The Google Performance Max Case Study You Need to See

You may have heard of Google’s Performance Max campaigns. They’ve been out for a little while now, and they’re starting to get plenty of attention online. 

But do you know what they are and why they matter? Or what kind of results you can expect to get from them?

As early beta testers, thanks to being a Google Premier Partner, we’ve learned a great deal about Performance Max campaigns, and we want to share that knowledge with you. 

Let’s take a look at what they are, why they matter, how to get started, and our own case study data to see what’s possible. 

What Is A Performance Max Campaign on Google?

Performance Max campaigns are a type of enhanced Search and Shopping campaign. They allow advertisers to reach Google’s entire ad inventory with a single campaign with qualifying objectives. They make sure of extensive machine learning and automation to optimize those campaigns on your behalf.

These are goal-focused campaigns. You can use them for campaigns where your objective is to drive sales, generate leads, get website traffic, or drive in-store visits. 

You can choose the Performance Max option when creating your Google Ads after selecting a qualified objective. Instead of selecting a “Search” or “Shopping” or “Display” campaign when selecting your campaign type, you’ll choose “Performance Max” instead. 

All advertisers currently have the Performance Max campaign option. 

Why Every Advertiser Needs to Care 

There are some extensive benefits that come with Performance Max campaigns. These include the following:

• Google utilizes intensive machine learning, automation, and optimization to get you more results wherever your audience is online
• It streamlines the process; you don’t need to create five campaigns for a single objective anymore. You can create display, shopping, discovery, and search ads all at once under a single campaign 
• Performance Max may successfully drive more clicks, reach, and conversions (check our data on that in a minute!)
• It allows for a fuller online funnel, so you can build awareness, drive leads, and push sales; you get all the benefits of each platform 

But it’s not just about the benefits. Advertisers should care because they need to.

Performance Max is the next evolution for campaign types on Google Ads. Smart Shopping and Local campaigns are automatically going to migrate to this campaign-style starting in June, which is just weeks away as of the time this post was published. 

You’ll want to get on board right away and become familiar with the platform ASAP. We’ve already migrated most of our clients to Performance Max campaigns, and if you haven’t done it yet in Q1, it’s a must-do early in Q2. 

Our Google Ads Performance Max Data 

Here at Disruptive Advertising, we were fortunate enough to be a Premier Partner. We got early access to the Performance Max campaigns when it was still beta testing, so we’ve been testing it as an advertiser with some of our clients. 

We’ve seen great results with Performance Max campaigns— especially when it comes to lead generation.

There are, however, three case studies that we want to focus on.

Google Ads Performance Max Case Study— HRC Fertility 

Lindsay Wheeler is an account manager here at Disruptive Advertising. She launched Performance Max campaigns for HRC Fertility towards the end of February this year. 

Thanks to these campaigns, the client saw an 8% increase in lead volume at a highly efficient cost of a $35 CPA— this was 4x lower than the cost of the previous Search campaigns that had been run. 

Google Ads Performance Max Case Study— Sports Card Retailer  

In January, we worked with one of our clients in the sports card retail industry to test Performance Max campaigns. These campaigns would replace their shopping campaigns.

We saw a period-over-period lift, comparing their Smart Shopping Campaigns to their Performance Max campaigns. There was a 97% lift in revenue with a 23% increase in cost, resulting in a total of a 60% increase in ROAS. 

Google Ads Performance Max Case Study— Overall Results 

In addition to the two hyper-specific case studies above, we also looked at our overall data.

We looked at advertisers where Performance Max spend was greater than 1k combined and greater than 25% of their total Shopping budget. 

During Q1 of 2022, advertisers that were on Smart Shopping and who opted into Performance Max saw the following improvements in their campaign with Performance Max compared to Smart Shopping: 

• Average of 19% CPA improvement
• Average of 227% revenue increase
• Average ROAS improvement by 84% 

The best results we saw consistently were when two criteria were met:

• The total shopping and Performance Max budget was over 1k per month
• Over 25% of the budget was allocated to Performance Max campaigns 

How Disruptive Advertising Can Help with Your Performance Max Campaigns 

Many brands have no idea where to get started with it comes to Performance Max campaigns, but we can help. The time to migrate is now if you haven’t already— there’s no time to wait.

As early beta testers, we’ve learned a great deal about how to leverage Performance Max campaigns for our clients to help them see more results at a lower cost than ever before.

We’ve got the experience you need to get you started, and as a top-rated Google Ads agency with full-funnel ad services (including creative design, landing page creation, email services, and more), we won’t just get you clicks— we’ll get you results.Ready to increase your conversions, lower your CPA, and send your ROAS skyrocketing? We’ve helped other clients do exactly that, and we’re ready to help you. Get in touch for a free consultation here.