How we reduced conversion cost by 37% for an online shoe store - PPC case study from Golden Web Digital

Advertising campaigns and launch strategy: why we divided traffic by category

To promote the project, four advertising campaigns were launched in Google Ads: one search campaign and three Performance Max campaigns.

The search campaign was set up for targeted brand queries to direct users who are specifically searching for this online store directly to the brand's official resource.

This tool helped:

• maintain the established brand demand;
• prevent loss of traffic due to competitors;
• increase brand awareness;
• ensure stable conversions from the most loyal audience.

A separate campaign was created for men's shoes. This approach allowed for more precise control of the category's effectiveness, detailed analysis of demand, and separation of the results of this segment from other areas.

The women's category was separated into a separate campaign due to its wider range and potentially higher demand. This structure provided the opportunity to autonomously manage the budget, product matrix, audience signals, and performance indicators specifically for this category.

The third direction of Performance Max was directed at the priority category of that period - women's shoes and loafers.

We deliberately refused to combine all products into one campaign, because the men's, women's and accent segments differ in demand, seasonality and buyer behavior. Such contextual advertising setup and division into separate streams made it possible to clearly see which positions generate the best return and more quickly redistribute the advertising budget.

Google Ads settings and work done: our path to reducing CPA

When the client approached us to order Google Ads , the account already had previous campaigns running that were generating some sales. However, the conversion cost was exceeding the targets, making it much more difficult to scale Google Ads further without losing profitability.

One of the main problems was that all products were advertised within a single campaign. This led to an imbalance in budget distribution: some positions were running out of money without proper conversion returns, while priority categories were facing a shortage of targeted traffic.

What was done?

After setting up Google Ads and launching campaigns, we regularly analyzed performance by category, product, search query, and conversion. The main focus was not on maximizing traffic, but on attracting a relevant audience that was guaranteed to make purchases.

As part of the project, the Golden-Web Digital team performed Google advertising settings systematically and in stages, implementing the following solutions:

• segmentation of campaigns by key categories - for precise control of the advertising budget and increased manageability of results;
• launching a separate branded search campaign to effectively work with the established demand and maintain a loyal audience;
• granular analytics — detailed assessment of the effectiveness of men's, women's, and accent product categories in detail;
• dynamic budget reallocation — focusing investments on campaigns and products with the highest conversion rate;
• testing seasonal focuses — quick response to current demand to generate additional sales;
• CPA dynamics control — monitoring conversion cost during scaling. Every week, together with the client, we conducted a comparative analysis of indicators with the previous period, tracking sales dynamics and profitability of individual campaigns.

E-commerce effectiveness: analysis of results and dynamics of indicators provided by advertising in Google Ads

Over the past six months, the CPA indicator has decreased from UAH 418 to UAH 263, which is approximately 37%. The largest decrease occurred after the systematic restructuring of campaigns and a targeted redistribution of the budget between product groups.

It is precisely because Google advertising for the online store worked with an updated architecture that we managed not only to reduce conversion costs, but also to significantly improve the channel's overall e-commerce performance.

Dynamics compared to the previous period:

• the number of transactions increased by 76.44%;
• total revenue increased by 72.91%;
• The number of sessions with adding products to the cart increased by 64.45%.;
• the volume of items added to the basket also increased by 64.45%;
• the audience of new buyers expanded by 37.34%;
• the average revenue per order has practically not changed (the fluctuation was only -2%);
• the cost of the purchase itself decreased by approximately 37%.

To objectively assess the results and eliminate the impact of seasonality, we compared the indicators of the google / cpc channel with the same period last year. The data obtained confirm that the positive dynamics are due not only to market fluctuations, but also to a significant improvement in the effectiveness of advertising campaigns.

Compared to the same period last year:

• the number of items added to the cart increased by 48.86%;
• the number of transactions increased by 55.18%;
• total revenue increased by 80.42%;
• the average order check increased by 16.27%;
• the share of new buyers increased by 36.24%.

This indicates that the achieved results are not due to seasonal factors, but to a comprehensive approach: after optimizing the campaign structure, redistributing the budget, and systematically monitoring the effectiveness, advertising in Google Ads began to demonstrate significantly higher profitability indicators.