ADAC Autoversicherung
full-funnel paid campaign driven by AI (Performance Max) optimized for new customer acquisition
With Microsoft Advertising Performance Max, ADAC Autoversicherung (car insurance from the German club ADAC) achieved +104% conversions, +89% clicks and -4% CPA from January 1 to November 30, 2025, and a ROAS near 600% on new customers after turning on the acquisition option.
Key points
- ADAC Autoversicherung drives its car insurance acquisition with Microsoft Advertising Performance Max, using AI bidding and targeting.
- From January 1 to November 30, 2025: +104% conversions and +89% clicks, with CPA down 4%.
- The new customer acquisition (NCA) option produced a ROAS near 600% in its first weeks.
- Level B evidence (a quantified Microsoft case study, corroborated by the agency), living status confirmed, budget doubled.
Objective
Sell new ADAC car insurance policies by reaching drivers as they compare offers, including in the new AI search surfaces, while holding the cost of acquisition and prioritizing first-time buyers over already-insured customers.
The deployment
ADAC Autoversicherung AG is the car insurance subsidiary of ADAC, the German automobile club known for its yellow tow trucks (the 'Yellow Angels'). To sell policies, it relies on Microsoft Advertising Performance Max campaigns run by the agency ad agents. Performance Max is a format in which the algorithm itself allocates budget, bids, creatives and audiences across Bing search, Microsoft Copilot, native placements and the audience network. In December 2025, the team turned on the 'Optimize for new customer acquisition' option, which pushes the campaign to prioritize people buying for the first time over already-insured customers. What this means in practice for the user: when a driver searches for car insurance, the AI chooses where and at what price to show the ADAC ad, with increased visibility reaching into Copilot's answers.
Results Proof B
Official quantified Microsoft Advertising case study (Tier 2), published January 20, 2026, corroborated by the page of the agency ad agents that runs the account. The figures are attributed explicitly to Performance Max over a named period (January 1 to November 30, 2025, compared with 2024). No ADAC financial result isolates this impact as a primary source, hence B rather than A.
How it works
Documented architectureThe stack in detail
- plateforme Microsoft Advertising Performance Max Microsoft Advertising's single campaign format that allocates budget, bids and creatives through machine learning across search, Copilot, native placements and the audience network.
- outil Optimize for new customer acquisition (NCA) A Performance Max option that prioritizes first-time policy buyers while maintaining engagement with existing customers.
How it runs, concretely
For ops teams-
1Feed the campaign agence
Provide Performance Max with audience signals, creatives and clean conversion tracking (quote, policy purchase).
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2Multi-placement delivery IA
Performance Max allocates budget and bids across Bing search, Copilot, native placements and the audience network.
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3New customer optimization agence
Turn on 'Optimize for new customer acquisition' to prioritize first-time buyers over already-insured customers.
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4Monitoring and reallocation agence
Read the KPIs (conversions, CPA, conversion rate, new customer ROAS) and decide on budget increases.
The conversions reported to Microsoft Advertising (quotes and policy purchases). The algorithm optimizes bids and placements on this signal. If conversion tracking breaks or is not segmented between new and existing customers, the acquisition feature loses its target.
How your customers perceive this type of use
Sourced studiesLe pricing algorithmique est le terrain le plus inflammable : 68% des consommateurs disent se sentir leses quand les marques utilisent le pricing dynamique et 80% jugent plus dignes de confiance les marques aux prix constants (Gartner, 2024). L'equite percue varie selon le secteur : le pricing dynamique n'est juge juste que par 33% a 40% des repondants selon qu'il s'agit de concerts ou de cinemas (YouGov, 17 marches). Le prix personnalise par les donnees individuelles est le plus rejete : 47% des Americains s'y opposent fermement (Consumer Reports, 2024).
Acceptance conditions
- La constance des prix comme signal de confiance : 80% jugent plus fiables les marques aux prix stables (Gartner 2024)
- Le secteur conditionne l'equite percue : le pricing dynamique est mieux tolere pour les cinemas (40% le jugent juste) que pour les concerts (33%) (YouGov 2024)
Red lines
- Le pricing dynamique percu comme abus : 68% se sentent leses (Gartner 2024)
- Le prix individualise a partir des donnees personnelles : 47% d'opposition ferme (Consumer Reports 2024)
- Les frais caches et hausses imprevues, vecus par 79% des consommateurs sur un an et associes a la perte de confiance (Gartner 2024)
Sources: Gartner 2024 · YouGov 2024 · Consumer Reports 2024
How to replicate
Inference, not sourcedData prerequisites
- Reliable conversion tracking on the advertiser side (quote, policy purchase), ideally segmented new vs existing customers
- First-party audience signals to guide the algorithm
- A product feed and creatives suited to insurance
Org prerequisites
- An active Microsoft Advertising account and a dedicated budget
- An in-house SEA team or an agency to steer and arbitrate
- A compliant consent framework for conversion tracking in the EU
Possible stack
- Microsoft Advertising Performance Max with the Optimize for new customer acquisition option
- The Google Ads Performance Max equivalent with a new customer acquisition goal
- A conversion measurement layer (tag, CAPI, offline import)
The plan, step by step
- Step 1Make conversion tracking reliable (quote and policy purchase) and segment it between new and existing customers.Deliverable: A clean conversion signal the platform can use.
- Step 2Launch a Performance Max campaign with creatives, product feed and audience signals.Deliverable: A campaign delivering across search, Copilot, native and audience.
- Step 3Turn on the new customer acquisition option to prioritize first-time buyers.Deliverable: Acquisition-oriented delivery, with new customer ROAS measured.
- Step 4Track CPA, conversion rate and ROAS, then reallocate budget toward what performs.Deliverable: A budget-increase decision backed by the KPIs.
First step: Set up clean conversion tracking that distinguishes new from existing customers before even turning on the acquisition option, otherwise the algorithm optimizes blind.
The same pattern, proven in other industries
adidas
AI-driven audience prospecting and bidding (ARO) across the full funnel
Allwyn
AI-driven omnichannel programmatic buying with retail data activation
Arc'teryx
AI-driven paid campaigns, fed by generated creative adapted to the local context
Sources
- S1 ADAC Success Story | Microsoft Advertising Interested party archive pending
- S2 ADAC starkt Kundenbindung & Neukunden mit Microsoft Ads - ad agents Interested party archive pending
An error, newer info, a source?
This page lives on its accuracy. If a figure has moved, if the deployment has changed, or if you have a higher-quality source, tell us. Every sourced correction is verified before publication.