In this video, you'll learn how to run Experiments
to measure the incremental conversion uplift of using Performance Max campaigns,
the newest campaign type that gives you access to the full range
of channels and inventory in Google Ads.
We've seen that advertisers that use Performance Max
campaigns in their account, see an average increase of 13%
total incremental conversions at a similar cost per action.
Now, you can test this for yourself to see
how your account could benefit from using Performance Max.
In the past you may have used Experiments to test changes
to your Search and Display campaigns.
If this is the first time you're hearing about Experiments,
they are tools in Google Ads that help you A/B test different features,
settings, and campaigns to improve results for your business.
For Performance Max specifically, you can run an Experiment
if you'd like to:
Measure the incremental conversion uplift
from adding Performance Max campaigns to your existing campaign mix.
Or, directly compare results from Performance Max campaigns
head-to-head against Standard Shopping campaigns.
This helps you understand the performance uplift you'd get from switching
campaign types from Standard Shopping and moving forward with Performance Max
to access the full range of Google channels and inventory.
For this video, we'll focus on measuring the incremental conversion uplift
from adding Performance Max campaigns to your existing campaign mix.
You can run an A/B experiment to measure the impact
on conversions or conversion value when Performance Max campaigns
are added as a complement to other “comparable campaign types”.
As a best practice,
whether testing an existing Performance Max campaign,
or creating a new one, your Performance Max
campaign should have the same targeting settings and should optimize
using the same bidding strategy and to the same conversion actions
as other comparable performance campaigns in the account.
If setting a CPA or ROAS target for a new campaign, you can start
with the average CPA or ROAS for the comparable performance campaigns.
How does this work?
When you create the Experiment, Performance Max campaigns serve to users
in the Treatment arm of the experiment, which runs at 50% of eligible traffic.
Your existing comparable campaigns that you've chosen for the experiment
serve equally to users in both the Treatment and Control groups.
All else remaining the same, we calculate the difference in performance
when Performance Max is running alongside your other campaigns,
versus when it's not.
Note:
Performance Max campaigns using a merchant center feed
are not supported for Uplift experiments.
Now that you understand why you'd use Experiments,
let's take a closer look at how to get started:
To start,
go to the Experiments page in your Google Ads account
and click “Performance Max campaign experiments.”
Click on the “+” sign to create a new Experiment.
Select “Test uplift from Performance Max”
and click “Next”.
Now is the time to select a campaign you want to test:
click “Select campaign”
to include the Treatment arm of the Experiment
or “Create new”.
In our case, we are going to create a new campaign.
Next, give the Experiment a name and select a start date.
To make setup easier, we will automatically select
comparable campaigns to add to both arms of the experiment,
such as your Search, Display,
Video campaigns that are optimizing to the same conversions, landing page,
and have overlapping location and language settings.
You can edit and change this list of comparable campaigns
up to seven days after the experiment start date.
As a best practice, run the experiment for at least 4 to 6 weeks,
especially if you're testing with a new Performance Max campaign.
Finally, click on “Schedule” to complete the Experiment setup.
Congratulations, your test is now setup!
You will see it in the far left column.
To see your Experiment and measure results:
Go to the Experiments page,
then click “Performance Max Campaign Experiments”.
As your Experiment runs, you can view the results summary table
to see performance for the Control and Treatment groups.
It's important to note:
If this is the first time
running a Performance Max campaign, results will not be available
for the first seven days in order to allow time for the campaign to ramp up.
To see the end of your test, click “End Experiment”.
There are two ways to end an Experiment:
If the Experiment is successful,
you can either “Launch the Performance Max campaign” and it will start
serving on 100% of eligible traffic to help you drive more conversions.
Or, if you want to wait on launching the Performance Max campaign full-time,
you can “Pause the Performance Max campaign” and enable it again
at a later time.
Then click “Confirm”.
As a best practice,
if the Treatment arm drove more conversions/conversion value
at the same or better CPA or ROAS compared to the Control arm,
we recommend launching the Performance Max campaign to 100% of eligible traffic,
and increasing budgets to get more coverage
and efficient conversions at that ROI.
When Performance Max is fully enabled, it's eligible to serve on more traffic.
Using the same budget as you did during the Experiment
could make you miss out on potential for capturing more efficient conversions.
Well done!
Now you know how to run an Experiment
to “Test uplift from a Performance Max” campaign.