Initial Situation & Goal
Emil Frey Move promotes its car subscription service in Switzerland (CH-DE & CH-FR). The main goal was to generate more qualified inquiries – specifically, hard conversions in the form of submitted subscription requests – with a constant advertising budget. At the same time, the campaign efficiency was to be increased, meaning the cost per conversion (CPA) was to be reduced.
Phase 1 – Classic Search Campaigns (February 1–May 31, 2025)
In the first campaign phase, we relied exclusively on classic search campaigns.
- Results: 956 soft conversions and 27 hard conversions
- KPI: CPC 1.66 CHF, CTR 13.7%
Observation: The campaigns generated high-quality traffic with high intent. However, the reach was clearly limited by search inventory prices, which made scaling difficult.
Phase 2 – Expansion with Performance Max (June 1–August 31, 2025)
Starting in June, we expanded the setup to include Google Ads Performance Max. Model-based asset groups were created, tailored to specific car models. Each asset group received its own images, headlines, and descriptions, differentiated by the language regions CH-DE and CH-FR.
Performance Max enabled us to tap into additional inventory – including Display, YouTube, Discover, Gmail, and in some cases, Maps. What’s special about it: All search, intent, and context signals are combined in a single, goal-optimized campaign.
- Budget: Identical to Phase 1
- Results: 3,716 soft conversions and 48 hard conversions
- KPI: CPC 0.13 CHF (-92.2%), CTR 10.68%
Result: Despite the same budget, conversion volumes increased massively – soft conversions by almost 289% (+3.9x) and hard conversions by almost 78%.
Key message – Efficiency leap through new campaign format
- The introduction of Performance Max led to a clear efficiency leap:
- Soft conversions: Volume increase by 289%
- Soft CPA: Cost reduction by 74%
- Hard Conversions: Volume increase by 78%
- Hard-CPA: Cost reduction by 44%
The CTR decreased slightly (13.7% → 10.68%), which is to be expected given the massively expanded reach. At the same time, CPCs fell drastically (CHF 1.66 → CHF 0.13), enabling scaling while simultaneously increasing efficiency.
Why Performance Max worked here
- More touchpoints: By delivering across Search, Display, YouTube, Discover, and Gmail, reach was significantly expanded – at significantly lower click costs.
- Model-specific creatives: The asset groups for each car model ensured greater relevance, as users saw precisely the right visuals, headlines, and CTAs for their model and language region.
- Signal mix & real-time optimization: Performance Max combines intent, audience, and context signals and dynamically allocates the budget to the channels with the most efficient conversions.
- Funnel width + performance: The significantly lower click prices expanded the upper funnel, leading to more soft conversions.
At the same time, the cost per hard conversion was significantly reduced – with almost 80% more completed subscription requests.
Lessons Learned
- Scaling without increasing budget: +289% soft conversions and +78% hard conversions at identical costs.
- Efficiency as a key lever: Hard CPA decreased by 44%, and soft CPA by as much as 74%.
- Broader distribution increases profitability: While the CVR per click decreased slightly, the significantly lower CPCs and greater reach ultimately resulted in significantly more conversions per franc invested.
Conclusion
The introduction of Performance Max with model-specific creatives enabled Emil Frey Move in Switzerland to significantly reduce the cost per conversion while significantly increasing the number of queries – all without additional budget.
