On this page
The short answer
Google Ads can tell new customers from returning ones on accounts that report it. When a large share of the conversions recently came from returning customers, Oppy says so, campaign by campaign, because a blended cost per conversion is then the cost of an order, not of a customer.
Why it matters
A subscription box wants returning customers. A wedding photographer never sees one. Neither is wrong, so the check reports rather than judges.
What matters is reading the cost per conversion correctly. If most results come from people who would buy again anyway, the account is paying to collect customers it already had, and its growth is slower than its numbers suggest.
How Oppy decides
The check runs when the account has conversions, and reads them split by Google's new versus returning customer segment, campaign by campaign, over recent weeks.
Checks that weigh money or clicks judge what they find on your own account's numbers, not on one figure applied to every account, so what counts as a problem on a small account is not the same on a large one. Checks on settings read how the account is set up.
When there is too little to go on, the check says so instead of guessing. A finding always comes with the rows behind it, so you can read the evidence before you decide.
| This check | |
|---|---|
| Step of the audit | Measurement |
| What it reads | Campaigns, their settings and their results |
| Needs trustworthy conversions | Yes. It stays silent when the tracking step fails. |
| What happens next | Reported in the audit with the rows behind it. The decision stays with you. |
Check it yourself in Google Ads
- In Google Ads, open Campaigns for the last 30 days.
- Open Segment, then Conversions, then New vs. returning customers, if your account shows it.
- Add up conversions from returning customers and divide by the total.
- Compare the share across campaigns, especially brand and remarketing.
What to do about it
Decide which number you want to grow. If it is new customers, look at the customer acquisition goal, which can bid more for new customers or only for them.
Report new customer cost separately from the blended cost, so a rise in repeat orders is not mistaken for cheaper growth.
Terms on this page
Other checks in this area
The checks next to this one in Conversion tracking, each with its own page.