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Admissions consultancy · 2025

More qualified leads from free webinars, at less than half the cost per registration

Admissions consulting sold through free webinars and virtual conferences

How we work with practices and professional services →
Lead-to-qualified, up from 53%
61%
Cost per registration, down from $13
$5.59
Cost per lead from the free events, a quarter to a third of selling direct
$10 to $12
Cost per registration
Before$13.00
After$5.59

The situation

The firm sells a paid consultation through free webinars and a free virtual conference. An audit in May 2025 found only 2.4% of the traffic reaching the form.

At kickoff the target was a cost per lead of $175 or below. Google leads were running about $150 and Meta leads about $200. Between half and 60% of leads reached a consultation, and about 30% of consultations ended in an enrollment.

What the audit found

2.4%
Of page views reaching a form submission.
Under 0.6%
Meta click-through rate, against a 2% industry average.
20+
Keywords in many Google ad groups, with very few negative keywords and the firm's own brands bidding against each other.
About 50%
Of visitors never scrolled past the header. On mobile, scroll depth fell 70% after it.
None
Audience segments on Meta, and no structured testing program. The webinar form sorted no one after signup.

What was built

  • Funnel audit
  • Google Ads
  • Meta ads
  • Webinar funnel
  • Lead qualification
  • Form testing
  1. 01

    Two qualifying questions

    The webinar signup asks about eligibility and whether the person wants help now, so the sales team knows who is ready.

  2. 02

    A webinar in front of the sale

    Free content first, with the consultation as the next step for the people who qualify.

  3. 03

    A free virtual conference

    Eight virtual keynotes and workshops, a Q&A with specialists and a fair where attendees talked to advisors directly. Free until a cap, $49 after.

  4. 04

    Google Ads rebuilt

    Ad groups cut to under 10 keywords each, negative keywords added, and brand terms split into their own campaigns.

  5. 05

    Meta audience tests

    Eight audiences at $5 a day each, judged at 400 impressions. Only audiences above a 2% click-through rate kept running.

  6. 06

    A testing program

    Microsoft Clarity to see where visitors stopped, and VWO tests run to 1,000 sessions before a winner was called.

  7. 07

    Form tests

    Five versions of the form page tested side by side. The top-aligned form converted at 7.31% against 4.04% for the control in the early read.

  8. 08

    Webinar clips

    Webinar recordings cut into short video clips for the ads.

How it ran

  1. April 2025

    Scoping session and a 30, 60 and 90-day plan.

  2. May 2025

    Kickoff on May 6 with a $175 cost-per-lead target. The full audit on May 19, presented with a map of the funnel on May 29.

  3. June 2025

    Google ad groups cut to under 10 keywords, negatives added, brand split out. Clarity installed and VWO set up.

  4. July 2025

    Meta audience tests running, and webinar clips in the ads.

  5. July to August 2025

    Five versions of the form page tested side by side in VWO.

From the accounts

Numbers read off the ad, email, CRM and testing screens at the time.

Form test, July 1 to August 18, 2025
VersionSubmissions / visitorsConversion rateExpected improvement
Control11 / 2724.04%Baseline
Form removed4 / 1882.13%Not calculated
Schools section moved up5 / 2112.37%Not calculated
Top-aligned form19 / 2607.31%+80.70%
Highlighted version5 / 2282.19%-45.77%

From VWO. The test was still collecting data, so this is an early read.

The result

Lead-to-qualified rose from 53% to 61%, while cost per registration fell from $13 to $5.59. By July, video creative was outperforming static and carousel ads.

What carries over to your business

  1. 01

    Ask the qualifying question on the free signup. Your sales team then calls the people who said they want help now.

  2. 02

    If a free event brings leads in cheaper than selling directly, put the event in front of the sale.

  3. 03

    Before buying more traffic, test the page it lands on, starting with where the form sits.

Book a call about your funnel

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