by Austin LeClear
on January 19, 2026
Performance Max campaigns are supposed to be the future of Google Ads. Google tells us they’re smarter, more automated, and designed to maximize conversions across all Google channels.
But what happens when you actually pull back on PMax and shift that ad spend somewhere else?
At Grow My Ads, we did exactly that for multiple eCommerce brands, and the results were, frankly, bananas.
In this post, we’ll walk you through three real case studies from November 2025 compared to November 2024. Same deals, same products, same businesses — just a completely different Google Ads strategy. And spoiler alert: cutting Performance Max spend and redirecting budget to shopping campaigns absolutely crushed it.
Prefer video? Check out We Cut Performance Max Spend -80%…Here’s What Happened! on YouTube:
Still with us? Good, let’s dive in.
The Problem with Over-Relying on Performance Max Campaigns
Before diving into the numbers, let’s talk about why we made this Google Ads strategy shift in the first place.
Performance Max is a single campaign type that serves ads across Google Search, the Google Display Network, YouTube video ads, Gmail, and Google Shopping all at once. Sounds great on paper. But here’s what most businesses discover after running PMax campaigns for a while: you lose complete control.
You don’t get granular reporting on search terms. You can’t add negative keywords the way you can with a Standard Shopping campaign or Search campaign. Your audience signals and asset group performance become a black box. And worst of all? You’re trusting Google’s automated strategies to allocate your budget without much visibility into what’s actually working.
For eCommerce businesses that want more control over their campaign structure, bidding strategies, and budget allocation, Performance Max alternatives like Standard Shopping ads and Search ads often deliver better results — especially when you know what you’re doing.
Brand #1: Furniture Business Sees 35% Revenue Increase
This furniture company spent about $88,000 on Google Ads campaigns in November 2024. This year? They spent around $102,000 — about 15% more.
But here’s where it gets interesting. Their Shopping ads spend went from roughly $11,000 to nearly $56,000. That’s a 421% increase on Standard Shopping campaign investment.
Meanwhile, Performance Max dropped from almost $40,000 down to just $9,000.
The result? A 35% increase in conversion value — an extra $206,000 in revenue. They spent $14,000 more to generate $206,000 more. The math makes sense.
More importantly, this brand cares about new customer growth, not just target ROAS metrics. And they absolutely got that growth on the back end.
Brand #2: Toys and Clothing Seller Sees 45% Revenue Jump
This eCommerce brand sells toys and clothing for a specific lifestyle niche. In November 2024, they spent about $42,000 total. November 2025? Around $47,000 — only a 13% increase in ad spend.
Where did that money go? Shopping campaigns went from $16,000 to $33,000 — more than double. Search ads saw a small bump too.
PMax? Dropped 77%. They went from $20,000 in Performance Max spend to just $4,600.
The results speak for themselves: a 44.48% increase in conversion value. That’s approximately $161,000 more in revenue compared to the previous year. At a better return on ad spend.
This wasn’t a one-month experiment either. We’ve been running this strategy throughout most of 2025, and the conversion data consistently shows that shifting budget from PMax campaigns to Shopping campaigns delivers growth opportunities you simply can’t unlock with fully automated strategies.
Brand #3: Hardware Company Sees Revenue Nearly Triple
This one is my favorite because the growth was absolutely explosive.
This smaller hardware brand selling parts and equipment spent about $8,000 in November 2024. This year, we pushed them to $15,000 — a 93% increase. But that increase went almost entirely to Shopping ads.
They went from $1,000 in Shopping ad spend last year to $10,500 this year. That’s a 1,000% increase.
PMax actually stayed relatively similar — down about 33% from $7,000 to $4,600. The gap isn’t as dramatic here because overall spend increased so much.
But the results? Last November, they generated $57,000 in revenue. This November? $157,000.
That’s $100,000 more in conversion value. Nearly 200% growth.
And they did this at a 40% better ROAS. They spent $7,000 more to generate $100,000 more in revenue. The efficiency is phenomenal.
The only reason they’re not spending even more right now is logistics and cash flow — the fun stuff small businesses deal with during rapid growth phases.
Why Shopping Campaigns Outperformed Performance Max
So what’s actually happening here? Why are Standard Shopping campaigns crushing Google Performance Max for these eCommerce brands?
There are a few possibilities:
- Better control over product feed optimization. With standard shopping, you can optimize product titles, product groups, and your entire Google Merchant Center setup without Google’s automation getting in the way.
- Access to search term reports. You can see exactly what search queries trigger your ads, add negative keywords to eliminate waste, and make bid adjustments based on user intent.
- Cleaner conversion data. When your shopping campaigns run separately from video ads, display network placements, and search partners, you know exactly what’s driving results.
- Smarter budget allocation. Instead of letting Google decide where to serve ads across different formats and audience segments, you control where every dollar goes.
- No audience targeting overlap. PMax campaigns can sometimes cannibalize your branded Search and remarketing campaigns. Running separate campaign types gives you better visibility into what’s actually driving conversions.
Should You Abandon Performance Max Completely?
Not necessarily. PMax campaigns still have their place — particularly for businesses with limited conversion volume, brands just starting to run Google Ads, or companies that genuinely need to advertise across all Google channels simultaneously.
But for most businesses, especially established eCommerce brands with a solid product feed and existing conversion data, Performance Max alternatives deserve serious consideration.
The data from these three brands clearly shows that fundamentals still win. A well-structured Standard Shopping campaign with smart bidding, proper negative keywords, clean landing page experiences, and optimized ad copy can outperform PMax’s automated strategies.
The Bottom Line
We cut Performance Max spend by 80% for these eCommerce businesses and shifted that budget to Shopping ads. The results? Significantly more conversions, higher conversion rates, better ROAS, and genuine new customer growth.
If you’ve been over-relying on PMax campaigns and wondering why performance feels stagnant, this might be your sign to test a Shopping-first approach. Sometimes the old-school campaign type — with its complete control and granular reporting — beats the flashy new automated solution.
The proof is in the numbers.
