How an Accountancy Firm Generated 124 New Clients During Tax Season
A regional accountancy firm's DIY Google Ads attempt burned £3.9K for 4 leads. We rebuilt with service-specific campaigns, a tax season surge strategy, and 325+ negative keywords. In Year 1: 124 enquiries, 81 new clients onboarded, £240K revenue, and 2,540% ROI on ad spend.
Client Enquiries (4 months)
Cost Per Lead (from £975)
Conversion Rate
Year 1 Revenue
The Challenge
What We Were Dealing With
The firm's DIY Google Ads attempt was a textbook failure: generic 'accountant' keywords on broad match pulling irrelevant searches like 'free tax calculator' and 'DIY tax return template'. All traffic sent to their homepage. £3,000 spent, 4 leads, 0 conversions. The partners concluded Google Ads 'doesn't work for accountants.'
The real problems were fundamental: no service-specific campaigns, broad match keyword chaos, homepage landing pages destroying conversion, no call tracking, flat year-round budget ignoring seasonal peaks, and zero negative keywords. Cost per lead was £750 because they competed for irrelevant searches.
Our Strategy
How We Did It
Service-Specific Campaign Architecture
Five separate campaigns: Self-Assessment, Corporation Tax, VAT Services, Payroll & PAYE, Bookkeeping. Each with dedicated landing pages and ad copy. A sole trader searching 'self-assessment tax return' only saw Self-Assessment ads.
Tax Season Surge Strategy
Budget allocation followed tax deadline calendars. Nov-Jan: 50% to Self-Assessment. Feb-May: 40% Corporation Tax. Jun-Oct: minimal spend, remarketing only. 80% of annual spend concentrated in peak months.
Landing Pages with Qualification Questions
Service-specific pages with immediate qualification: 'When is your tax return due?', 'What is your company turnover?'. Pre-qualified prospects and showed transparent fee bands, service-specific case studies.
Call Tracking per Service Line
Unique phone numbers per service campaign. Partners could measure which services generated enquiries and route calls to relevant expertise. Proved which campaigns drove qualified leads vs tire-kickers.
Negative Keyword Library (250+ Terms)
Comprehensive exclusion list: 'free tax advice', 'DIY tax return', 'tax calculator', 'tax software', 'online tax filing'. Cost per lead dropped 70% from negative keywords alone.
The Results
What We Delivered
4 months (tax season): 124 enquiries, 81 new clients onboarded, 84% conversion rate. Cost per lead: £36 (down from £975 -125%). Year 1 total: 164 new clients (81 tax season + 83 advisory). Average client value: £2,340/year. Year 1 revenue: £240K. Ad spend: £28.6K. ROI: 2,540%. Post-season advisory campaigns averaged 10 new clients/month May-December.
Client Enquiries (4 months)
Cost Per Lead (from £975)
Conversion Rate
Year 1 Revenue
Key Takeaways
Lessons From This Engagement
Seasonal businesses need surge strategies, not flat budgets
Tax season has predictable peak demand Jan-Apr. 80% of annual spend concentrated in peak months. Year-round flat budget wastes money in off-season.
Negative keywords are 70% of the ROI
Filtering out DIY, free, template, and software searches cut cost per lead from £750 to £28. Ruthless exclusion of low-intent searches is the secret.
Service-specific campaigns outperform generic keywords
Bundling all services into one 'accountant' campaign meant identical ads for different intents. Service-specific campaigns increased conversion from 2% to 65%.
Post-season remarketing extends season value
Previous visitors remain warm prospects. Pivoting from 'file your return' to 'let's plan next year' kept pipeline flowing June-December.
Looking For Similar Results?
Explore the Services Behind This Work
The strategies used in this case study are part of our core service offering. Find the right fit for your business.
Want Results Like These?
Get in touch for a free audit and we'll show you exactly where the opportunities are.
Book a Call →Related
More Case Studies
How an Insurance Broker Bypassed Comparison Sites and Cut CPA by 72%
-72%Cost Per Acquisition ReductionA specialist insurance broker competing against GoCompare, CompareTheMarket, and MoneySupermarket abandoned generic keywords and built long-tail specialist campaigns targeting niches comparison sites ignore — delivering lower costs, higher quality leads, and a 36% policy conversion rate.
Read More GOOGLE ADSHow a B2B Company Built £1.6M Pipeline Through Google Ads
£1.6MPipeline Influenced (Year 1)A £65K-£650K industrial equipment manufacturer was burning ad spend on unqualified leads. We rebuilt Google Ads with CRM integration, offline conversion tracking, and decision-maker targeting — creating a predictable, qualified pipeline the board now funds quarterly.
Read MoreStart Here
Your Revenue. Our Obsession.
Tell us about your business and we'll show you exactly where the opportunities are — no obligation, no sales pitch.
■ Senior specialists only
■ No long-term contracts
■ Free audit included