 2020 to 31 Dec 2024: ₹2.46M cost, ₹278 cost per conversion, 50.6K clicks

1 Apr 2020 - 31 Dec 2024. Cost ₹2.46M · cost per conversion ₹278 · 50.6K clicks

The data

Every quarter, in one table

All figures in INR, the account currency, on Gulf Standard Time.

Show all 19 quarters
4S Study Abroad Google Ads by quarter, Q2 2020 to Q4 2024
QuarterSpendImpressionsClicksCTRAvg CPCEnquiriesConv. ratePer enquiry
Q2 2020₹19,8545,0623597.09%₹55.3067.518.80%₹294.14
Q3 2020₹1,47,52426,5802,67710.07%₹55.1167525.21%₹218.55
Q4 2020₹1,55,68869,3372,9474.25%₹52.83976.533.14%₹159.43
Q1 2021₹2,34,35950,1403,8417.66%₹61.0266917.42%₹350.31
Q2 2021₹1,62,65242,0903,8339.11%₹42.4355814.56%₹291.49
Q3 2021₹2,58,44483,7036,4727.73%₹39.931,07016.53%₹241.54
Q4 2021₹1,85,62571,8954,8006.68%₹38.6770514.69%₹263.30
Q1 2022₹2,23,036105,7175,3585.07%₹41.6367112.52%₹332.39
Q2 2022₹1,13,54849,4842,4364.92%₹46.6133313.67%₹340.98
Q3 2022₹1,99,82987,1354,1914.81%₹47.681,26630.21%₹157.84
Q4 2022₹57,63022,1939394.23%₹61.3717919.06%₹321.96
Q1 2023₹1,95,364158,0973,2672.07%₹59.8047314.48%₹413.03
Q2 2023₹81,87446,1471,5223.30%₹53.7915310.05%₹535.12
Q3 2023₹1,22,90946,5112,0694.45%₹59.412029.76%₹608.46
Q4 2023₹39,37712,5196114.88%₹64.45599.66%₹667.41
Q1 2024₹46,83113,7587475.43%₹62.698210.98%₹571.11
Q2 2024₹59,01518,1981,1536.34%₹51.1819717.09%₹299.57
Q3 2024₹90,90231,3311,9296.16%₹47.1228514.77%₹318.95
Q4 2024₹64,22720,5281,3706.67%₹46.8823817.37%₹269.86
How we count

Where the numbers come from

Everything is read from the Google Ads account for 1 April 2020 to 31 December 2024, with paused and removed campaigns included. 2020 covers nine months only.

Enquiries are the Google Ads conversions column, mostly lead form submissions. Conversion value was only partly set up, so we do not quote revenue or ROAS. Destination groups come from campaign names.

Quarterly sums against account totalsReconciliation
Quarterly sumAccount totalMatch
Conversions8,859.008,859.00100.00%
Clicks50,52150,57199.90%
Impressions9,60,4259,62,44799.79%
Spend₹24,58,689₹24,61,99699.87%

Two campaigns share a name, so one drops out of the quarterly split: ₹3,307, or 0.13% of spend. Campaign, device and account totals match Google Ads exactly.

Common questions

Google Ads for education, answered

What was the cost per lead for this education Google Ads account?

₹277.91 per enquiry across 19 quarters, improving to ₹269.86 in the final quarter, Q4 2024.

How many leads did the campaigns generate?

8,859 enquiries from 50,571 clicks, a 16.47% click-to-enquiry rate.

Which destination market performed best?

Germany, at ₹234.01 per enquiry with an 8.12% CTR, on the second-largest budget.

Does Google Ads work for study-abroad consultancies?

It did here, with the account split by destination and tuned for ad relevance rather than reach. Conversion rate peaked at 33.14% in Q4 2020.

What is the biggest mistake in education PPC?

Buying reach to fix a relevance problem. In 2023 this account had its highest quarterly impressions and, by the end of the year, its worst cost per enquiry.

More case studies

The same client on Meta, and more accounts we run:

Your turn

Want this for your education brand?

Tell me about your business and your Google Ads. I will look at your account and show you where the money is actually going, for free.

  • Free account review
  • You talk to me directly
  • No obligation
Book a strategy call instead

Want this for your education brand?

Tell me about your business and I will look at your Google Ads for free.

  1. 1Contact
  2. 2Business
  3. 3Goals
Phone number *

No obligation. Your details stay with me.

Book your free strategy call