Reynolds Transfer Campaign Review — Madison Dane County
Overview
The Madison Dane County Home campaign for Reynolds Transfer was flagged during the [1] as a significant budget concern. The campaign has spent over $1,500 with zero reported conversions, raising questions about whether conversion tracking is configured correctly and whether the spend is generating any real business value.
This article documents the issue, the likely root cause, and the investigation steps required.
The Problem
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Campaign Name | Madison Dane County Home |
| Platform | Google Ads |
| Spend (observed period) | $1,500+ |
| Reported Conversions | 0 |
Gilbert flagged the campaign as showing costs of $1,300–$1,500+ with no conversions recorded. At that spend level with no measurable return, the campaign represents a material waste of client budget.
Likely Root Cause: Conversion Tracking Misconfiguration
Before concluding the campaign is underperforming, conversion tracking must be verified. Reynolds Transfer is a service business where phone calls are the primary conversion action — not form fills or e-commerce transactions.
If the campaign's conversion goals are not set up to capture phone call conversions (e.g., call extensions, call tracking numbers, or Google forwarding numbers), the reported conversion count of zero may be misleading rather than accurate.
This mirrors a broader pattern seen across the Google Ads accounts: the [2] was simultaneously found to be miscounting conversions by recording page views as leads. Conversion tracking integrity is an active concern across multiple clients.
Action Items
- [ ] Mark Hope — Review the Madison Dane County Home campaign in Google Ads. Specifically:
- Check what conversion goals are assigned to the campaign
- Confirm whether phone call conversions are being tracked (call extensions, Google forwarding numbers, or third-party call tracking)
- Determine if any conversions are actually occurring but going unrecorded
-
Advise Gilbert on whether to adjust budget, pause the campaign, or fix tracking
-
[ ] Gilbert — Hold on budget reduction decisions until Mark's investigation is complete. Do not reduce budget based solely on the zero-conversion figure until tracking is confirmed accurate.
Decision Log
| Date | Decision | Rationale |
|---|---|---|
| 2025-11-19 | No immediate budget cut | Conversion tracking may be broken; zero conversions may not reflect reality |
| 2025-11-19 | Mark to investigate campaign goals | Phone calls are likely the intended conversion type and may not be configured |
Context & Related Issues
- This issue was raised in the same call where [3] conversion tracking was confirmed broken (counting page views as leads, inflating conversions by orders of magnitude). The inverse problem — undercounting conversions — may be occurring here.
- [4] is a local service business; phone call volume is the most meaningful conversion metric for this account type.
- Gilbert suggested reducing the budget by $2–$3/day as a stopgap, but Mark redirected to verifying tracking first — the correct sequence.
Notes
"We're spending a lot of money here… and we have very few conversions for this one. So I'm not sure if we are actually making money." — Gilbert Barrongo, 2025-11-19
"I think phone calls are conversions for them. Have you looked at the goals on the campaigns?" — Mark Hope, 2025-11-19
The concern is legitimate, but the diagnosis must precede the remedy. If phone call tracking is absent or broken, fixing it may reveal that the campaign is performing adequately — or confirm that it is genuinely wasting budget and should be restructured or paused.