Girlguiding leap into Performance Max

Switching to Google's Performance Max for a shopping campaign increased purchases and revenue, underscoring its effectiveness and efficiency for future marketing strategies.

Girlguiding

31 Aug 2023 2 mins read

Digital marketing PPC Charity & non-profit

Two children hiking in forest with large sticks

The outcomes

111 More purchases Compared to all other shopping campaigns combined
158% ROI increase Return On Investment (ROI) increased by 158% to £33.50

The background

Girlguiding is the UK’s largest youth organisation dedicated completely to girls aged 4-18. Upon hearing about the successes our other clients were enjoying, the Girlguiding team was eager to evaluate the effectiveness of Google's fairly new campaign type, Performance Max, for their shopping campaign.

The objective

Exploring the potential of Performance Max

Since 2017, we have been partnering with Girlguiding, managing their Google shopping and search ads. These ads showcase various branded items, including uniform, backpacks, scrunchies and more (100% of the profit from the shop stays within Girlguiding).

Motivated by the potential of Google's latest campaign type, Performance Max, we collaborated with Girlguiding to put it to the test.

Our objective was clear: to use Performance Max to boost their revenue and enhance their return on ad spend (ROAS), their two most vital metrics.

The challenge

Managing a lengthy learning and optimisation phase

Performance Max campaigns require a lengthy learning and optimisation period compared to other campaign types. It's crucial to avoid making hasty assumptions during this phase, so we decided to wait for a thorough understanding of transactional data and key metrics before making informed decisions.

By adopting a strategic approach that balanced timely optimisations with data needs, we were able to successfully navigate through Performance Max's learning phase, resulting in a hugely positive outcome for the campaign within its first full month.

The results

We saw 111 more purchases from the Performance Max campaign compared to all other shopping campaigns combined in the same period, which resulted in over £14,000 in revenue during this period.
Return On Investment (ROI) increased by 158.29% to £33.50

It’s very clear that we want to continue to utilise Performance Max in our paid marketing moving forward, especially for our major campaigns. It might take a little more work to initially set up, but it becomes easier over time, and it definitely pays off in the end.

Jen Howell Marketing Lead at Girlguiding

Looking ahead

Testing more variations of shopping ads

Performance Max is still evolving and has recently undergone significant updates that have given us a wealth of valuable insights.

Moving forward, we will continue to test and utilise Performance Max. Despite the initial challenges during the learning phase, which can last approximately six weeks, the impressive results make it a valuable tool for long-term campaigns.

Given the remarkable surge in revenue, we are continuing to test more variations of these shopping ads and have recommended that Girlguiding persist with Performance Max. We’re optimistic about the potential for even greater success in Girlguiding's future fundraising efforts.

If you’d like to test Performance Max as part of your nonprofit’s advertising strategy, we’d love to hear from you!

Get in touch