During the October 2026 ad review call, the team identified that Scullin's competitor search campaign was running on a Maximize Conversions bid strategy and generating a cost per click of $120 — significantly higher than acceptable. The retirement campaign was also flagged, with a cost per conversion of $63. The recommendation was to shift both campaigns to Target CPA, starting at $40, and reduce from there as the algorithm learns.
The branded campaign was already running Target CPA and performing well, making it the natural model for the other campaigns.
Scullin operates in a high-value service category (retirement/financial services) where a single sign-up can be worth tens of thousands of dollars. This means some elevated CPA is tolerable — but the competitor search campaign in particular has structurally high CPCs because users searching for a competitor often click the ad and immediately bounce when they realize it's not what they wanted.
"They click on it and then realize it's not what they were looking for." — Mark Hope
This dynamic makes Maximize Conversions a poor fit for competitor search: the algorithm bids aggressively for clicks that frequently don't convert, inflating CPC without proportional conversion value.
| Campaign | Previous Strategy | New Strategy | Target CPA |
|---|---|---|---|
| Competitor Search | Maximize Conversions | Target CPA | $40 (starting point) |
| Retirement | Maximize Conversions | Target CPA | $40 (starting point) |
| Branded | Target CPA | Target CPA (no change) | Existing |
The $40 target was chosen as a conservative starting point with the intent to lower it incrementally once the campaign has enough conversion data to optimize against.