Campaign Insights
How AI Reduced CPA by 38%
An anonymised account of a twelve-week optimisation programme: what was automated, what was deliberately left manual, and where the gains actually came from.
The client is a UK subscription business operating across paid search, paid social and affiliate. Client identity and absolute figures are withheld; all percentages are directional and verified against a holdout.
Roughly a third of the improvement came from model-driven bidding. The remaining two thirds came from creative volume, audience suppression and a landing experience rebuild — none of which were automated.
The transferable lesson is that automation compounds a good structure and accelerates a poor one.
Our position: capability without an operating model produces expensive noise.
Shard & Co · Strategy Practice
This insight forms part of Shard's ongoing research programme. For the underlying methodology or a briefing with the authoring team, contact the practice directly.
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