Google Ads Promotion Mode: Lower tROAS During Sales

Google Ads has a new beta setting called Promotion Mode that automatically lowers your Target ROAS and optionally increases your daily budget during a short sale. When the sale ends, both go back to normal. It is built for ecommerce businesses running 3 to 14 day promotional events, and it is available now in open beta for Standard Search and Performance Max campaigns.

If you have ever manually adjusted your tROAS down for a sale and then forgotten to set it back, this feature solves that problem. It also handles the budget increase and the rollback automatically, so you do not have to remember to undo changes when the promotion ends.

How Promotion Mode Works

You set a start date and end date between 3 and 14 days apart, a Target ROAS tolerance between 5% and 90%, and an optional extra daily budget on top of your normal one. During the promotion, Google lowers your tROAS by the tolerance percentage and adds the extra budget. When the promotion ends, both revert to their previous settings.

Google’s example: a campaign running at a 500% Target ROAS with a $100 daily budget, set to a 20% tolerance and a $50 budget increase. During the sale, the campaign runs at a 400% Target ROAS and $150 per day. After the sale, it goes back to 500% and $100.

Promotion Mode is built on top of Smart Bidding Exploration. Campaigns in an active promotion will always use exploration, even if the standalone setting is not enabled. If you already run Exploration, the tolerances stack. A 20% Exploration tolerance plus a 20% Promotion Mode tolerance equals a combined 40%.

Who Qualifies for Promotion Mode

The beta is available for Standard Search and Performance Max campaigns that use Target ROAS as a campaign-level bid strategy. Portfolio bid strategies and shared budgets are not currently supported, which limits this to single-campaign setups.

Google’s help page notes that Promotion Mode is initially powered by Smart Bidding Exploration for Search inventory only. Retail support is listed as coming in November 2026, so Performance Max retail campaigns may get access soon.

The page does not say whether every account can see the setting yet. If you cannot find it in your campaign settings under Budget and Bidding Optimization, your account may not be in the beta pool. Check again in a few weeks.

How to Set Up Promotion Mode

Setting it up is straightforward if your campaign qualifies:

1. Open your campaign settings in Google Ads.
2. Expand the Promotion Mode panel under Budget and Bidding Optimization.
3. Check the box for Ramp up spend quicker on promotion dates.
4. Set your start and end dates: 3 to 14 days apart.
5. Set your Target ROAS tolerance: between 5% and 90%.
6. Optionally set an extra daily budget.

During the active promotion, your campaign list will show “(Promotion mode on)” in the Budget column so you can see which campaigns are running with adjusted settings.

One important restriction: during an active promotion, you cannot change your baseline Target ROAS or baseline average daily budget outside of Promotion Mode. Plan your changes before or after the promotion window.

Promotion Mode vs Seasonality Adjustments

If you have used Smart Bidding seasonality adjustments, you might wonder how this differs. Seasonality adjustments temporarily change your bid strategy’s expected conversion rate for a short period. Promotion Mode directly changes your Target ROAS and budget.

The practical difference: seasonality adjustments tell Smart Bidding to expect more conversions during a period (like Diwali or Black Friday), so it bids more aggressively. Promotion Mode actually lowers the ROAS target, which allows the system to bid more broadly for less efficient conversions. Both can run, but they serve different purposes.

Use seasonality adjustments when you expect conversion rates to change temporarily. Use Promotion Mode when you are intentionally accepting lower ROAS for a sale and want the system to spend more to capture volume.

If you are planning sale campaigns for the next few months, this is worth testing. Our SEM team can help you set it up and monitor results. Check our packages for full campaign management options.

What to Watch When Running Promotion Mode

The system handles adjustments automatically, but you should still monitor performance during the promotion. Here is what to watch:

• Actual ROAS vs target. If your actual ROAS drops well below the adjusted target, the tolerance may be too high. Next time, try a lower percentage.
• Budget pacing. The extra daily budget should be spent. If it is not, your bid strategy may not need the additional room. Reduce or remove the extra budget on your next promotion.
• Cannibalization. Check whether your promotion is pulling sales forward from the following week. If total revenue over the month does not improve, the promotion may just be shifting timing, not adding demand.
• Competitor activity. If competitors run simultaneous promotions, your AI Mode shopping ads may show less frequently because their feeds or bids are more competitive. Monitor impression share during the window.

Promotion Mode is a useful tool, but it is not a substitute for a good sale strategy. Use it when you have a genuine promotional event with clear goals. If you want help planning your next sale campaign, get in touch and we will walk you through it.

Frequently Asked Questions