Maximising your ad spend is no longer just a nice-to-have; but a must-have.
Making data-driven decisions is crucial to get the most out of your ad spend. Google Ads’ Performance Max campaigns offer powerful tools to reach potential customers across Google’s entire network, but without a strategic approach, you risk inefficiencies.
Enter Google Ads Product Report—an essential resource for retail advertisers looking to fine-tune their campaigns and drive better returns.
By using the insights provided by Product Reports, you can:
- Optimise Product Performance: Pinpoint underperforming products and allocate budget more effectively to those driving the highest ROI.
- Identify Winning Campaigns: Discover which campaigns are resonating with your target audience and double down on their success.
- Refine Targeting: Refine your targeting strategies to reach the right customers at the right time.
- Improve Bidding Strategies: Adjust your bidding strategies to maximise conversions and minimise costs.
- Track Seasonality and Trends: Understand seasonal fluctuations and emerging trends to capitalise on opportunities.
With the power of Google Ads Product Reports, you can unlock the full potential of your Performance Max campaigns and achieve sustainable growth.
Not All SKUs Deserve Your Ad Budget
Performance Max campaigns are designed to give maximum exposure to your product catalogue, but not every SKU deserves equal investment. Advertising every item can lead to significant inefficiencies, with budgets wasted on poor-performing products that drain resources from your top sellers.
At 360 OM, we’ve observed that taking action on insights from product reports can yield 15-20% in savings. By carefully analysing which SKUs are driving value and which aren’t, you can make smarter decisions that boost your overall ROI.
The ad spend saved from excluding underperforming products can then be reinvested in top performers identified in your quadrant view. This reallocation not only leads to growth in sales but also enhances the overall efficiency of your campaigns, as more budget is directed towards proven winners.
The Quadrant View: A Strategic Framework
To simplify product analysis, we recommend using a quadrant view to categorise your products based on performance and growth potential. This approach divides your SKUs into four main segments:
1. High Growth Potential Products
These products show promising engagement and strong margins but need more visibility to reach their full potential. Increasing ad spend strategically can unlock higher returns.
2. Top Performers
Your best sellers that generate the most revenue. Doubling down on these products with higher budgets can amplify sales and yield even greater efficiencies.
3. Non-Performers
SKUs that consistently fail to convert. Excluding these from your campaigns or reassessing their listings (e.g., improving descriptions, images, or pricing) can significantly increase efficiency.
4. Low Discoverable Products
Items that aren’t getting enough exposure due to low bids or limited visibility. These may need adjustments to bidding strategies or creative enhancements.
This quadrant-based analysis ensures your ad spend is allocated efficiently, focusing on products that offer the most value and potential for growth.
The Power of Automation: Scale Smarter, Not Harder
Automation can play a crucial role in streamlining and optimising your approach. For instance, products identified as top performers—those with high ad spend and strong ROAS—can be dynamically labelled with custom labels.
These labels can trigger movement into dedicated campaigns with more aggressive target ROAS settings, helping to capitalise on their high performance. The beauty of this system is that the custom labels can be updated automatically based on real-time metrics over a specific period, ensuring your strategy remains responsive and data-driven.
How To Integrate Performance Data Across Platforms
For comprehensive decision-making, having a unified view of your data is essential. Combining Google Ads Performance Max metrics with insights from Meta product feed spend, GA4 product-level reporting, and backend e-commerce data from platforms like Shopify or Magento allows for a holistic understanding of product performance.
This integrated perspective makes it easier to identify trends and opportunities, leading to more informed and strategic decisions
Top 4 Actionable Steps for Retail Advertisers
Ready to implement? Here are the next steps you need to take:
1. Exclude Poor-Performing Products: Use the product report to identify and exclude SKUs that aren’t generating results. Reinvest that budget into high-potential or top-performing products for increased efficiency and growth.
2. Optimise Product Listings: For underperforming products that show potential, update and optimise details like product titles, descriptions, images, or even pricing to make them more appealing and competitive.
3. Automate for Performance: Use dynamic custom labels to automatically move top performers into campaigns with aggressive target ROAS goals. Adjust your strategy regularly based on performance data to maximise impact.
4. Regularly Monitor Performance: Performance Max campaigns are highly dynamic, and regular monitoring is essential. Analyse product-level data frequently and be ready to adjust your strategy based on new insights.
Key Takeaways for Success
Efficiency is the name of the game when it comes to retail advertising.
By navigating Google Ads Product Reports effectively and employing automation, you can maximise your ROI and drive better results.
The quadrant view provides a practical framework for focusing your budget where it matters most, while an integrated data approach ensures you’re making the best possible decisions. With strategic use of automation, you can keep your campaigns agile, optimising spend dynamically as performance evolves.
Need a fresh perspective? Let’s talk.
At 360 OM, we help brands optimise their Performance Max campaigns with data-driven strategies and automation for tangible performance gains. Ready to elevate your approach? Start leveraging these insights today to drive efficiency and scale.
