Google Ads Customer Match: How to Use it

In September 2015, Google AdWords announced a new online marketing tool: Customer Match. Customer Match is a pay-per-click (PPC) remarketing strategy. It allows businesses to advertise to their current leads and customers.

By using data that you already have, Customer Match allows you to target existing customers and reach out to those that may have gone inactive. Some businesses have improved their reach and match rate by 50 percent using Customer Match. If you have collected enough data from your clients, don’t hesitate to use this feature today.

Google Customer Match in PPC ads?

Customer Match is a feature native to Google Ads. It allows users to input their online and offline data to directly match customers online through a variety of platforms, including:

• Search
• Google’s shopping tab
• Gmail
• YouTube
• Display ads

In addition to targeting specific customers whose data is alreadyon hand, Customer Match lets you target other customers like them, opening up your PPC ads to a broader audience of prospects that are already vetted without you having to do all that work yourself. The information used in Google Customer Match is so valuable because it comes directly from your customers. Once you’ve uploaded your first-party customer data, it’s matched against Google users to make sure you’re targeting the right people. From there, it’s easy to segment your data, create various Customer Match audiences, and market accordingly by implementing an informed Google advertising strategy.

The benefits of using Customer Match audience aolutions

The customer match feature lets you reconnect with previous customers using first-party data. There are various benefits that companies and their marketing departments can gain from using Customer Match.

Build a deeper relationship with customers

Offering personalization and targeted ads across multiple platforms will make it hard for your customers to miss your offer. This helps deepen your relationship, especially since you can hyper-target offers that appeal directly to them as current or repeat customers.

Scale your customer match strategy

By using customer data to build an audience comprised of both customers and those whose profile matches theirs, your marketing efforts can scale up quickly.

Reach your audience directly

Did you know that Customer Match offers the opportunity for advertisers to place ads directly in the mailbox of customers’ Gmail accounts? As long as they’re still subscribed, you can ensure your ads reach individual audience members without going to their spam folders.

Smart Bidding and optimized targeting

When you build a Customer Match list, it can be used in optimized audience targeting as well as targeting for Smart Bidding. This can help improve campaign performance and offers superior ROI.

Google Ads Customer Match Requirements

Getting started with Google Customer Match is easy, and the requirements are simple. Customers must have:

• A good history of compliance with Google Ads policy
• Satisfactory payment history
• An account that’s at least 90 days old
• Spent at least $50,000 USD over the lifetime of their account

If your account is managed in a currency other than USD, your total spending will be converted to USD based on the average conversion for that month and evaluated accordingly. If all of these Google Ads Customer Match requirements are met, the account may start using Customer Match. If your account does not meet one or more of the criteria, you’ll have to wait to use this feature until you fulfill all the requirements.

Additionally, there are some requirements that accounts must follow based on Google company policy. A detailed list of these requirements can be found on Google’s Customer Match policy page. If an account violates these Customer Match list requirements, your account will be placed under compliance review. If any non-compliance is found, the account manager will be notified and is expected to take action to rectify the situation swiftly. If no corrective action is taken, your account can be suspended.

Accounts that repeatedly violate Google Ads or Customer Match policy will likely find their account suspended immediately and with no notice.

Best Customer Match strategy

There are a few different strategies marketers can use within the Customer Match feature to help them reach their goals.

Target existing customers

It’s much easier to convert an existing customer than a new customer. In fact, the probability of selling to a new customer is only 5 to 20 percent, compared to 60 to 70 percent for existing customers. Explicitly targeting your existing customers with new and improved ads can make it simpler to reach your sales goals without increasing your advertising budget.

Tempt inactive customers with discounts

With Google Ads Customer Match features, it’s easy to see which of your past customers have become inactive or not made a purchase for a set amount of time. With this information, you can craft a custom strategy to reach them directly, or tempt them with a discount that will entice them to re-engage with your business.

Create personalized ad copy

Relying on generic ad copy makes your advertising campaigns very easy to ignore. That’s why having so much information about your customers is so beneficial. Using this info, you can craft the perfect personalized ads to target hyper-specific groups of customers, leading to superior performance.

Target customers both online and offline

You don’t need to have your customers’ email addresses to add them to your Customer Match audience list. Even if you only have a phone number and address, you can use these to target ads that will entice them to sign up for your mailing list or newsletter.

Google Customer Match case studies

Sometimes, seeing how other companies have used a Customer Match strategy is an excellent way to determine how to use it for your marketing campaign. Here are some case studies that may help.

Telia Norge

Mobile solutions purveyor Telia Norge was looking for a way to increase traffic from current customers to get them to upgrade their existing contracts. Instead of running a complicated email marketing campaign, Telia segmented the audience using Customer Match and delivered customized ads, offers, and other messaging. This resulted in a conversation rate of 22 percent and an increase in their revenue by 15 percent.

Finish Line

Premium sneaker and apparel company Finish Line was also looking for a way to reach their existing customers. Using Customer Match, they specifically targeted their most valuable customers on paid search and in the Shopping tab, leading to a significant increase in click-through rates.

One Click Ventures

Customer Match isn’t just for multi-national companies, it can be used efficiently by small businesses as well. Eyewear brand One Click Ventures is an excellent example of this. They used Customer Match to target existing customers with new ads and offers, leading to a remarkable 200 percent return on advertising spend.

Develop a high-performing Google Ads Customer Match Strategy

While Customer Match is an intuitive feature to use, starting out can be intimidating. That’s where we come in.

At Pedestal Search, we’re adept at working with businesses across North America to help them understand Customer Match and how they can use your existing data to create personalized, dynamic ads.

Want to learn more about our approach? Get in touch with us today.