Is your eCom brand hitting the right Google Ads benchmarks?

If you’re running paid traffic to an online store, you’ve probably heard (or asked) questions like:

“Is a 6% CTR good?”

“Why is our CPA going up?”

“How do we know if we’re underperforming?”

When budgets tighten and performance dips, these questions hit hard.

Wordstream just dropped the 2025 Search Benchmark Report, using real data from thousands of campaigns across Google and Microsoft Ads, including key eCom verticals like Shopping, Apparel, Home, and Fitness.

Let’s unpack the numbers that matter for DTC operators

Click-Through Rate (CTR):

• eCom-related avg: 6.66%

• Top performers: Arts & Entertainment – 13.10%

• Low end: Dental – 5.44%

CTR tells you if your ad is relevant enough to get the click but don’t confuse clicks with conversions. If you’re way under 5%, it’s time to rethink your copy, creative, or audience segments.

Cost-Per-Click (CPC):

• Avg CPC (all industries): $5.26

• eCom sweet spot: Typically between $1.50 – $3.50, depending on product type

CPC is rising year-over-year. If your AOV is sub-$50, keeping CPC lean is critical. If it’s higher, focus more on ROAS than raw click price.

Conversion Rate (CVR):

• Overall average: 7.52%

• Retail/Fashion/Home categories: Often fall between 2.5%–6%

• High intent categories like Auto hit 13%+

For eCom, 3–5% is healthy. If you’re under 2%, fix your landing pages, mobile UX, or offer clarity and it also depends on the product price of how high your CR will be.

Cost Per Lead (CPL):

• Not always relevant for DTC, but helpful if you run pre-purchase lead gen (e.g., quiz funnels, SMS capture, etc.)

• Benchmark avg: $70.11

• Retail avg: Closer to $30–$40

However, while the CPL may be high, many businesses in that industry find that well worth the investment, considering their return on each individual they represent.

What This Means for Your Brand:

• Don’t chase metrics in isolation. Low CPC with poor CVR = wasted spend.

• Focus on margin-based scaling. Know your breakeven ROAS and LTV.

• Run SKU-level analysis. Not all products are scale-worthy.

• Stop copying competitors. Benchmarks help but your data is the gold.

If you’d like our direct help to scale your brands with Google ads, we’re offering a limited number of spots to do just that.

Book a 30-minutes Google ads calendly.com/ad-lab-io/free-audit

We’ll give you:

An in-depth audit of your account, where we'll uncover any weak spots that are silently wasting your budget and hidden revenue streams that you're not tapping into.

A personalized 90-day roadmap to put you in the best position to scale your Google Ads profitably.

Patrick,

Founder and CEO of Ad-lab.

This offer is for brands spending over $30k/month on Google Ads or making more than 1 million annually.

If you're below that, you don't need an agency to make a profit with Google Ads.