Performance Max is an automated campaign from Google, so it’s easy to think all you need to do is give it a budget, some products and you’re away. To a degree, you can; leave the campaign to optimise over time and after a couple of weeks you’ll probably start to see some results but this is still an approach that I see way too often that leads to missed sales and lost revenue. You’re not giving the campaigns some of the tools it needs to succeed so I want to break down the two settings that can really move the needle when it comes to making sure your campaigns optimise quickly and start hitting your sales goals.
ROAS Target
The first, and to me, most important is your ROAS target. When you’re just starting out on PMax, it can be difficult to know which is the right bid strategy to use. The bidding algorithm works really well and can deliver a good ROAS for you, once it is out of the learning phase. But, getting through that learning phase as quickly as possible, and avoiding pitfalls such as wasted spend or not spending enough, can be tricky.
To begin with, I’d suggest starting out without a target ROAS in place. Instead, set it to “Maximise Conversion Value” but without a target ROAS. Also, make sure to use a fairly conservative daily budget. Avoiding the target ROAS at this stage will help ensure Google actually spends some money and does some testing. Later, after sufficient conversion data has come in, we can implement that target ROAS to stabilise things.
In order to move out of the learning phase, it’s best to wait for either 30 days of the campaign running stably (with no massive campaign changes) or 50 conversions - whichever comes first. After this period, have a look at your results and take note of the natural ROAS that Google has provided you with.
Are you happy with this? Great! Now’s the time to pivot over to the Target ROAS bid strategy (keeping the same target ROAS from your previous results) but start to increase your budgets. Avoid making budget adjustments of more than ~25% in one go as these have the potential to throw the campaign back into the learning period (and it’s worth waiting at least 7 days between each change). This will allow the campaign to grow whilst minimising risk of instability.
If you’re not happy with your ROAS you still have some options. I’d recommend setting a Target ROAS just a little above where you are and, when it gets there, keep nudging it up in small increments until you get to where you want to be.