Ecommerce Google Ads Case Study: Real Results from Two Online Store Campaigns
Two ecommerce Google Ads case studies with real ROAS data: 8-10x ROAS on cold traffic, 40x+ peaks on Meta Ads, and the strategy behind each result.
TL;DR: Two Creekside Marketing e-commerce campaigns, real numbers: a tech accessories brand hit 8-10x ROAS on non-branded Google Ads cold traffic at $34.56 cost per conversion across 49 countries. A fitness equipment retailer on Meta Ads returned 7x baseline ROAS with peaks of 40-60x on an $8,000 monthly budget.
Key Data
Metric Value Non-Branded Google Ads ROAS 8-10x Branded Google Ads ROAS 27x Cost Per Conversion $34.56 Peak Meta Ads ROAS 40-60x Countries Reached 49 Monthly Meta Budget $8,000 Source Creekside Marketing
Ecommerce Google Ads Case Study: Real Results from Two Online Store Campaigns
The most common question e-commerce business owners ask before committing to paid advertising is a fair one: can Google Ads actually drive new customers, or will it just capture people who would have bought anyway? This ecommerce Google Ads case study addresses that directly, using real campaign data from two Creekside Marketing clients — a portable display brand that hit 8-10x ROAS on cold traffic and a fitness equipment retailer that scaled Meta Ads to 40x+ peak returns.
These aren’t single-month anomalies. They’re campaign-level results with the strategy behind them, so you can judge whether paid advertising is the right move for your store and what realistic performance looks like.
What “Real Results” Look Like for Ecommerce Google Ads
According to Creekside Marketing’s e-commerce campaign data, a well-structured Google Ads account running Shopping and Search should generate 4-10x ROAS on non-branded traffic for physical products priced above $150. Cost per conversion for a $300+ average order value product typically falls between $25-$45 when the account is built correctly. Accounts running below 3x ROAS after 90 days have a structural problem, not a budget problem.
The two case studies below sit at the top of that range. Here is what made the difference.
Case Study 1: 8-10x ROAS for an Online Store Running Google Ads Shopping and Search
According to Creekside Marketing, a portable laptop display brand doing over $1 million per month on Shopify achieved 8-10x ROAS on non-branded Google Ads campaigns targeting cold traffic. Branded Search added 27x ROAS on top of that. Average cost per conversion across all campaigns landed at $34.56 against a roughly $300 average order value — well inside a $40 target CPA and a strong result for an online store ppc campaign proving true incrementality.
The Challenge: Proving Google Ads Could Reach New Customers
Many e-commerce business owners face this exact scenario: organic is already working, so paid advertising feels redundant. This brand was generating 40-50 Shopify sales per day without any ads. The founding team was skeptical that Google Ads could reach genuinely new customers rather than intercepting people who would have converted through organic anyway.
If paid campaigns were capturing existing demand, the ROAS numbers would look good but actual revenue growth would be zero. The real test was whether Google Ads could prove incrementality — net-new buyers, not diverted organic traffic.
The Strategy: Phased Build Targeting Non-Branded Category Intent
We built the account in three phases. First, branded Search at $200/day to protect the brand’s search presence and collect conversion data fast. Second, non-branded Shopping and Search campaigns at $50/day each targeting category terms like “triple screen monitor” and “portable laptop display” — people searching who had never heard of the brand. Third, Performance Max to access all of Google’s inventory simultaneously: Search, Shopping, Display, YouTube, and Discover.
The non-branded emphasis was the strategic bet. Someone searching a generic category term and converting is by definition a new customer, not a captured organic visitor. International expansion came after the domestic account had data, scaling to 49 countries using Shopify sales-by-country data to prioritize markets.
The Results
Results at a Glance
Metric Value Non-Branded ROAS 8-10x Branded ROAS 27x Cost Per Conversion $34.56 Peak Conversions 119 in a single measurement period Countries Reached 49 Target CPA $40
Non-branded campaigns hitting 8-10x ROAS on cold traffic answered the incrementality question. The campaigns were reaching new customers. You can read the full breakdown in the Aura Displays case study.
Case Study 2: 7-40x ROAS for a Fitness Equipment Retailer on Meta Ads
According to Creekside Marketing, a fitness equipment retailer running $8,000 per month on Meta Ads achieved a baseline ROAS of 7x with peaks reaching 40-60x. This was a dual-objective shopping ads campaign: drive online equipment purchases while simultaneously generating foot traffic to a physical showroom for high-ticket items customers want to try before buying.
The Challenge: Two Objectives Without Splitting Focus
Many e-commerce businesses with physical retail locations run into the same tension: optimize for online conversions or in-store visits? Optimizing for one typically dilutes the other, and spreading a limited budget evenly across both often funds neither properly.
The additional complication on this account was structural. The existing campaigns had incomplete conversion tracking, loose audience segmentation, and no systematic creative testing. Spend was going out the door without clear attribution on where returns were actually coming from.
The Strategy: 70/30 Budget Architecture With Full Attribution
We ran a complete audit before touching campaigns. That identified where spend was wasting and what the tracking gaps were. Then we rebuilt with a deliberate budget architecture: 70% allocated to the core brand and showroom visit campaigns, 30% to product-specific and audience-expansion tests.
The 70/30 split does two things. It keeps return strong on proven campaigns while generating new creative and audience data on the remaining budget. It also prevents the common mistake of spreading spend too thin before any campaign has enough conversion data to optimize properly. Tracking was rebuilt to capture both online purchases and showroom visit conversions, making the dual-objective approach measurable.
The Results
Results at a Glance
Metric Value Baseline ROAS 7x Peak ROAS 40-60x Monthly Budget $8,000 Core Brand Allocation 70% of budget Test Budget 30% of budget Objective Online sales + showroom visits
7x baseline on $8,000 per month means $56,000 in attributed revenue at the floor. The 40-60x peaks came from high-performing creative during strong demand periods. Full details in the Fitness Superstore case study.
What Both Ecommerce Case Studies Have in Common
These campaigns ran on different platforms for different product categories. The strategy patterns underneath them are consistent.
Audit before spend. Both accounts had foundational issues before we touched them. The fitness equipment account had broken tracking and poor audience segmentation. The tech brand had no paid history at all. In both cases, time spent understanding the baseline before spending budget on campaigns was the highest-leverage action.
Design for incrementality. For the tech brand, the non-branded campaign structure was built specifically to prove that Google Ads reached new customers. Most e-commerce advertisers skip this and end up with ROAS numbers that look strong but don’t represent real revenue growth. Designing for incrementality from the start means you know what you’re actually buying with your ad spend.
Concentrate budget before spreading it. The fitness equipment account put 70% into proven campaigns before testing. The tech brand built branded campaigns first to generate conversion data before scaling non-branded. Neither account distributed spend evenly across untested ideas from day one. Budget concentration is what allows algorithms to optimize — and what prevents accounts from running months with no clear winner.
Conversion tracking has to be right first. Neither campaign’s results would have been visible, let alone optimizable, without clean attribution. If your e-commerce Google Ads data looks thin or inconsistent, tracking is the first thing to fix before anything else. Our Google Ads management service covers how we structure every account audit around this.
What This Means for Your E-Commerce Business
If you run a Shopify or WooCommerce store and are weighing whether Google Ads or Meta Ads is worth the investment, these results set a realistic benchmark. 4-10x ROAS is achievable for physical products priced above $150 with the right structure. Significantly higher is possible with strong creative and a mature account.
What determines where you land between the floor and the ceiling: the quality of the initial audit, how budget is allocated between proven and test campaigns, whether conversion tracking is complete, and whether the product is better suited for search intent (Google) or visual discovery (Meta). For products where people actively search the category, Google Ads is usually the right starting point. For products where people need to see it to want it, Meta Ads often outperforms. For many e-commerce businesses, both channels work together.
The same structural principles from these campaigns apply across industries. The home services Google Ads case study shows how budget architecture and conversion tracking drive results in a completely different vertical with the same underlying logic. For a deeper look at how Meta fits into an e-commerce paid media strategy, see our Meta Ads service page.
Frequently Asked Questions
What ROAS should I expect from ecommerce Google Ads?
According to Creekside Marketing, well-structured Google Ads campaigns for physical products priced above $150 typically generate 4-10x ROAS on non-branded traffic after the first 60-90 days. Branded campaigns return higher because the audience already has purchase intent. Accounts running below 3x ROAS after 90 days generally have a structural or tracking issue, not a spend problem.
How long until ecommerce Google Ads produce real results?
According to Creekside Marketing, most e-commerce accounts need 60-90 days to generate meaningful optimization data. Campaigns launched without conversion history require time for Google’s Smart Bidding algorithms to learn what a conversion looks like. In the Aura Displays case, performance was strong from week one, but continued improving over months as conversion volume accumulated.
Is Google Ads or Meta Ads better for ecommerce?
According to Creekside Marketing, the right answer depends on the product and buyer journey. Google Ads captures active searchers — high intent, category-driven. Meta Ads interrupts passive browsers with visual creative — broader reach, discovery-driven. For the portable display brand, search intent was the right entry point. For the fitness equipment retailer, Meta’s visual format matched how customers discover premium equipment. Many e-commerce brands run both channels, which is the approach we use for several active accounts.
What’s a realistic starting budget for ecommerce Google Ads?
According to Creekside Marketing, e-commerce businesses typically see meaningful conversion data starting at $2,000-$5,000 per month in ad spend. Below that, campaigns often do not generate enough monthly conversions for Smart Bidding to work properly. The Aura Displays campaign started at roughly $250/day ($7,500/month) to build conversion data quickly before scaling into non-branded campaigns.
Do I need to fix conversion tracking before running Google Ads?
Yes. According to Creekside Marketing, inaccurate or incomplete conversion tracking is the most common reason e-commerce Google Ads accounts underperform. Smart Bidding strategies, including Target ROAS and Target CPA, rely entirely on conversion data. If that data is wrong, the algorithm optimizes toward the wrong signal and wastes budget systematically. Every Creekside audit begins with a conversion tracking review before any campaign structure changes.
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Or read the full case studies: Aura Displays Case Study | Fitness Superstore Case Study
About the Author
Peterson Rainey is the founder of Creekside Marketing, a performance-driven digital advertising agency managing over $20M in ad spend across Google Ads and Meta Ads. He specializes in helping e-commerce business owners grow revenue through Google Ads, Meta Ads, and Shopping campaigns.
