$18K a month on Google, and 90% of new memberships were invisible to it.
A Melbourne fitness studio chain with four locations (HIIT, Pilates, Yoga and Barre) spent $18K a month on Google Ads. Members signed up inside Mindbody, where Google couldn't see them, so nobody knew which ads were bringing in members.
What the owner was seeing
The chain spent $18,000 a month on Google Ads, with separate campaigns for each studio.
The marketing team could see clicks and website visits. But class bookings and memberships happened inside Mindbody, so they couldn't tell which campaigns were actually signing up members.
What was actually going wrong
Google counted only one thing: the thank-you page of a general enquiry form, which got about 40 submissions a month.
Most people clicked an ad, looked at the website, then booked in the Mindbody app or called the studio. Google never saw those sign-ups, about 90% of the total.
So Google got very good at finding people who fill in enquiry forms, not people who buy memberships.
What we changed
- Mapped every step a new member takes, from ad click to paid membership.Google Ad click → website visit → Mindbody booking → studio trial → membership purchase.
- Made the website remember which Google ad each visitor came from.GCLID captured on all landing pages and stored against the visitor's email on each form interaction.
- When someone signs up in Mindbody, Google now hears about it, along with what the plan is worth.Mindbody new-member webhook → email matched to the stored GCLID → Google Ads offline conversion import as “Membership Signed” with the plan value.
- Tracked each type of studio separately, so Google finds the right people for each one.Four conversion actions (HIIT, Pilates, Yoga, Barre) with different values; Smart Bidding optimises each on its own.
What changed for the business
Google now sees real memberships and what they're worth, not just enquiry forms.
Within 8 weeks, the cost of each new member fell by 47%.
The team can finally see which campaigns sign up members, for each of the four studio types.
“We were spending $18K a month on Google and had no idea which campaigns were signing up members — everything happened in Mindbody, invisible to Google. Saifur built a GCLID capture system and connected Mindbody sign-ups back to Google as offline conversions. Cost per new member dropped 47% in 8 weeks and we finally know which campaigns actually work.”