We aim to target the right users when promoting our business or products. Say you sell walkers for the elderly – you don’t want to waste your marketing efforts and budget on advertising said walkers to teenagers and kids online.
Thanks to digital marketing advances, the ads we see on social media are mostly customized and match our preferences, tastes, and previous searches. For instance, Facebook ad targeting has become very precise. However, sometimes we still encounter promotions that have nothing to do with us – and that’s annoying.
As marketers and business owners, we can avoid this problem by creating custom audiences and selling our products to people interested in them. Read on to find out how.
What are custom audiences?
Custom audiences are the result of an action performed by a user. These are audiences or groups of users that meet specific criteria outside the platform that shows the ads.
The data can be retrieved from:
- A customer file: generated by email list, phone number, or users.
- In-app engagement: if a brand has a mobile app and has the tracking SDK integrated, you can create a personalized audience of users who download, open, and use the app. If the goal is to build loyalty among users, you can target this audience to promote a special action in the app.
- Facebook or Instagram page interaction: This option works with users who have interacted with videos, Lead Ads forms, events, canvas, Facebook or Instagram posts, etc. Facebook offers more and more interaction options.
Here is an example of using a Custom Audience for interaction: say you upload a video and interested users watch it. If you plan to upload a second related video with a different CTA, you might want to target the same users. Since you already know they are curious about the content, they can become your video custom audience.
- Website traffic: this fourth option allows you to generate audiences of users who visit the brand’s website, provided that the Facebook pixel has been implemented.
By integrating the different events of the pixel (e.g., view product, add to cart, purchase, registration, etc.), you can perform advanced combinations of various parameters (including time range and the number of times each action has been completed) and generate audiences with great potential.
Here are some examples of possible combinations:
- If you offer free shipping to users that added products to the cart but didn’t complete the purchase, maybe they will go through it.
- Users who have visited the website five times in the last week are very likely to convert if impacted by a campaign, given the interest shown in their actions.
In the same way that we can segment people who have visited the website in the last month, we can reach those who have not visited recently. We can target them with ad hoc campaigns and bring them back to the brand.
You see, the custom audience options are endless. Attracting customers was never as easy. But why is it important to build custom audiences? Because it will enhance customers’ experience and customer engagement thanks to personalization. Meanwhile, this will improve your eCommerce growth.
Like what you're reading?
Join the informed eCommerce crowd!
We will never bug you with irrelevant info.
By clicking the Button, you confirm that you agree with our Terms and Conditions.
How to build eCommerce custom audiences?
You may use Custom Audiences to create and target lookalike audiences, that is, people similar to those already familiar with or engaged with your business.
Lookalike audiences are ideal for developing your business and attracting new clients like your valuable repeat customers. Focus on quality rather than quantity; you might want to avoid including all your clients in this list.
There are lots of different data that allows building a custom audience in Facebook, such as:
- Customer files
- Website traffic
- App activity
- Offline activity
- Lead form
- Videos
- Events
- Instant experience
- Facebook Page
- App activity
- Engagement on Facebook.
However, the best approach to create these audiences is leveraging your eCommerce business’s most valuable resource: customer data and files. The most effective tailored audiences are those based on client behavior. You’ll be more likely to reach Facebook audiences with the right Facebook ad at the right time if you take this method.
Although Facebook allows you to create several types of custom audiences, the downside is that you must repeat the procedure for each campaign. The good news is that you can automate this process with tools like Omniconvert REVEAL, which has a feature dedicated to creating and automating custom audiences.
Thanks to customer segmentation, creating custom audiences is now easier than it ever was. Facebook Custom Audiences enables you to target specific client categories with highly tailored messages that make them feel like the advertising is both relevant and helpful – an ad that doesn’t feel like one. Why would you waste money on ads that target people who aren’t interested in buying your product or service?
Customer segmentation is an evergreen marketing tactic. According to the Direct Marketing Association, segmented, targeted, and triggered programs account for 77% ROI.
> Discover a new way to create the best custom audiences for Facebook Ads based on your most valuable resource: your customer data.
Best eCommerce custom audiences from customer segmentation
What custom audiences any eCommerce should build?
We have already established that segmenting your audience and customizing your ads to each segment is a good marketing strategy. But what are the most important segments that any eCommerce should build? Here are some of the best eCommerce audiences:
1. Potential customers
This segment comprises email subscribers or leads who haven’t purchased something from your store. The goal, of course, is to convert these potential clients into paying customers.
Approximately 83.25% of your emails go unopened. Facebook Custom Audience campaigns will assist you in filling in the blanks.
To create this segment, keep in mind the following customers:
- New subscribers. They just joined your sales funnel. Who knows what they can and will buy?
- Engaged subscribers. Those who open emails, who follow CTA, and so on.
- Non-engaged subscribers. They stopped interacting with your brand, but maybe you can revive their interest in your product.
2. One-Time buyers
Customers who have only made one purchase fit in this category. Your goal here is to increase Customer Lifetime Value, as you’ve already gained their confidence.
To create this segment, retrieve customer lists with a single transaction count. Filter transactions from the last 180 days (or other relevant periods depending on your business).
3. First-time buyers
This group consists of folks who have just made their first purchase. Your goal is to keep them coming back to your brand. Raise your customer retention rate, and you can increase your company’s profitability from 25% to 95%.
Get a list of customers with one or more transactions. Filter transactions from the previous 30 days.
4. Repeat customers
Customers who have placed at least two orders from your store are in this group.
These clients have placed enough faith in your brand to make multiple purchases. You’ve done enough to earn their confidence and loyalty if they have made more than one transaction. It’s critical to reflect in your advertisements. Don’t entice them with a promotion like “20 percent discount for new clients only.”
Retrieve a list of customers with two or more transactions. Filter for transactions that occurred during the last 180 days.
5. Lapsed customers
Customers who haven’t purchased from you in the last six months, or another relevant period, are in this group. They stopped buying for some reason, and you must treat them as a lapsed customer.
It’s your mission to awaken these dormant consumers. Get a list of customers with one or more transactions. Then, filter transactions that occurred 180 days or more ago.
6. Valuable customers
This group comprises clients who have spent disproportionately more money with your firm than other customers. They either bought a lot of merchandise or expensive items or did both.
Your goal is to cross-sell and upsell products relevant to your customers. Remember that these are your most valuable clients.
Divide your customers into three groups:
- Total amount spent;
- The number of transactions;
- The worth of your order.
Take the top 20% of clients from each group to integrate efficiency into the segment’s targeting.
Now, keep in mind that each client segment has its own set of goals, behaviors, and expectations. You already have a lot of information at your disposal to become an effective ad manager. The difficult part is strategically using that data to construct segments around your Customer’s Journey.
The quickest method to get started on the right foot in this channel with positive ROI is to launch highly segmented campaigns with relevant offers and messages.
> Learn how to tailor different campaigns for each of your RFM segments.
Facebook Custom Audiences vs. Google Custom audiences. What are the differences?
We have already discussed Facebook custom audiences. It draws on various data sources, including client files, website traffic, app activity, and engagement with Facebook, which allows advertisers to generate a targeted audience for their products. But how do Google’s work?
Well, Google Customer Match is part of Google Ads. It approaches users who have previously connected with your business using email addresses from your customer database. To use Google Client Match, simply segment your database by customer type: new customer, old customer, regular buyer, etc.
They look similar, don’t they? Let’s review the differences between them.
- Purchase intent. Unlike Facebook, Google only contacts users when actively using the search engine to look for information or a specific product. On the other hand, the social network has a reduced impact on conversions because it only shows adverts to internet users who have expressed a desire to buy.
- The targeting system. Although Facebook is further along in the purchasing process than Google, the social media platform offers a much larger targeting system. To date, both players include capabilities such as localized targeting, targeting by device type, and targeting by location. While Google concentrates on active keyword targeting, Facebook uses the data it collects on its social network to enable more user-oriented targeting (interests, behaviors, etc.).
Our goal is to provide customized, user-oriented advertising, so building effective custom audiences is crucial.
Custom audience builder software
What software can you use to create the custom audiences?
As mentioned above, software like Omniconvert REVEAL helps you automate the process and achieve business goals. Some reputable brands like Decathlon or Heineken use REVEAL to achieve better marketing results and customer experience. When customers are satisfied and receive ads and content relevant to them, they return.
The Dynamic Audience Builder feature uses automated RFM segmentation to identify your most important consumers, treat them right and find more new customers like them.
You can accelerate new consumers’ next purchase and encourage them to buy again. REVEAL simplifies complex eCommerce data, creates insights, and helps you serve customers differently across all channels. It also allows finding which products generate more loyalty and which ones turn your customers away from your brand.
With all this information, not only can you customize campaigns according to each client segment, but you can also improve the products you sell and your overall business reputation.
Frequently asked questions about best eCommerce audiences
Who is the target audience for eCommerce?
A target audience, sometimes known as a “target market,” is a set of people who are most likely to be interested in what you’re selling. These people are perfectly attuned to your business. They seek to buy because they have an issue that your service or product solves.
What are the best channels to reach your target audience?
Facebook and Google are some of the top channels to reach your target audience and sell your products. Facebook’s custom audience allows your company to create customized, user-orientated advertising, while Google reaches more people with less personalized ads.
How do you develop an eCommerce audience?
The best approach to creating these audiences is leveraging your eCommerce business’s most valuable resource: customer data and files. You can create segments depending on your customers’ behavior, such as new customers, lapsed customers, first-time buyers, and so on. After making these segments, you can customize the ads they see to motivate them to purchase.
What is an example of custom audience?
A custom audience is a group of people that a business targets with its advertising based on certain criteria, such as their past interactions with the business or their demographics. An example of a custom audience would be a clothing retailer creating a custom audience of people who have previously purchased items from their online store.
