What is Customer Match?
Customer Match is a Google audience targeting strategy. Google’s sophisticated technology allows advertisers to use their online and offline data to reach and re-engage their customers, and users who are similar to their customers, across Paid Search, Gmail or other email accounts, YouTube, and Display.
How does Customer Match work?
Google combines information your customers have shared with your dealership to target ads to those customers, and other users who share similarities with them. The process starts by uploading a file containing your customers’ information they have provided you such as a phone number, email address, zip code, first and last name, etc. If those customers are looking at Google products such as searching on Google or browsing videos on YouTube, Google targets them. Google also automatically creates Similar Audiences to help extend your reach.
Google uses Google account data and connects the data you provide to link it to the appropriate Google accounts. When these customers sign into their Google account, they will see your dealership’s ads as they browse the Search Network, their email (does not have to be a Gmail account), YouTube, or via Display ads. This helps your dealership advertise to consumers who have interacted with your business, or similar businesses, via online and offline actions across Google accounts.
What are the benefits of Customer Match?
There are many benefits of using Customer Match. For example, if your dealership is trying to target specific audience segments such as loyal service customers, lease expiration customers, or frequent parts purchasers, you can upload those customer lists to find other customers with the same characteristics or needs. The information stored in a customer’s Google account helps generate a more personalized Search or Display experience and allows Google to build profile(s) of similar users you can advertise to.
Below are some of the most important reasons you should get behind this targeting strategy.
- Re-engage existing customers or reach prospects who are similar to your customers.
- On Search, advertisers can adjust bids based on known information about customers’ activities.
- On Display, advertisers can reach their customers, or audiences that are similar to their customers using personalized ads.
- Advertisers can find and target their customers, past customers, and potential leads at the same time.
- On YouTube, Customer Match allows advertisers to reach new audiences by targeting users who are similar to their most profitable customers.
- Customer match audiences don’t expire – advertisers can control how long their customers remain in a Customer Match audience. However, it’s best to refresh list(s) regularly, especially if customers are not converting or your conversion rate starts decreasing. Luckily, Google sends reminder emails if lists have not been updated or refreshed in a while.
Advertisers can use Customer Match for the following ad types:
- Google Search
- Google Shopping
- Google Display
- Gmail
- YouTube
- * Facebook also has its own version of first party targeting called “Facebook Lookalike Audience Targeting.” Advertisers can upload a first party list and target these audiences exclusively. Advertisers can also build lookalike audiences from these lists to reach Facebook users who are similar to the customers in the uploaded file.
