51% more leads on the same budget
Rare Blue Moon rebuilt the paid advertising campaign for Reading Success Plus around parent-focused creative, a redesigned lead form and a two-audience campaign structure. Across August and September 2026, leads rose 51% and cost per lead fell 34%, with no increase in budget.
Impressions fell 37%, yet clicks and leads both grew. A higher share of the people reached clicked through, and a higher share of those clicks became inquiries.
The objective
Reading Success Plus is a Michigan learning center with locations in Grand Rapids and Troy, offering reading, writing and math tutoring, dyslexia screening and coaching, alongside evidence-based professional development for teachers, reading specialists and school staff. Its paid advertising campaign generates inquiries from families through lead form submissions. The objective was to increase the number of inquiries the campaign produced from the center's existing budget.
Creative built for parents
We developed a new parent-focused visual and positioned the campaign message around the center's evidence-based, science-based approach to literacy instruction. The creative was written for parents considering structured literacy support for their child.
A lead form with a more direct path
We rebuilt the lead form in a cleaner format, designed to make the step between clicking the ad and contacting the center shorter and more direct.
Two audiences, running side by side
We restructured the campaign into two ad sets running in parallel: a broad audience that lets the platform identify likely responders, and a defined parents audience covering parents of children from preschool through the teenage years. Both were targeted to roughly 30 Michigan communities within a 10-mile radius, including Grand Rapids, Troy, Ann Arbor, Grand Blanc and the Grosse Pointes. Running the two side by side allowed both approaches to be measured against the same metrics.
Measured month over month
Performance was reviewed against the same metrics throughout the period. August recorded a cost per lead of $17.98 and September $14.35, against a January-to-July average of about $21. September was the account's second-strongest month of 2026 by cost per lead.
What the data shows
Paid advertising results reported for August 1 to September 30, 2026.
Same budget, a sharper campaign
Same budget, more leads
The budget held steady across both periods. The campaign recorded 32 additional leads with no increase in spend.
The ads earned more clicks
Click-through rate rose 66%, from 1.45% to 2.42%, and clicks rose from 525 to 554.
More clicks became inquiries
17 in every 100 clicks became a lead, up from 12 — a rate of 17.1%, compared with 12.0% in the previous period.
Cost per lead improved each month
Cost per lead was $17.98 in August and $14.35 in September, against a January-to-July average of about $21.
What this included
- New parent-focused ad creative
- Ad copywriting and campaign messaging
- Redesigned inquiry form
- Campaign restructured into two parallel audience groups: a broad audience and a defined parents audience
- Audience targeting covering parents of children from preschool through the teenage years
- Geographic targeting across approximately 30 Michigan communities within a 10-mile radius
- Ongoing campaign management across the reporting period
- Month-over-month performance monitoring and reporting
The takeaway
With the creative, the inquiry form and the campaign structure rebuilt and the budget unchanged, the campaign recorded 51% more leads at a 34% lower cost per lead.
Measurement & publishing
notes.
- Reporting period: August 1 to September 30, 2026.
- Comparison period: June 1 to July 31, 2026, of equal length.
- Source: platform reporting for the Reading Success Plus paid advertising account.
- Leads are counted as completed inquiry form submissions.
- Budget was effectively unchanged between the two periods. No budget amounts are published.
- Cost per lead was $17.98 in August and $14.35 in September. The January-to-July average of about $21 comes from the same account reporting.
- Figures are as reported at the close of the reporting period. Changes between periods are reported as observed.