case study

eCommission Paid Media Performance

Increased Google Ads ROAS by 1,089% month-over-month, from 1.98x to 23.54x.

Reduced cost per conversion by 74% while lifting conversion rate from 9.9% to 18.8%.

Improved click-through rate from 12% to 48.4% through phrase-match targeting and negative keywords.

Sustained a 21x return on ad spend at scale as budget expanded through April.

eCommission, a fintech that advances real estate agents their commissions before a sale funds, was spending on paid search without a clear view of what it was getting back. Broad-match keywords were burning budget on irrelevant traffic, ad copy and landing pages were dated, and campaigns were optimizing against the wrong conversion signal — all ahead of a board meeting where marketing efficiency would be under scrutiny. The Matchbox restructured the Google Ads account, re-pointed optimization at real revenue, opened a competitor-conquesting front, and relaunched Meta as a net-new channel. Within a single month, paid search went from spend the team couldn't account for to a channel they could confidently scale.

Account Restructure

Broad Match Burning Budget on the Wrong Traffic

Paying for clicks that could never convert.

The Challenge:

eCommission's Google Ads account was leaking budget. Core terms ran on broad match, pulling in irrelevant searches for real estate schools, licensing, wholesale, and referral networks. A non-brand Commission Advance campaign was spending against high-cost, low-intent traffic, and inconsistent campaign naming made performance hard to read. Ad copy and landing pages across the account needed work before any spend could scale safely.

The Matchbox Solution:

We rebuilt the account structure from the keyword level up, cutting waste before adding budget.

Switched core terms like "real estate commission advance" from broad to phrase match for tighter intent.
Added large negative-keyword lists filtering real estate schools, licensing, eXp Realty, ZipForms, and credit-card topics.
Scaled back the money-losing Commission Advance category campaign — spend dropped 95% as low-intent traffic was cut.
Standardized campaign and ad group naming so performance could be benchmarked cleanly week over week.

Conversion-True Scaling

A 1,089% ROAS Swing in a Single Month

Optimizing against real revenue changed everything.

The Challenge:

Before March, Google Ads was optimizing against an unreliable, wrongly-valued conversion signal, and February ROAS sat at 1.98x. The account couldn't be scaled with confidence because no one trusted what a "conversion" was actually worth.

The Matchbox Solution:

With clean conversion tracking and net-revenue values in place, we optimized toward what actually drove revenue — then scaled into it.

Drove ROAS from 1.98x to 23.54x month-over-month (+1,089%), with conversion value up 655%.‍
Cut cost per conversion 74% while conversion rate climbed from 9.9% to 18.8%.‍
Lifted account click-through rate from 12% to 48.4% on tighter targeting and refreshed creative.
Scaled budget as efficiency held, sustaining a 21x ROAS through April.
Confirmed the Brand campaign was carrying the account — 99.6% of conversions at a 24.86x ROAS.

Competitor Conquesting

Winning Demand from Rival Advance Providers

Capturing agents already shopping the competition.

The Challenge:

A meaningful slice of in-market demand was searching for eCommission's competitors by name. Without a dedicated conquesting effort, those agents — already looking for a commission advance — were being handed to rivals.

The Matchbox Solution:

We built and tuned a dedicated Competitors campaign, then pruned it aggressively toward what converted.

Launched a Competitors campaign targeting rival advance providers; the first conquest conversion came from Commission Express.‍
Concentrated budget on the Real Commissions ad group, which roughly doubled its conversion value on flat spend.‍
Drove the Competitors campaign's weekly ROAS up 56% and net revenue up 76% while cutting CPA 16%.‍
Pruned non-converting competitor ad groups after a defined test budget, reallocating toward proven winners.

New Channel: Meta

Relaunching Paid Social on a Clean Foundation

A new channel, rebuilt from a rogue account up.

The Challenge:

eCommission's Facebook presence was a liability before it was an opportunity. A previous agency partner still controlled the active ad account and was quietly charging the company's card every day, and the Meta Pixel wasn't firing reliably enough to optimize against.

The Matchbox Solution:

We took control of paid social, rebuilt the tracking, and relaunched Meta as a measured, net-new channel.

Took over paid social management and shut down the prior partner's unmonitored daily charges.
Rebuilt the Meta Pixel and launched fresh campaigns aligned to the new landing pages and creative.
Improved ad CTR 58% week-over-week during the learning phase as creative relevance climbed.
Shifted optimization toward signup_complete events and scoped server-side CAPI to harden attribution as the channel matures.

The Matchbox transformed eCommission's paid media from indefensible spend into an efficient, measurable growth engine. By restructuring the Google Ads account, re-pointing optimization at real revenue, and conquesting competitor demand, we lifted ROAS from 1.98x to 23.54x in a single month and sustained a 21x return as spend scaled. The lesson the board took away: once you measure the right conversion, efficiency and scale stop being a trade-off.