The target ROAS bid strategy allows you to choose how much dollar value you want back for every dollar you spend. It analyses and uses Google's AI to predict the value of a potential conversion every time someone searches for products or services that you’re advertising. Then, Google's AI adjusts your bids for these searches to maximise your return on them. Learn more about target ROAS bidding.
This article explains how to set a recommended initial tROAS for your app campaigns. Learn more about bidding in app campaigns.
How it works
If you have run target cost-per-action (tCPA) for your app campaigns in the past, and you’re ready to use target ROAS bidding, you can use your historically achieved return on ad spend (ROAS) to help calculate your initial target ROAS (tROAS). When creating your tROAS campaign, we recommend the below steps to set an initial tROAS that is reflective of your tCPA campaign’s historical performance.
Use the Bid Guidance widget
The Bid Guidance widget is designed to help you set the right bids to achieve your app campaign goals. Learn more about bidding tools for app campaigns.
Set an initial target ROAS
- Identify your biddable in-app event's conversion window. This is the time period you have to measure the impact of your ads on conversions.
- Identify your comparable campaign's performance over the duration of that window. A comparable campaign is one that promotes the same app ID, uses the same biddable event and has the same location and language targeting settings.
- Enable the 'conv. value/cost' column in your campaign reports.
- Use your comparable campaign's achieved ROAS (conv. value/cost) as a recommended starting tROAS. This step of understanding your initial tROAS may not be applicable to all campaigns.
Best practices
Here are best practices that can help you successfully set an initial target ROAS:
- Factor in your target inflation rate (if applicable) when setting your initial tROAS. If your tCPA is consistently higher than your campaign’s actual CPA, you'll want to apply a similar modifier to your prospective tROAS bid.
- For example, if your campaign’s actual CPA is $3 and your tCPA is set to $6, you'll need to apply a 50% modifier to your evaluated ROAS to appropriately set a starting tROAS bid.
- Adjust your tROAS after establishing a baseline volume to help reach your intended ROAS target over the period of your in-app event’s conversion window.
- Use automated rules to manage your bids to help lessen the need to make manual bid changes in your app campaigns. Learn more about how to set up automated rules for app campaigns.
