How to use the calculator
- Choose a mode. “I have a budget” shows what a monthly spend can buy. “I have a lead target” works backwards to the budget you need.
- Enter your average cost per click. Get it from Google Ads Keyword Planner for your keywords and city, or from your own account. If you are not sure, start with a preset and adjust.
- Add your conversion and close rates. Conversion rate is the share of visitors who call, message or fill a form. Close rate is the share of those leads who become customers.
- Add sale value and margin. Margin matters most: it decides the ROAS you need just to break even.
The maths behind it
- Clicks = budget ÷ cost per click
- Leads = clicks × conversion rate
- Sales = leads × close rate
- Revenue = sales × average sale value
- ROAS = revenue ÷ ad spend
- Break-even ROAS = 1 ÷ gross margin. At a 50% margin you need 2x ROAS before ads make any profit.
Two worked examples
These use the calculator’s example starting numbers, not industry benchmarks.
A dental clinic in Metro Manila
₱40,000 a month at ₱35 per click buys about 1,143 clicks. At a 5% conversion rate that is around 57.1 leads, or ₱700 per lead. If 25% book treatment worth ₱6,500 on average, that is about 14.3 new patients and ₱92,857 in revenue: a ROAS of 2.32x. With a 60% margin the clinic breaks even at 1.67x, so the campaign makes roughly ₱15,714 profit a month, before the lifetime value of returning patients.
A real estate agent selling house-and-lot units
₱80,000 a month at ₱45 per click buys about 1,778 clicks. At 2% conversion that is roughly 35.6 leads at ₱2,250 each. If 5% buy, that is about 1.8 sales and ₱444,444 in sales value: a ROAS of 5.56x, which looks great. But if the agent keeps only 15% as commission, break-even is 6.67x, so this plan loses about ₱13,333 a month. The fix is not a bigger budget: it is better lead quality, a higher close rate, or cheaper, more specific keywords.
How to lower your cost per lead
- Improve the landing page first. Doubling conversion from 2% to 4% halves your cost per lead without spending a peso more.
- Use exact and phrase match for your core keywords, and check the search terms report weekly. My guide to the search terms report shows how.
- Target by city and schedule. Show ads only where and when you can actually serve customers.
- Track calls and messages, not just forms. Many Filipino customers prefer to call or message on Viber.
- Check profitability monthly with this 15-minute profitability check.
For a fuller guide to setting your spend, read How Much Should You Spend on Google Ads in the Philippines? More free tools are on the free SEO & Google Ads tools page.