Case Study: From Broken Attribution to Profitable Growth — A Google Ads Turnaround Story

An alcohol client approached our team to help their business. Their previous agency delivered mediocre results, barely scoring above a 1 ROAS (1.06, to be exact). They were given a few months to scale the brand, but instead, they generated little to no growth. After a previous client referred us, we secured a monthly retainer and went to work to put the brand on a roadmap to success.

We immediately went to work and made a quick diagnosis: their pipes were not connected properly; their Shopify had a leaky bucket in terms of attribution and needed a firmer connection to attribute sales correctly. For this, we used Simprosys. It's a top-tier Shopify feed and tracking solution that reinforces conversions with proper GCLID passback. Simprosys does the following:

• Firm up attribution pathways

• Enable enhanced conversion tracking

• Improve data pass-back to Google Ads

After attribution and enhanced conversions were improved, we shifted gears to rebuild the Google ads account:

• Implemented PMAX Shopping feed over Standard Shopping to capitalize on remarketing. Most agencies prioritize standard shopping. However, we knew this brand's price point would lead to a longer-than-average conversion funnel. Meaning, remarketing was needed to generate view-through conversions to generate the final click to purchase.

• Improved brand KW structure to facilitate conversions, not clicks. Max click traffic is roughly 50% bot and spam traffic, meaning it’s composed of unqualified traffic. Switching to conversion traffic allows better-qualified users to enter the path to conversion, vs. bot and spam traffic.

• Turned off auto conversion optimization. These sometimes scale on false signals, meaning a human operator needs to optimize to the correct point for conversions. This meant we hand-held the campaigns to relearn the proper path to being “fully learned”: 30 conversions in 30 days for ATC, IC, Payment method, and Purchases — - for each event.

• Finally, AB tested a variety of search and PMAX copy to constantly hone messaging. This included special promotional copy around Valentine's Day.

The results in both GA4 and Google Ads were staggering:

Entry to funnel: Add to cart in the conversion funnel shows a far more qualified user entering to purchase. The event count per user for ATC opt-in showed a 76% improvement. Although the cost per user was more expensive than the 2023 campaign set up, users were more likely to purchase.

End-of-funnel conversions improved 761 %+ purchase conversions YoY. Again, this was achieved with close to 50% less spending compared to the previous year. This was done by developing a more qualified user to enter the sales funnel, vs. the previous spray-and-pray method using traffic volume.

Yousaf is the CEO and Founder of YRV Dynamics. Let us know how we can help your company stay ahead and give your brand a compelling roadmap. Discover other industry tips by visiting our agency’s site, YRV Dynamics. Unlock your potential today by having us shape your brand’s digital story.

Yousaf Yunes is the CEO/ Lead Founder / Principal at YRV Dynamics, with more than 15 years of expertise in the advertising industry. He’s garnered a Top Rated Plus status on Upwork, earning a perfect job satisfaction score of 100% with twenty-one 5-star reviews from his Upwork clients. Yousaf earned certifications in Google Search and YouTube/Video and holds dual Blueprint certifications in Meta’s planning and buying. Yousaf has also won the Monty McKinney Award for the Institute of Advanced Advertising Studies (IAAS).

During his downtime, Yousaf is the lead moderator for the largest Meta group focused on Blueprint, known as “Facebook Blueprint Certification Prep,” which boasts a membership of over 30,000 individuals.