Executive Summary
Contractors Intelligence School, an online contractor’s school from California, partnered with nn.partners to confront a challenge familiar to many businesses: declining ad performance, data overload, and an inability to scale profitably with PPC. Together, we achieved exceptional results for this eLearning provider: tripling student enrollment, securing market leadership in California’s contractor licensing sector, and delivering record sales.
By integrating end-to-end analytics, refining paid media strategies, and implementing advanced funnel-based campaign structures, the school transitioned to data-driven precision. They now analyze data in seconds, saving over 10 hours per week, and consistently outperform competitors.
Company Profile
Industry: eLearning provider / online contractor’s school
Service Offering:
- In-Person Classes: Accessible locations across California.
- Online Courses: Flexible, self-paced learning options.
- Study Materials: Comprehensive resources to enhance learning.
- Practice Exams: Realistic tests for licensing exam prep.
Key Results
- Sales Growth: 32% Year-over-Year Revenue Growth
- Increased Profitability: $1.49 Million Increase in Gross Profit Year-over-Year
- Streamlined Operations and more time: Automated data integration saved 10+ hours per week, enabling the client to focus on strategic priorities.
- Market Leadership: Improved ad performance solidified their position as the top contractor licensing education provider in California.
Data & Marketing Stack:
- Connectors: Funnel.io, Zapier
- Data Warehouse: Google BigQuery,
- Marketing sources: Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, Meta ads, CallRail, Google Search Console, CRM
- Share destinations: Google Analytics 4, Looker Studio, Google Sheets.
Marketing Analytics Challenges
Data Overload:
Marketing data was fragmented across multiple systems, primarily their custom CRM, making it difficult to gain a clear understanding of the school’s performance. The manual effort to consolidate data consumed days, delaying critical decision-making and stalling growth.
Outdated and Manual Tracking Methods:
The client was relying on outdated and manual tracking methods. With only a few tags manually inserted into the website’s codebase for Google Ads and no use of Google Tag Manager, tracking accuracy was compromised. This not only led to operational inefficiencies but also required a thorough and time-consuming cleanup process to ensure data accuracy and reliability to promote the online courses.
Performance Blind Spots:
Limited web event tracking and missing behavioral insights left crucial customer data untapped, restricting their ability to optimize campaigns for student enrollment and growth.
Wasted Potential:
CRM data was underutilized, leaving actionable insights and opportunities for growth on the table.
The Analytics Solution
nn.partners introduced Funnel.io, a powerful marketing data hub designed to automate and streamline data integration across various platforms.
By implementing Funnel.io, marketing data from multiple sources, including GA4, ad platforms, and the client’s custom CRM, was seamlessly funneled into Google BigQuery, a robust data warehouse. This setup allowed for highly granular insights and enabled data-driven decision-making, significantly reducing the manual workload that previously hampered the client’s ability to focus on strategic growth and business development.
PPC Ads Challenges
Outdated Ad Accounts Structure
The school’s ad accounts were built on outdated systems, leading to inefficient budget allocation and wasted resources. As a result, achieving optimal results became nearly impossible, stunting the client’s business growth and preventing them from fully capitalizing on their advertising efforts.
Ineffective Targeting
Broad, unfocused targeting strategies resulted in low-quality traffic and missed opportunities to connect with high-potential students. Consequently, the client’s growth was severely hampered by their inability to connect with the prospecting online course listeners at the right moment, for the right price.
Underutilization of Bidding Strategies
The client was limited to using basic bidding strategies, missing out on the advanced, cost-efficient options available on platforms like Google, Microsoft, and Meta Ads. This underutilization led to overspending on suboptimal ad placements, leaving substantial ROI potential untapped. As a result, the client’s competitive edge was weakened, and their campaigns underperformed in terms of cost-effectiveness and reach.
Weak Creative Optimization
Ad creatives were static and uninspired, lacking the necessary variation and testing to drive meaningful engagement. The absence of robust creative optimization resulted in poor engagement rates and a failure to capture the students’ attention. This significant shortcoming in the creative strategy severely limited the impact of the ad campaigns and frustrated efforts to achieve the desired growth.
The PPC Solution
To address the school’s challenges, we restructured their campaigns to strategically target audiences at every stage of the funnel—Top of Funnel (ToFu), Middle of Funnel (MoFu), and Bottom of Funnel (BoFu). This approach ensured that each ad reached the right audience at the optimal time, maximizing the impact across Google Ads, Microsoft Advertising, and Meta Ads.
We implemented an integrated communication strategy that synchronized messages and creatives across all platforms and the website. This consistent and reinforced messaging ensured that prospects received a cohesive brand experience at every funnel stage, which is critical for driving engagement and conversions. Additionally, we employed advanced bidding strategies tailored specifically to each funnel stage.
This not only optimized ad placements but also significantly boosted Return on Investment (ROI) by focusing resources on high-potential audiences.
Final Results
Key Achievements:
- Sales Growth: 32% Year-over-Year Revenue Growth
- Increased Profitability: $1.49 Million Increase in Gross Profit Year-over-Year
- Streamlined Operations and time saved: Automated data integration saved 10+ hours per week of the company’s C-level management, enabling the school to focus on strategic priorities.
- Market Leadership: Improved ad performance solidified their position as the top contractor licensing eLearning provider in California.
Our collaboration with Contractors Intelligence School resulted in a transformative leap, replacing a fragmented, siloed framework with a cutting-edge, fully integrated marketing and analytics system. This overhaul delivered measurable improvements in both operational efficiency and financial performance.
Through this partnership, Contractors Intelligence School now operates with enhanced efficiency, precision, and scalability. With a robust marketing foundation, they are better equipped to sustain their leadership position and continue their growth trajectory.
