Subscription digital product · US, UK, EU · Google Ads
Search and Performance Max rebuilt on server-side conversion data.
- Engagement · Measurement, then Google Ads
- Timeframe · Since 2024, ongoing
- Model · Trial → recurring subscription
Before
Bidding on sign-ups
After
Bidding on payments, with values
Reconciled monthly
- Google reported
- [—]
- GA4 reported
- [—]
- Processor payouts
- [—]
Layout of the monthly review; values withheld.
The brief
A subscription digital product selling in the US, UK, and several EU markets, with meaningful Google Ads spend and a trial-to-paid model. The account's primary conversion was a free sign-up tracked by browser tags, so Smart Bidding had learned to find people who sign up — a different population from people who pay. Reported cost per sign-up looked healthy; cost per paying subscriber, calculated by hand from the payment processor, did not. The team wanted the account to optimize toward revenue, and wanted to be able to trust the numbers on the dashboard.
What we did
Weeks 1–3, measurement. A server-side Google Tag Manager container on the client's subdomain replaced a browser container with a dozen vendor tags. The first payment became the primary conversion, sent with its value and with hashed customer data for enhanced conversions. Consent mode was configured for EU visitors with modeled conversions switched on. Renewals, refunds, and chargebacks were imported from the payment processor through the API as adjustments and additional value, on a daily schedule. Every event was tested end to end before the account saw it.
Weeks 4–6, rebuild. Search was consolidated from many thin campaigns into a few dense ones, with brand separated and given its own target. Performance Max was added with brand exclusions and asset groups built as genuine themes. Value rules were set by country, since margin after tax and payment fees differed by market. Bidding started on maximize conversions with capped budgets while the models learned on the new feed.
Months 2–6, scale. Target CPA was introduced from the reconciled cost per paying subscriber, then moved in small steps. Once renewal data for three cohorts existed, the account moved to target ROAS on values that included renewals, and budgets were raised market by market where payback held. Microsoft Ads was added in month four using the same conversion feed.
What we learned
The campaigns were never the main problem; the conversion they were fed was. Once bidding optimized toward payments, cost per sign-up went up and cost per paying subscriber came down — which is the trade every subscription business should want and most dashboards hide. The second lesson is about trust: putting platform-reported, analytics-reported, and processor-reported numbers side by side every month changed how the client made budget decisions more than any campaign change did.