PPC Case Study: AI-Powered Strategy Unlocks 56 ROAS and 2x Higher Revenue

About

The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) is one of the largest scouting and youth organizations in the United States, dedicated to providing educational programs that promote character development, leadership skills, and outdoor activities. About 110 million Americans have participated in BSA programs since its foundation in 1910. 

Scoutshop.org is their official merchandise store, available through the BSA website, offering uniforms, camping gear, educational materials, accessories, and other items associated with the Boy Scouts of America,—the store was also the primary focus for the scandiweb PPC team.

Objectives and expectations

In September 2022, right before we started our collaboration, scoutshop’s ROAS was below the client’s anticipated threshold. 

Our main objectives for the project included exploring novel methodologies to increase ROAS for the client’s primary selling category, uniforms, during Q3, which is the peak seasonal period. The main expected outcome of the project was to increase ROAS for uniforms by 20%. BSA were also interested in reaching new audiences for the non-branded products on their website and unifying website traffic and physical stores.

Main KPIs to track

• ROAS
• Avg. CPC
• CPA
• Conversion rate
• Conversion value
• Avg. order value

Our approach

After analysis of 2022 paid ad activities, we saw that the client was running a search campaign for uniforms with a Maximize conversion value bidding strategy, which was not enough. 

Based on that, we decided to restructure bidding and add target ROAS. As some products have high profit margins while others have lower margins, target ROAS enables you to set different ROAS goals for these product categories. This way, we could optimize our ad spend to maximize profits for BSA’s entire product range. 

Additionally, our team decided to launch a Performance Max (Pmax) campaign for the uniforms category. Pmax is an AI-powered campaign type that allows us to access all of Google Ads inventory from a single campaign and has multiple other benefits:

1. Advertisers who use Pmax experience an average of 18% more conversions at a similar CPA
2. Pmax campaign has better audience segmentation techniques, allowing for precise targeting of specific demographics, behaviors, or interests
3. Optimized ad creatives and messaging that resonate with the target audience.

Results

Our approach to changing the BSA PPC strategy turned out to be successful. The campaigns brought significantly better results while being 2x more cost-effective. Here are the highlights in the time period from Q3 of 2022 towards Q3 of 2023:

• 48 ROAS
• 56 ROAS for seasonality
• – 49.6% CPA
• -49.5% avg. CPC

Are your PPC campaigns not bringing the results you hoped for? We’ll be happy to take over! Check out our PPC services, and don’t hesitate to send us a message for a free PPC audit of your store with optimization opportunities and suggestions on the next steps.

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