Addiction and mental health facility: 1,999 patient inquiries at CA$24 each
The account came to us spending about CA$22k a quarter, and its tracking had logged 57 conversions in two and a half years. Nobody could tell which ads brought in patients. We rebuilt the call and form tracking, sorted the campaigns by what people were actually looking for, and kept every ad inside Google's healthcare rules. From January to August 2026 it brought in 1,999 patient inquiries at CA$24.01 each.
What happened
CA$24
Cost per inquiry
CA$24.01 across CA$48,006 in spend, Jan to Aug 2026
1,999
Patient inquiries
Phone calls and form submissions across PTSD, Addiction Recovery, and Mental Health campaigns, Jan–Aug 2026
57
Before the rebuild
Conversions recorded in two and a half years, at about CA$22k a quarter
1 · What it looked like
The account when it reached me
When the account came to us from its previous agency, it was spending roughly CA$22k a quarter, but conversion tracking had recorded only 57 conversions in two and a half years, so nobody could see which campaigns produced patients. Addiction and mental health treatment is also one of the most restricted categories on Google Ads. Ads get limited or disapproved easily, and a lot of the traffic is people reading about symptoms, not people looking for treatment. Searches like “what is PTSD” were costing as much as “PTSD treatment centre”.
2 · What I noticed
CA$22k a quarter, and 57 conversions in two and a half years. That isn't an account that doesn't work. It's an account nobody can see. Then the search terms: people reading about symptoms were costing as much as people looking for a treatment centre.
3 · What I changed
In order, in plain words
- Rebuilt conversion tracking at handover: calls from ads plus GA4 form submissions. For the first time, bidding and budget decisions were based on real inquiries
- Went through the search terms line by line. Kept the treatment searches ('PTSD treatment centre', 'addiction recovery program') and blocked the reading-about-it searches ('PTSD symptoms', 'is alcohol a drug')
- Kept every ad within Google's healthcare and medicine policies, so ads stayed eligible instead of quietly getting limited
- Moved the campaigns to Maximize Conversions once the tracking only counted real inquiries, not page views
- Shifted budget between service lines every week based on what each inquiry was costing
How these numbers were checked
- Source: Google Ads conversion actions, exported from the account.
- Counted as inquiries: calls from ads, plus GA4 form submissions and completed contact forms.
- Not counted: newsletter sign-ups and page views.
- Period: Jan to Aug 2026, CA$48,006 spend, 1,999 inquiries.
- Screenshots aren't shown here because the account has since moved out of the manager account I can access.
4 · What I learned
“If the tracking is broken, nothing else you do in the account matters, because Google is guessing. In healthcare there is a second trap: an ad that gets limited by policy simply stops showing, and nobody tells you. Now I check tracking and policy status before I touch anything else.”
What I'd do differently
I'd rebuild the call and form tracking before the account changes hands, not at handover. Every week without tracking is a week the bidding learns nothing.
Details
Industry
Healthcare & Rehabilitation
Country
Canada
Duration
Ongoing
Budget
CA$6k / Month
Tags
How I work
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