Low conversion volumes can make Google Ads tests noisy, slow and misleading, especially in B2B campaigns.
A/B testing seems reassuring: set up two competing ads and just let the data decide. But in B2B PPC advertising, sometimes there just isn’t enough data to draw a confident conclusion. Many B2B campaigns may only generate twenty useful enquiries, or maybe five. And while that’s great – some of those may turn into valuable and worthwhile sales conversations – the low numbers offer less information for us (or more likely the automated bidding systems) to learn from.
This is especially risky when testing bidding strategies. If we ask automated bidding to optimise with low conversion data, it may latch on to the easiest available pattern. That’s not necessarily the same as finding better customers, as we’ve discussed before.
So what should we do? Think about a few more general rules before launching into tests.
- We should not test for the sake of testing. A new bid strategy, landing page, keyword structure or audience setting should be tested because there is a real business reason to believe something needs to change.
- We should define success outside of Google Ads. A good B2B test should not stop at cost per lead: it should look, where possible, at everything from marketing-qualified leads through opportunities to closed revenue.
- We should allow for lag. Some changes need time for the algorithm to settle. More importantly, B2B leads need time to reveal their quality. Judging too early can punish the better option and reward the quicker one.
- We should be wary of splitting tiny campaigns. Sometimes a sequential test, run carefully over comparable periods, may be more useful than a conventional A/B experiment.
- We should treat test results as evidence, not verdicts. In low-volume B2B markets, a single test rarely deserves the authority it gets given.