Setting Realistic Conversion Benchmarks for New PPC Campaigns

One of the most common questions when launching a new PPC campaign is:

“When will we get our first conversion?”

While general industry benchmarks are a helpful starting point, I’ve found that more account-specific benchmarks lead to better expectations—and better campaign analysis. Especially in performance marketing, where every click and conversion matters, having a framework for forecasting results is critical.

Here’s how I set more realistic, data-informed benchmarks for new campaigns across Google Ads and LinkedIn Ads—and how you can apply the same approach to your own work.

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Why Benchmarks Matter (But Need Customization)

Let’s face it—nobody likes flying blind. If you’ve ever launched a new campaign and sat refreshing the dashboard, wondering when that first lead or sale will come through, you’re not alone.

Industry benchmarks (like “the average Google Ads conversion rate is 3%”) are a good jumping-off point, but they can be misleading if taken as gospel. Every account is different—different audience, different offer, different goals. So instead of relying only on broad benchmarks, I like to use account-level data when available, and back into expectations using a simple but effective process.

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For Google Ads Search: Use Your Conversion Rate and CPCs

When setting expectations for Google Search campaigns, I start by looking at two key metrics:

• The account’s average conversion rate
• The average cost-per-click (CPC) for the keywords I’m targeting in the new campaign

Let’s say the account has an average conversion rate of 3%. That means, on average, 1 out of every 33 clicks turns into a conversion.

So, if your new campaign is targeting keywords with an average CPC of $4, then you’d need to budget around:

33 clicks x $4 CPC = $132

This gives you a baseline estimate of how much budget may be required before you can reasonably expect the first conversion. It doesn’t guarantee a conversion at that exact point, but it provides a performance benchmark to guide your early analysis.

If you’re working with a brand-new account and have no historical data, an industry conversion rate benchmark is a fine starting point—just make sure to update it once real performance data rolls in.

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For LinkedIn Ads: Factor in Lead Form Opens

The same logic applies to LinkedIn Ads, but with a slight twist—especially when using LinkedIn’s native lead gen forms.

Here’s what I watch:

• Lead form opens (when someone clicks the CTA to view the form)
• Lead form completions (when someone actually fills it out)

Since LinkedIn gives you visibility into these two steps, you can use lead form opens as an intermediate conversion signal. Based on past campaigns, I typically see 20–30 lead form opens before a form submission comes through. That gives me a second benchmark to work with while tracking campaign performance.

If your offer is strong and the form is optimized, you may see conversions faster. If not, it’s a signal to evaluate your creative, CTA, or form friction.

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Monitoring Performance Against Your Benchmarks

Once the campaign is live, I track actual performance against these calculated benchmarks:

• Are we pacing toward the expected click volume needed for a conversion?
• Are lead form opens lining up with the estimated range?
• Are we getting conversions earlier than expected (amazing!) or later (possible red flag)?

If the campaign converts before hitting the estimated threshold, that’s usually a good sign—your offer or targeting might be stronger than anticipated.

On the flip side, if you’ve hit your estimated number of clicks or form opens without a conversion, it’s worth reviewing:

• Your ad creative and CTA (is it compelling enough?)
• Your offer (is it valuable to your audience?)
• Your landing page or lead form (is there too much friction?)

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Final Thoughts: Give Yourself Better Data to Work With

PPC campaigns are experiments. But just like in any good experiment, having a hypothesis and measurable expectations helps you interpret the results. Instead of asking “why isn’t it working?” you can ask, “how does this compare to what we expected?”

Setting realistic, data-informed benchmarks based on your specific account conditions makes performance analysis much more actionable. Whether you’re running Google Search or LinkedIn Ads, this approach helps you avoid guesswork, stay objective, and pivot faster when needed.

If you need help reviewing campaign performance or building out your first benchmarks, feel free to reach out—I’d be happy to take a look.