The Lean Lead Gen Stack: A Playbook for Proving Google Ads ROI
For B2B SaaS companies, the long and complex sales cycle makes it incredibly difficult to connect an initial ad click to a final closed-won deal. Without a direct link between Google Ads and your CRM, you're forced to optimize for top-of-funnel metrics like 'leads,' potentially wasting your budget on campaigns and keywords that generate traffic but never translate into actual revenue.
This playbook outlines a cost-effective, automated system to solve the B2B attribution problem. By using HubSpot's free CRM and a cleverly configured Jotform with a hidden field, you'll capture the unique Google Click ID (GCLID) for every new lead. When you update a deal stage in HubSpot (e.g., 'Qualified' or 'Closed-Won'), a simple Zapier automation instantly sends this milestone—along with the GCLID—back to Google Ads as an offline conversion. This closes the loop, allowing you to see exactly which ads are driving real business value.
Expected Outcomes
- Accurately attribute closed-won deals directly to the specific Google Ads campaigns and keywords that generated them.
- Calculate the true Return on Investment (ROI) for your advertising spend.
- Make data-driven decisions to allocate budget towards the most profitable campaigns.
- Stop wasting money on keywords that generate a high volume of leads who never convert.
- Create a clear, undeniable link between marketing efforts and bottom-line revenue.
Core Tools in This Stack
HubSpot CRM
Visit websiteA comprehensive CRM platform that includes a suite of tools for marketing, sales, content management, and customer service, with a completely free CRM at its core to help businesses manage customer relationships and accelerate growth.
Key Features
- Contact & Lead Management
- Sales Pipeline Visualization
- Deal Tracking and Management
- Email Tracking and Templates
- Meeting Scheduling Tool
- Live Chat and Chatbots
- Reporting and Analytics Dashboards
- Task and Activity Automation
Ideal For
Company Size: Small, Medium
Industries: Technology & Software, Business & Professional Services, Retail & E-commerce, Creative & Media
Pricing
Model: Freemium, Subscription
Tier: Starter
Ease of Use
Very High
Jotform
Visit websiteJotform is a powerful and user-friendly online form builder that allows users to create custom forms without any coding knowledge. It facilitates easy data collection, workflow automation, and integration with hundreds of other apps.
Key Features
- Drag-and-drop form builder
- Extensive template library (10,000+)
- Conditional logic
- Payment gateway integrations (e.g., Stripe, PayPal)
- Automated PDF generation from submissions
- Workflow automation and approval flows
- HIPAA compliance features
- Mobile app for form management
Ideal For
Company Size: Micro, Small, Medium, Large
Industries: Technology & Software, Business & Professional Services, Retail & E-commerce, Creative & Media, Education & Non-Profit, Health & Wellness, Other
Pricing
Model: Freemium, Subscription, Enterprise
Tier: Mid
Ease of Use
High
Google Ads
Visit websiteGoogle Ads is an online advertising platform that allows businesses to reach customers across Google Search, YouTube, and other websites. Advertisers pay to display brief advertisements, service offerings, product listings, or videos to web users, and can target ads based on keywords, demographics, location, and user behavior to drive website traffic, leads, and sales.
Key Features
- Search Ads on Google.com
- Display Ads across the Google Display Network
- Video Ads on YouTube
- Shopping Ads for e-commerce
- App promotion campaigns
- Performance Max automated campaigns
- Keyword and audience targeting
- Remarketing to previous site visitors
- Comprehensive performance reporting
- Conversion tracking and optimization
- Budget and bid management
Ideal For
Company Size: Micro, Small, Medium, Large
Industries: Technology & Software, Business & Professional Services, Retail & E-commerce, Creative & Media, Education & Non-Profit, Health & Wellness, Other
Pricing
Model: Pay-per-click, Pay-per-impression, Pay-per-conversion, Auction-based
Tier: Custom/Varies
Ease of Use
Medium
The Workflow
Integration Logic
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Zapier
This integration uses Zapier to monitor MailerLite for new subscribers. When a new subscriber is added to a specific group in MailerLite, it triggers a Zap. This Zap then passes the subscriber's data, specifically their phone number and name, to Twilio. Twilio uses this data to automatically send a pre-configured SMS message to the new subscriber. The data flow is one-way: from MailerLite (trigger) to Twilio (action).
Get the Playbook to Prove Your Ad ROI
Learn how to connect every ad click to a closed-won deal in your CRM and stop wasting budget on campaigns that don't drive revenue.