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Performance Max for Lead Gen

Performance Max campaigns can be great for lead generation and are a perfect complement for your keyword-based Search campaigns. 

We’ve been using Performance Max campaigns across different clients and verticals since its beta version, and got some surprising results. For instance, for our childcare client, Performance Max campaigns allowed us to protect ROAS while scaling.

When we first started implementing Performance Max for our childcare client, we launched a test using 5% of total budget. This resulted in 60% lower CPA and 128% higher ROAS vs. search campaign. Of course, these are not directly comparable, as search had a lot more budget. But, they were good indicators.

Since then, we’ve been scaling Performance Max campaigns with consistent performance. Even during low sales seasonalities for the industry when Search campaigns hit a plateau, Performance Max campaigns have pushed through while still showing growth. Currently with 40% of the budget, 25% lower CPA and 20% higher ROAS, they have allowed us to get the volume of leads required to achieve the business goals.

If you feel that your Search campaigns have reached a plateau and you are looking for ways to improve your ad performance, test Performance Max. It can help you find more converting customers across YouTube, Display, Search, Discover, Gmail, and Maps.

But before, you might be interested in going through some of the learnings we’ve got so far. These we’ll help you avoid common mistakes and set up your Performance Max campaign for success.

Know your numbers.

You can customize the goals and Performance Max will help you drive performance based on what matters to your business. For that, it needs reliable data!

Make sure you know your numbers before choosing a bid strategy and bid caps – tCPA / tROAS – so

 that you can set goals accordingly. For best results, calculate:

• Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
• Return Rate
• Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
• Average Order Value (AOV)
• Seasonality

Implement accurate conversion tracking using enhanced conversions, offline conversion import and CRM integrations. Many lead gen businesses struggle with lead quality because they are not tracking conversion value data. If you are facing conversion tracking challenges, now is the time to fix them.

It’s powered by machine learning but it requires a lot of thought

As an automated goal-based campaign Performance Max relies heavily on machine learning. But, it is also dependent on the quality of your inputs. What does this mean? 

When you create a Performance Max campaign you need to provide: headlines, descriptions, images, videos, Audience signals. Think about these as ingredients. If you don’t use high quality components, you can mess up the best recipe. Same happens with Performance Max.

On the contrary, when giving accurate and relevant inputs, you can speed up optimization:

• Provide as much data as possible to help enhance  machine learning. Use existing leads and ramp up automation faster with Customer Match and first-party audience data. 
• Put a lot of thought into your signals and provide unique content that engages your audiences and tie assets to the right audience signals.

Watch out for URL Expansion and Location targeting

By default, Performance Max campaigns have URL expansion turned on and will send users to landing pages other than your final URL based on the user’s search query and intent. If you don’t want this to happen, you can turn it off or add url exclusions. One reason you may not want to use URL expansion is if the final URL has a specific targeted conversion in mind. 

Google defaults to location targeting based on “Presence or interest” (people in the location or interested in it). Switching it to “Presence” avoids showing ads to people outside your targeted location that have shown interest in the location only for a specific reason but would not benefit from your campaign. 

There are some limitations

While there are plenty of benefits through higher ROAS and lower CPA, performance max campaigns have some limitations:

• Adding geolocation or device bid adjustments is not currently possible. However, you can set up conversion value rules based on devices and / or locations. As a reminder, in order to implement these without giving inaccurate signals, you must know your numbers.
• You won’t be able to add negative keywords unless you have an account manager. Negative keywords allow you to exclude specific search terms from being targeted that are not relevant for your business. For example, you can exclude pages with keywords that you do not want to rank for. Hiring a PPC account manager is currently the only way to be able to use this feature but could result in long-term benefits for your campaign results.  

If you are interested in taking the next steps to implement Performance MAX for lead gen, contact us today to get started! 

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