Audit: Is This Performance Max Asset Group Ready to Launch?

Marketing Academy · Field Work●AI in Marketing

MiniAudit· 35 minutes

Sea Limited (Shopee, Garena parent)

Objective: Given a real-style Performance Max asset group inventory and budget for a Sea Limited (Shopee) campaign, apply the lesson's PMax input checklist and learning-phase budget math to diagnose whether the campaign is set up to succeed or will underperform.

You're a paid media analyst supporting Sea Limited's Shopee regional growth team, reviewing a Performance Max asset group before it goes live next week.

Check the headline, description, image, and video asset counts against the lesson's minimums, then check the daily budget against the 50-conversions-in-7-days learning-phase requirement. Flag every gap and the specific fix.

Before you start

What you'll need

Free path (everything below is enough to finish)

Google Sheets

FreeRun the asset-count and learning-phase budget checks against the export

Free, no account friction, and the calculations are simple enough not to need a dedicated tool

The process

2 steps

Step 01 of 02

Performance Max minimum creative input requirements

PMax needs at least 5 headlines (up to 15), 5 descriptions (up to 4), 3-5 images in multiple aspect ratios, and 1-2 video assets, or Google auto-generates a generic video.

The asset group export shows 3 headlines, 6 descriptions, 4 images, and 0 video assets. Which requirement fails, and what happens if this launches as-is?

Google Sheets— Import the asset group export, one row per asset type with a count column.

Procedure

Import the export and add a 'minimum required' column next to the actual count for each asset type
Flag any row where actual count is below minimum
For the video row specifically, note what happens when the count is 0
Write one fix instruction per flagged row

Sample output

ASSET GROUP AUDIT

Headlines: 3 / min 5 — FAIL, write 2 more distinct headlines
Descriptions: 6 / min 5 — PASS
Images: 4 / min 3 — PASS
Video: 0 / min 1 — FAIL, Google will auto-generate a generic video if this ships as-is

Healthy

Every asset type meets or exceeds its minimum before the campaign is approved to launch.

Unhealthy

Launching with 0 video assets and letting Google's auto-generated video represent the brand.

What this means

PMax optimizes delivery of whatever creative it's given; it does not fix a weak or missing input, so the audit has to happen before launch, not after performance drops.

So what do I do about it?

Symptom	Action	Effort
0 video assets uploaded	Provide at least 1 branded video asset before launch instead of accepting the auto-generated one	half day

YouYou can do this yourself, no engineering access required.

Step 02 of 02

Learning-phase budget math (50 conversions in 7 days)

The learning phase requires roughly 50 conversion events in 7 days; if the daily budget cannot generate that volume at the target CPA, the algorithm never optimizes.

Target CPA is $8. The proposed daily budget is $40/day ($280/week). Does this campaign exit the learning phase on schedule?

Google Sheets— The same sheet, a second tab for the budget math.

Procedure

Divide weekly budget by target CPA to get projected weekly conversions
Compare projected conversions against the 50-conversion learning-phase target
If short, calculate the daily budget needed to hit 50 conversions in 7 days at the same target CPA
Write the specific budget change as the fix

Sample output

LEARNING PHASE BUDGET CHECK

$280/week ÷ $8 target CPA = 35 projected conversions/week
35 < 50 required — FAIL, underfunded
Fix: raise to $57/day ($400/week) to reach 50 conversions in 7 days at the same target CPA

Healthy

Weekly budget divided by target CPA meets or exceeds 50 projected conversions before launch.

Unhealthy

Launching at $40/day, watching the learning phase stall for weeks, and blaming the algorithm instead of the budget.

What this means

Underfunding the learning phase is the single most common reason PMax and Advantage+ campaigns underperform, and it's a budget problem, not a targeting or creative problem.

So what do I do about it?

Symptom	Action	Effort
Projected weekly conversions fall short of 50	Raise the daily budget to close the gap for at least the first 2 weeks, then re-evaluate	30 min

YouYou can do this yourself, no engineering access required.

Final deliverable

A go/no-go audit memo listing every PMax input gap and the exact budget change needed to complete the learning phase in 7 days.

See a reference example

Sample output

HelloFresh Shopping campaign — PMax audit memo (excerpt)

Headlines: 7 / min 5 — PASS
Video: 1 / min 1 — PASS
Budget: $60/day ÷ $12 target CPA = 35 conversions/week — FAIL, underfunded
Fix: raise to $86/day for weeks 1-2 to reach 50 conversions in 7 days, then reassess against actual CPA.

Success criteria

You're done when you can:

Correctly flags every asset type below its minimum
Correctly computes whether the proposed budget clears 50 conversions in 7 days at the stated target CPA
States a specific numeric fix, not a vague 'increase budget' recommendation