Unlock Performance Max success: Data-driven asset creation

The introduction of Performance Max is arguably one of the biggest changes to happen in paid advertising, it is becoming increasingly important to understand how to get the most out of this type of campaign.

In a nutshell, Performance Max is a new type of Google Ads campaign that utilises the whole Google inventory including Search, Display, YouTube, Gmail & Others. The campaign is goal-based, allowing advertisers to expand reach and therefore generate conversions that may have been missed using exclusive campaign types.

Performance Max can be used to manage keyword-based search by combining Google’s machine learning algorithm (or ‘Smart Bidding’) to optimise conversions or conversion value in every Google Ad auction. However, although automation can be helpful in reducing manual work – there is a lack of control and visibility of granular data surrounding P-Max.

Performance Max is an asset-based campaign, housed in asset groups made up of images, logos, headlines, descriptions, videos, sitelinks, assets and audience signals. These can be either uploaded by you or automatically created by Google. However, high-quality creative is paramount for campaign success – with research finding links between increased ROI for effective creative. 

So, how can we unlock success in Performance Max with limited visibility in asset performance? This blog will cover how to use the little data that Google provides to ensure informed decision making and get the most out of this campaign type. If you want to work with Performance Max experts then be sure to get in touch today.

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Understanding Performance Max asset types and their impacts

Performance Max campaigns are different to traditional campaign structures. Instead of controlling keyword, placement and audience targeting separately, you need to upload a collection of creative assets and signals – with the algorithm building and serving ads across the inventory.

Assets are therefore your building blocks to allow the system to test and learn which combinations resonate best with different users in different contexts. Therefore, the better your input the better the output – especially as these are your core representation of your brand.

The asset types for Performance Max are as follows:

Text assets

these combine headlines, long headlines, final URL, description lines, display URLs, business names and CTA. Google will therefore test different combinations of these text assets to share information about your product or services, direct people to your landing page and encourage a specific call-to-action.

Google’s text asset best practices are as follows:

Image assets

Quality, relevant images that complement ads and help to visually describe your business are also crucial in building a performance max campaign. Image assets include logos and other images to help attract people to your business and personalise your ads. 

Image specifications are as follows:

Video assets

Video ads are also critical to the success of your campaign and can definitely help increase your Performance Max campaign performance. You can now create videos in the Asset Library (in platform) or let Google AI create videos using your existing assets, with updates like this injecting the use of AI into performance max capabilities to help with creative optimisation. 

The specifications for video assets are as follows:

Assets are therefore super important when it comes to Performance Max as they control how your brand shows up across the whole Google inventory – they’re the only things that you can control in a system that automates almost everything else. Additionally, they influence both creative and performance outcomes. Good creatives should drive higher CTR, improve ad relevance and engagement and help Google match your ads to better placements and queries. 

A diverse mix of assets is also recommended; the more relevant, diverse and data-informed your assets are, the more combinations Google can test and learn faster what is working and what isn’t. Therefore, it is recommended to include multiple headlines (with different tones and messaging), several description lines, high quality images and both short and long videos.  Additionally, by putting more assets into your campaign, you are unlocking further placements to get your ads visibility – for example, video assets enable you to be shown on YouTube.

Google uses your assets to decide who to show your ads to – therefore will feed the algorithm the right kind of signals. If your visuals or copy are unclear, mismatched to your audience or too generic – how can the algorithm know where to find the right users?

Additionally, it should not be forgotten that asset creation should not be static. Performance Max campaigns reward reiteration as the platform evolves based on performance data, and therefore, your creative strategy should also evolve with this. To do this, you can look into data sources that give us hints as to what is working well within our creative and feed this back into your creative to replace, refresh and test assets over time. 

What should we be looking at for data-driven asset creation?

Before you can create high-performing assets, you need to understand which assets are working and why. While Performance Max doesn’t give the same granular control as other campaigns (such as search), it does provide valuable signals if you know where to look for them.

In this section, we will explore some key data sources you should be mining to guide smarter asset creation – from in-platform reports to first-party insights and cross-channel trends.

Google Ads Asset Group Reporting: Since rolling out Performance Max, Google has introduced several new tools to enhance campaign performance, allowing us some further insights into overall asset performance. In particular, granular performance insights are useful in overall asset creation and keeping track of what is working within your accounts, with visibility on asset-level conversions.

We asked our PPC Account Manager, Matt, about how he has found asset group reporting to be useful when creating P-Max assets:

Matt Butchart

PPC Account Manager

"Asset group data is becoming more readily available through Google's own API, allowing us to make more informed decisions about our account structures. It's vital that we understand which combinations of assets and products are working for an account in order to maximise the performance output of the campaign"

Google best practice also details using both in-platform asset performance labels (Best, Good, Low) and conversion data to inform creative optimisation decisions. Assets rated ‘Best’ mean the asset served the most and triggered user action towards the best performance of your campaign goal. Whereas ‘Low’ means that it didn’t perform well among the same asset types. Therefore, the recommendation is to upload the maximum number of assets to allow Google’s machine learning to optimise – you can then go in and update or replace assets with ‘Low’ performance labels, especially if they have low conversions.

Google Ads insights tab

In platform, the Insights tab can share invaluable information about how well your performance max campaign is performing. Although P-Max doesn’t yet offer full transparency in terms of search terms or individual placements, this tab can give you directional insights to help shape asset creation and creative strategy, including search term themes, audience and trending insights.

For example, using this tab you can:

• Match Copy to search intent – if insights show a rise in a particular type of search, you can use this to integrate into your asset headlines and body copy.
• Tailor visuals to audience personas – if you are seeing audience signals such as ‘Luxury Shoppers’ perform well over ‘budget conscious’, tailoring how you frame a product visually will be important for your creative strategy – whether this is minimalist and premium or more value-driven.
• Test Themes – insights often reveals demand you may not have expected, which provides you with perfect opportunity to test new asset groups with creative tailored to this.

First party & CRM data

Using your own business data is invaluable in Performance Max campaigns, when used in the right way it can directly inform the creative direction of your asset groups. In this regard, you should be looking at:

• Top- converting landing pages: If a specific landing page consistently drives conversions, this is a strong indicator of what your audience wants and response too. Therefore, you can mirror headlines from these pages in your assets, feature top products from these pages in image or video assets and use the same product hierarchy in feed prioritisation and merchant centre promos.
• Messaging or Products that resonate with high-value customers: Use CRM data from platforms such as Hubspot or Salesforce to get insights into your repeat customers, high AOV shoppers or top LTV segments and incorporate these consumer behaviours into your strategy including building asset groups specifically around high value products or use value-based language in headlines if your audience insights highlight this as a premium audience.

Cross-channel learnings

Your audience doesn’t just live in one place, they will browse Instagram, check emails, search on Google and simultaneously watch YouTube. A holistic approach, including cross-channel learnings, is therefore paramount in data-driven asset creation:

• Incorporate winning creatives from Meta, TikTok etc: If you are finding that certain trends, messaging styles or visuals are outperforming others on other platforms, repurpose these into your Performance Max creative mix. For example, you could bring over high-performing UGC or influencer content as video or image assets. Alternatively, you could adapt trending or viral copy into headlines or description lines.
• Cross-Channel Test results: Look at A/B tests you have run previously in realms such as Emails to see what is driving urgency and getting clicks. For example, find which email subject lines have driven high clicks and use this as inspiration for your own copy. Or if a particular offer outperformed others (e.g. free gift v discount), you could also test this in your Performance Max creative.

Conclusion:

When utilising Performance Max as a campaign type, it is therefore super important to realise that assets are much more than just creative inputs – they’re the foundations for your campaign success. With the core of this campaign type lying in automation, the power to influence your outcomes lies in how well you craft and feed your creatives, highlighting the growing importance of data-driven asset creation.

Therefore, tapping into first-party insights, CRM data, cross-channel learnings and real-time platform performance means that you can take control of your uploads. Instead of relying on subjective creative choices, you can build performance max ads that reflect real user behaviour, intent and motivation for purchase.

However, it is important to also note that this is not just a one-off task, it’s an ongoing process. Performance Max rewards interaction, experimentation and asset refresh cycles – to gain campaign success you need to test, learn and refine your asset creation whilst embedding this in real-life data insights.

Ready to elevate your performance max campaigns? Whether you are looking for data-driven creative audits, strategic asset creation or refreshing your visuals, we’re here to assist you.

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