How Mad Dog Laces Went from 66 to 249 Orders a Month on a $335 Budget

The Client

Mad Dog Laces is an online boot lace store in the USA, and we run their Google Ads, which grew orders from 66 a month to 249 on a budget of about $335 a month. They sell durable boot laces and shoelaces in a range of colors and lengths to work-boot wearers, hikers and sneaker owners.

We took over their Google Ads in May 2021. In April 2021, the month before, the account produced 66 orders.

66 orders in April 2021. 249 in January 2026.

The Challenge

Google Ads for small e-commerce stores punishes waste, and a low-priced product leaves almost no room for it:

• A low order value. Laces sell for a few dollars, so a click that does not buy eats the margin of several orders.
• A tiny budget. A few hundred dollars a month has to be spent only on searches that sell.
• Mixed intent. "Shoelaces" and "boot laces" searches include how-to-lace questions, craft projects and marketplace shoppers.
• Marketplace competition. Big marketplaces list cheap laces on every generic search.

What We Built

1. Shopping, Then Performance Max

We launched a Smart Shopping campaign in May 2021 and upgraded it to Performance Max in July 2022. It became the account's biggest earner: 3,532 orders and $62,030 in revenue on $4,841 of spend.

2. A Tighter Search Campaign

We rebuilt Search around the lace searches that sell and ran an optimized version beside the original campaign to test it. Search has produced $50,291 in revenue since May 2021.

3. Real Purchases Only

Bidding runs on real purchases with their order value. Add to cart, checkout starts and page views are recorded but never counted as conversions, so the budget chases orders, not browsing.

4. Negative Keyword Discipline

Continuous search-term cleanup keeps lacing tutorials, crafts and irrelevant footwear searches out of a small budget.

5. Daily Optimization via Ad Campaign Concierge™

The account is reviewed through our proprietary Ad Campaign Concierge™ system: search-term mining, bid and budget adjustments, and budget moved to whatever is selling.

The Results

• 2022: 572 orders and $9,764 in ad revenue
• 2023: 1,002 orders, 75% more than the year before
• 2024: 1,476 orders and $25,610
• 2025: 1,467 orders
• 2026 so far: 1,603 orders and $32,025 from January to September, already more than any full year

Cheaper Orders as the Account Grew

In the first three months, an order cost $8.56 in ad spend. From July to September 2026 it cost $2.29, a drop of 73%, on a larger budget.

Every Sale Since We Took Over

6,460 orders and $114,518 in revenue since May 2021, from $19,847 in total ad spend.

Key Takeaways

1. Small budgets work when nothing is wasted. About $335 a month now returns close to $10 for every $1.
2. Performance Max rewards a clean feed. It produced more than half of all ad revenue at the lowest cost per order in the account.
3. Count only real purchases. Bidding on orders instead of cart activity is what drove the cost per order down 73%.
4. Patience compounds. The return per dollar climbed from $2.57 in 2021 to $9.88 in 2026 with no big budget jumps.

About This Campaign

This account is managed through Ad Campaign Concierge™, our proprietary optimization system for e-commerce.

Industry: E-commerce: Boot Laces & Footwear Accessories Platforms: Google Ads (Performance Max, Search, Shopping) Location: USA Account Duration: May 2021 to present (ongoing)

Revenue is purchase value from the store's purchase conversion in Google Ads. Add to cart, checkout starts and page views are excluded. Amounts in US dollars.