You can spend a lot on PPC and still feel like leads are slipping through your fingers. Not because the ads are wrong, but because most people don’t enquire the first time they land on your site. They compare, get busy and forget.
That’s where email marketing earns its keep. When PPC and email are planned together, you stay front of mind, build trust faster and give more clicks a reason to come back and convert. Here’s how the two channels can work as a proper team, plus what we’ve seen happen when they do.
What each channel does well on its own
Google Ads: capture high-intent demand
Google Ads works well because it reaches people at the moment they are looking for a solution. You can target commercial keywords, control budgets and see clear performance data such as cost per lead and return on ad spend.
The catch is that plenty of clicks do not convert on the first visit. People compare options, get distracted or need reassurance before they enquire. PPC is great at starting the journey, but it cannot always finish it on its own.
Email marketing: nurture and convert
Email comes into its own once someone has shared their details. It gives you a direct way to stay in touch, build trust and answer the questions that stop people taking the next step.
You can tailor messages based on what someone looked at, what they asked for and where they are in the funnel. That might mean helpful insights, proof points, case studies or a straightforward prompt to book a call.
Email’s weak spot is lead quality. If the list is full of low-intent contacts, open rates drop, unsubscribes rise and the whole programme feels like hard work. Effective email performance begins with high-quality leads.
How email can improve PPC results
Email does more than nurture, it can influence what people do next.
A well-timed email can remind someone about a problem they still need to solve. That reminder often sends them back to Google later, this time with clearer intent. If they then see your ad in the results, you are not a stranger. You are the brand they already recognise.
That familiarity can lead to:
- Higher click-through rates, especially on brand and related terms
- More engaged visitors landing on your site
- Better quality enquiries because people arrive with more context
In other words, email can warm up the search audience that PPC is trying to reach.
A real example: 600% month-on-month lead growth
In one campaign, aligning Google Ads with an email programme led to a 600% month-on-month increase in leads after the email strategy went live.
The biggest change was relevance.
The emails were built to match what the ads were promoting. Same services, same language, same promise. Instead of generic nurturing, the emails reinforced the exact thing people were likely to be searching for.
That meant:
- Prospects were nudged at the right moment, not weeks later with unrelated content
- More people returned to Google to look for the service again
- Paid search picked up that renewed demand and converted it more efficiently
The result was not just more leads, but more qualified leads.
What to do if you want PPC and email to work as a team
If you want the two channels to support each other, start here.
- Match the message: your emails should reflect the same offers and services as your ads and landing pages
- Use behaviour, not guesswork: segment by what people viewed, downloaded or enquired about
- Time it well: follow up quickly after an ad-driven visit or conversion
- Close the loop: track which email segments come back through search and which keywords convert best
When it all finally clicks
Google Ads brings people in when they are searching, and email keeps you in their minds after they leave.
When the messaging lines up, email can help prospects come back with higher intent and make your PPC spend work harder. You get stronger engagement, better conversion rates and more value from the leads you generate.
If your Google Ads are bringing in traffic but leads are inconsistent, it’s worth asking a simple question: what happens after the click? A focused email journey can turn more of that paid traffic into enquiries and make your PPC performance more stable month to month.
If you want a hand joining the dots between PPC and email, we can help. We’ll look at what you’re running now, where people drop off and what to change so the two channels support each other and drive better quality leads. Contact us here.
