Shopify PPC that contributes margin, not vanity ROAS.

What working PPC looks like on Shopify

PPC works when it adds contribution margin. PPC “works” when it drives ROAS the CFO doesn’t trust. Most Shopify brands running paid media are operating on the second definition.

The distinction matters because iOS 14.5 broke simple attribution and then Google followed. Meta and Google platforms both report in-platform ROAS that over-credits ads. A 4x in-platform ROAS often translates to a 1.8x blended MER — the number that actually shows up in the P&L. Accounts that optimize toward the in-platform number ship spend that inflates a dashboard and doesn’t move net revenue.

The fix isn’t anti-paid; it’s reframing what paid is solving for. We run paid against three numbers:

1. Contribution margin — revenue minus COGS minus ad spend minus platform fees minus discounts
2. Blended MER — total revenue over total marketing spend (all channels)
3. CAC ceiling — based on LTV, how much can we pay to acquire a customer and still earn margin?

These three define what “working” means. Every spend decision answers to them.

Google Ads on Shopify

Search, Shopping, Performance Max, Demand Gen. We build account structures that Google’s automation can work with — not structures Google’s automation punishes.

Account structure principles:

• Brand and non-brand separated into different campaigns with different bid strategies. Branded converts cheaper and skews ROAS if left in the same bucket as prospecting.
• PMax asset groups structured around product intent — seasonal vs. evergreen, new arrivals vs. classics, high margin vs. volume. Not one catch-all asset group.
• Audience signals on PMax feeding the algorithm with data (customer lists, converters, cart abandoners) — informs the automation without locking it
• Exclusions that prevent brand cannibalization across Shopping, PMax, and Search
• Search term hygiene — negatives reviewed weekly; brand variants protected; irrelevant matches cut fast

Shopping campaigns for merchants with 50+ SKUs; catalog-based feed optimization running continuously. Standard Shopping for merchants who want control, PMax for merchants willing to trade control for scale.

Meta Ads

Advantage+ Shopping, prospecting, retargeting. Meta rewards creative iteration — accounts shipping 2–3 new creatives weekly outperform accounts that chase bid optimization.

The creative cadence we run:

• Weekly creative sprints — 3–6 new variants per week in steady state, more during seasonal pushes
• Variety across formats — static, video (15s + 30s), carousel, UGC
• Iteration on winners — winning creatives get 3–4 spin-off variants testing specific elements (opening hook, offer, visual format)
• Kill criteria — creatives with sub-benchmark CTR or high CPA after sufficient spend get retired fast; we don’t nurse underperformers

Account structure: consolidated campaigns with Advantage+ Shopping for prospecting, distinct retargeting campaign for mid-funnel, brand-safe retargeting only for bottom-funnel.

BFCM posture: creative inventory built weeks in advance, budget ramped in scheduled steps, post-holiday cool-down planned before the holiday starts.

Feed optimization

The least sexy, highest-impact work in paid. Most Shopify accounts waste 15–30% of spend on poor feed health before bids touch the conversation.

What we audit and rebuild:

• Google Merchant Center disapprovals — often 100+ products disapproved with nobody watching
• GTIN compliance — required for most products; missing GTINs suppress impressions
• Category mapping — Google’s taxonomy, mapped correctly per product
• Custom labels — for bidding segmentation: high margin, low margin, new arrival, sale, seasonal
• Supplemental feeds — for optimized titles/descriptions that differ from site copy (site reads “Red Dress”; supplemental feed reads “Red Floral Midi Dress Size XS-XL — Women’s”)
• Product-level performance data flowed back as custom labels for bidding

Feed work typically earns back its own cost inside 30 days.

Creative

Iteration beats hero ads. The best creative at week 1 is worse than the 10th-best at week 16 after systematic iteration.

We run creative on three tracks:

1. Static — highest-volume output, cheap to produce, easy to iterate, works for almost every brand
2. Video — 15-second for short-form placements, 30–60 for retargeting and brand-building, UGC for trust, polished for premium positioning
3. User-generated and influencer-adjacent — sourced via brand ambassadors, creator networks, or incentivized customer submissions

Each brand gets a creative roadmap tied to the growth plan — what we’re testing each month, what our hypotheses are, what winning looks like.

Landing page fit

Ads are a promise; the landing page delivers. Disconnect between ad copy, ad visuals, and landing page is the #1 conversion killer in paid.

We ship landing pages tied to campaign themes: hero that matches the ad image, headline that echoes the ad copy, trust signals in the first viewport, CTA above the fold on mobile, objection handling inline (reviews, shipping, returns). Detail at landing pages that convert paid traffic.

Measurement

The measurement stack:

• Triple Whale or Northbeam for blended MER, CAC, and multi-touch attribution
• GA4 with server-side tracking (sGTM or Elevar) for first-party data post-iOS-14
• GSC as a sanity check — branded search volume, organic queries, search console vs. paid query overlap
• Incrementality testing where spend justifies it — paid holdouts in specific regions or customer segments

Monthly report ties spend to contribution margin and blended MER. ROAS numbers shown as a signal, not a goal.

Our PPC process

• Audit (weeks 1–2) — full account review across Google + Meta + feed; waste quantified
• Kill waste — implemented before scaling anything
• Test (weeks 3–8) — new account structures, new creative, controlled tests
• Scale (month 2+) — pour fuel on winners

Retainers typically $8–20k/mo for ad management on top of spend. Scale with spend volume, not tiered into absurd steps.

Paid media case studies

• Full portfolio: selected work — MER lift, CAC reduction, and waste killed documented per engagement.