How a family-run shutter business in Huddersfield won a customer through ChatGPT

Roomscape Shutters is a family-run plantation shutter business in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. We've managed their Google Ads since August 2023 on a total budget of under £1,000 a month. In May 2026 we added our AI Foundation package so that tools like ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and Copilot could understand and recommend them. Very early into that work, a new customer told Paul Warren she had found Roomscape through ChatGPT. She went ahead with the purchase.

Key results

• 538 conversions and 24,166 clicks from Google Ads, on under £1,000 a month

• 10.68% click-through rate on the core Yorkshire search campaign

• AI discoverability score up from 22 to 61 out of 100 in six weeks

• First customer won through ChatGPT

• Their most successful sales month to date

• 5.0 star Google rating from 47 reviews

The Business

Roomscape Shutters is a family-run business based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, specialising in the supply and fitting of bespoke plantation shutters. Founded around 2016 by Paul Warren, the company offers a complete service from initial home consultation through to made-to-measure fitting, covering homes and occasionally commercial properties across West Yorkshire.

“It all began about 10 years ago when a friend of ours started a shutter company in the Manchester area. We were looking for a business opportunity and this seemed like the ideal one as there were no smaller shutter companies in our area.”

— Paul Warren, Owner

What sets Roomscape Shutters apart from larger national competitors is the personal, end-to-end service. Paul handles surveying and fitting himself, supported by Anne Warren on administration and Angus Froste as a second fitter. There are no separate sales teams or subcontractors — customers deal directly with the people doing the work.

“A lot of companies employ sales teams, surveyors and fitters separately whereas we provide the full through service from start to finish. The fact that our customers can contact us directly to discuss any issues seems to be much appreciated.”

— Paul Warren

The business holds a 5.0-star Google rating from 47 reviews and a 4.9-star rating on Yell — reflecting a consistent standard of work and customer care. Their typical customer base skews towards couples in their late twenties and thirties who are purchasing their first home or renovating.

The Challenge

Before partnering with Gregory Marketing in 2023, Paul and Anne had tried several marketing approaches — none of which delivered consistent, measurable results.

They had run Facebook and Instagram campaigns, but found these attracted browsers rather than buyers. A leaflet drop targeting new-build housing estates produced nothing. Most significantly, they had been paying Yell to manage their Google Ads — an expensive arrangement that was not delivering the return they needed to sustain it.

“Marketing seemed an impossibly complicated and costly pursuit. We were getting some new customers via Google, but we couldn’t sustain the costs that Yell were asking for without measurable results.”

— Paul and Anne Warren

“We tried boosted Facebook and Instagram posts that didn’t necessarily target the right customer base. The problem was we were getting a lot of browsers, but not many people who were looking to purchase. We also tried leafleting new build estates with no results.”

— Paul and Anne Warren

The core issue was not a lack of willingness to invest in marketing — it was the absence of a partner who could make that investment work within the budget a small, family-run business could afford.

Chapter 1: Google Ads

Taking Control (August 2023)

Roomscape Shutters began working with Gregory Marketing (WeOptimise.ai) in August 2023. Paul and Anne already understood that Google Ads could work for them — the challenge was managing it properly on a realistic budget.

“We had already tried Google Ads, but couldn’t manage this ourselves. We were aware it could be useful, but needed guidance on how to put this into practice on a budget that we could afford.”

— Paul Warren

The first step was building a campaign structure designed for a small, local business with a modest budget. Rather than casting a wide net, the approach focused on phrase-match keywords targeting people actively searching for plantation shutters in Yorkshire. The daily budget was deliberately kept low — every pound had to count.

Strong Results from Launch (Late 2023 – Summer 2024)

The campaigns delivered from the start. Within the first few months, enquiries were coming in and conversion numbers grew steadily — reaching 11 per month by December 2023. By spring 2024, the account was generating 28–35 conversions per month. August 2024 was the peak volume month, with 36 conversions in a single month.

The budget was increased by around 30% during this period as the account proved it could deliver returns — still well under £1,000 per month. Campaigns were refined continuously: underperforming keywords were paused, bids were adjusted based on location and device performance, and negative keywords were added to filter out irrelevant traffic.

The volume was strong. But as the campaigns matured, the focus shifted from how many leads were coming in to how many of those leads were turning into actual paying jobs.

Period	Budget	Conversions	Clicks	What Changed
Aug–Dec 2023	Starting budget	3 → 11	~447/mo	Campaign setup and keyword testing
Jan–Aug 2024	+30%	12 → 36	~937/mo	Budget increase, bid refinement, negative keywords
Sep 2024–Apr 2025	Held steady	20 – 29	~1,197/mo	Performance Max added, wider reach
May 2025–Apr 2026	Held steady	4 – 17	~229/mo	Quality focus: tighter targeting, higher-converting leads
May–Aug 2026	+15%	8 – 11	~282/mo	AI foundation layer added alongside Ads

Refining for Quality (Late 2024 – Early 2025)

With a Performance Max campaign introduced alongside the core search campaigns and a Display remarketing campaign still running, the account reached its widest reach — March 2025 alone generated over 91,000 impressions and 1,749 clicks.

Conversion volumes remained high, but Paul and Anne’s feedback was invaluable: not all of these enquiries were converting into booked jobs. Some were browsers, some were outside the service area, and some were price-shopping without genuine intent. This is a natural stage in any paid search account — the initial setup delivers volume, and the ongoing management is about progressively improving the quality of that volume.

That feedback shaped the next phase of the strategy. Rather than chasing ever-higher conversion counts on a dashboard, the focus shifted to ensuring the enquiries that came through were from people genuinely ready to buy.

Tighter Targeting, Better Leads (Mid-2025 Onwards)

From May 2025, the campaigns were systematically tightened. The remarketing display campaign was paused. Keyword targeting was narrowed to the terms and locations that had historically produced paying customers. Bids were reduced on broad terms and increased on high-intent, location-specific searches.

Monthly impressions dropped from tens of thousands to 2,000–8,000 and click volumes fell accordingly — but that was the point. The leads that came through were now far more likely to become actual jobs. Fewer enquiries, but better ones.

The top-performing keyword across the entire account, "plantation shutters", generated 3,384 clicks over the lifetime of the campaign. Location-specific terms told an even stronger story: "plantation shutters leeds" converted at over 10%, and "shutter blinds wakefield" at 3.3% — both significantly above industry averages for home improvement services.

“Once we started working with Chris and Jo, the relevant enquiries picked up. The enquiries were turning into jobs on a more regular basis.”

— Paul Warren

Paul confirmed that when asking customers how they found Roomscape Shutters, the answer was consistently the same.

“If it wasn’t from a recommendation, the answer was more often than not from a Google search.”

— Paul Warren

The Campaign Structure Today

The current account runs three active campaigns, each with a distinct role:

Search Campaign Yorkshire Only — the core workhorse, targeting phrase-match shutter keywords across West Yorkshire. It originally ran on enhanced CPC bidding; since Google phased that out for Search, bids have been managed manually, weighted towards the terms and locations that turn into paying jobs. This campaign alone has delivered 48 conversions since September 2024 at a click-through rate of 10.68%.

Search Campaign All UK — a secondary search campaign targeting location-specific terms like "plantation shutters Leeds" and "shutter blinds Wakefield", capturing demand from surrounding areas at a 9.82% CTR.

Performance Max — a broader campaign leveraging Google’s automated targeting, delivering 86 conversions and complementing the precision of the search campaigns.

The total monthly budget across all campaigns remains under £1,000. For a small family business, this is a carefully managed investment, not a blank cheque. Every campaign change, bid adjustment, and keyword decision has been made with that constraint in mind.

Chapter 2: AI Discoverability

A New Kind of Search (May 2026)

In May 2026, WeOptimise.ai introduced Roomscape Shutters to AI Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO). The premise was straightforward — the way people search is changing. Tools like ChatGPT, Google AI Overview, Perplexity, and Microsoft Copilot are increasingly the first place consumers turn when researching products and services. Businesses that are not structured to be understood by these AI systems simply do not appear in their recommendations.

Paul and Anne’s initial reaction was honest — and typical of most small business owners encountering this concept for the first time.

“Not straight away — we don’t personally use it for searches. However, after a very enlightening conversation with Chris and Joanne, we were convinced this would be a growing trend for people to search for ideas on home improvements.”

— Paul and Anne Warren

What We Did

Before any technical work began, Roomscape Shutters was assessed against a proprietary AI Discoverability Scorecard — a benchmark measuring the technical signals that AI systems use to identify, trust, and recommend local businesses. The initial score was 22 out of 100. The business was essentially invisible to AI search tools.

The AI Foundation package addressed this through a series of targeted technical implementations:

Structured schema markup — LocalBusiness and HomeAndConstructionBusiness schema was added to the website, giving AI crawlers a machine-readable description of exactly who Roomscape Shutters is, what they do, where they operate, and how to contact them.

FAQPage schema — 11 frequently asked questions, drawn directly from the real questions Paul answers on the phone every week, were structured in a format that AI tools can read and cite in their responses.

Blog content with Article schema — the first blog post was written and published with full structured markup, giving AI systems original, authoritative content to reference when recommending shutter businesses.

Technical audit and remediation — conflicting code on the website was identified and flagged for resolution, ensuring the signals being sent to AI crawlers were consistent and accurate.

Within six weeks, the AI Discoverability Score had risen from 22 to 61 out of 100 — nearly tripling.

22/100 AI SCORE — MAY 2026

61/100 AI SCORE — JUNE 2026

6 Weeks TIME TO ACHIEVE

The Moment It Clicked

Very early into the AI discoverability work, Paul received a phone call that changed the conversation entirely. A customer had found Roomscape Shutters using ChatGPT.

“The customer volunteered that she had found us using ChatGPT. She showed me the image from the search to illustrate what shutters might look like in her window. This gave us a great starting point to discuss detailed specifications and she went ahead with the purchase.”

— Paul Warren

This is significant not just because it demonstrates that the AI work delivered a tangible result, but because of how AI changed the nature of the sales conversation. The customer arrived having already seen an AI-generated visualisation of plantation shutters in her own window. She understood what the product would look like. The conversation moved straight to specifications — materials, louvre sizes, colour options — and she converted to a sale.

AI did not just generate the lead. It helped close it.

Since the AI work went live, Paul and Anne have reported a notable increase in enquiries and sales across the board — even beyond that first ChatGPT customer.

“We haven’t had any further discussions with customers about AI specifically. However, we have definitely had an increase in enquiries and sales in the past couple of months. Last month was our most successful ever in terms of sales.”

— Paul and Anne Warren

The Partnership

Paul and Anne are clear about what has made this partnership work — and how it compares to their previous experiences with marketing providers.

“So good! Calm, knowledgeable and approachable. If there is anything we aren’t sure about or need to discuss, Chris and Jo respond quickly with excellent advice and reassurance. Our previous experience with marketing companies have left us confused and floundering. Chris and Jo have taken the jargon and complexity out of it for us.”

— Paul and Anne Warren

When asked whether they would recommend this kind of work to other small businesses, their answer was unequivocal.

“Yes, definitely. Marketing is essential and it seems to be ever changing with lots of companies offering new approaches that can be overwhelming. Chris and Jo are abreast of the developments and our results in the past two months would indicate that this is moving us in the right direction.”

— Paul and Anne Warren

Looking Ahead

Paul and Anne’s ambitions for Roomscape Shutters reflect what drives most family-run businesses — not exponential growth for its own sake, but the kind of steady, reliable demand that lets you plan ahead with confidence.

“To make the enquiries and sales more consistent to allow us to plan employing a regular contractor.”

— Paul Warren

The Google Ads campaigns continue to run, delivering a consistent stream of high-quality leads from people actively searching for plantation shutters in Yorkshire. The AI foundation is in place and already producing results. The next phase of work — expanding the business’s presence across platforms like Pinterest, Bing Places, and Houzz, enhancing the Google Business Profile, and continuing to publish content that AI systems can cite — will build on what has already been achieved.

Paul and Anne closed their interview with a message that sums up the relationship.

“Just to say Thank You. It’s been a pleasure so far.”

— Paul and Anne Warren

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Frequently asked questions

How did Roomscape Shutters get a customer from ChatGPT?

A customer used ChatGPT to research plantation shutters, and it recommended Roomscape Shutters. She also saw an AI-generated image of shutters in her own window. She contacted Paul already knowing what she wanted, so the conversation went straight to specifications, and she went ahead with the purchase.

What is AI Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO)?

AEO is the work of making a business easy for AI tools such as ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot to understand, trust and recommend. It uses structured data, clear FAQ content and consistent technical signals on the website.

What did the AI Foundation package include for Roomscape Shutters?

LocalBusiness and HomeAndConstructionBusiness schema, FAQPage schema built from 11 real customer questions, a first blog post with Article schema, and a technical audit that flagged conflicting code on the website.

How quickly did the AI discoverability score improve?

Roomscape Shutters' AI Discoverability Score rose from 22 out of 100 in May 2026 to 61 out of 100 in June 2026, within six weeks.

How much does Roomscape Shutters spend on Google Ads?

The total monthly budget across all campaigns is under £1,000. Since August 2023 the account has delivered 538 conversions and 24,166 clicks.

Does a small local business still need Google Ads if it is working on AI search?

For Roomscape Shutters, the two work together. Google Ads brings in a steady flow of people actively searching for shutters in Yorkshire, while the AI work makes sure the business is also recommended when customers research through AI tools.

Can ChatGPT find your business?

We assess every new AI client against our AI Discoverability Scorecard – the same benchmark that took Roomscape Shutters from 22 to 61. If you'd like to know where your business stands, get in touch with Jo on jo@gregorymarketing.co.uk or 020 3302 7872.