The ad forecasting tool is the heart and soul of your Google Ads campaigns. Never run an ad without checking your numbers in a Google Ads budget planner.
This article, Google Ads Forecasting Tool will show you the forecasting tool I use to predict my Google Ads campaign before I even spend a dime.
When it comes to running Google Ads, there are literally hundreds, if not thousands of variations in ads strategy that can make a massive difference between a campaign taking off or crashing down.
Watch the video version of this article below:
This is the reason why I never start a campaign without my checklist. One of the steps in my checklist is running the Google ads forecasting tool. In fact, this is the first step I take before running my ads.
I want to know exactly what my goals and projections are before I ran my campaigns. If you are not doing this, then now is the time to add Google Ads forecasting tool to your checklist and do this before running any ads on Google.
The reason why using Google Ads forecasting tool is important is it helps you foresee how your ads will compete in the search results. This is the secret to having a profitable ROI. It takes planning and direction with your Google ads budget planner to be successful in running your ads campaign.
How to use forecasting in Google Ads
To start with forecasting in Google Ads, you need to set up targets and measure goals. While your campaign is running, you need to keep an eye on the numbers and if necessary, keep on improving your ads to improve the numbers as well.
The success of your campaigns depends largely on how you keep an eye on your metrics and keep adjusting as needed to stay on track with your pre-planned Google ads estimated costs. The numbers you need to watch are the following:
- Impressions
- CTR (click-through rate)
- Clicks
- CPC (cost per click)
- Total Cost
- Conversion Rate
- Number of conversions
There are more data involved but the above are the most important ones that you should be looking into all the time.
I use the Google Ads cost and budget estimator as my forecasting tool as you can see below:
4 easy steps to using the Google Ads Forecasting Tool
Step 1 : Know the desired number of customers and the lifetime value of the customer.
The number of customers pertains to the target number of customers that you are aiming for per month. The lifetime value of the customer, on the other hand, pertains to the average value (in money) that you get as payment for your product or service.
Multiply these two factors to get your target revenue for the month.
Step 2: Find the lead conversion rate and the number of leads desired
The lead to customer conversion rate is the percentage of leads that you get. For example, you got the ratio 4:1, which is for every 4 phone inquiries, you convert to 1 customer.
Once you got that ratio, the ads forecasting tool will automatically compute your number of leads required to hit your target.
Step 3 Get the conversion rate and the number of clicks
The conversion rate is the conversion rate from your Google Ads account, which pertains to the number of clicks or any actions that you need to convert your ad.
As soon as you fill in the conversion rate, the ads forecasting tool will calculate the number of clicks.
Step 4 Calculate the cost per click (CPC), click-through rate (CTR), and impressions
You can get these numbers and estimates by referring to your Google Ads account.
Once you finished the 4 steps above, the ads forecasting tool will automatically give you a cost per lead (CPA) result, which you can use to predict your expenses and targets among many other things.
BONUS: Download your free Google Ads Forecasting Tool
My thoughts
With the use of a Google Ads forecasting tool, you can easily see the things that you need to improve on such as your CTR and the lead to customer rate.
This is really a good tool to cut and save on ad costs. And equally important, this tool will help you improve on your Google Ads campaigns, including the content and the landing page.
