I’ve been saying it for years — Pay Per Call isn’t just a trend, it’s one of the most reliable income channels in affiliate marketing today. And in this case study, I’m going to walk you through exactly how I took a fresh campaign from zero to solid profits, even setting it up as if I were a complete beginner.The campaign began in late March and, after weeks of steady optimization, reached peak performance in April. The results? Let’s just say the numbers speak for themselves.
Campaign Setup
Offer: Appliance Repair
Geo: USA – 39 states (not nationwide)
Conversion Window: 60-second connected call
Payout: $7.50 per qualified call
Business Hours: Mon–Fri 8am–11pm, Sat–Sun 9am–8pm
Assets Used:
- Landing Pages: Two WordPress pages (one for Google traffic, one for Bing traffic), each showing a unique phone number for clean tracking.
- Ads: Google Call-Only ads (with Bing ads tested in parallel).
- Tracking: Invoca for call tracking and accurate conversion data.
Starting from Scratch
To keep things authentic, I built this like a newcomer would — limited resources, a small keyword list, and modest daily budgets. I started with around 225 broad match modified keywords (+keyword +keyword) plus five basic negatives. The goal in week one wasn’t to make money — it was to collect data.
I expected losses early on, because the first phase is all about understanding search intent. For example, while +emergency +plumber is highly competitive (and expensive), something like +emergency +plumber +near +me is both relevant and often cheaper. People literally type to Google as if it’s a person, so thinking like your target user gives you an edge.
Week 1 (Late March) Results
- Budget: $30/day
- Impressions: 3,263
- Clicks: 17
- Conversions: 2 (Revenue: $15)
- CPC: $10.38
- Cost per Conversion: $88 (ouch!)
- CTR: 0.52%
Takeaways:
- My budget was too small — I was losing impression share.
- CPC was far too high — time to cut expensive keywords.
- Needed better CTR — more ad variations required.
- Added more negatives to filter irrelevant clicks.
April Optimization Phase
By mid-April, I had made the following adjustments:
- Reduced keywords from 225+ to 65 highly targeted ones.
- Increased budget to $86/day for better impression share.
- Removed high-CPC terms, added cheaper but still relevant search phrases.
- Redesigned pre-landers for stronger urgency and clarity.
- Focused on placements delivering consistent conversions.
April Results:
- Impressions: 11,771
- Clicks: 832
- CTR: 7%
- Avg CPC: $1.23 (down from $10.38)
- Cost per Conversion: $3.17
- Conversions: 315 actual (321 reported by Google).
Profit Breakdown
Google Ads Only:
- Spend: $1,021 CAD
- Revenue: $2,625.30 CAD
- Profit: $1,604.30 CAD
Google + Bing Combined:
- Total Spend: $1,971 CAD
- Total Revenue: $4,275.50 CAD
- Total Profit: $2,304.50 CAD
Bing actually delivered slightly better profitability due to lower CPCs and strong CTR from my tailored landing page.
Final Thoughts
One more month of careful monitoring, and this campaign could practically run on autopilot. The beauty of Pay Per Call is that once you’ve identified your winning keywords, dialed-in creatives, and high-converting pre-lander, scaling becomes much easier.
If you’re on the fence about trying Pay Per Call — don’t be. Yes, the early days can be slow and sometimes frustrating, but the potential is huge. With the right mindset, testing strategy, and patience, it can become one of the most rewarding traffic formats in your arsenal.
Persistence and optimization turned this campaign from a high-CPC flop into a consistent money-maker. The key takeaway? Don’t quit when you’re just a few adjustments away from breakthrough performance.