May 2024 brought a game-changing update to Google Performance Max: New Customer Acquisition (NCA) Goals. Previously, PMax optimized for all conversions equally, meaning your budget could be spent on repeat buyers who would have purchased anyway.
With NCA goals, you can set a specific target for new vs. returning customers. For a fashion client, this was transformative — we shifted 60% of PMax budget toward new customer acquisition and saw a 34% increase in first-time buyer volume.
The cost per new customer was 22% higher than our blended CPA, but the lifetime value justified the premium. Google also expanded PMax reporting with asset group-level insights, finally giving media buyers visibility into which creative combinations were driving results.
The placement reporting improved too — we could see exact YouTube video URLs, Display placements, and Search terms triggering our ads. This transparency was long overdue and helped us exclude underperforming placements.
In KSA, Ramadan digital ad spend peaked in this period, with e-commerce brands seeing 40-60% traffic surges during evening hours.
