Cutting cost-per-filing in half without losing volume
Trademark filing service · USQ1–Q2 2025
The account was leaking budget on broad, intent-adjacent queries while Smart Bidding fought stale conversion data. I rebuilt the signal foundation, then let automation do its job.
Cost / filing
$18.10
↓ 47%
Completed filings
1,240
↑ 61%
Click-through rate
9.4%
↑ 38%
Wasted spend
$0
↓ 100%
The challenge
Blended cost per completed filing had climbed to $34 as the account scaled. Conversion tracking was double-counting form starts, so tCPA was optimizing toward the wrong action and burning spend on unqualified clicks.
The strategy
Rebuilt conversion tracking to fire on completed checkout only, then imported offline conversions for filings that closed by phone
Preserved the existing Smart Bidding learning by shifting tCPA in 15% increments rather than resetting campaigns
Restructured 400+ keywords into tight intent-themed ad groups; added a 300-term negative list to strip DIY and "free" traffic
Layered demographic bid adjustments toward business-owner age brackets that historically converted 2.3x better
Outcome — Same monthly budget, 61% more completed filings. The account now scales predictably.