How-to · Updated October 11, 2026
Give your lead conversions a real value in Google Ads
Updated October 11, 2026
30 minutes
Give each lead conversion a real value: your average sale times the share of leads that become customers. In Google Ads, open Goals, Conversions, Summary, click the action, then Edit settings and Value. Then change the amount your call tracker sends, which can default to 1. Changes apply only to new conversions.
Before you start
- Your numbers for the last few months. Write down how many leads came in, how many became paying customers, and what an average sale was worth.
- Access to Google Ads and your call tracker. The tracker matters only if it sends calls to Google Ads as conversions.
Work out what one lead is worth
A lead is worth your average sale multiplied by the share of leads that buy, so work it out before you open Google Ads.
- Count the leads from the last three to six months and how many became paying customers. The second divided by the first is your close rate.
- Work out the average sale, or average gross profit if margins vary a lot between services.
- Multiply the two. A worked example: say 1 lead in 5 becomes a sale and the average sale brings in $3,000 of profit, so each lead is worth $600.
- If calls and form submissions close at very different rates, work out a value for each. Google's own example values calls at $5 and sign-ups at $20, which says a sign-up is worth four calls.
Set the value on each lead conversion action
Every conversion action carries its own value setting, and Google's default when you create a website action is 1, so open each lead action and set your number.
- In Google Ads, click the Goals icon, open the Conversions drop-down and click Summary.
- Click the name of a lead action, such as a form submission or a call, then click Edit settings.
- Under Value, choose Use the same value for each conversion and enter your lead value. If the website tag or a call tracker sends its own value for each lead, choose Use different values for each conversion instead and enter your lead value as the default, which Google uses when no value is sent.
- Click Save, then Done. Repeat for every lead action, starting with the ones set to Primary, since those are the ones bidding uses.
Google says a new value applies only to conversions that happen after the change, and usually takes effect within a few hours. Past conversions keep the value they were recorded with.
Change the value your call tracker sends
A call tracker that uploads calls to Google Ads sends its own amount with each one, and CallTrackingMetrics sends 1 unless someone changes it.
- In CallTrackingMetrics, open Settings, then Integrations, then Google Ads Direct Connect.
- Open the Global Lead or Sales rules (click Add Workflow to open the section) and replace the amount of 1 with your lead value. These rules apply to every mapped account, so if accounts with different lead values share the integration, do not leave them on one shared figure. If a mapping uses an account trigger instead of the global rules, the amount is set in that trigger.
- If your team scores calls with a sale amount in CallTrackingMetrics, put the Conversion Amount token, {{sale.value}}, in the Sales rule instead of a fixed number, so each sale carries what it actually earned. Keep a fixed lead value on the Lead rule, which fires before a call is scored.
- Make sure the matching action in Google Ads is set to Use different values for each conversion, so the amount the tracker sends is the one recorded.
Check it worked
After a few days of new leads, open Campaigns and add the conversion value column, the sum of all conversion values, beside Conversions. Divide conversion value by conversions for the days since the change: the result should sit near your lead value (or between your values, if calls and forms have different ones), not near 1.
Conversions recorded before the change keep their old value, so start the date range the day after you saved, and compare whole days.
Why a value of 1 matters to bidding
Google's Maximize conversion value and Target ROAS bid strategies set bids from conversion values. A counted lead worth 1 next to anything given a real value tells them that lead barely matters, so bidding can drift toward the bigger number.
A tracker sends real amounts, but one flat figure shows
Google's API reference describes a setting that uses the default value in place of the value sent with each conversion. If that happens, open the action's Value setting and confirm it says Use different values for each conversion.
Google will not take a value of 0
CallTrackingMetrics notes that Google will not accept a value of 0. If a type of lead is worth nothing to you, set it to Secondary (observe only) in its goal rather than giving it a token amount. Google's one exception: an action in a custom goal is still used for bidding.