Terms you'll see in your plan
Cost Per Lead
How much it costs in ad spend to generate one enquiry, form fill, call, or booking. For example, a CPL of £25 means you spend £25 in ads for every person who contacts you. CPL varies significantly by industry and platform — a plumber typically sees a lower CPL than a solicitor because there's less competition for those search terms.
Cost Per Click
The amount you pay each time someone clicks your ad. Used to estimate website visit targets. On Google Search, clicks tend to cost more but convert at a higher rate — people are actively searching. On Meta (Facebook & Instagram), clicks are cheaper but require more creative work to convert.
Cost Per 1,000 Impressions
How much it costs for your ad to be seen 1,000 times. Used to estimate reach and video view targets. A lower CPM means your budget goes further in terms of exposure — useful for brand awareness campaigns.
What goes into your ads
The portion of your budget that is paid directly to the ad platforms (Google, Meta, TikTok etc). This is separate from OLLIE's management fee. For example, on a £500/month budget with a 14% fee, £430 goes into your ads and £70 covers OLLIE's management.
Return on Ad Spend
How much revenue you generate for every £1 spent on ads. A ROAS of 3× means £1 in ad spend returns £3 in revenue. For service businesses, this is harder to measure directly since the sale often happens offline — which is why we use leads and close rate as a proxy.
Lead-to-customer conversion
The percentage of leads that become paying customers. Rather than using a single flat figure, we apply an industry-specific close rate — low-ticket, low-commitment services (like a haircut) convert at a much higher rate than high-ticket, considered purchases (like a kitchen renovation) where people typically gather multiple quotes. See the table below for the rate used for your industry. Your actual close rate may be higher or lower depending on how quickly you follow up, your pricing, and how competitive your area is.
Estimated audience size
The number of unique people your ads are estimated to reach per month. This is based on your location, radius, and targeting settings. Reach doesn't mean everyone will engage — it's the maximum potential audience your budget can put your ads in front of.
How we calculate your recommended budget
When you enter a target (leads, revenue, visits, or views), the planner works backwards using industry benchmarks to suggest a budget that could realistically achieve it. The recommended budget has two parts — a performance budget aimed at your stated goal, and a brand-building top-up for long-term growth.
For lead targets: Budget = target leads × industry CPL, grossed up for fee.
For revenue targets: We divide by your average job value and your industry's close rate to get leads needed, then multiply by CPL.
For visit targets: Budget = target visits × industry CPC.
For view targets: Budget = target views × £0.02 average CPV.
The part that's working towards your goal
This is the figure calculated using the formulas above — sized to realistically hit the leads, revenue, visits, or views target you entered. It's the "direct response" portion of your spend, focused on short-term results.
The part that's working for your future
On top of the performance budget, we recommend an additional 25% for brand building. This spend goes toward broader awareness — more people seeing and recognising your business locally, even before they search for what you offer. Over time, this builds trust and recall, which tends to lower your cost per lead and gives you more room to charge what you're worth, because people already know who you are when they're ready to buy. The total recommended budget = performance budget + brand building budget.
Cost Per Lead benchmarks by industry
These are the blended CPL figures used in the budget recommendation engine. They combine Google Search and Meta (Facebook & Instagram) averages, converted to GBP, weighted by typical channel mix at each budget level.
| Industry | Google CPL (£) | Meta CPL (£) | Blended CPL (£) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trades & Home Services | £23 | £20 | £22 |
| Kitchen & Bathroom Fitting | £30 | £25 | £28 |
| Heating & Boilers | £28 | £22 | £25 |
| Damp Proofing & Specialist | £28 | £22 | £25 |
| Cleaning Services | £20 | £16 | £18 |
| Window Cleaning | £18 | £12 | £15 |
| Restaurants & Cafes | £18 | £3 | £12 |
| Catering & Events | £22 | £18 | £20–30 |
| Retail | £45 | £18 | £32 |
| Fashion | £38 | £18 | £28 |
| Furniture | £96 | £55 | £95 |
| Automotive | £23 | £22 | £22 |
| Hair & Beauty | £38 | £41 | £38 |
| Fitness & Personal Training | £45 | £42 | £44 |
| Healthcare | £45 | £35 | £45 |
| Childcare | £32 | £25 | £30 |
| Tutoring | £38 | £28 | £35 |
| Accounting | £65 | £45 | £65 |
| Legal Services | £104 | £55 | £80 |
| IT Support | £65 | £45 | £65 |
| Web & Graphic Design | £55 | £40 | £50–55 |
| Photography | £45 | £35 | £45 |
| Property | £79 | £45 | £65 |
| Travel | £28 | £22 | £28 |
| All other industries | £55 | £35 | £45 |
Sources: WordStream Google Ads Benchmarks 2025 (16,446 campaigns, Apr 2024–Mar 2025) · WordStream Facebook Ads Benchmarks 2025 · Converted from USD at £0.79. Blended figures are weighted by typical Google/Meta budget split at each spend level.
Enquiry-to-job close rates by industry
When estimating revenue and ROAS, we apply a close rate specific to your industry — the percentage of enquiries that turn into paying jobs. Low-cost, low-commitment services (a haircut, a clean) tend to convert at a much higher rate than high-value, considered purchases (a kitchen renovation, a building project) where customers typically gather several competing quotes before deciding.
| Industry | Close Rate | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Hair & Beauty | 55% | Low cost, instant booking, little quote-shopping |
| Cleaning Services | 45% | Low cost, recurring service, quick decision |
| Restaurants & Cafes | 45% | Low commitment, immediate decision |
| Locksmith Services | 40% | Urgent need, low price sensitivity |
| Fitness & Personal Training | 35% | Moderate cost, often a trial session first |
| Tutoring | 35% | Moderate cost, ongoing relationship |
| Childcare | 35% | Moderate cost, urgent need |
| Pest Control | 35% | Urgent, problem-driven enquiry |
| Automotive | 30% | Moderate cost, practical need |
| Healthcare | 30% | Moderate cost, need-driven |
| Plumbing | 30% | Often urgent, moderate cost |
| Removals | 30% | Time-bound need, moderate cost |
| Retail / Fashion | 30% | Lower cost per item, impulse-friendly |
| Electrical Work | 28% | Often urgent, moderate cost |
| Tree Surgery | 25% | Moderate-high cost, some comparison |
| Photography | 25% | Moderate cost, some comparison shopping |
| Catering | 25% | Event-driven, moderate comparison |
| Travel | 25% | Some comparison shopping expected |
| Painting & Decorating | 20% | Multiple quotes typically gathered |
| Tiling / Plastering | 20% | Multiple quotes typically gathered |
| IT Support / Accounting | 20% | Considered purchase, some comparison |
| Landscaping / Flooring | 18–20% | Higher cost, multiple quotes common |
| Carpentry / Heating & Boilers / Damp Proofing | 18% | Higher cost, multiple quotes common |
| Web Design / Marketing | 18% | Considered purchase, proposal stage |
| Furniture | 15% | Higher cost, comparison shopping |
| Kitchen / Bathroom Fitting | 12% | High value, several competing quotes |
| Legal Services | 12% | High value, considered decision |
| Events | 12% | High value, multiple suppliers considered |
| Roofing / Property | 10% | High value, multiple competing quotes |
| Building & Construction | 8% | Very high value, extensive quote comparison |
| All other industries | 15% | Conservative default for unlisted categories |
These figures are estimates based on typical UK local-service buying patterns and OLLIE's experience across managed accounts. They are starting points, not guarantees — your actual close rate depends on response speed, pricing, reviews, and local competition. You can adjust the average job value in your plan to see how revenue estimates change.
Why high-ticket services get a frequency adjustment
Not all leads convert at the same speed. Someone booking a haircut makes a near-instant decision — they see your ad, they book. But someone considering a new kitchen or a building project typically researches for weeks, compares multiple suppliers, and needs to see your brand several times before they pick up the phone. Using the same conversion model for both dramatically overstates the short-term ROI for high-consideration services.
To correct for this, we apply a frequency multiplier to industries where customers need more touchpoints before converting. This discounts the raw lead estimates from CPL benchmarks to produce a more realistic picture of what a given budget will deliver in the short term.
| Tier | Frequency Multiplier | Recommended Floor | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| Low consideration | 3.0× adjustment | £200/month | Hair & beauty, cleaning, restaurants, locksmiths, pest control, retail |
| Medium consideration | 5.0× adjustment | £400/month | Plumbing, electrical, automotive, painting & decorating, landscaping, accounting |
| High consideration | 8.0× adjustment | £700/month | Kitchen & bathroom fitting, building & construction, roofing, legal services, property |
What the multiplier means in practice: Even low-consideration services like hairdressers need an average of 3 touchpoints before someone books — they see the ad, mean to book, and forget. We apply a 3× baseline to everyone. For medium-consideration trades like plumbing (5×), customers typically compare a couple of options first. For high-consideration services like kitchen fitting (8×), they research extensively, get multiple quotes, and may take weeks to decide. This means for a plumber, if the CPL benchmark suggests 10 leads/month, we show roughly 2 in the estimator. For kitchen fitting, roughly 1. This still likely underestimates results for well-run campaigns with strong creative, but it prevents wildly unrealistic projections.
Why we flag low budgets for high-consideration services
Below a certain monthly spend, high-consideration industries simply can't generate the frequency of exposure needed to move a customer through the decision cycle. A plumber spending £250/month might reach 5,000 people — but each person will likely only see the ad once or twice, which isn't enough to build the trust and recognition that drives a call. We flag this as an advisory note in the plan — you can still proceed, but you should expect results to take longer to materialise.
How we calculate your Year 1 return
Campaigns rarely perform at their best from day one — ad platforms need time to learn who responds to your ads, and your creative and targeting get refined along the way. Rather than simply multiplying your month-one estimate by 12, we apply a ramp-up curve that reflects this real-world learning period.
The maths: Year 1 revenue = monthly revenue estimate × (0.6 + 0.8 + 10) = monthly revenue × 11.4. This gives a conservative, realistic view of cumulative return that rewards consistent investment — campaigns that run continuously for 12 months get the benefit of the full ramp-up, rather than restarting the learning period every time a campaign is paused and relaunched.
Why your projection might say "capped"
Some industries — particularly low-cost, high-close-rate services like hairdressers or cleaners — can mathematically produce projections of 8×, 10×, or more. While not impossible, projecting numbers this high risks setting unrealistic short-term expectations. To keep things grounded, we cap all projected returns (both monthly and Year 1) at 5× your ad spend. If your real numbers would suggest more, you'll see a note explaining the cap — many businesses do go on to see higher returns once their brand is established, but we'd rather under-promise here and let the results speak for themselves.
Why your recommended budget is capped at 30% of your revenue target
When you enter a revenue target, the budget recommendation will never exceed 30% of that figure. This is a sanity check — recommending that you spend more in advertising than you're aiming to earn is illogical, and no responsible media planner would do it. If the frequency-adjusted CPL calculation produces a number higher than 30% of your target, we cap it there. For example, a £50,000/month revenue target will never produce a budget recommendation above £15,000/month. If the benchmarks suggest more spend is needed to hit your target, this may indicate the target is ambitious for the budget, and you should consider either increasing spend gradually as results build, or adjusting your expectations for the first few months.
Why the revenue estimator never shows more than your stated target
If you've told us you want to generate £50,000/month, showing an estimated return of £277,000 isn't helpful — it's confusing and sets the wrong expectations. We cap the revenue estimator at your stated target. This doesn't mean your campaigns can't exceed it — they very well might — but the plan is built to deliver what you asked for, not to dazzle you with theoretical maximums. Once you're hitting your target consistently, we can discuss scaling.
How we split your budget across channels
The channel mix adapts based on your total monthly budget. Smaller budgets focus on the highest-intent channels first (Google Search). As budgets increase, we add awareness and retargeting layers.
| Budget | Channels | Rationale |
|---|---|---|
| £100–£299 | Google Search only (85%) | Highest intent, most efficient at low spend |
| £300–£999 | Google (45%) + Meta (55%) | Adds awareness & social proof layer |
| £1,000–£1,499 | Google (35%) + Meta (35%) + TikTok (20%) | Extends reach to younger audiences |
| £1,500–£1,999 | Google (30%) + Meta (30%) + TikTok (18%) + YouTube (17%) | Full funnel — search, social, video |
| £2,000+ | Google (25%) + Meta (25%) + TikTok (15%) + YouTube (15%) + Programmatic (15%) | Adds display retargeting across web |
Channel splits are starting recommendations based on typical SMB performance data. OLLIE continuously monitors performance and reserves the right to reallocate budget between channels — for example, shifting more spend toward Google if it's outperforming Meta — to maximise your results over time. Your total monthly budget never changes without your agreement; only the split between channels adapts based on real performance data.
How we estimate reach, clicks & leads
The reach, click, and lead estimates in your plan are calculated from your media spend using platform-level benchmark data. These are estimates — actual results depend on creative quality, landing page performance, competition in your area, and seasonal factors.
Important: These are typical averages across thousands of campaigns. Your results could be better or worse. OLLIE always works to exceed these benchmarks through tight targeting, strong creative, and ongoing optimisation — but we'll never guarantee specific results, because no agency honestly can. What we do guarantee is transparent reporting, so you always know exactly what's happening with your money.
Why awareness campaigns show unique reach, not raw impressions
For awareness campaigns, we distinguish between impressions (the total number of times your ad is shown) and unique reach (the number of individual people who see it). A single person seeing your ad 10 times counts as 10 impressions but only 1 person reached. Raw impression numbers look impressive but can be misleading — what matters for brand building is how many unique local people are being exposed to your business.
We apply a minimum effective frequency of 3× — meaning we budget for each person to see your ad at least 3 times. Research consistently shows that a single ad exposure rarely registers in memory; 3+ exposures is where brand recall begins to stick. So when we show you a reach figure, it's: total impressions ÷ 3 = unique people reached. This means if your budget generates 30,000 impressions, we show 10,000 unique people reached — not 30,000.
How we calculate awareness campaign budgets
For awareness objectives, budgets are calculated using CPM (cost per 1,000 impressions) rather than CPL (cost per lead). We use a blended CPM of £12 across Meta, TikTok and YouTube — the three platforms that form the awareness channel mix. The minimum effective frequency of 3× is built into the budget calculation, so if you want to reach 10,000 unique people, we budget for 30,000 impressions (10,000 × 3), costing approximately £360 in media spend (30 × £12).
OLLIE's management fee structure
Our fee is a percentage of your total monthly budget. As you scale, your fee percentage decreases — we grow together.
| Monthly Budget | Management Fee | What goes into ads |
|---|---|---|
| Up to £500 | 14% | 86% to ads |
| £501 – £1,000 | 12% | 88% to ads |
| £1,001 – £2,500 | 10% | 90% to ads |
| £2,501 – £5,000 | 8% | 92% to ads |
| £5,001 – £10,000 | 6% | 94% to ads |
| £10,001+ | 5% | 95% to ads |
Continuous campaign bonus: If you choose a continuous (ongoing) campaign, your management fee is waived in month one. You only pay for your ad spend. From month two, the standard fee applies. This incentivises commitment — platforms perform better with consistency, and you save money from day one.
Where the data comes from
WordStream / LocaliQ Google Ads Benchmarks 2025
Analysis of 16,446 Google Ads and Microsoft Ads campaigns across 23 industries, covering April 2024 – March 2025. The most comprehensive publicly available dataset for UK and global search advertising benchmarks. Covers CPC, CTR, CVR, and CPL by industry.
WordStream / LocaliQ Facebook Ads Benchmarks 2025
Industry breakdown of Meta Ads (Facebook & Instagram) performance across lead generation and traffic campaign objectives. Covers CPC, CTR, CVR, and CPL for 15 industry categories.
UK market adjustment
All USD benchmarks converted at £0.79 (2024/25 average exchange rate). UK CPCs typically run 5–15% lower than US equivalents in competitive industries due to lower advertiser density outside major metros — our figures use a conservative conversion that reflects this.
OLLIE campaign data
Where available, benchmark figures are cross-referenced against actual campaign performance from OLLIE-managed accounts. Industry averages are adjusted over time as we accumulate more real-world data from UK local business campaigns.