CTR climbed from 3.8% to 6.1% in 90 days.
CTR improved from 3.8% to 6.1% — a 60% relative improvement in ad relevance. CPA reduced 34% in the first 90 days. The AI creative scoring system eliminated the human delay in creative decisions, saving approximately 15 hours per week of manual review. The origin-destination restructure alone drove a 28% improvement in Quality Score across the account, directly reducing CPCs.
A new entrant against giants
Launching into meta-search with no Quality Score history, against incumbents with years of optimisation.
40 creatives + AI scoring
Systematic creative testing across origin-destination demand, with a daily AI scoring system to kill losers fast.
6.1% CTR, 34% lower CPA
60% relative CTR lift, CPA down 34%, and Quality Score up 28% across the account.
01 The problem
FareScraper was a new entrant in the travel meta-search market — launching into a space dominated by well-funded incumbents with years of optimisation history, established Quality Scores, and deep brand recognition. The challenge wasn't just performance; it was speed. FareScraper needed to build meaningful traffic volume rapidly without the luxury of a slow testing phase. Initial campaigns lacked the creative depth needed to compete across a wide range of origin-destination search queries, and there was no system to catch underperforming assets before they accumulated wasted spend.
Compressing years of history into weeks.
New accounts launch with 5–10 creatives. We launched with 40 and a system to judge all of them daily.
Intent-led campaign structure
Built campaigns around flight-comparison search intent and competitor brand queries, where purchase intent runs highest.
40-creative test matrix
Tested 40 distinct creatives across origin-destination segments — high-volume routes, seasonal patterns and niche itineraries.
Daily AI creative scoring
A custom system scored every active creative by CTR and CPA, auto-flagging underperformers after 3 days below threshold.
Origin-destination restructure
Rebuilt campaigns around O-D patterns rather than broad travel categories, lifting Quality Score 28% and cutting CPCs.
A faster way to find winners.
03 The results
CTR improved from 3.8% to 6.1% — a 60% relative improvement in ad relevance. CPA reduced 34% in the first 90 days. The AI creative scoring system eliminated the human delay in creative decisions, saving approximately 15 hours per week of manual review. The origin-destination restructure alone drove a 28% improvement in Quality Score across the account, directly reducing CPCs.
Ninety days to relevance.
Structure → creative volume → scoring → restructure.
Intent structure
Built acquisition campaigns around comparison and competitor-brand intent.
40 creatives live
Shipped the full creative matrix across origin-destination demand segments.
AI scoring online
Daily creative scoring began auto-flagging underperformers — saving ~15 hours/week of review.
O-D restructure
Reorganised around origin-destination patterns, lifting Quality Score 28%.
6.1% CTR
CTR reached 6.1% and CPA settled 34% lower than launch.
What FareScraper kept.
Documented, portable, and owned by the client not locked inside our account.
- ✓AI creative-scoring systemDaily CTR/CPA scoring with auto-flagging.
- ✓40-creative test libraryThe full tested matrix and winners.
- ✓Origin-destination structureCampaign architecture by O-D pattern.
- ✓Intent keyword setComparison and competitor-brand targeting.
- ✓Quality Score playbookHow the 28% QS lift was achieved.
- ✓Creative scoring thresholdsThe pause rules that kill losers fast.
04 Why it worked
New entrants in travel meta-search are at a structural disadvantage — incumbents have Quality Score history that takes years to build. The AI creative scoring system was the unlock that compressed the testing timeline from months to weeks. 40 creatives across all demand segments gave the algorithm enough variety to find winners fast. Most new accounts launch with 5–10 creatives. We launched with 40 and a system to evaluate all of them daily.
Launching with 40 creatives and a system to grade them every day is how we caught up to incumbents in weeks, not years.