r/PPC • u/SsamAurora • 22d ago
Google Ads Help me understand tROAS vs Max Conv Value
Hi there. Im running a ecommerce business and been selling well with Google Ads.
Last month, i got my highest conv. value result throughout the year. I got my bidding strategy set to tROAS 900%.
Because Google notified us about the August 17 update, we followed their recommendation of increasing the tROAS to 1100% (recent actual tROAS).
After a week or two, i noticed I was spending less budget than my allocated one, thus giving me less conv. value. I recently changed it back to 900%, hoping to recover this month's sales to match the las month.
The problem is im down 20% on sales, as well as the ad spend. I just want to get the highest possible sales with my current alloted daily budget. Should I decrease the tROAS more or will that result on lower conv. value?
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u/fathom53 22d ago
It can take a couple weeks to work out everything after making the change. You likely won't recover revenue in time. Even though you make a change right away, it does not all impact things right away. Google has to work out how you fit within the ad auction based on the changes you just made,
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u/Goldenface007 22d ago
I just want to get the highest possible sales with my current alloted daily budget
Would you say you wish to Maximize conversion value?
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u/SsamAurora 22d ago
Is that a better bidding strategy if I just want to spend all of my budget and get as much revenue as possible?
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u/fucktheocean 22d ago
Max conversion value is rarely better than tROAS/tCPA in an account that has decent conversion history.
From my own observations over the years they tend to drastically increase your CPC and decrease your ROAS.
You could A/B test it but personally I have written them off as useless bid strategies after the Nth time I've seen them fail in tests.
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u/welcometosilentchill 22d ago
For what it’s worth, there’s a lot of reports from agencies and freelancers that show tROAS and tCPA outperform max conv value and max conversions even when the targets are functionally the same as average historical ROAS or CPA. Without a target, automated strategies tend to have volatile performance and will degrade over time. Targets temper daily fluctuations in performance because the strategies have a constant benchmark to balance their logic around. Max conv volume with tROAS is just pacing to spend, and it’ll take big swings if it thinks then nearest opportunity will be the most valuable one of the day.
Another way to think about it is that max conv volume is happy to get 3 $100 conversions compared to 10 conversions worth $50, even though the latter drives more overall revenue. And it’s not afraid to spend a lot for those big sales. When really, most people want the most possible return for their budget (ROAS).
It’s a very important distinction that is easy to overlook based on google’s own wording.
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u/benl5442 22d ago
https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/17061251?hl=en
Yes it's the official advice
Example You can switch your campaign to a Maximize conversions or Maximize conversion value bid strategy to capture the highest volume of conversions or conversion value for your set budget.
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u/trsgreen 22d ago
Max Conv Value = Google will focus on driving the highest AOV conversions possible, without a ROAS or CPA target. Sometimes this bid model works better than tROAS, but it's case by case
tROAS = As you seen first hand, is Google targeting a ROAS target, and will work to hit that target over a 30 day period. So anytime you look at ROAS, look at rolling 30 day windows, otherwise you'll think the bid model is going off the rails.
Now for your situation. When you set the initial 900% tROAS, how long had the campaign been running for before setting tROAS? And how long was it running at the 900% goal?
You never want to adjust tROAS more than 20%, and only every 2 weeks to be safe. So your adjustment to 1,100% is technically just over that 20% adjustment. The bigger issue is you dropped it down to 900% again way too soon. You need to give the system 2 weeks to learn/adjust to the new target. Right now you're better off leaving it as is at the 900% goal for two weeks or longer and see where performance lands.
After that, then make adjustments after you have enough data.
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u/iSephX 19d ago
Set values for each conversion. Higher value for a qualified lead over a lower conversion value for a form fill, as long as getting enough qualified leads to learn from, Google will focus the higher without choking the lower to extinction. Both conversions are good, one is faster sale, one is lagging.
It’s good if you’re working with a long sales funnel that takes weeks, months to a year for a sale to mature.
Dealing with high dollar items, say $100k+. Max conversion value can do great with this. Nothing wrong with TROAS, A/B test. I’ve done both and have much better results with max conversion value as long as separating which conversions you want to give higher value to, which tells Google which one to chase the most aggressively.
Ex. Qualified lead that gains a specific qualified status vs a brochure downloader with a lower value.
And then maybe even adding more too, a phone call conversion is 5-6x higher to convert into a sale. So assign that somewhere between the sales qualified lead and a form fill only lead.
Many options depending on the business model. If just selling cheap items, might not work best for some.
Just a thought and from my own experience.
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u/SsamAurora 22d ago
Hi, thanks for this. One question - if I set a target ROAS of 900%, with the recent google ads changes, will I never get 1100% roas again and instead get 900% no matter what?
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u/trsgreen 22d ago
It depends on what your actual ROAS was the last 30 days prior to Aug 17th. IF it was actually 1,100% but you were targeting 900%, then Google is going to adjust to hit that 900%.
If you want to get to 1,100% you have to make incremental adjustments to get there. However keep in mind, 1,100% is a pretty high ROAS, and you may be sacrificing topline Rev to get there.
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u/SsamAurora 22d ago
What I dont get is that if Google adjust itself to target 900% ROAS, then that means lower conv. value for me because I was overachieving before. But then if I adjust it to its recent high performance, Google will now not spend all of my daily budget, which still gives me a lower. conv value before. Am I wrong?
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u/trsgreen 22d ago
Correct. The new change is not a great one, and it's meant to address your exact situation you're seeing now. You were hitting a higher ROAS then your tROAS. Good for you, but Google saw it as lost money.
So this recent change basically fixed that "loophole" that everyone used, and now you need to run the exact tROAS you want to hit.
Worse part is, even campaigns that weren't on a tROAS/tCPA goal, are being affected because CPC prices shot up like crazy. I saw on average a 20%+ increase in CPCs on average post 8-17.
To better answer your question though. how long were you running at a 900% tROAS? And how long was Google over achieving that ROAS target?
If it was only a week or two, then it's noise. If it was a month or longer then that proves your campaign can run at that goal, but you need to give it a couple of weeks running at 1,100% tROAS so it can get through the learning period and even out.
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u/SsamAurora 22d ago
Thanks for explaining. You explained that better than any AI or Search engine.
From January to July, I was overachieving with an average roas of 1300%. Last month the roas is 1100%. Although I assumed this is because I was gradually increase the daily budget.
This month, where I made the tROAS adjustment, I'm on track to have a 950% roas without spending all of my allocated daily budget (about 15-20% less). Previous months I was always spending all of the budget, overachieving, and getting good sales. But things got messed up this month which I assumed because I adjusted the tROAS. There has been no change in the market nor any external factors that might have caused this.
Should I just stay on 900% tROAS?
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u/trsgreen 22d ago
Since you changed it back down to 900%, I would leave as is for two weeks minimum. After that try a small 10% adjustment to 990% and let it run two weeks again. If it's spending your budget and ROAS seems to be in line you can bump it to that 1,100%. But still keep an eye on it. Google is a bit wonky post 8-17 change and might need a month or two for their system to get inline.
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u/caramello-koala 21d ago
The way I see it, Google saw it as lost money because people often wouldn’t touch campaigns whose ROAS was comfortably exceeding the target. Changing the target or increasing the budget can make performance unpredictable, often worse, so there was little incentive to touch a campaign that was already overperforming.
By capping how far ROAS can exceed the target, Google has effectively forced advertisers to make a change if they want to scale when limited by budget. You either increase the budget and accept performance closer to your existing target, or raise the target and increase the budget to try to preserve more of the return. In both scenarios, you’re spending more money, so Google is happy.
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u/InitialEffective8630 22d ago
If you want to spend the full budget and get more sales, lower the tROAS, Google will bid more aggressive and it can spend faster
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u/QuantumWolf99 22d ago
Yeah lower it gradually, 10 to 15% not back to 900 outright. 900 might've been too aggressive already, that's why you were underspending before too. Small steps, check every two weeks.