Paulo Galletti the founder of Galletti Advertising shared a success story whereby his agency was able to turn around and rescue an e-commerce brand that faced challenges in its Google Ads campaigns. The brand, specializing in artisan homewares and small furniture items, experienced a decline in results when transitioning from Smart Shopping to Performance Max campaigns. As a result, their revenue suffered since Google Ads was their primary source of consistent results.
However, after making optimizations to their Performance Max campaigns, the brand’s sales rose once again, and by the end of 2022, the brand generated over $251 000 in sales after spending $59 000 on Google Ads.
In this article, we are going to analyze the steps that were taken to optimize this brand’s ad performance and also give you more insights on how you can work with Performance Max campaigns from Google Ads.
Paul Galletti
The Challenge
The brand encountered difficulties in retaining customers, given the absence of a robust remarketing strategy. This not only impacted their revenue but also posed a risk to their brand loyalty. Additionally, the brand faced stock management issues, particularly a limited depth of stock on its best-selling items. This inconsistency led to fluctuating campaign performance.
Key Strategies Implemented
Galletti introduced several critical strategies to address these challenges effectively. They launched a standard shopping campaign in conjunction with Performance Max to enhance the campaign’s visibility on the shopping network. This approach allowed for more precise control over each SKU, enabling the optimization of bidding and keyword strategies.
To further refine their campaigns, Galletti diversified assets within the Performance Max campaign by subdividing asset groups based on specific categories of products for different target audiences. This strategic move improved campaign precision and overall optimization.
Recognizing the need to increase returning customers and boost brand awareness, Galletti also implemented remarketing campaigns on the display and YouTube networks. This not only resulted in lower costs but also contributed to improved campaign performance, including the branded campaigns.
Regular tests and adjustments in bidding were essential for day-to-day optimizations, allowing Galletti to gain a competitive edge and enhance results. For instance, during peak sales events like Black Friday, they fine-tuned their target cost per acquisition (CPA) and return on ad spend (ROAS) to maximize impressions and purchases.
Impressive Results and Revenue Growth
The implementation of these strategies yielded impressive results for the brand. With a total expenditure of $59 000, they generated an astounding revenue of $251 000, achieving an impressive ROAS of 4.22.
Notably, the number of returning customers increased by an outstanding 75%:
It is worth mentioning that during that year, the brand made $335 000 in overall sales:
Google Ads alone contributed $251 000, which is more than 73% of the brand's total revenue, highlighting the effectiveness of this platform as an acquisition tool. These results also emphasize the significance of diversifying traffic sources to sustain long-term revenue growth.
More on Performance Max (PMax) Campaigns on Google Ads
So, the Performance Max campaign format is the most automated type of advertising in the entire online marketing space and PPC advertising, thanks to Google Ads. They use a lot of AI and machine learning algorithms to distribute your ads on the different Google Ads placements with audiences that can convert better for the product or service you are advertising.
Currently, this format is getting a lot of attention from PPC pros, affiliate marketers, and media buyers who want to strike a balance between saving time and getting the best campaign results.
The main aim of these campaigns is to drive conversions like sales, leads, or sign-ups for your business while keeping costs competitive. They use Smart Bidding strategies and dynamic ad creatives to reach a broader audience and improve results compared to traditional single-channel campaigns.
However, most advertisers think of them as "set-it-and-forget-it" campaigns just because they heavily rely on AI. Even with automation, they still need to be managed and optimized properly. This is where the brand owners discussed in this article failed and had to call in for assistance from PPC ad experts.
PMax campaigns are quite different from other advertising campaigns on Google Ads. Therefore, there are specific ways to optimize them.
One thing to watch out for is the learning phase where machine learning algorithms can consume a significant budget while figuring out what works and what doesn't. It's a risk, and not all advertisers can afford to let machines learn what they already know from their experience.
How to Optimize Performance Max (PMax) Campaigns on Google Ads
To ensure that your Performance Max campaigns are optimized for success, you need to check the following strategies;
- Run PMax Campaigns in Addition to Traditional Campaigns: Use PMax campaigns as a supplement to existing keyword-based search campaigns to reach a wider audience across various Google channels.
- Exclude Brand Keywords from Performance Max: Keep your brand keywords separate from PMax campaigns to avoid expensive bids on brand-adjacent queries.
- Create Multiple PMax Campaigns to Target Different Goals: Set up multiple PMax campaigns with different ROAS targets to maximize profitability and accommodate seasonal advertising plans.
- Manage Final URL Expansion: Carefully control which landing pages your PMax campaigns drive traffic to and use rules and exclusions to prevent ads from being shown on unwanted pages.
- Report Where Your PMax Traffic is Coming From: Monitor the performance of various channels where your PMax ads are shown to identify inefficiencies and improve results.
- Monitor for Cannibalization: Keep an eye on campaign volumes and look for shifts to ensure PMax campaigns aren't cannibalizing traffic from other parallel campaigns.
- Use Account-Level Negative Keywords: Use shared negative keyword lists to add negative keywords to PMax campaigns and prevent irrelevant clicks.
- Use Account-Level Placement Exclusions: Exclude placements at the account level to prevent ads from showing on unwanted websites or apps.
- Exclude Non-Performing Geo Locations: Exclude locations that don't drive conversions or use conversion value rules to adjust bids accordingly.
- Feed Correct Conversion Data: Clearly define your campaign's goals and constantly enhance conversion data to help AI make better decisions and improve campaign performance.
By following these optimization strategies, advertisers can expect better results and take advantage of the time-saving benefits offered by PMax campaigns.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Galletti Advertising successfully assisted this e-commerce brand to overcome its challenges and achieve remarkable revenue growth through Performance Max Google Ads campaigns. By employing a combination of comprehensive optimization strategies, including standard shopping campaigns, diversified asset groups, remarketing campaigns, and regular tests and adjustments, the brand got outstanding results.
