Google Ads’ new customer goals: powerful, but only if you know what a client is worth

On 22 October, Google announced three updates to Google Ads, rolling out during October in time for the Christmas shopping season. Campaigns can now adjust bids depending on who is searching: a new client, a lapsed client or a member of your loyalty programme.

All three features build on the value you already report to Google. They increase the value assigned to certain clients and adjust bidding accordingly. If that value is accurate, bidding becomes more effective. If it is not, the error gets amplified. So the first step is to make sure Google Ads knows what a client is worth to you. Only then should you choose a setting.

Here is what is new:

1. High value mode comes to Shopping. Campaigns can prioritise new clients expected to be particularly valuable. The feature was already available in Search and Performance Max.
2. Modes for existing clients in Performance Max, Search and Shopping: one for clients who have not bought for a while, one for loyalty programme members and one for campaigns that should only reach existing clients.
3. Percentages instead of fixed amounts. You can value a new client at between 1.1 and 5 times their purchase value, rather than adding a fixed amount in SEK. This applies to Search, Shopping, Performance Max and Demand Gen, in both Google Ads and Search Ads 360.

These updates are designed for e-commerce. Campaigns optimising for enquiries, calls or booked meetings will gain little from most of them.

The settings known as customer lifecycle goals let campaigns distinguish between people based on their relationship with your business, because a new client is often worth more than a purchase from someone who would have returned anyway. The feature has been available for new clients since 2022. October’s update extends it to the full client journey and more campaign types.

High value mode lets a campaign bid higher for new clients Google expects to spend more over time, while continuing to reach everyone else. The mode has been available in Search and Performance Max and is now coming to standard Shopping campaigns.

The mode uses a list of your most valuable existing clients, which Google uses to find similar new clients.

Google is bringing several previously experimental features together under the name customer retention goals:

• Re-engagement mode bids higher for clients who have not bought for a while, while the campaign continues to reach its usual audience. You decide who counts as a lapsed client and upload a list of them. Google’s automatic detection does not work in this mode.
• Loyalty mode targets members of your loyalty programme and can display member pricing or shipping benefits directly in the ad. These benefits need to be included in the product feed in Google Merchant Center.
• Retention only mode turns the entire campaign into one for existing clients. It only reaches the client groups you specify.

It is not yet entirely clear how these modes can be combined. A secondary source says you choose one mode per campaign, while Google’s help page describes Re-engagement as a complement to the modes for new clients. Check what your account allows before planning your campaign structure.

This update affects the most accounts. Previously, you could only assign a fixed additional value to a new client. Say you add SEK 200 for every new client:

• For a SEK 500 purchase, the value becomes SEK 700: an increase of 40 per cent.
• For a SEK 5,000 purchase, the value becomes SEK 5,200: an increase of 4 per cent.

A fixed uplift therefore pushes the campaign to prioritise the smallest purchases. With a percentage, the uplift grows with the purchase. Using a multiplier of 1.2, SEK 500 becomes SEK 600 and SEK 5,000 becomes SEK 6,000. Both new clients receive the same proportional increase in value relative to their purchase. For a product range where basket values vary widely, from accessories costing a few hundred SEK to products costing tens of thousands, this is a clear improvement.

Google allows multipliers of 1.1–5. We recommend starting low. A multiplier of 5 tells the campaign that a new client is worth five times their first purchase. That may be true for a subscription service, but rarely for a typical shop.

These updates depend on three things. If any are missing, the settings will not deliver the results you expect.

Google identifies new clients using four sources: client lists you upload (Customer Match), website visitor lists, a parameter in the purchase conversion indicating whether the client is new, and Google’s automatic detection.

Automatic detection uses up to 540 days of campaign activity and tracked purchases and only works if you already track purchases in Google Ads. Clients who bought in-store, through your newsletter, on marketplaces or further back in time are not visible there. Google counts them as new clients, and you pay extra to reach them.

An uploaded client list is therefore almost always necessary, and Google itself recommends supplementing automatic detection with client lists. A list needs at least 100 active members to be used with lifecycle goals, and according to Google, a list with fewer than 1,000 members can make it harder for the campaign to reach new clients. The list also needs to stay up to date. Membership of a client list lasts for a maximum of 540 days, and a list that is not updated will turn this year’s clients into new clients in Google’s eyes.

Client lists also require your privacy policy to explain that client data is shared with third parties. The lists must not be used to target ads based on sensitive categories such as health.

The modes that increase value rely on value-based bidding, meaning Target ROAS or Maximise conversion value, with purchases as the goal. According to Google’s help page, this also applies to Re-engagement. However, the page has not been updated with October’s changes, so that may change. A campaign that only counts conversions has no value to increase.

In practice, these are therefore e-commerce updates. For lead generation, there is currently one main mode of interest: New customer only, which excludes existing clients entirely and also works with Maximise conversions and Target CPA. Because automatic detection requires tracked purchases, this mode depends entirely on the client list you upload.

This is where things most often fall short. In an account we reviewed this autumn, 83 of 89 recorded conversions were page views. The campaigns were effectively optimising for people looking at a page. Applying a multiplier of 1.5 to a value like that makes the campaign bid even more aggressively towards the same incorrect goal. A percentage amplifies the value already in the account. It can never replace accurate tracking.

For an e-commerce business with working purchase tracking:

1. Check your tracking first. Are purchases reporting the right amounts, and is each purchase counted once? A conversion analysis will give you the answer.
2. Upload an up-to-date client list and plan how to keep it updated, ideally through an integration with your e-commerce platform or CRM.
3. Enable reporting mode for new clients if it is available in your account. It shows what share of purchases comes from new clients without affecting bidding, giving you a baseline.
4. Test one thing at a time. Switch to a percentage-based multiplier of 1.2 in one campaign and let it run for at least two weeks before assessing the results. If you change the list, multiplier and budget in the same week, you cannot know what made the difference.
5. Measure using the original value. Google Ads has a column called Original conversion value, which shows the value before the lifecycle goal uplift. Use it when comparing ROAS before and after, so the campaign does not appear to perform better simply because you increased the value yourself.
6. Win back clients through your own channels first. Newsletters and direct mail are usually cheaper ways to reach lapsed clients. Use Re-engagement mode for those who do not respond there.

Black Friday falls on 27 November. To have a couple of weeks of data before then, your test should be running by early November.

For businesses that sell through enquiries, the advice is different. Do not spend time on these updates right now. Spend it on assigning a real value to each enquiry and feeding back information on which enquiries turned into sales. You need that foundation before lifecycle goals can help your business, and it is central to our work with search advertising.

• When the features will appear in your account. The rollout is happening in stages during October.
• How the loyalty features work in Sweden. Member pricing in Shopping is available in a limited number of countries. Check in Merchant Center before building a campaign around it.
• How well automatic identification of high-value new clients works for Swedish accounts with limited data. Google has its own performance figures. We have not included them because they tell you nothing about your specific account.

Settings that adjust campaign bids depending on whether someone is a new client, an existing client, a lapsed client or a loyalty programme member. From October 2026, they are available in Search, Shopping and Performance Max, with percentage-based adjustments also available in Demand Gen.

In practice, yes. Google’s automatic detection only sees purchases tracked in Google Ads. A client list needs at least 100 active members, and Google says that fewer than 1,000 may limit its effectiveness.

For the most part, no. For lead generation, New customer only is the relevant mode, and it relies on the client lists you upload.

Start with 1.2 and assess the results after at least two weeks. The right level depends on how much more a new client spends over time compared with their first purchase.

Re-engagement mode bids higher for lapsed clients while continuing to reach everyone else. Retention only mode restricts the campaign to the existing clients you specify.

• Search Engine Roundtable: Google Ads Updates To Customer Lifecycle Goals For Holidays, 22 October 2026. Reports Google’s announcement via Google Ads Liaison.
• PPC Land: Google Ads lets retailers multiply new customer values up to 5x, 22 October 2026. The 1.1–5 range.
• Google Ads Help: About customer lifecycle goals. Modes, campaign types and bidding requirements.
• Google Ads Help: How customer lifecycle goals detect customer segments. 540 days and lists with fewer than 1,000 members.
• Google Ads Help: Activate customer lifecycle goals. At least 100 active members.
• Google Ads Help: Create a customer list. Membership for a maximum of 540 days.
• Google Ads Help: Measure your lifecycle goals campaigns. Original conversion value.
• Google: Customer Match policy. Privacy policy and sensitive categories.