Best Practice Media · Free marketing tools
Work backward from a new-customer goal using CPC, lead conversion, qualification and close rates. Compare the required media budget with your available spend and include management costs.
All starting values are illustrative examples. Replace them with your own figures. USD is used throughout.
For a lead-generation funnel, divide the desired new-customer count by the click-to-lead, lead-qualification and qualified-lead close rates to find the clicks needed. Multiply those clicks by CPC to model media spend. Enter percentages as percentages: 5 means 5%, while the formula uses 0.05.
A goal of 10 new customers, $5 CPC, 5% click-to-lead rate, 50% qualification and 20% close rate needs 2,000 clicks. That is $10,000 in media, or $11,500 including $1,000 management and $500 other acquisition costs. At $5,000 media spend, the same assumptions give 1,000 clicks, 50 leads, 25 qualified leads and 5 customers. These are illustrative arithmetic scenarios.
Google explains average daily budgets using a 30.4-day monthly equivalent. Daily delivery can vary, and platform spending limits and campaign settings still apply. This tool does not change an advertising account.
Use the same campaign scope and customer definition across the rates. Do not multiply a qualification rate from one channel by a close rate from a different sales motion. Separate lead capture from qualification and sales, and account for lag between the click and the sale.
For direct ecommerce purchases, use the click-to-purchase rate in the click-to-lead field and set qualification and close rates to 100%. Treat the goal as new customers only if the purchases are from new customers. For an order goal, label it as orders in your own planning notes; repeat orders do not establish customer acquisition.
Higher spend can change CPC, traffic quality and conversion rates. This model holds them constant. It does not estimate available search demand, impression share, incrementality, customer value or cash-flow payback. Validate the assumptions with campaign results and customer records before scaling.
It calculates the media spend required under your entered assumptions. It does not establish available demand, auction prices or a profitable budget. Use it to compare scenarios and identify which assumptions need evidence.
No finite media budget can deliver a positive customer goal through a stage with a zero rate in this model. The goal budget and related undefined costs are labeled accordingly; the available-budget funnel still shows its arithmetic.
No. It is the monthly goal media budget divided by 30.4 for a Google Ads average-daily equivalent. Individual daily spend can vary. Check platform rules and your campaign settings separately.
Media goes to the advertising platform; management and other acquisition costs affect the total investment. Keep allocations consistent and avoid counting the same cost twice. Use the CAC calculator for a fuller acquisition-cost view.
Expected counts under fixed rates can be fractional. A result such as 4.5 is a planning expectation, not half a real customer or a guaranteed outcome. The clicks required for the positive goal are rounded up.
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