The Project
Our client sells an English-language digital travel guide called Paris in 72H.
The guide includes ready-made itineraries, cafés, bakeries, hidden gems, fashion spots, iconic views, and an interactive Google Map designed to help travelers plan a Paris trip without spending hours on research.
The client needed to understand whether the product could attract demand across Europe and which advertising setup would be worth scaling.
The Challenge
Our goal was not simply to drive traffic.
We needed to identify:
- the most responsive audiences;
- the best-performing locations;
- the strongest ad creative;
- the most efficient conversion path;
- the real cost of attracting potential buyers.
We also wanted to compare two user journeys:
- Sending people directly to the product landing page.
- Sending people into an Instagram Direct conversation.
Our Approach
We launched Meta Ads campaigns across several European markets, including:
- Estonia and Latvia;
- Berlin and Prague;
- Paris.
The primary audience consisted of women aged 25–34 who were interested in travel and planning independent trips.
We tested several ad creatives and divided the campaigns by location and destination.
This allowed us to compare both audience behavior and acquisition costs before increasing the advertising budget.
Best-Performing Campaign
The strongest campaign targeted users in Estonia and Latvia and sent them directly to the landing page.
Results:
- 37,934 impressions
- 1,281 link clicks
- 3.38% link CTR
- 4.48% overall CTR
- $0.13 cost per link click
- $4.48 CPM
This single campaign generated more than 71% of all link clicks produced during the test.
The combination of a relevant audience, a clear offer, and a direct path to the landing page created the most efficient acquisition setup.
Testing Berlin and Prague
We launched a separate campaign targeting Berlin and Prague.
Results:
- 299 link clicks
- 2.97% link CTR
- 3.92% overall CTR
- $0.22 cost per link click
- $6.66 CPM
The audience responded positively, but the cost per website visit was 69% higher than in the best-performing campaign.
This test helped us identify which markets were more suitable for initial scaling and where additional localization or creative testing might be required.
Website vs. Instagram Direct
We also tested a campaign targeting users in Paris and directing them into Instagram Direct.
Results:
- 19,538 impressions
- 214 link clicks
- 1.10% link CTR
- 1.20% overall CTR
- $0.39 cost per link click
- $4.24 CPM
Although the CPM was slightly lower than in the main campaign, users were much less likely to start the conversation.
Compared with the best landing-page campaign:
- the cost per click was three times higher;
- link CTR was 67% lower;
- the same budget generated approximately three times fewer visits.
For this type of digital product, sending users directly to the landing page proved significantly more effective than asking them to start a conversation first.
Creative Testing
We tested two primary ad creatives.
Creative 1
- 1,184 link clicks
- 3.52% estimated link CTR
Creative 2
- 81 link clicks
- 2.76% estimated link CTR
The cost of impressions was almost identical, but the first creative delivered approximately 28% higher click-through performance.
This showed that the stronger result came from the message, visual presentation, and offer rather than from cheaper media placement.
The winning creative became the foundation for future campaign development.
Final Results
Across all tested campaigns, we generated:
- 1,794 link clicks
- 2,329 total ad clicks
- approximately $0.18 average cost per link click
- a best result of $0.13 per website visit
- a best link CTR of 3.38%
More importantly, the client received a clear answer to several critical questions:
- which markets responded best;
- which creative should be scaled;
- whether to send users to the website or Instagram Direct;
- how much qualified traffic could realistically cost;
- where the sales funnel needed further improvement.
The Key Business Insight
The campaigns successfully generated affordable traffic.
The next growth constraint was no longer ad delivery. It was the landing page conversion rate.
Once traffic reaches the website at $0.13 per visit, further growth depends on how effectively the page turns visitors into buyers.
The next recommended steps included:
- adding preview pages from the guide;
- showing sample itineraries and map sections;
- including customer reviews;
- making the product value clearer;
- testing different headlines and offers;
- creating localized landing pages for selected markets.
Conclusion
Instead of scaling an unproven campaign, we used a structured testing process to find a more efficient path to growth.
The project generated nearly 1,800 website visits, identified a winning creative, revealed the most promising markets, and showed that direct website traffic outperformed Instagram Direct by a wide margin.
The result was not just more clicks.
It was a validated advertising strategy that the client could use for future sales campaigns.
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