4S Study Abroad · Google Ads
4S Study Abroad on Google Ads: cost per enquiry ₹667 to ₹270
4S Study Abroad is an overseas education consultancy in Dubai, placing students in Canada, the UK, Germany, Australia and Europe. Over 19 quarters, ₹24.6 lakh of Google Ads brought 8,859 enquiries, and after a hard 2023 the cost per enquiry fell from ₹667 in Q4 2023 to ₹270 in Q4 2024.
4S Study Abroad · 2020 – 2024
Cost per enquiry · trend illustrative
- Cost per enquiry · lower is better
- ₹667 →to ₹270
- Cut
- −60%
(01)
The challenge
Why is a student enquiry hard to buy?
Nobody buys a degree in one visit. A student fills in a form, a counsellor follows up, and the placement closes offline weeks or months later. The only thing Google Ads can count is the enquiry.
Demand is seasonal around the September and January intakes, every destination is its own auction, and large consultancy networks and universities bid on the same searches. The account won only 12.13% of the available search impressions: 72.76% were lost to ad rank and 15.12% to budget. The ceiling was relevance, not money.
- Four destination markets to fill
- A cost per enquiry the counsellors can convert
- Through a pandemic and every change to Google’s campaign types
(02)
What we did
What happened over nineteen quarters?
Each destination got its own campaigns, budgets and bids. Canada, Germany and the UK took 86.5% of spend and brought 91.3% of enquiries. The path was not straight: a restart, a scale-up, a peak, a mistake and a rebuild.
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Q2 – Q4 2020 Restart and proof of concept
The account restarted in April 2020, with borders shut and intakes deferred. Spend rose step by step and cost per enquiry fell 45.8%, from ₹294.14 to ₹159.43, while conversion rate climbed to 33.14%, the highest of the period.
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2021 Scale-up
The biggest investment year: ₹8.41 lakh, with clicks more than tripling to 18,946. Average CPC fell 36.6%, but broader demand diluted intent and cost per enquiry rose to ₹280 for the year.
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2022 The efficiency peak
Spend was cut 29% and budget moved into Canada and Germany. Q3 2022 was the best quarter of all: 1,266 enquiries at ₹157.84 each and a 30.21% conversion rate.
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2023 The reach experiment, and what it cost
Broad match and audience expansion were bought before the quality signals to control them. CTR fell to 2.07% and cost per enquiry rose to ₹667.41 in Q4, the weakest quarter on record.
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2024 Rebuild and recovery
The reach experiment was undone and budget went back into proven Search campaigns for Canada, Germany and the UK. Cost per enquiry fell 52.7% from Q1 to Q4 and conversion rate rose from 10.98% to 17.37%.
(03)
The result
How far did the account recover?
Same quarter, a year apart: cost per enquiry fell from ₹667 in Q4 2023 to ₹270 in Q4 2024, a 59.6% drop. On 63.1% more spend the account brought 303.4% more enquiries, and it was beating its own 19-quarter average of ₹277.91.
Germany was the efficiency winner at ₹234.01 per enquiry; Canada the volume engine, with 38% of enquiries at ₹267.15. Generic and university-specific campaigns were the leak: 6% of spend and 2.4% of enquiries at ₹695 each.
Search took 98.66% of spend and brought 98.7% of enquiries. The one Smart campaign was the cheapest at ₹165.93 per enquiry; Performance Max, with no value data to learn from, cost ₹1,199.39 each, and Display brought none, so it was stopped.
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Enquiries in the quarter
59 to 238
Q4 2023 → Q4 2024
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Clicks in the quarter
611 to 1,370
Q4 2023 → Q4 2024
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Average CPC, ₹
64.45 to 46.88
Q4 2023 → Q4 2024 · lower is better
Screenshots from the accounts
Straight from the client’s own dashboards: nothing redrawn, nothing averaged.
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Screenshot coming soon
Best month: Q4 2024Google Ads -
Screenshot coming soon
Every month since Q4 2023Google Ads -
Screenshot coming soon
Conversions and cost per conversionGoogle Ads
View as a table
| When | Cost per enquiry |
|---|---|
| Q4 2023 | ₹667 |
| Q1 2024 | ₹571 |
| Q2 2024 | ₹300 |
| Q3 2024 | ₹319 |
| Q4 2024 | ₹270 |
(04)
Services used
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