Google Ads success story · Online printing and marketing products company

How VistaPrint grew revenue 35% by proving Performance Max before scaling it.

Name: Overtop Media Digital Marketing
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Returns from Standard Shopping were shrinking. Instead of switching everything to Performance Max on faith, VistaPrint tested it against the old setup, measured what it really added, and only then moved the budget.

Business: VistaPrint
Market: Not stated
Goal: More revenue from Shopping, proven before scaling

Fan of colored paper sheets in red, orange, pink, purple and green

The results.

The 35% revenue increase is measured against the company’s Standard Shopping campaigns. Google did not publish the period for the other results.

35%revenue increase from moving to Performance Max
31%ROAS improvement from investing in AI-powered solutions
3Xincrease in incremental bookings lift, at an improved 2X incremental ROAS

Reported in VistaPrint’s 2026 Google Ads Impact Award entry as published by Google, which says Conversion Lift studies and geographic market experiments measured the impact. No dates were stated.

The challenge.

VistaPrint sells printed products online, so Google Shopping is one of its biggest sources of customers. Its Standard Shopping campaigns were returning less and less for the same spend.

Performance Max promised more, but moving a large Shopping budget on a promise is a risk. The company needed proof that it would bring in new revenue, not just take credit for sales Search was already winning, and a clear view of how the two should share the budget.

Spot the problemStandard Shopping returns were falling.
Test Performance MaxRun against the old setup, not instead of it.
Measure the liftConversion Lift studies and market experiments.
Scale with proofBudget moved, with Search and video planned alongside.

What they did.

Performance Max · Standard Shopping · Search · Demand Gen · Conversion Lift and geographic experiments

Tested before switching: Performance Max was run as a test against Standard Shopping first. Budgets were combined into it only after the results were in.
Measured what the ads caused: Conversion Lift studies and experiments that compared similar geographic markets showed how much revenue the campaigns added, across every channel, rather than how much they claimed.
Search and Performance Max planned together: The tests also showed how to get the most value from Performance Max and Search side by side, instead of judging each on its own.
Video for people still deciding: Demand Gen reached shoppers earlier, with Brand Lift studies checking that it moved consideration, not just clicks.

Why it worked.

Our read on the decisions behind the numbers, and what any business can take from them.

Proof before scale: Moving money only after a controlled test meant the company scaled something that worked, and could show its leadership why.
Incremental, not attributed: Lift studies and market experiments count the sales the ads caused. That is a stricter number than what any ad platform reports on its own.
The channels were planned together: Shopping, Search and video each had a job, so the budget went to the next best sale instead of the same sale twice.

How we would run this play for your business.

You do not need a national budget to use the same ideas. This is how Overtop Media Digital Marketing puts them to work in our google ads management.

Audit the Shopping account first: Product data, margins and the search terms behind each sale show where the current campaigns are leaking before anything is switched. It is the start of every Google Shopping engagement we run.
Test Performance Max against it: We run Performance Max as a controlled test with brand searches kept apart, so it is judged on new sales, not on customers who were already looking for you.
Measure the lift: Where the budget allows, we use lift studies or market tests. Where it does not, we compare like-for-like periods and markets, and say plainly what the numbers can and cannot prove.
Scale what pays: Budget moves only to what the test proved, in steps, with a return target set from your real margins.