Local Services Ads
How Reviews Impact Your Number of Leads and Cost Per Lead from LSA Campaigns
In June 2025, we analyzed the previous 6 months of Local Services Ads (LSA) data from our tree service clients across the USA to see how the number of reviews on their Google Business Profile affected the performance of their LSA campaigns.
What We Found
We found a strong relationship clearly showing that reviews play a critical role in two areas:
- the number of leads you can generate through LSAs and
- the amount you'll pay for each LSA lead.
You can see the results in the graphics below.
Reviews Affect Your Bottom Line
Google reviews are not a "nice to have" or something to do "when I have more time." Those reviews can make or break your LSA campaigns.
Not focusing on reviews means you'll get fewer leads and pay more for each lead - it directly affects your revenue and takes a bite out of your bottom line.
How to Get More LSA Leads at a Lower Cost per Lead
If you want Local Services Ads to work for you, you need to focus on:
- getting more reviews on your Google Business Profile,
- keeping those reviews flowing on a regular basis, and
- responding to every single review in a timely manner.
So, get your crews out there asking for reviews, follow up with customers by text and/or email with a review link, showcase Google reviews on your website, answer every review you get - and watch your LSA campaign performance improve!
➡️ To see how reviews affect your LSA campaigns, try our LSA Leads & Budget Calculator!
LSA Review Impact Analysis
Data-Driven Insights from TCMS Clients • Dec 2024 - May 2025
Moderate-Strong Positive
Lower Cost per Lead
300+ vs Less than 100 Reviews
High vs Low Reviews
Average number of LSA leads based on the number of Google reviews a company has
🎯 Key Insights
Reviews aren't just vanity metrics - they're performance drivers. Even when controlling for budget, businesses with 300+ reviews generate 107% more leads than those with fewer reviews. That's more than double!
If you're still on the fence about how much effort to put into getting customer reviews on Google Business Profile, this research makes it crystal clear. Investing in review generation delivers measurable ROI in LSA campaigns.
Performance Comparison by Review Tier
| Review Tier | Average # of Reviews | Average # of Monthly Leads | Average Cost per Lead (CPL) | Campaign Budget per Lead | Average Performance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| <100 Reviews | ~65 | 14.5 | $54.59 | $480 | Underperforming |
| 100-299 Reviews | ~175 | 49.3 | $57.67 | $178 | Good |
| 300+ Reviews | ~420 | 72.3 | $49.17 | $172 | Excellent |
How to Interpret These Results
The table is broken into three tiers based on the number of GBP reviews a company has. Beside that is the average number of reviews the clients in our research study had in each tier.
Average # of Monthly Leads - This is the average number of monthly leads generated through LSA campaigns by companies in each tier.
Average Cost per Lead (CPL) - The average amount a company paid for a qualified lead from their LSA campaign. You'll notice a significant drop in CPL for companies with more than 300 reviews.
Campaign Budget per Lead - To generate these LSA leads, the company had to set a budget based on this number. For example, a business with fewer than 100 reviews wanting to generate 10 leads from LSAs would need to set a budget of $4,800 (10 leads x $480/lead), whereas a company with more than 300 reviews would set a budget of $1,720 (10 leads x $172/lead).
This does NOT mean you'll pay that total amount! It's simply the number you'll need to tell Google you're willing to pay each month if you want to generate LSA leads.
You'll notice a big drop in the budget per lead after hitting 100 reviews. This is why we strongly recommend prioritizing GBP review generation until you have at least 100 reviews.
