What are ROAS-based Campaigns?

The ROAS-based campaign strategy is when you group different products with similar ROAS in the same campaigns. Another way of going about this strategy is to put products with different ROAS in different campaigns.

What are Price-based Campaigns?

The price-based campaign strategy is when you group products with similar price points in the same campaigns. This is based purely on the price field in your feed and not on performance.

How is this Beneficial?

This strategy allows you to set a ROAS target that is closer to the performance of the products, as well as set different budgets. For example, you can set a higher target ROAS for your high-performing products. You can use your ROAS data to create separate campaigns and manage bids, targets, and budgets on each.

You can also create smart shopping campaigns by grouping products of similar ROAS together, and assigning them a relevant target and budget. This is a great way to optimize smart shopping campaigns because it is only possible to set a campaign-level ROAS target for them. Pro Tip - Not sure about the ROAS your products are getting in smart shopping campaigns? Try the Shopping Analysis tool.

Our Do's and Don'ts

Do's

We recommend that the bucket ranges, when modified, be consecutive. For example, buckets could be 100 to 300, 300 to 452, 452 to 500, but, not 100 to 300, 302 to 452.

This is to make sure that all products are part of a campaign.

We also recommend you automate the process of refreshing campaign groups, as with this you'll make sure all your products move around successfully. This can be done using the Product Group Refresher tool.

Dont's

We don't recommend tweaking the campaign structure manually in Google Ads, as it may disrupt the campaign group settings. This means not:

Adding/removing products manually.
Changing the campaign settings manually (such as adding campaign inventory filters in Google Ads).
Changing the split hierarchy.
Moving the campaigns out of the campaign group.
Adding new campaigns in the campaign group.

Similarly, we ask you don't subdivide or bid on the Everything Else product group, as this may cause an inconsistency in the campaign group.

You can use the ROAS data over 14, 30, 60, 90, or 180 days to group products in campaigns. It is recommended to look at the last 14 or 30 days of data as this will use the most recent conversion patterns to place products in the right campaigns.

Note: Restructuring is not allowed on these campaigns using the Restructure tool. Exclusion/Inclusion is not supported.

How does it Work?

Select ROAS/Price as the first attribute while specifying the split hierarchy.

Customize the buckets for ROAS range or Price range. The buckets are shown based on the performance analysis of the products in the last X days. By default, we are looking at the Last 14 days.

The threshold for conversions a product has had before it moved from the Learning bucket to another bucket can be customized. By default, it is 5 conversions in the Last 14 days.

We will create a GRIP (last level of split at Item Id) structure, even if you don't include Item Id level in your split, as it is required to move the products successfully from one campaign to another.

How are products moved between different campaigns?

After the campaign group for ROAS campaigns is created, products are moved across campaigns based on the performance of products in the Last X days. 'X' is the date range you selected when structuring campaigns by ROAS for the first time.

For example, if a product in a campaign with the ROAS range 100-300 receives more than 'N' conversions in the last 'X' days at an ROAS of 500 then it will be moved to the appropriate campaign.

For campaigns created based on ROAS, the conversion threshold, referred to as 'X' above, is applicable for products when they move out of the learning campaign.
For campaigns created based on Price, we don't have any concept of a learning campaign. There is no minimum conversion requirement for Price based campaigns, as they are based on the Price points your feed has.
The learning bucket comprises products that do not have enough performance data, i.e., N conversions in the last X days. These products move out of the Learning bucket only when they have had N conversions in the last X days.
The products with conversions more than N are added to the campaigns based on the ROAS value in the last X days.
If the conversions in the last X days are less than N for a product that is in the campaign other than Learning, the tool will move it back to the Learning campaign.
At this moment, we do not have any waiting period before the product moves around the campaigns. Every time the Product Group Refresher runs, the conversions and ROAS values for each product in the last X days are checked, and the products are moved accordingly. So, if the automation runs daily, and there is a change in the ROAS and/or conversions, the products will keep moving in/out of the campaigns daily if they meet the data threshold.

Changing ROAS Ranges and Thresholds

Within the Shopping Refresher tool or in the automation schedules, you can change the ROAS ranges and conversion threshold for your shopping campaigns.

Please note that the look-back window selected to look at the performance of products and furthermore create the ROAS buckets, cannot be changed later on. It is set just once while building the campaigns.

Changing the ROAS/Price Ranges in Already Built Campaigns

You can change the ROAS ranges, but not the number of campaigns.
Conversion threshold can be changed for ROAS buildout.
You can change the price ranges in the price buildout.
Date ranges cannot be changed.

Changing the ROAS/Price Ranges within the Automation Schedule on the Refresher

When changing the ROAS from within the automation schedule, we recommend you click on Automate Now to save the changes.

When changing the ranges by selecting the campaign buildout in the tool you should apply the resulting preview to save the changes. If there are no suggestions applied, changes will not be saved.