Your ads get clicks. Are they bringing the right enquiries?
A simple enquiry review to help you decide what to change in your advertising.
Define useful before counting more
Ten enquiries can mean ten potential jobs or ten requests for work you do not offer. I would start by agreeing what makes an enquiry suitable: the service, location, timing and any essential requirements.
Write that definition with the person who answers the phone. They can often explain the difference between a promising enquiry and one the business cannot help. Keep the definition practical enough to apply consistently.
Use a short enquiry log
Record the date, requested service, broad area, outcome and a brief reason. Include the source only when it is known; use “unknown” when it is not. Keep unnecessary personal details out of a shared marketing report.
For an illustrative repair business, reasons might be “outside service area,” “service not offered,” “waiting for quote” or “booked.” These labels are more useful for a decision than a single total labelled leads.
Match the response to the problem
- Wrong service: check what the ad and page appear to offer.
- Wrong area: review geographic settings and make the service area clear.
- Suitable, but no reply: check the follow-up process before blaming the ad.
- Suitable, but price surprises them: review how scope and pricing expectations are explained.
I would investigate the pattern before making a broad budget change. These are questions to check, not diagnoses that can be made from a report alone.
Put cost beside the right outcome
If a hypothetical campaign spent $300 and produced six enquiries, the advertising spend per enquiry is $50. If only two meet your agreed definition of suitable, the spend per suitable enquiry is $150. Neither number is the full cost of acquiring a paying customer.
Include the reporting period and explain what costs are included. Management fees, sales time and whether the work was actually booked change the business picture. Do not confuse an enquiry with revenue.
Your next step
Review the next ten enquiries using the same labels, or review those received in an agreed period if volume is low. Choose one recurring issue to investigate. Small samples are clues, so keep checking before treating the pattern as settled.