From volume to value: how Stone Ward drove higher intent leads for JF Fitness, a Crunch Fitness franchisee

Stone Ward partnered with TikTok to help grow the client base of JF Fitness, a Crunch Fitness franchise, using Lead Ads campaigns. Early activations were optimized for form submissions, capturing strong top-of-funnel lead volume.
To elevate lead quality and reach users further along the purchase journey, the team introduced Deep Funnel Optimization (DFO) - shifting from basic form fills to purchase, a lower-funnel action that reflects stronger intent to become a client. Because this is a higher-commitment step, DFO conversion rates were lower than the standard Lead Ads (~8%), which is expected when optimizing for deeper actions.
However, those purchase events were substantially more valuable. Over the course of the campaign, DFO achieved a 12% reduction in cost per lead as signal quality improved, and cost per qualified lead steadily declined. At the same time, the leads captured through DFO showed higher purchase intent and stronger downstream conversion potential, contributing to a 52% decrease in cost per purchase and signaling that the campaign was effectively connecting JF Fitness with prospects more likely to become paying members.
By pairing high-volume TikTok Lead Ads with purchase-focused Deep Funnel Optimization (DFO), Stone Ward helped JF Fitness shift its lead generation strategy from prioritizing volume to prioritizing value. This blended approach allowed the brand to maintain scale at the top of the funnel while introducing stronger intent signals further down the journey.
As signal quality improved over time, JF Fitness saw a 12% reduction in cost per lead alongside a 52% decrease in cost per purchase, as performance shifted from basic form submissions to lower-funnel membership purchases. Leads generated through DFO demonstrated higher purchase intent and stronger downstream conversion potential, positioning future campaigns for more efficient growth and improved ROI.
Through months of testing, we evolved the TikTok strategy for JF Fitness to focus exclusively on lead generation. Deep funnel optimization helped us attract higher-intent prospects, revealing the conversion levers needed to turn leads into memberships.