Unlocking New Growth with Predictive PMax
THE CHALLENGE
A leading technical education provider sought a 30% year-over-year (YoY) increase in leads for one of its flagship programs. However, with over 70% search impression share on non-branded terms, there was little room left for additional growth through traditional search efforts. To scale lead volume efficiently, the school needed a new approach beyond its existing channels: Search, Discovery, YouTube, and now Performance Max (PMax).
Key challenges:
THE STRATEGY & WORK
To maximize results without disrupting existing performance, Level Agency implemented several key strategies:
- Predictive Signal Implementation: PMax testing could not begin until Objective-Centric Indicators (OCI) were fully set up with all enrollment milestones, ensuring optimal tracking.
- Bid Strategy Refinement: Leveraged a Max Conversion Value strategy with lead scoring to optimize for high-quality leads, improving efficiency.
- Parallel Performance Monitoring: Ensured Google prioritized search over PMax when both were running simultaneously, preventing search campaign cannibalization.
- Incremental Budget Allocation: Increased spend by ~$30K for PMax while keeping Google Search & Display budgets stable.
With these strategies in place, Level Agency executed a structured test of PMax, focusing on key predictive signals to drive efficiency.
- Campaign Expansion: Rolled out PMax for an HVAC program while keeping a close watch on search and display performance.
- Data-Driven Insights: Leveraged PMax auction insights to track competitive positioning and optimize bids accordingly.
- Scalability Testing: Expanded PMax efforts to additional campuses and programs for a broader dataset.
- Incorporated programmatic digital buying with a focus on Connected TV
- Complete overhaul of paid search campaigns on a micro and macro level
- Created new landing pages focused on CRO
THE RESULTS
Though still in the early stages, the initial results show strong promise:
- Highly Efficient Cost Per Lead (CPL): PMax delivered CPLs significantly lower than Search, YouTube and Display.
- Improved Lead-to-Enrollment (LTE) Rate: Higher LTE compared to Display and YouTube, validating lead quality.
- Minimal Search Impact: Despite running parallel to search, aggregate performance remained stable.
- Competitive Auction Insights: Gained valuable data on PMax’s impact compared to competitors.
- Scalability in Motion: Expansion to additional campuses is underway to further validate PMax’s effectiveness.
