What is "Maximize Conversion Value" bidding in Google Ads?
“Maximize Conversion Value” is a smart bidding strategy in Google Ads designed to optimize the total conversion value of your campaign within a given budget. This strategy is ideal for advertisers focused on maximizing the return on investment (ROI) rather than just driving a high volume of conversions.
How does the Maximize Conversion Value bidding strategy work?
The “Maximize Conversion Value” bidding strategy uses Google’s algorithms to predict which clicks are most likely to lead to valuable customer actions, adjusting your bids in real-time to get the best result possible.
Google also uses signals in each auction (similar to the Maximize Conversions strategy), like search query, location, device, time of day, and more, to adjust bids.
How to set up Maximize Conversion Value bidding in Google
Here is a step-by-step guide to set up Maximize Conversion Value for your campaigns:
- First, navigate to Campaigns, and click the checkbox next to the campaigns you’d like to use this bid strategy.
- Click “Edit” on the blue bar at the top, then click “Change Bid Strategy” from the dropdown.
- Select “Maximize Conversion Value”.
- You have an option to set a Target ROAS. To set a ROAS Target, check the box, then set your Target ROAS.
Benefits of using Maximize Conversion Value bidding
Potential For Better ROI: By directing Google to focus on conversion value rather than volume, you should see a significant improvement in ROI vs other strategies. This approach ensures that your budget is allocated towards attracting the most profitable conversions.
Saves Time: Using this bid strategy can save a lot of time by reducing the need for manual bid adjustments. You can use that time to focus on optimizing other aspects of your campaigns, such as improving creative or adjusting targeting.
Decisions Are Backed By Data: Utilizes vast amounts of data to make informed bidding decisions (far beyond what a human could analyze), should lead to more effective and efficient ad spend.
Challenges & considerations with Maximize Conversion Value
While “Maximize Conversion Value” is a powerful bid strategy that focuses on improving ROI and value to your business, there are a few important things to consider before applying to your campaigns:
Very Dependent on Conversion Data: For optimal performance, this strategy requires a significant amount of accurate conversion data. If you are a newer advertiser or do not have a lot of consistent conversion data, you may find it challenging to use this strategy effectively.
Reduced Control: Because this strategy relies on data and less manual intervention, you relinquish a considerable amount of control over to Google’s algorithms. You won’t be able to make as many manual bid adjustments, so this might not be ideal for those who prefer to have granular control over their campaign bids.
Potential for Increased Spend: While aiming to maximize conversion value, there might be instances where the strategy increases bids significantly for high-value opportunities, which could lead to higher than anticipated ad spend. If you need consistent, predictable spend or have hard budget caps, it may be best to try another strategy first.
Requires a “Learning Phase”: There is typically a period of time where the algorithm adjusts to find the optimal bidding strategy. During this time, performance may fluctuate, requiring patience and potentially a larger initial budget to accommodate this learning phase.
Sensitive to Market Fluctuations: The strategy’s performance can be influenced by market changes, such as seasonal demand or shifts in consumer behavior. For example: If you had a Black Friday Sale which saw double your average order value (AOV), Google’s algorithms may see this increase in AOV as an opportunity, and increase bids dramatically based on those signals to capture more demand.
Frequently asked questions
How should advertisers set Conversion Values?
For this bid strategy to work well, you will need accurate conversion value data and ample conversion volume. You can assign monetary values to different conversion actions based on their relative worth to the business.
For e-commerce sites, this might be the actual purchase amount. For leads, assign a value based on the lead’s estimated worth or average revenue per lead.
Regularly review and update these values to reflect changes in your business or market conditions (example: you may want to adjust lead value monthly or quarterly based on historical data).
Which campaign types can use Maximize Conversion Value?
The “Maximize Conversion Value” bidding strategy is most commonly used with Search, Display, and Shopping campaigns, but performance may vary widely by campaign type.
For example, in Shopping campaigns, this strategy can help you prioritize products that are more likely to drive higher value sales. Data may be more readily available and accurate for Shopping campaigns compared to a lead-based campaign.
Related glossary terms:
