The main differences
| Area | Lead generation | Ecommerce |
|---|---|---|
| Goal | Call, form or booking | Online purchase |
| When the sale happens | Days or weeks later | At checkout |
| Main metric | Cost per qualified lead | Return on ad spend |
| Bidding | Target CPA | Target ROAS |
| Common campaigns | Search, Local Services Ads | Shopping, Performance Max |
Tracking is the hard part for lead gen
An ecommerce store can send each order's value to Google at checkout. A service business only knows a lead's value after a quote or job. Close that gap by importing booked jobs and their values from your CRM. Then bidding can chase revenue, not just form fills.
Different ads and pages
- Lead gen ads sell the next step, like a free estimate.
- Ecommerce ads sell the product, with price and photo.
- Lead gen pages need trust, proof and a short form.
- Ecommerce pages need fast checkout and clear shipping.
Good example. A flooring company runs lead gen ads for installs and imports signed contracts. A separate store campaign sells cleaning products with ROAS bidding.
Bad example. A flooring company uses ROAS bidding on lead gen campaigns with no values. Bidding has nothing real to work from.
Read what conversion tracking is. Our PPC management sets bidding to match how you sell.