Workshop Digital teamed up with Performance Foodservice to integrate Performance Max and paid search, creating a cohesive strategy that expanded reach and efficiency without added spend.
The Challenge
Performance Foodservice’s paid search campaigns were strong but limited by keyword targeting alone. To reach new audiences and grow lead volume without increasing spend, they needed a strategy that could expand visibility while maintaining cost efficiency.
The Outcome
By integrating Performance Max with non-branded search, Workshop Digital delivered a 54% improvement in cost-per-lead and a 165% lift in conversion rate, proving that a balanced, multi-channel strategy can drive more leads for the same investment.
The Story
Performance Foodservice wanted to expand its reach with restaurant operators nationwide while fueling its sales pipeline with qualified leads. Their goals were twofold:
Drive more cost-efficient customer leads.
Build stronger upper-funnel awareness of their services across digital touchpoints.
This set the stage for a test of Google’s new Performance Max (PMax) campaign type, layered alongside existing non-branded search campaigns. The question: could PMax amplify results while keeping advertising spend efficient?
The Opportunity
Before engaging with Workshop Digital, Performance Foodservice relied primarily on traditional paid search to generate leads. While these campaigns performed well, growth was limited by the constraints of keyword targeting alone.
There was a clear opportunity to:
Increase total lead volume without raising the budget.
Drive incremental reach on high-value channels beyond standard search.
Ensure efficiency by maintaining or improving the cost-per-lead (CPL).
Our Approach
Our campaign setup followed Google’s PMax best practices and made full use of all available asset types. Workshop Digital developed a hybrid strategy that combined PMax with Search to maximize the strengths of both campaign types.
Campaign Setup:
Built Performance Max campaigns using Google best practices.
Fully utilized headline, description, sitelink, image, and video assets to secure an “Excellent” ad strength rating.
Implemented audience signals, including in-market, demographic, and custom interest segments.
Layered on top non-branded search themes from the account.
Optimization Strategy:
Applied existing account-level negative keywords but allowed PMax to optimize freely beyond that.
Actively monitored results and gradually shifted more budget into PMax as performance signals strengthened.
Kept overall paid search spend constant by reallocating, ensuring a fair test.
Execution Across Channels:
While most PMax spend went to search, additional impressions were delivered across Discover, YouTube, Gmail, and Display, finding incremental brand awareness.
+165%
Increase in conversion rate
54%
Improved aggregate CPL
250,000
Impressions across channels
The Results
The combination of PMax and traditional paid search advertising delivered outsized gains:
Conversion Rate: Paid search traffic conversion rate increased 165% once PMax ran alongside traditional search.
Cost-Per-Lead (CPL): Aggregate CPL improved 54%, with both campaign types seeing efficiency gains.
Lead Volume: Record-high leads were achieved without increasing overall budget.
Additional visibility gains included:
Nearly 250,000 impressions and 4,000+ clicks from Discover, YouTube, Gmail, and Display.
Several dozen incremental leads from these channels at a CPL of only $150.
The net impact: more leads, greater efficiency, and a stronger multi-channel footprint compared to search alone.
Looking to increase leads while keeping costs efficient? Workshop Digital helps businesses blend the combined power of Search and Performance Max campaigns.
Contact us today to see how we can drive growth for your business.