What Demand Marketing’s PMax Study Shows About Multifamily PPC Creative

The short answer: In Demand Marketing’s Google Performance Max (PMax) study, community amenity creative delivered approximately 25–29% lower cost per conversion than in-home imagery during the July–December 2025 analysis period. Average click-through rate (CTR) was 2.60% for outdoor community amenities, 2.77% for indoor community amenities and 2.26% for in-home amenities. The study also found higher conversion volume for community-focused creative after the campaign learning period stabilized.¹ 

The Problem: How AI Search Is Changing Multifamily Marketing 

Renters aren't typing "apartments near me" anymore. They're asking: "pet-friendly two-bedroom near downtown with natural light under $2,000." AI searches are answering those questions directly, without ever sending the renter to your website. 

A May 2025 Growth Memo analysis reported that zero-click search share increased from 71.4% to 76% after the rollout of AI Overviews.² 

As more early discovery happens within search, the renters who do click on paid ads may be further along in their evaluation. That makes the relevance and structure of the creative they encounter especially important.  Meaning: the renters who do click on your ads represent higher intent than before. The funnel is narrower, but the prospects in it are closer to signing a lease. 

That makes your creative digital ads more consequential, not less. 

What Demand Marketing Tested in Google Performance Max Campaigns 

Demand Marketing Digital Strategists ran a six-month creative testing initiative across Google PMax campaigns to answer one question: does the way you organize creative digital assets produce measurably different campaign outcomes? 

Demand Marketing Creative Testing Parameters: 

• Duration: April–December 2025 

• Platform: Google Performance Max (PMax) — runs across Search, YouTube, Display, and Maps 

• Learning period: April–June 2025 (algorithm stabilization; excluded from primary analysis) 

• Primary analysis window: July–December 2025 

Three Creative Amenity Categories Tested: 

Each category was placed in its own dedicated asset group — not mixed — so that PMax could develop distinct audience signals per creative type. 

The Data: Community Imagery Performed Better on Key Study Metrics 

During the July–December 2025 analysis period, indoor and outdoor community imagery had lower cost per conversion, higher CTR and higher conversion volume than in-home imagery in the campaigns analyzed.¹ 

PMax Performance Results by Creative Category (July–December 2025) 

Key Findings for Multifamily Campaigns: 

• Community amenity creative delivered approximately 25–29% lower cost per conversion than in-home imagery during the July–December 2025 analysis period: $6.40 for outdoor community amenities, $6.71 for indoor community amenities and $8.98 for in-home amenities.¹ 

• Average CTR during the analysis period was 2.60% for outdoor community amenities, 2.77% for indoor community amenities and 2.26% for in-home amenities.1 

• As the algorithm learned, it actively deprioritized in-home imagery:  

• In-home impressions dropped from 110,300 (learning period) → 59,378 (test period) 

• Outdoor community impressions grew from 231,097 → 334,365 

The algorithm wasn't instructed to make this shift. It learned from conversion data that community creative drives more qualified action — and reallocated accordingly. 

The study also reports changes in impression distribution between the April–June learning period and the July–December analysis period. Because those periods cover different lengths of time, the raw impression totals should not be treated as a direct period-over-period performance comparison.¹ 

Why Community Imagery Can Perform Better in Prospecting 

Understanding why this works matters for replicating it. 

Performance Max can reach renters across Search, YouTube, Display, Gmail and Maps. In discovery placements, community spaces better portray lifestyle and community vibe , while in-home imagery provides more specific information about the unit. 

• A rooftop, pool, or pet park signals a lifestyle 

• A kitchen signals a product specification 

At the top of the funnel, renters ask: "Does this feel like somewhere I'd want to live?" — not "Does this kitchen have the right finishes?" 

In-home imagery is not necessarily ineffective – but misplaced It performs best in retargeting campaigns where renters already know your property and are evaluating specifics versus during discovery, where PMax ads show up. When in-home imagery is used in prospecting (or PMax) campaigns, a weaker signal is sent to the algorithm and can limit higher intent lead generation. ¹ 

The structural reason this compounds: Google's algorithm optimizes to whatever signals your creative provides. A dedicated outdoor amenity asset group teaches PMax exactly which renters engage with that lifestyle signal. Mix that pool photo with a kitchen and a gym, and the algorithm learns something murkier. Signal degrades — and so does targeting precision. 

Google Ads cites NCS Solutions research finding that creative contributes 49% of the total sales impact of advertising. This is a general advertising-effectiveness finding, not a PMax-specific ROI result.³ 

The 5-Step Formula to Structure PMax Asset Groups 

The following framework reflects the structure used in Demand Marketing’s study and can serve as a starting point for testing PMax creative organization. *Results will vary by property, market, seasonality, budget, campaign configuration, creative quality and available conversion data. 

• Step 1: Audit your current asset groups.  

• Step 2: Segment creative into three dedicated asset groups.  

• Step 3: Prioritize community imagery for prospecting campaigns.  

• Step 4: Allow a minimum 60-day learning period before drawing optimization conclusions. ¹ 

• Step 5: Run quarterly creative audits by category. 

For more details about this framework, download the full study here. 

How Smart Digital Advertising Uses Conversion Signals Over Time 

Structured creative can improve the quality of campaign inputs. Smart Digital Advertising can also use downstream conversion signals to help inform and drive ongoing campaign optimization. 

Smart Digital Advertising combines PMax campaign optimization with AI Call Scoring, which identifies calls with intent to rent and feeds those conversion signals back to Google. ⁴ 

How the PPC Optimization Loop Works: 

1. Structured community creative → higher intent clicks = clearer campaign inputs 
2. AI Call Scoring identifies calls showing intent to rent → can feed those conversion signals back to Google 
3. PMax can use those higher intent conversion signals in ongoing campaign optimization 

What Multifamily Marketers Should Do Now 

The Bottom Line: Better Creative Structure Can Improve Multifamily Digital Marketing Performance 

In a search environment where AI search handles more of the early discovery phase and organic visibility is harder to guarantee, how you structure your paid advertising creative is even more consequential . 

Demand Marketing’s 2025 testing initiative found that, within the campaigns analyzed, community-focused creative had stronger CTR, higher conversion volume and lower cost-per-conversion compared to in-home imagery (after the learning period). ¹ 

For multifamily marketers, the way you organize creative digital assets produces measurably different digital advertising campaign outcomes. In a search world where AI is answering most renter queries before a click ever happens, structuring digital ad creative into thematically organized, community-amenity-led asset groups (rather than mixed pools with in-home photography), giving Google’s AI cleaner signals to optimize against, which can deliver more conversions at a lower cost.  

Ready to improve your multifamily digital advertising strategy?  

Download the Multifamily Digital Advertising Research Report to explore the findings, and connect with a Demand Marketing Digital Strategist to uncover opportunities to improve campaign performance and attract more high intent renters.  

1. RealPage Demand Marketing,“What RealPage Demand Marketing’s Six-Month PMax Study Reveals About Digital Advertising in the Age of AI Search,” 2026. Test duration April–December 2025; primary analysis July–December 2025. During the primary analysis period, the study reports average CTR of 2.60% for outdoor community amenities, 2.77% for indoor community amenities and 2.26% for in-home amenities, with average cost per conversion of $6.40, $6.71 and $8.98, respectively. Results are based on selected multifamily Performance Max campaigns analyzed during the stated test period. 
2. Kevin Indig, Growth Memo, “Testing Google’s Post-AIO Traffic Claims,” May 5, 2025. Reports zero-click search share increasing from 71.4% to 76%following the rolloutof  AI Overviews. 
3. Google Ads,“Creative Performance Best Practices,”citing NCS Solutions, 5 Keys to Advertising Effectiveness, 2023. NCS reports that creative contributes 49% of the total sales impact of advertising. 
4. 4.Realpage Demand Marketing, “What RealPage Demand Marketing’s Six-Month PMax Study Reveals About Digital Advertising in the Age of AI Search,” 2026, pp. 5 and 14. Separate from the PMax creative test, the whitepaper reports that Demand Marketing AI Call Scoring drives up to 63% more calls with intent to rent across its multifamily customer base, with those calls converting to leases 50% more often. The whitepaper does not provide a separate methodology for this customer-base analysis.

*Results are based on Demand Marketing’s analysis of selected multifamily Performance Max campaigns during the stated test period. Individual results may vary based on property, market, seasonality, budget, campaign configuration, creative quality and available conversion data. AI Call Scoring performance figures cited separately are based on broader Demand Marketing customer-base results and are not outcomes of the PMax creative test. Third-party platform features and performance may change over time.