We took a driver-recruitment program for a rideshare-style logistics platform and pushed cost per completed registration under $10 on several networks, supported by conversion rates between 15% and 25%.

The diagnosis

The operation’s growth depended on a healthy, active driver network across more than half a dozen metro markets. The mandate looked simple — more registrations — but budget only goes as far as cost per registration allows. Broad recruitment advertising reaches a lot of people who aren’t job-hunting right now, and that reach is expensive relative to what it returns.

The strategic shift

Instead of buying broad visibility, we built the program around people who were already showing intent — actively searching for work, specifically driving or rideshare-type work. The channels mattered less than the targeting logic: find people mid-search, not people who might someday consider a side gig.

What we changed

• Built campaign coverage on networks capable of targeting based on active search and intent history, not just demographics.

• Concentrated spend on people actively searching job boards and search engines for driving and rideshare work specifically, rather than broad employment audiences.

• Treated cost per registration as the primary lever for budget allocation across networks, shifting spend toward whichever channel was converting most efficiently.

How to know if this is you

If your recruitment or lead-gen spend is optimized around reach or impressions rather than a hard cost-per-outcome number, you’re likely paying for a lot of people who were never going to convert. Intent-based, bottom-funnel targeting costs more per click in some cases — but it converts enough better that the cost per outcome usually drops significantly.