By pairing data-driven testing with Google’s latest automation tools, we helped a B2B e-commerce brand improve efficiency and scale revenue without losing focus on ROI.
The Challenge
The client’s Standard Shopping campaigns were efficient, but we saw room to improve return on ad spend. We wanted to understand whether Performance Max Shopping could drive stronger ROI through automated, cross-channel optimization, without compromising control or efficiency.
The Outcome
Performance Max delivered a 21% higher ROAS and a 55% lift in conversion value, adding more than $13K in incremental revenue. The campaign balanced automation with performance, confirming that smarter distribution can strengthen ROI for established e-commerce programs.
The Story
A mid-sized B2B Ecommerce retailer specializing in customizable hardware solutions was looking to maximize return on ad spend (ROAS) from Google Ads. Historically, their Display campaigns weren’t driving the desired return, leading us to focus on high-intent channels like Shopping and Search. With new campaign types emerging, we wanted to evaluate whether Google’s Performance Max Shopping could outperform its long-running Standard Shopping campaigns and drive stronger ROI during the retailer’s peak season.
The Opportunity
While the client’s Standard Shopping campaigns were efficient and generated consistent conversions, we always have to ask ourselves, “How can we optimize this even further?”. Performance Max testing done on other industries has proven beneficial, so could the specialized Performance Max Shopping campaign be worthwhile for e-commerce? The opportunity with Performance Max to level the spend between channels and avoid hyperfixating on only lower-funnel and lower-ROI placements (i.e., Display), sounds like a great idea for driving purchases while keeping awareness high.
The last question remains: would automation and cross-channel bidding actually improve efficiency, or dilute their ROI focus?
To answer these questions, Workshop Digital launched a controlled Google Ads experiment to compare Performance Max Shopping to theStandard Shopping campaign format, with the primary KPI being Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) and a secondary focus on Conversion Value.
The Approach
Both campaigns used the same product feed and bidding strategy, allowing for an apples-to-apples comparison. Google will also split the budget as evenly as possible between the two campaigns. The Performance Max Shopping campaign leveraged Google’s automation to deliver ads across Search, Display, YouTube, and more, while Standard Shopping remained focused solely on Shopping placements.
Key steps included:
Establishing identical audience and budget parameters to isolate the campaign type as the primary test variable.
Monitoring performance over several weeks leading up to the client’s busy season.
Using Google’s statistical significance threshold to determine a clear winner before finalizing the test. This experiment took several months to become statistically significant, although results will vary depending on traffic volume.
During the experiment, the Workshop Digital team also monitored channel mix and impression data to understand where Performance Max was delivering visibility across networks.
+21%
Increase in ROAS
+55%
Lift in Conversion Value
The Outcome
After reaching statistical significance, the Performance Max campaign outperformed Standard Shopping across key ROI metrics:
+21% increase in ROAS (from 7.82 to 9.48)
+54.9% lift in Conversion Value, a net gain of $13,291
Slightly higher spend (+$900), offset by the stronger revenue return.
Channel analysis showed that while over 90% of ad spend came from Search, that channel only drove 81% of total impressions and 88% of total clicks. This confirms that Performance Max’s automated distribution will prioritize the most profitable intent-driven placements. Display and YouTube generated additional reach and awareness, but contributed minimally to conversions. Even the Discover and Gmail placements recorded impressions, showing a nice marketing mix from the campaign. The only channel not used was Google Maps, which, in this case, was a good sign that the algorithm understood the advertiser was an online retailer only.
Even with some seasonal demand lift, these results demonstrated that Performance Max could deliver a meaningful efficiency improvement without sacrificing ROI, visibility, or control.
Looking to test new campaign types and maximize your advertising ROI? Let’s talk about how Workshop Digital can help.