Conversion Rate Benchmarks for YOUR Industry (Exclusive Data!)

Whether you’re in home services, automotive, education, or any vertical in between, managing your business’s online advertising accounts means keeping track of a bunch of different metrics. You use search impression share to judge how well you’re performing in the Google Ads auction. You use engagement rate to see whether your messaging is resonating with your Meta audiences. Across both platforms, you turn to click-through rate to determine how compelling your ad copy really is.

But here’s the thing: If you want to drive substantial returns on your online advertising spend, then achieving high conversion rates and low costs per lead has to stay at the top of your mind.

A key step towards driving high conversion rates and low costs per conversion, of course, is defining what those things look like. What’s a high Google Ads conversion rate? What’s a good Meta Ads cost per lead? And how does conversion rate optimization change depending on what industry you’re in?

These are the questions we’re here to answer. With this guide, our goal is to provide the essential conversion rate benchmarks you need to get your conversion rate optimization (CRO) efforts off to the right start.

Contents

• Average Google Ads conversion rates by industry
• Average Google Ads cost per lead by industry
• Average Facebook Ads conversion rates by industry
• Average Facebook Ads cost per lead by industry

Conversion rate benchmarks for Google Ads

The average conversion rate across Google Ads is 7.52%. 

Note: We update this data regularly! Download the PDF of our latest Google Ads Benchmarks report here.

What’s interesting is the change in these conversion rate benchmarks over the years. The last time we calculated average Google Ads conversion rates, we found a benchmark of 6.96%. So, Google Ads average CVR across all industries has actually increased by 6.84% year over year.

Google Ads conversion rates tend to vary vertical to vertical, so here is a more granular breakdown of Google Ads CVR by industry:

 Are there opportunities to optimize your Google Ads for higher conversions? Find out instantly with the <a href="https://www.wordstream.com/google-adwords?cid=Web_Any_InContentTextLink_PPC_AWGrader_AWGrader">Free Google Ads Grader</a>.

How much does a Google Ads conversion cost?

The average cost per lead across Google Ads is $70.11.

Taking a look at the industries with the highest average costs per lead—Attorneys & Legal Services at $131.63, Furniture at $121.51, and Business Services at $103.54—we see a common theme: A longer sales cycle. In other words, if you’re marketing a product or service that people typically take a long time to mull over (e.g., a laptop, legal advice, etc.), you can expect to spend more money for each conversion you drive.

At the other end of the spectrum, inspiring prospects to take valuable actions isn’t quite as expensive in industries like Restaurants & Food, and Arts & Entertainment, both with a CPL of $30.27, and Animals & Pets with a CPL of $31.82. In the case of Automotive–Repair, Service & Parts, with an average CPL of $28.50, which you’d typically expect to be one with long sales cycles, the below-average cost per conversion is likely due (in part) to the sense of urgency people feel when it comes to issues with their cars.

Conversion rate benchmarks for Facebook Ads

The average conversion rate across Facebook Ad leads campaigns is 7.72%. 

If you’re responsible for marketing a bakery, bar, catering company, or some other restaurant or food-related business, failing to take advantage of Facebook Ads is a huge mistake. As you can see, the average advertiser in this industry converts clicks into meaningful actions at a rate of over 18%!

Advertisers within the industries of Attorneys and Legal Services, with a CVR of 10.53%, and Education and Instruction, with a CVR of 10.05% are doing great, too. It’s not a coincidence that businesses in each of these industries can benefit from the use of Facebook lead ads—an ad format that enables you to qualify prospects without sending them to an external landing page.

Clearly, however, Facebook lead ads are no silver bullet: Although advertisers in Furniture (3.77%), Physicians and Surgeons (4.51%), and Home and Home Improvement (5.22%) industries can certainly take advantage of this frictionless format, they might struggle to drive conversions nonetheless. For these businesses in particular, remarketing would be a fantastic use of the Facebook platform.

How much does a Facebook Ads conversion cost?

The average cost per conversion across Facebook Ads is $27.66.

You’ll find that most industries tend to have their Meta Ads CPLs average out lower than their Google Ads CPLs. For example, the average Education advertiser can expect to cough up just over $90 for each conversion on the Google search network. For each Facebook conversion, however, the average cost is under $29! Of course, the conversions you drive with your search ads may tend to be more valuable than the conversions you drive with your Facebook ads. Nonetheless, if you’re in Restaurants and Food ($3.16), Real Estate ($16.61), and Career and Employment ($17.64), make sure you’re taking advantage of your ability to drive cheap high-funnel conversions on Facebook.

It’s not totally surprising that advertisers in the Dentists and Dental Services ($76.71), Health and Fitness ($52.98), and Beauty and Personal Care ($51.42) industries are investing good amounts of money in each Facebook conversion. Typically, when someone needs a dental solution, they’re turning to Google search. Meanwhile, health and fitness, as well as beauty and personal care ads, can be extremely competitive across Meta platforms. To be clear, however, that doesn’t mean you should overlook the value of using Facebook to spread and maintain brand awareness.

Use industry conversion rate benchmarks to your advantage!

Our goal with these conversion rate and cost per conversion benchmarks is to give you the competitive insights you need to get a leg up on the other businesses in your space across the major online advertising channels. The data is pretty simple, but it can be powerful all the same.

With each category of conversion rate averages comes a range of insights you can use to drive better returns on your online advertising spend. For more ways to make the most of this data and maximize your CVRs across platforms, see how our solutions can help!

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