Why Your Business Can’t Ignore Performance Max—Even If Your Non-Brand Search Is Crushing It

Is Your Business Over-Reliant on Non-Brand Search?

If you’re seeing strong returns from Non-Brand Search campaigns, it’s easy to assume that Performance Max (PMax) isn’t worth the investment—especially if your PMax ROAS looks weak. But that assumption might be costing you scalable growth and incremental revenue.

Many businesses find that their PMax campaigns underperform, especially for branded traffic. This is because Google’s automation often fails to deliver the right audience segments. But that doesn’t mean you should abandon PMax—it just means you need to feed it better audience signals to unlock its full potential.

Let’s break down why businesses struggle with PMax, why it’s still a critical part of your marketing mix, and how brands using LXRInsights are overcoming these challenges.

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The Problem: PMax ROAS Isn’t Always Great—But That’s Not a Reason to Cut It

PMax is designed to expand your reach across Google’s entire inventory—Search, Shopping, YouTube, Display, and more. But unlike Search campaigns, where you can control keywords and intent targeting, PMax relies on Google’s audience signals.

This often leads to three common issues:

1. PMax spends too much on low-intent users. Google’s automation may push your ads to broad audiences who don’t convert efficiently.
2. PMax prioritizes remarketing over true new customer acquisition. Many brands see strong returns from Non-Brand Search but weak performance from PMax because it just retargets existing customers rather than expanding reach.
3. PMax Brand campaigns can have terrible ROAS. If your PMax Brand ROAS is below 1.5, it’s likely cannibalizing direct traffic or branded search efforts rather than bringing in new customers.

So, should you just shift all your budget to Non-Brand Search? No—and here’s why.

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The Opportunity: How Smart Brands Use PMax to Scale Profitably

Even if your Non-Brand Search is crushing it, that channel has limited scale. The best businesses use PMax strategically to expand beyond search-based demand and reach new, high-value customers.

Example 1:
Luxury Home Decor Brand (High Non-Brand Search ROAS, Weak PMax ROAS)

Scenario:

• Non-Brand Search ROAS: 6.2 (great performance, but limited volume).
• PMax Non-Brand ROAS: 1.9 (below target).
• PMax Brand ROAS: 0.9 (mostly cannibalizing direct traffic).

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The Problem:
If they assumed PMax wasn’t working and cut spend— then their total revenue can plateau.

The Solution:
Using LXRInsights, they identified their highest-value customers and fed those audience signals into PMax. This improved targeting and reduced wasted spend on low-intent users.

‍The Result:
‍PMax Non-Brand ROAS improved from 1.9 to 3.5 within 45 days.

• ‍PMax Non-Brand ROAS improved from 1.9 to 3.5 within 45 days.
• Total revenue increased by 18% without increasing overall media spend.
• New customer acquisition costs dropped by 22%.

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Example 2:
DTC Skincare Brand (High AOV, Struggles with PMax Brand Cannibalization)

Scenario:

• Non-Brand Search ROAS: 5.0 (strong, high-intent buyers).
• PMax Brand ROAS: 0.7 (inefficient, cannibalizing existing traffic).
• PMax Non-Brand ROAS: 2.4 (not scaling profitably).

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The Problem:
Their PMax campaigns were being dominated by their existing brand followers, leading to poor returns and wasted budget.

The Solution:
They used LXRInsights to create predictive audience segments, excluding repeat customers and focusing on high-value new users.

The Result:

• PMax Brand spend reduced by 40%, while revenue stayed flat (meaning they eliminated waste).
• PMax Non-Brand ROAS increased from 2.4 to 4.1 by improving new customer targeting.
• First-time purchases grew by 30% in three months.

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Example 3:
Mattress Brand (High Non-Brand Search, Struggles with Scaling Beyond Google Search)

Scenario

• Non-Brand Search ROAS: 5.1 (best-performing channel, limited search volume).
• PMax ROAS: 1.3 (underwhelming).

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The Problem:
They relied too much on Non-Brand Search, which was already maxed out in terms of volume. Cutting PMax meant they had no incremental new traffic sources.

The Solution:
They used LXRInsights to refine their customer acquisition signals and prioritized PMax for new customer acquisition only.

The Result:

• PMax ROAS improved from 1.3 to 2.8, making it profitable.
• Total new customer acquisition increased by 35%.
• Blended ROAS (across all Google Ads) improved by 22%.

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How LXRInsights Helps Fix PMax for Businesses Like Yours

The key to making PMax work isn’t cutting spend—it’s refining how Google identifies and targets your customers.

LXRInsights solves this problem by:

• Enhancing audience signals. Instead of relying only on Google’s broad automation, LXRInsights provides real-time high-value customer segmentation.
• Reducing wasted spend. It prevents PMax from targeting the wrong users, leading to higher conversion efficiency.
• Predicting high-value conversions. The platform uses machine learning to prioritize audiences most likely to convert at a higher order value.

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Key Takeaways

• ‍Non-Brand Search is a great revenue driver—but it has limits. If you rely solely on search, you’ll eventually hit a ceiling.
• ‍PMax isn’t "bad"—it just needs better audience signals. Google’s automation alone isn’t enough to make it work efficiently.
• ‍LXRInsights can help make PMax a profitable channel, driving incremental new customer growth.

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If you’re struggling with PMax efficiency, let’s chat. LXRInsights can help you turn wasted ad spend into predictable revenue growth.

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