Invalid Clicks & Fake Leads
Paid Search campaigns suffered from invalid clicks, while programmatic and email channels generated fake leads that flooded the sales pipeline with nonexistent contacts.
Case Study · Education
How IMF Smart Education Saved 3% of Ad Spend and Quadrupled ROAS
Opticks helped IMF Smart Education prevent invalid traffic from impacting results, reduce fake leads from 10% to 1%, and quadruple ROAS to an average of 3,369% — saving €9,000 per month.
€9K/mo Saved monthly
10%→1% Fake leads reduced
3,369% Avg ROAS
Trusted by 6,000+ businesses · €6M+ in recovered ad spend
The Client
IMF Smart Education: Leader in Higher Education
IMF Smart Education is a leader in higher education based in Spain, with over 20 years of global recognition. The institution has trained more than 150,000 professionals worldwide across Europe and Latin America, offering 900 worldwide-ranked programs. IMF is a member of the MBA Association (AMBA).
With a significant investment in digital advertising across Google Ads, programmatic, and email channels, IMF needed to ensure their paid campaigns were reaching real prospective students — not wasting budget on invalid clicks and fake leads.
20+ years of global recognition — a leader in higher education based in Spain
150,000 professionals trained worldwide across Europe and Latin America
900 worldwide-ranked programs — member of the MBA Association (AMBA)
The Challenge
Invalid Traffic in Paid Campaigns
IMF Smart Education faced invalid clicks in Paid Search, fake leads in programmatic and email advertising, and a reactive approach — blocking IPs after flagging — that didn’t prevent the problem. Their sales team wasted time contacting nonexistent leads, damaging the brand by reaching people who hadn’t shared their data.
Reactive, Not Preventive
The team was manually blocking invalid emails and IP addresses after flagging them — but fraud had already consumed the budget by then. Opticks prevents ads from being shown to invalid IPs in the first place, stopping fraud before it costs money rather than reacting after the damage is done.
Wasted Sales Effort & Brand Damage
The sales team was demotivated, spending time contacting nonexistent leads. Worse, reaching people who hadn’t shared their data caused brand damage and compliance concerns.
“Opticks solution is very intuitive to use. Once we integrated the solution, it was very easy for the team to learn how to use it.”
José Antonio Redondo — Media Manager, IMF Smart Education
The Solution
How Opticks Helps IMF Fight Ad Fraud
After comparing several providers, IMF concluded Opticks is “the most holistic, full-funnel, and multi-channel ad fraud prevention solution on the market.” They needed to prevent invalid traffic from impacting results, maximise budget, and analyse at click, lead, campaign, and channel level.
- 1
Full-Funnel Fraud Prevention
Marketing and sales teams can now be confident that only valid clicks and leads enter the funnel. All advertising fraud is uncovered and completely prevented — from click to lead to conversion.
- 2
Data-Driven Partner Selection
IMF can now make more informed decisions based on real campaign performance. They safely select the best partners and agencies with certainty they’re only charged for valid leads.
- 3
Traffic Quality Improvement
Reliable data on ad fraud rates boosted overall traffic quality. Opticks automatically prevents ads from being shown to invalid IPs in Google Ads — a feature IMF described as “highly energy-saving” compared to their previous manual approach.
“We can identify the real performance of each traffic source and adjust spend towards higher quality channels and campaigns.”
José Antonio Redondo — Media Manager, IMF Smart Education
Want the same visibility for your campaigns?
Get Your Free Traffic AuditThe Results
Measurable Impact Across Every Channel
€9K/mo Monthly savings 3% of total ad spend recovered
5% Fake clicks (Google Search) Invalid traffic in Paid Search
10%→1% Fake leads reduced From 10% to just 1% of all leads
3,369% Average ROAS vs 615% industry average
Opticks uncovered 5% fake clicks in Google Paid Search, reduced fake leads from 10% to just 1%, and helped IMF achieve 3,369% average ROAS — saving €9,000 per month.
€9,000/month saved — 3% of total ad spend recovered by preventing invalid traffic from reaching campaigns.
Fake leads dropped from 10% to 1% — sales team now contacts only real prospective students.
3,369% average ROAS vs the 615% industry average — driven by clean traffic data.
Automated IP prevention in Google Ads — ads no longer shown to invalid IPs, replacing manual approach.
Data Deep Dive
How Key Metrics Evolved With Opticks
Average ROAS of 3,369%
ROAS rose sharply from March 2022, stabilising around 4,000% before peaking at 7,700% in August. Average of 3,369% — more than 5× the industry average of 615%.
% Invalid Leads (Global)
Invalid leads plummeted from 11% in November 2021 to 2% in December after Opticks deployment, then gradually declined to 1.5% by July 2022.
No credit card required · Setup in 5 minutes
What They Said
Trusted by IMF’s Marketing Team
Opticks is the most holistic, full-funnel, and multi-channel ad fraud prevention solution on the market. The automated prevention of ads being shown to invalid IPs in Google Ads is highly energy-saving compared to our previous manual approach.
Biggest Impact
From Reactive Blocking to Automated Prevention
With Opticks, IMF Smart Education transformed their approach from manually blocking IPs after the fact to fully automated, real-time fraud prevention. The result: cleaner data, motivated sales teams, and dramatically improved acquisition metrics.
€9,000 saved monthly. 3% of total ad spend recovered by detecting and preventing invalid traffic across Google Ads, programmatic, and email.
Fake leads reduced from 10% to 1%. Sales team no longer wastes time contacting nonexistent prospects — morale and conversion rates both improved.
3,369% average ROAS achieved. More than 5× the industry average of 615%, driven by investing only in validated traffic sources.
Automated IP prevention in Google Ads. Ads are no longer shown to invalid IPs — a feature IMF described as “highly energy-saving.”
Data-driven partner selection. IMF can now evaluate agencies and partners based on real campaign performance, ensuring they only pay for valid leads.
Beyond Education
These Patterns Exist in Every Paid Channel
Invalid traffic inflating CPAs, polluting optimisation algorithms, and draining budgets — these patterns are consistent across every industry running paid digital advertising. What will your traffic audit reveal?
E-Commerce Lead Generation SaaS Financial Services Travel & Hospitality Agencies
Audit Your Traffic for FreeFrequently Asked Questions
FAQs
How does invalid traffic affect higher education advertising?
Education is highly competitive with expensive keywords. Invalid traffic inflates CPCs, wastes budget on fake clicks, and fills the sales pipeline with fake leads. IMF Smart Education found 5% fake clicks in Google Paid Search and 10% fake leads — meaning their sales team was contacting nonexistent prospects and wasting valuable time.
How much did IMF Smart Education save with Opticks?
IMF saves €9,000 per month — 3% of their total ad spend. They also reduced fake leads from 10% to 1% and achieved an average ROAS of 3,369%, compared to the industry average of 615%. The savings come from preventing invalid traffic across Google Ads, programmatic, and email channels.
How does Opticks reduce fake leads for education companies?
Opticks prevents invalid traffic from entering the funnel, stopping fake leads from reaching the sales team. IMF’s fake lead rate dropped from 10% to just 1%. This means sales reps only contact real prospective students, improving morale and conversion rates while eliminating brand damage from contacting people who never shared their data.
How long does it take to set up Opticks?
Most clients are up and running in under 5 minutes. Opticks uses a lightweight JavaScript tag that works with Google Ads, programmatic platforms, email advertising, and more. No developer integration is required. IMF described the solution as “very intuitive to use” with easy team onboarding.
Can Opticks automate fraud prevention in Google Ads?
Yes. Opticks automatically prevents ads from being shown to invalid IPs in Google Ads. IMF described this as “highly energy-saving” compared to their previous manual approach of flagging and blocking IPs one by one. The prevention runs continuously, protecting campaigns 24/7 without manual intervention.
Why did IMF choose Opticks over other solutions?
After comparing several providers, IMF concluded that Opticks is “the most holistic, full-funnel, and multi-channel ad fraud prevention solution on the market.” They needed a tool that could analyse at click, lead, campaign, and channel level — and prevent invalid traffic from impacting results, not react after the fact.
Why is my ROAS declining even though I’m increasing ad spend?
If your ROAS is dropping while budgets grow, a hidden cause may be invalid traffic consuming your spend before it reaches real users. Bots, fake clicks, and fraudulent leads inflate your cost per acquisition without generating real conversions. IMF Smart Education had the same problem — once they deployed Opticks to filter invalid traffic across every channel, their ROAS quadrupled to 3,369%. A full-funnel traffic quality audit can reveal how much budget is actually reaching real prospects.
Is there a tool that analyses traffic quality across all my paid channels in one place?
Yes. Opticks is a full-funnel, multi-channel traffic quality platform that analyses every click, lead, and conversion across Google Ads, programmatic, social, email, and affiliate channels from a single dashboard. Instead of checking each platform separately, you get a unified view of which sources send real users and which send invalid traffic — broken down by campaign, partner, geography, and device. IMF uses it to evaluate every agency and partner based on actual validated performance.
Why is my sales team contacting leads that don’t exist or never signed up?
Fake leads from invalid traffic are a common but invisible problem in paid advertising. Bots and fraudulent sources submit forms with fabricated data, filling your CRM with contacts that will never convert. This wastes sales time, demotivates teams, and can damage your brand when you contact people who never shared their information. IMF reduced fake leads from 10% to 1% with Opticks by preventing invalid traffic from entering their funnel in the first place — before it reaches the sales team.
How can I tell which ad agencies or partners are sending me low-quality traffic?
Without a traffic validation layer, you can only judge partners by reported clicks and conversions — metrics that don’t distinguish real users from bots. Opticks gives you a per-partner, per-campaign breakdown of traffic validity so you can see exactly which sources deliver real prospects and which deliver junk. IMF used this data to make informed decisions about partner selection and to reallocate budget toward the channels that actually drive enrolments, not inflated numbers.
Get Started
Stop Paying for Clicks That Will Never Convert
IMF Smart Education saved €9,000/month, reduced fake leads from 10% to 1%, and achieved 3,369% ROAS. See exactly how much of your ad spend is going to invalid traffic.
No commitment required · Results visible within days · Trusted by 6,000+ businesses