Google Performance Max For Shopping: Best Practices For Your Pmax Holiday

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Q4 is around the corner, and retail ecommerce faces new challenges as COVID-19 takes a backseat to inflation¹. In the face of unpredictable consumer behaviors, advertisers should stay flexible and prepare for multiple scenarios ahead of this holiday season. So how do Google’s Performance Max (PMax) campaigns come into play? 

Embracing Performance Max Campaigns will be critical for your brand’s Q4 success. Advertisers who resist automation and machine learning may find themselves at a disadvantage this holiday season. Performance Max product campaigns will be an efficient tool for adjusting to search trends and user behavior changes this upcoming quarter. Continue reading for our top four PMax campaign recommendations so your brand can have a healthy holiday this Q4.

1. Ramp Up Your Google Performance Max Campaigns

Smart Shopping Campaigns are out, and Performance Max Campaigns are officially in. Get your PMax campaigns ramped up as soon as possible to capture demand from early-season shoppers in a less competitive environment. 

• Adding hero, seasonal, and new-to-catalog product segments are a great way to make your campaign structures more effective.
  • These additional campaigns will allow for specific performance management for products likely to experience a variety of traffic and conversion behavior over the Q4 period.
• Avoid over-segmentation if you opt for a more complex structure at launch. Too few products in a segment could create a situation where you receive no traffic to that respective segment. In addition, incremental segments’ upkeep could prove unnecessarily tedious and counterproductive.
  • You may feel inclined to create granular segments based on the historic shopping performance across your older campaigns. However, starting with a broader campaign structure will allow you to capture demand and efficiencies previously missed. Remember, you can always add deeper segments later if performance warrants it.
• When launching new campaigns, avoid slowing them down by using the max conversion value bid strategy and setting liberal performance targets. For at least two weeks after launch, keep an eye on how the campaign is performing and adjust accordingly. Also, make sure you set your campaign budgets higher at launch; otherwise, you risk throttling traffic.

2. Google Performance Max Campaign Setting Adjustments

Pulling as many campaign levers as possible over the holiday is tempting, but do your best to hold yourself back. 

• Campaign Targets: Be discerning about adjusting campaign targets. Make these changes very intentionally, and only if there is supporting performance data to warrant a change.
  • Don’t make small changes to your campaign – this will add complexity and could cause unwanted campaign behavior.
  • This situation could make it difficult for campaigns to recover and cause them to miss out on sales.
  • As a general rule, wait for at least one complete conversion cycle before changing targets and settings.
• Seasonal Adjustments: This feature is for short events that are three days or less, where you expect a significant change in performance (e.g., Black Friday sale weekend).
  • Even if you are not running a promotion, consider leveraging seasonal adjustments on important shopping dates due to increased competitor activity that will impact your auction performance.
• Audience Signals: Add relevant in-market and custom-intent audience signals to your promo-based asset groups to reach more upper-funnel shoppers and increase customer acquisition.

3. Google Performance Max Creatives

• Unlike performance adjustments, creative asset refreshes can be updated frequently.
• Add promo-specific creative assets when you are running sales and promotions.
  • If you expect short-term sales throughout the season, ensure that new Performance Max campaigns run for at least two to three weeks before your first sale.
  • This time frame gives the campaign a necessary baseline to operate with.
• If you have dedicated landing pages for your sale/promotion, think about changing asset group destination URLs to direct there. Do this if your product landing pages will not have prominent promo messaging.
• Add at least seven images to improve the chances of appearing in front of high-intent shoppers and capturing demand. Remember that one of the seven image assets needs to be 1200×1200.

4. Google Performance Max Product Feed

• Don’t forget to leverage merchant promos! These are highly effective tactics to communicate compelling discounts and offers. Upload your promotional materials at least three days in advance to allow time for troubleshooting, if needed. This will ensure that your promotion is ready to go on sale day.
• Do a feed health and hygiene check ahead of peak. Prioritize key attributes, as these will have both back-end and front-end implications (product title, GTIN (Global Trade Identity Number), product type, description, images). 
• If you can only pick one attribute to optimize, go with product titles. Using rich keywords will improve long-tail visibility; consider leveraging existing product attributes such as color, material, etc. here.
• Have brick-and-mortar locations? Make sure you also have coverage for your local feeds.

Conclusion

There are less than two months until the holidays, and shoppers’ behavior is becoming increasingly unpredictable. This is not an ideal situation for retailers, but there is hope. Retail advertisers preparing for Q4 with a ‘do more with less’ should consider their readiness for potential turbulence ahead and lean into automation with Google’s Performance Max Campaigns. With the right balance of human and machine, your brand’s holiday season will be ready for strong headwinds. 

And, if you feel unsure of how to tap into Performance Max’s full potential, we’ve got you covered. Learn how we used Performance Max to help Chico’s FAS to get the most out of their digital advertising investment, resulting in an over 80% improvement in return on ad spend in the first two weeks. Interested in how we could partner with you for all your performance marketing needs? Let’s chat!

Looking for more holiday resources? Check out the other blogs in this year’s holiday series! Make your way through our cross-team checklist, Amazon Prime Day 2022 performance insights, and our 2022 holiday forecast to help your brand prepare for the peak shopping season.

Citations

¹ IPSOS, Inflation is Americans’ top concern

Jennifer Sheu

Jen Sheu brings a refreshing perspective to digital marketing as an Associate Director of Strategy at Adlucent. She works hand in hand with enterprise advertisers to develop relevant, growth-centric digital strategies that are attuned to each business' unique needs. Her dynamic, forward-thinking approach helps her clients break through performance plateaus and stay ahead of the curve. She also enjoys fruity cocktails and long walks on the beach.