Case study · Google Ads
3× cheaper WhatsApp leads for Phonetronics Kenya
How we cut Phonetronics Kenya's Google Ads cost per lead from $13.73 to $4.27 on a $19.63 daily budget, then set the campaign up to chase real sales.
- Client
- Phonetronics Kenya
- Website
- phonetronicskenya.co.ke
- Business
- Phones, tablets and accessories, sold online with delivery across Kenya
- Channel
- Google Ads, Performance Max
- Service
- PPC & Paid Advertising
Quick answer
Kagai Digital manages Google Ads for Phonetronics Kenya, a Nairobi phone retailer. In the 30 days to 13 October 2026, its Performance Max campaign spent $453 and brought in 106 WhatsApp leads at $4.27 each, down from $13.73 before, on an unchanged daily budget of $19.63. We then refined its bidding, search themes, audiences, headlines and videos.
The challenge
Leads that cost too much
Phonetronics Kenya sells phones, tablets and accessories online and delivers across Kenya. Its customers like to ask questions and order on WhatsApp, so the Google Ads campaign is built to start WhatsApp conversations rather than send people to a checkout.
Since launch the campaign had spent $3,419 for 322 leads, and before mid-September each lead cost $13.73. With a daily budget of $19.63 that Google spends in full every day, every wasted dollar was a customer the store never got to talk to.
The result
A third of the cost per lead
Over the 30 days to 13 October 2026, the campaign spent $453, drew about 27,800 clicks and brought in 106 WhatsApp leads, at $4.27 each. Before 14 September each lead cost $13.73, so the same budget now starts about 3.2 times as many conversations.
We did this without raising the budget. It stayed at $19.63 a day.
In detail
The numbers
Daily budget: $19.63, unchanged, and spent in full every day.
| Period | Spend | Clicks | WhatsApp leads | Cost per lead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Last 30 days (14 Sep to 13 Oct) | $453 | about 27,800 | 106 | $4.27 |
| Before 14 Sep | $2,966 | not reported | 216 | $13.73 |
| Since launch | $3,419 | not reported | 322 | $10.62 |
From the client's Google Ads account, in US dollars as billed. Clicks were reported as about 27,800. Before 14 Sep is the since-launch total minus the last 30 days.
What we did
The work behind the numbers
- 01
Switched the bidding strategy so Google aims for the most valuable conversions, not a fixed return target
- 02
Added 17 search themes around phone prices and buying searches in Kenya and Nairobi, from iPhone and Samsung to tablets and accessories
- 03
Guided Google with the store's own audiences, such as past buyers, product viewers and cart abandoners, plus phone-shopper segments
- 04
Replaced the five weakest headlines using 30 days of results, and kept the best performer
- 05
Swapped other creators' review videos for short branded videos made from the store's own product photos, labelled as AI-created
- 06
Left the descriptions and images alone, because they were already performing well
What comes next
From chats to tracked sales
The biggest gain still ahead is measuring sales, not just chats. Today each WhatsApp lead is counted at a placeholder value of $1 and no purchases are recorded, so Google cannot yet see which clicks become orders. We recommended tracking purchases on the store's website and giving each order a real value. With that in place, the campaign is ready for a bigger budget, since it already spends its full budget every day.
Leads are WhatsApp conversations started from an ad, as counted by Google Ads. Figures are in US dollars, as billed by Google Ads.
From the blog · 5 min read Google Ads on a small budget: what we learned cutting a phone shop's cost per lead by 69% Seven lessons from this campaign you can use on your own Google Ads, plus a small-budget checklist. Read the 7 lessonsWant cheaper leads from Google Ads?
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