On October 22, 2026, Google Ads moved its new customer value multiplier out of beta. Instead of adding a flat amount to a first purchase, you can now pick a factor from 1.1x to 5x, and automated bidding treats each order from a first-time buyer as worth that much more. Google says the rollout is global and should reach accounts by the end of October.
What changed in Google Ads?
The new customer setting used to accept only a fixed bonus. It now has two options: “Increase by” (a flat amount) and “Multiply by” (a percentage). That comes from PPC Land, which reports Google’s announcement, and it applies to Search, Shopping, Performance Max and Demand Gen campaigns.
Google’s own example uses 1.2x: a $100 purchase from a new customer counts as $120 for bidding, and a $500 purchase counts as $600. At the 5x ceiling, that same $100 order would count as $500.
The same update, according to that report, brings high value mode for new customers to Shopping campaigns and starts rolling out three retention modes (re-engagement, loyalty and retention-only) in Performance Max, Search and Shopping.
Why a multiplier instead of a flat bonus?
A flat amount is heavy on small orders and barely noticeable on large ones. A multiplier follows the size of the order. In PPC Land’s math, a flat $20 bonus lifts a $50 purchase by 40% but a $1,000 purchase by only 2%. At 1.2x, both rise by 20%.
If your catalog has mixed price points, that matters. The flat bonus overpays for cheap carts and ignores the big ones.
What does it mean in practice? A $100 example
Say a store has a target ROAS of 400%. ROAS is revenue from ads divided by ad spend, so 400% means $4 back for every $1 spent. This math is ours, for illustration only, and does not come from any source.
- No adjustment: a $100 order is worth $100 to the bidder. With a 400% target, the system will pay up to $25 for that conversion ($100 divided by 4).
- With a 1.5x multiplier: the same new-customer order is now worth $150, and the ceiling rises to $37.50 ($150 divided by 4).
- Returning customer: still worth $100, with a ceiling of $25.
So you are accepting $12.50 more in acquisition cost for someone who has never bought from you. If that person comes back twice in the year, the extra spend pays for itself. If they buy once and vanish, your margin shrinks.
Who can turn it on?
Google Ads has to know who your existing customers are. PPC Land reports that the interface asks for segments of current customers with at least 1,000 active members, built in Audience manager, usually from a Customer Match list (your customer list uploaded to Google) or a tag-based remarketing list. Google’s help page confirms you must define existing customers with first-party data, a list plus a tag, and that the feature requires at least one purchase conversion goal. It works only with value-based bidding: target ROAS or maximize conversion value.
For a small store, the 1,000 figure is the bottleneck. If your customer file has 300 names, you cannot build the segment.
What is still unclear?
- Whether the multiplier acts in the auction, on the reported conversion value, or both. Google’s wording says bids “scale dynamically” with cart size, but its example uses purchase value.
- How Smart Bidding behaves when you switch from a flat bonus to a multiplier.
- Whether the Demand Gen thresholds (50 conversions with value in 35 days per campaign, or 100 across the account, from 2025) apply here. Google has not said.
Watch your reports
Both flat and percentage adjustments inflate the conversion value shown in Google Ads. At 5x, the gap between the dashboard and the money in your bank can be large. Google has an Original Conversion Value metric, added in November 2025 according to PPC Land, that shows the number before the adjustment. In our view, anyone using the multiplier should compare it against actual store revenue every week.
What should you do now?
- Check that your account has a purchase goal and value-based bidding.
- Count the customers you can upload in a list. Below 1,000, skip this option for now.
- Start low, around 1.2x, and give the algorithm time before changing it again.
- Work out the margin on a new customer and on a returning one. The multiplier only makes sense if the first order pays for the difference.
- Check the original conversion value every week.
If you advertise on Google Shopping, first review how to list products on Google for free with Merchant Center and how Quality Score works in Google Ads, which still shapes your cost per click.
