Acupuncture Now Foundation - Google Ad Grant Case Study

Introduction To Acupuncture Now Foundation

The Acupuncture Now Foundation (ANF) helps people understand what acupuncture is, how it really works, and whether or not it’s a good fit for them. They gather and share accurate, unbiased information and research about acupuncture and share it with potential patients via helpful articles on their website.

Additionally, ANF connects with acupuncturists to share the latest techniques and research so that the industry as a whole can continue to develop. In 2024, ANF launched a campaign focused on helping patients with peripheral neuropathy via acupuncture. This campaign shared the latest research and how acupuncture could help patients find relief from this notoriously difficult to treat condition.

Google Ad Grant Goals

The Acupuncture Now Foundation wanted to use the Google Ad Grant to:

• Promote their peripheral neuropathy research to people suffering from the condition and make them aware that acupuncture is a viable treatment option for pain relief.
• Connect patients to acupuncturists certified by ANF to treat peripheral neuropathy. ANF created a directory that allows people to find certified practitioners in their area.

While we’re targeting similar audiences between these two goals, we do have a variety of location targeting that will need to be managed. Let’s get into the results!

Overall Results

The Acupuncture Now Foundation had an active Google Ad Grant that was spending around $5,000 to $6,000 per month.

While that’s more grant utilization compared to the average nonprofit, the account had major quality issues and was targeting generic, low-intent, keywords instead of searches related to peripheral neuropathy. Additionally, the account was lacking conversion tracking which not only limited the account performance but made it impossible to know if results were truly good or bad.

Within 3 months, we were able to scale the account to the full spend, and even reached $16,984.24 in December thanks to extra budget from Google during the holidays.

We had a dip in spend in October after a team internal to ANF changed website tracking but we were able to resolve this as fast as possible and scale the account to new all time highs immediately after.

It also highlights that working with Digital Tabby isn’t about just having a team to handle the Google Ad Grant, instead, it’s also about having a digital marketing expert that you can consult to solve unexpected problems as quickly as possible. We were able to help ANF troubleshoot the tracking issue and get back on track.

We also shifted the conversion tracking from low value or inaccurate conversions (like viewing the homepage) to meaningful conversions like signing up for the newsletter, engaging with a certified acupuncturist, and more.

As a result, we were able to generate almost 100 newsletter sign ups, send more than 200 users to certified acupuncturists in their area, and increase professional engagement with the ANF.

Process and Strategy

With ANF, we were taking over an account and shifting existing spend to new priorities. This requires a different approach compared to starting with a fresh account so let’s break down how we achieved these results.

Conversion Tracking

Whether it’s a new account or one that’s been active for years, we always start with conversion tracking. Not only is it required to keep your Google Ad Grant account compliant, it’s also essential so that you can understand exactly what’s happening in your account.

This video explains exactly how we approach conversion tracking, why it’s important, and how we communicate this process to nonprofits:

For ANF, we removed weak or outdated conversions in favor of more valuable actions like newsletter sign ups and tracking when users engaged with the directory of acupuncturists. These conversions let us move beyond simply reporting on clicks or spend and instead focus on the valuable actions that actually matter to ANF.

Account Updates & Build Out

When Digital Tabby takes over accounts that are already active, we always leave previous campaigns live and build out our new campaigns.

We typically find that once proper conversions are in place, many old campaigns “come to life” and provide even more valuable data. Over time, we’ll pause these campaigns in favor of the new build but this approach allows us to scale the account without having a drop in ad spend.

The Acupuncture Now Foundation’s account was quite dated with no changes to the account for several years. We found conversions from Universal Analytics which hasn’t been functional since July 2023 and Expanded Text Ads which haven’t been available since June 2022:

Additionally, the account had a very redundant and complicated structure that made management more difficult than it needed to be. You can learn more about our recommended campaign structure in this short video.

Despite having existing spend, we effectively started from scratch since the account had dated or useless conversions, ancient (at least in the world of digital marketing) ads, and a focus on keywords that were not moving the mission forward.

Dealing With Policy Issues

When it comes to healthcare nonprofits like the ANF (and others we’ve looked at), policy issues are common but still very confusing to understand.

Most healthcare nonprofits will have to deal with a policy violation of “Health In Personalized Advertising” which is explained by Google here. Google’s cryptic explanation leaves many nonprofits confused but as long as your policy violation also shows “Approved (limited)” you should still be able to get impressions.

However, this account ended up with policy violations that showed “Disapproved” which means these ads will not have a chance to get impressions. In many cases, we had to rewrite ad copy until we found a combination of headlines that Google approved. There isn’t an easy answer here and Google’s system will flag first and then sort it out later.

Instead, this is a process that requires monitoring, modifying and updating ads over time to stay compliant and keep accounts active.

Moving Forward

The Acupuncture Now Foundation faces the same challenges as most nonprofits when it comes to maximizing their Google Ad Grant, including confusion about policies, difficulty getting the account to serve ads, and a lack of clarity about how to hire.

Healthcare nonprofits face unique challenges with Google Ad Grants, but ANF’s success proves it’s absolutely possible to overcome policy hurdles and drive meaningful results. Within just three months, we took their account from basic spend to maximum grant utilization while connecting real patients with the care they need.

Your nonprofit deserves the same level of results. Schedule your Google Ad Grant audit today and let’s get your account working as hard as your mission does.