96.92USD
Cost per lead, ChatGPT Ads
248USD
Cost per lead, Google Ads, same window
2.80USD
Average cost per click
103
Leads in 61 days
The account
The account we can put numbers on
The account on this page belongs to a New York law firm, and the ChatGPT campaigns on it were built and run by the senior specialist who runs Totem accounts. We publish it because it is the clearest first party answer we have to the question every owner asks about ChatGPT Ads: has anyone actually run this, and what did the numbers look like? It also carries the shape we look for. A high consideration service, local intent, expensive clicks on Google, and a client who needs every lead tracked back to a real inquiry.
Legal is one of the most expensive corners of Google Ads. The average cost per click on this account ran 41.23 USD, and the two month Search flight cost 67,000 USD. That made it the right place to test whether ChatGPT's cheap early clicks could produce leads at a price Google cannot match.
June 1 to July 31, 2026
Two channels, one account, the same window
| Measure | Google Ads | ChatGPT Ads |
|---|---|---|
| Spend | 67,000 USD | 9,982 USD |
| Leads | 270 | 103 |
| Cost per lead | 248 USD | 96.92 USD |
| Average cost per click | 41.23 USD | 2.80 USD |
| Click to lead rate | 16.63% | 2.89% |
| Leads per 10,000 USD | 40 | 103 |
The math
Cheaper clicks did the work
Clicks from ChatGPT converted to leads at 2.89%, while Google Search converted at 16.63%. A person clicking a Search ad for a lawyer is often ready to pick one. A person asking ChatGPT about their situation is earlier in the decision, so the traffic converts less often.
The price of the click absorbs all of that and more. At 2.80 USD, a ChatGPT click on this account cost 93% less than the 41.23 USD paid on Google. Even converting at roughly a sixth of the Search rate, every 10,000 USD of budget produced 103 leads from ChatGPT and 40 from Google. The arithmetic is not close.
What this account settles is that the channel can produce tracked leads in volume, in one of the most expensive verticals in paid search, at a fraction of Search prices, today.
Where it goes from here
Scaling to 15,000 USD a month
On the strength of the first two months, the firm is scaling its ChatGPT Ads budget to 15,000 USD a month. Two things get watched closely as it scales. The first is lead quality per source, because a cheap lead that never becomes a client is not cheap. The second is cost per click, because the thin early auction that makes 2.80 USD clicks possible will fill up as more advertisers arrive. The plan is to hold the account honest on both while the window lasts.
How we run ChatGPT Ads
