Taming a Runaway E-Commerce Ad Spend | Discoverability
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Case Study · E-Commerce · Google Ads · Shopify

Taming a Runaway Google Ads Spend

A household-cleaning brand selling on Shopify had run Google Ads through two different agencies and lost money on it both times. We took the account over and turned a negative return into one that now runs as high as 18x.

$67 → ~$12Cost per conversion
Negative → 18xReturn on ad spend, by campaign
$1.2kMonthly spend, down from $3–5k

The Problem

The product is an everyday household cleaner. About $24 an item, with an average order around $40. Through all of 2024 and the first half of 2025, the brand ran Google Ads through two different agencies, one after the other. Both spent between $3,000 and $5,000 a month and brought in roughly 50 to 70 conversions. Do the math at a $40 order value and it does not work: they were paying more to win an order than the order was worth. The return on ad spend was negative. They were quite literally buying revenue at a loss, month after month, and two agencies in a row had not fixed it.

The Solution

1

Matched their output for a third of the spend

When we took over in Q3 2025, the first move was efficiency. We rebuilt the account, cut the broad, wasteful search terms that were eating the budget, and tightened the targeting. Same 50 to 70 conversions, now for about $1,200 a month instead of $3,000 to $5,000.

2

Fixed the Shopify foundation

We cleaned up the product feed so Shopping and Performance Max could actually do their job, separated branded from non-branded so we stopped overpaying for traffic that would have converted anyway, and aligned the product pages so the clicks we paid for turned into checkouts.

3

Held the budget flat and grew the output

Through Q4 2025 we kept spend flat at that lower number and pushed conversions up instead of throwing more money at the problem. Scale the winners, kill the losers, repeat.

4

Turned the return positive, campaign by campaign

The account went from a negative return to a profitable one. Today, depending on the campaign, return on ad spend runs between 2.1x and 18x.

Cost Per Conversion, Over Time

Same results, then better results, for a fraction of the cost.

Return on Ad Spend, by Campaign (Today)

Before us, the blended return was below break-even. Now every campaign is profitable, and the best ones are dramatically so.

The Results

MetricTwo prior agencies (2024 – H1 2025)The Discoverability Company (Q3 2025 → now)
Monthly spend$3,000 – $5,000~$1,200
Conversions50 – 7050 – 70, then climbing
Cost per conversion~$67~$12
Return on ad spendNegative2.1x – 18x by campaign
Key takeaway

Two agencies spent two years buying this brand's orders at a loss. The fix was not a bigger budget. It was cutting the waste, fixing the Shopify foundation, and managing the account like the money mattered. Same spend, profitable return.

Anonymized to protect client privacy. Figures reflect the client's actual Google Ads performance.

Losing money on Google Ads? Let's fix the account.