Why most ecommerce brands stall on Google Ads, and how to scale past it
The same six problems show up in almost every ecommerce account that has stopped growing. None of them are about a missing keyword. Here is what they are, what they cost, and how to fix them.
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Brian AndreasenFounder, wydemedia · Updated · 7 min read
Most ecommerce brands hit the same wall on Google Ads. The first stage of growth comes easily: brand search, a Shopping campaign, maybe Performance Max. Then spend goes up, efficiency goes down, and growth stalls.
It is rarely the platform. It is that the account is run by someone who knows Google Ads but not ecommerce, or knows ecommerce but not Google Ads deeply enough. Scaling needs both: business empathy combined with platform depth. An understanding of margins, average order value, stock, launches and what a new customer is worth, and the execution skill to turn that into Search, Shopping and YouTube campaigns that bring in new customers.
This is my field. I’m an ecommerce operator who chose Google Ads as the weapon to grow ecommerce brands. Over 6+ years and 40+ brands, these are the problems that hold them back most often.
What stops ecommerce brands from scaling Google Ads?
- Brand and non-brand are mixed together. One ROAS number that looks healthy, because people searching for your name convert at a fraction of the cost. Prospecting can be losing money underneath and nobody sees it.
The fix: Separate brand from non-brand, with its own budget and its own target. Then you can see what the growth campaigns actually do, and fund the ones that bring new customers. - YouTube Ads never get cracked. YouTube was tried once, judged on last-click ROAS, and switched off after a few weeks. Or it runs as "branding" with no clear goal.
The fix: Creative built for ecommerce selling, audiences built from your own customer data, and a scorecard of new customers and MER instead of last click. For many brands this is where the next stage of growth is. - Performance Max runs the account. Most of the budget sits in Performance Max. It reports a good ROAS, but much of it is brand searches and returning customers, and you cannot see which part is new growth.
The fix: For mid-size brands, non-brand Search and Shopping usually give more control and more incremental growth. Performance Max stays where it earns its place. - Success is judged on platform ROAS. Google says 5x. Shopify and the bank account say something else. Decisions get made on the number that flatters the account.
The fix: Judge the account on MER, aMER and new customers. Use Google’s ROAS to diagnose campaigns, never as the goal. - Returning customers are counted as growth. Conversions go up, but many are people who would have bought anyway. New-customer numbers stay flat.
The fix: Track new versus returning customers, and steer budget towards campaigns that win new ones. - The feed and tracking hold Shopping back. Products that never get impressions, disapprovals in Merchant Center, and conversions that do not match Shopify.
The fix: A clean feed and reliable tracking first. Shopping can only scale as far as the feed and the data allow.
“We’ve seen really good results since we’ve been working with him, especially because of his knowledge around e-commerce and also using other tools to measure our profitability across platforms.”
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Renaldo, Founder, botthmsWhere does incremental growth on Google Ads come from?
From reaching people who would not have bought anyway. For a mid-size ecommerce brand that usually means three things working together:
- Non-brand Search for people looking for what you sell, but not for you yet.
- Shopping on a clean feed, segmented so the products that win new customers get the budget.
- YouTube Ads to create demand that Search and Shopping then capture. This is the part most brands never get working, and often the biggest lever left.
Performance Max has its place in some accounts. But at mid-size budgets it tends to take credit for brand searches and returning customers, so I do not build growth around it.
How should ecommerce brands measure Google Ads?
On the numbers the business runs on. The most important are MER, aMER and the number of new customers acquired. Google’s numbers are for diagnosing campaigns.
| What most accounts are judged on | What scaling is judged on |
|---|---|
| Platform ROAS | MER: total revenue against total ad spend |
| Blended ROAS with brand included | Non-brand performance on its own |
| Total conversions | New customers and aMER: new-customer revenue against ad spend |
| Last-click YouTube ROAS | New customers and MER while YouTube runs |
Bidding follows the business too. Some brands do best bidding on gross profit (POAS), others on revenue or new-customer value. It is decided brand by brand.
What results has this produced?
- Mærkbare: +106% Google Ads revenue and +77% net profit in 181 days. Read the case.
- An abandoned account: from $77K to $840K in Google Ads revenue in 10 months, with CPA down 85%. Read the case.
- LIVORA: new-customer ROAS from 0.7x to 2.7x with YouTube and Performance Max.
- Tiny Explorings: a feed rebuild took the account past its $50/day cap at a 2x ROAS requirement.
- Ongoal: +603K SEK gross profit in 3 months at 330% POAS, a brand where profit bidding was the right fit.
More on the success stories page.
Why does scaling knowledge matter more than agency size?
Getting a Google Ads account to $15K a month in ad spend is mostly setup. Doubling or tripling that spend profitably while it still brings in new customers at a cost the business can carry is a different job. It takes knowing which lever to pull next, in what order, and what it will do to MER and new customers before you spend the money.
That knowledge comes from having scaled many ecommerce accounts, not from the size of the team. After 6+ years and 40+ brands, most problems an account runs into are ones I have seen and solved before. And you work with me directly, so that knowledge is in your account every week, not passed down through an account manager.
“Brian helped us scale our Google Ads account by 100%. Explains everything he does and answers all your questions in great detail.”
Mick, CEO, SmoothlyWhat is a Scaling Plan?
A roadmap for your Google Ads account: where the growth potential is, what is holding it back, and what to do first. It is built from your own account and numbers, not a template. Your in-house team can execute it, or I can. Fill in the short form below to ask for one.
What do ecommerce founders ask about scaling Google Ads?
Why does our Google Ads ROAS look good when the business is not growing?
Usually because brand searches and returning customers sit inside the same campaigns as prospecting. People who already know you convert cheaply, so the blended ROAS looks strong while very few new customers come in. Split brand from non-brand and judge growth on MER, aMER and new customers instead.
Should brand and non-brand campaigns be separated?
Yes, in almost every ecommerce account. Brand campaigns protect demand you already created. Non-brand Search and Shopping are where new customers come from. When they share a budget and a target, brand traffic hides how weak or strong the growth campaigns really are.
Is Performance Max right for a mid-size ecommerce brand?
Sometimes, but rarely as the main engine. Performance Max mixes brand, retargeting and prospecting into one number, which makes it hard to see what is incremental at mid-size budgets. Brian scales mostly with non-brand Search, Shopping and YouTube, and uses Performance Max in the cases where it fits.
Can YouTube Ads work for an ecommerce brand our size?
Yes, when it is judged on the right numbers. YouTube rarely gets the last click, so on platform ROAS it looks like it fails. Judged on new customers and MER, it is often the channel that unlocks the next stage of growth after Search and Shopping are maxed out.
What should we measure instead of ROAS?
MER (total revenue divided by total ad spend), aMER (new-customer revenue divided by total ad spend) and the number of new customers acquired. Google’s reported ROAS is a diagnostic inside the account, not the goal.
Our ROAS drops every time we raise the budget. Is that normal?
Some drop is normal: each extra dollar buys less efficient traffic than the last. The question is whether the extra spend brings new customers at a cost the business can carry. That is answered with aMER and new-customer numbers, not with the account-level ROAS.
Should we bid on profit (POAS) instead of revenue?
It depends on the brand. Profit bidding helps when margins differ a lot between products and the data to send gross profit is reliable. For other brands it adds complexity without changing the result. It is decided brand by brand.
Who is wydemedia?
wydemedia is the Google Ads practice of Brian Andreasen, an ecommerce operator who runs Google and YouTube Ads for ecommerce brands spending $15K+ a month. 6+ years, 40+ ecommerce brands. Based in Denmark, working with brands in Europe and the US.
Can our in-house team execute the Scaling Plan?
Yes. The Scaling Plan is a roadmap of where the growth potential is in your account and what to do first. Your in-house team can execute it, or Brian can.