Google Ads appears to be testing an automatic assignment of New Customer Value within New Customer Acquisition (NCA) campaigns — and it’s doing so without advertisers’ explicit consent.
The change, first spotted by performance marketer Bilal Yasin, has led to unexpected reporting shifts and frustration among advertisers.
- “Without any heads-up, and without it being in the change history, a new customer value has suddenly been applied to a customer,” Yasin wrote on LinkedIn. “It was set to 200 DKK… One thing is that Google has assigned a value, but another is that I can’t remove it again!”
Why we care. Advertisers rely on New Customer Value settings to determine how campaigns optimize toward acquiring new users. When Google sets those values automatically, it can distort revenue reporting and campaign efficiency metrics.
Yasin noted several issues:
- Google doesn’t know the true lifetime value of a new customer.
- Artificially inflated revenue skews performance reporting.
- Many conversions are still classified as “unknown,” further clouding data.
What they’re saying. Google Ads Liaison Ginny Marvin confirmed the behavior is part of an experiment.
- “This guidance is part of an experiment aimed at helping advertisers use settings that will improve results—specifically, to increase new customer ratios,” Marvin wrote.
She added that when the New Customer Value is too low—or not set—it can hinder campaign optimization.
What’s next. Google says it plans to roll out new customer reporting for all purchase conversion campaigns “in the next couple of quarters.”
The bottom line. While Google frames the test as a way to improve campaign performance, advertisers are raising alarms over transparency — especially when automatic value assignments alter reported revenue without clear notice or control.
Dig deeper. Discussion on LinkedIn.
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