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Customer retention goal

The customer retention goal is a Google Ads lifecycle goal that helps campaigns win back lapsed customers by giving their purchases extra conversion value.

How it works

Google Ads has three customer lifecycle goals: new customer acquisition, customer retention and loyalty retention. You set the retention goal once per account, and it covers all its campaigns. It needs a Performance Max campaign and a Customer Match list of your customers, marked with a type such as disengaged or high-value purchasers.

You enter two amounts: extra conversion value for a purchase by a lapsed customer, and a larger one for a high-value lapsed customer. Bidding then treats those purchases as worth more, and a campaign can override the amounts. By default (“Bid higher for lapsed customers”) the campaign still serves all customers and bids higher for lapsed ones. The “Only bid for lapsed customers” mode is open only to allowlisted accounts.

The amounts are your own estimate. What a returning customer brings across later orders is customer lifetime value, which only your sales data shows. That number guides the choice between the retention goal and a lower target ROAS. Loyalty programme members have a goal of their own, explained in loyalty programmes and Google Ads.

Example

Example store, not client data.

The tableware shop’s average order value is 600. It sets an extra value of 150 for lapsed customers and 300 for high-value ones. Bidding then counts a lapsed customer’s 600 order as 750, and a high-value lapsed customer’s as 900. The high-value amount must be the larger one, or Google rejects the setting.

Not to be confused with

  • New customer acquisition goal — adds value to a new customer’s first purchase. The retention goal adds it to purchases by lapsed customers.
  • Remarketing — showing ads to people who have already visited or bought: a choice of audience. The retention goal changes what a purchase is worth to bidding and by default leaves the audience unchanged.

Right and wrong readings

  • Wrong: “With the retention goal on, the campaign shows ads only to lapsed customers.” Right: by default it serves everyone and values lapsed customers’ purchases higher; the lapsed-only mode needs an allowlist.
  • Wrong: “Google now counts each customer’s lifetime value.” Right: Google adds only the fixed amounts you entered, 150 or 300.

Sources