Are Your Google Ads Lying to You? - Marginal ROAS Explained | Growing Ecommerce

Описание: In this episode, Mike Ryan and Chris dive into the fundamental issue plaguing advanced performance advertisers: the lack of data integrity between ad platforms and a retailer’s backend systems. Why are sophisticated retailers taking optimization decisions on ad platform data when their final bottom-line evaluation comes from a different source? Mike calls this the "optimization gulf".

The hosts argue that this disconnect is a major tactical issue that is driving platforms like Google and Meta to pursue cross-channel solutions to regain trust.

Key discussion points include:
• The Single Source of Truth (SSOT) Problem: Why using last-click attribution and optimizing within channel silos led to platforms taking 100% credit for the same purchases.

• The iOS 14.5 Inflection Point: How Apple's anti-tracking policies broke Meta campaigns, leading to the rise of "magic pixels" (Triple Whale, Northbeam) to fix reporting.

• Marginal ROAS vs. Average ROAS: Why optimizing only for average ROAS is a "massive flop" and why you need to understand the concept of marginal return to avoid spending beyond your optimal point.

• Google's Contradiction: We break down Google's claim that its bidding system (PMax) finds the cheapest conversion across all networks, and the subsequent contradiction of why the performance of those individual channels often looks bad in segmented reports.

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Timestamps:

0:09 - Intro & Small Talk
2:13 - The Core Problem: Single Source of Truth (SSOT)
4:23 - The "Optimization Gulf": Why Ad Platform Data & Backend Data Don't Match
6:03 - The Good Old Days: Last Click and 100% Revenue Duplication
7:01 - The iOS 14.5 Crisis and the Rise of "Magic Pixels"
10:28 - When Test Data Contradicts Backend Data (The Real-World Example)
13:18 - How Platforms (Meta/Google) Are Trying to Close the Data Gap
15:33 - Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM): The Strategic Solution
18:15 - Marginal ROAS: The Concept Explained
21:28 - Why Focusing Only on Average ROAS is a "Massive Flop"
23:07 - Google's Marginal ROAS Claim: The Case for Cross Network (PMax)
28:47 - The PMax Contradiction: Why Segmented Channel ROAS Looks Bad
36:09 - The Future: Data Aggregation & Trends from the "Shell Level"
36:56 - Looking Ahead: Black Friday Recap & Christmas Episode Tease
39:28 - Final Wrap Up/Outro

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About smec (Smarter Ecommerce):

Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.

The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.

As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.

Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:
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