What is Google Customer Match and how does it work with Custobar?

Google Customer Match lets you target Google advertising to customers based on the customer data collected in your Custobar customer database.

You can use cross-device and omnichannel customer data, for example, sales data from your webstore and brick and mortar store, to target ads on Search, Shopping, Gmail, YouTube, and Google Display Network. In addition to your current customers, you can also target audiences similar to the ones you already have by using Google similar audiences feature.

Examples of use cases

There are multiple ways you can use Google Customer Match. Here are a few examples of how you can utilize the feature when it's integrated into your customer database:

• Removing customers from the retargeting who have recently made a purchase. This integration removes customers from retargeting even if they have been using another device for shopping or purchased in a physical store.
• Using customer data from all channels to create Google audiences. For example, a list of loyalty customer updates automatically to Google Ads audience when new customers are added to it.
• Using Google Ads to activate those customers who don’t react to your channels like email and SMS. On the other hand, you can de-activate Google Ads marketing from those customers who are actively engaging with your emails to optimise your advertising budget.
• Targeting those customers who don't’ want to receive email marketing.
• Finding similar audiences based on your best customers or similar segments based on purchase behaviour. You can, for example, use Custobar Lifetime value calculation or RFM matrix to identify your VIP customers, make an audience of them, and then target ads to them and similar audiences on different Google channels.
• Targeting customers in different parts of their buying cycle.
• Targeting older customers - Google conversion pixel only stores data for 180 days, but with the Google Audience Match integration, you can also target older customers.

The benefits

Connecting the Google Customer Match feature to your customer database (e.g. CRM or CDP) enables you to do even smarter and more efficient marketing campaigns. Google Customer Match campaigns will have a better conversion rate because the ads are better targeted to smaller audiences, including your customers and prospects similar to them. The return on marketing investment (ROI) will be higher as targeting based on data will bring more conversions and lower the marketing costs.

You will also no longer irritate your customers by retargeting them products they have already purchased. Nothing’s more unpleasant as a consumer than seeing a huge discount on the product you just bought for full price. By integrating Google Customer Match to your customer data platform, you can combine the sales data from your brick and mortar stores and online shops and the data can be automatically updated in the Google Ads audiences. Even if you have been limiting your retargeting campaigns using Google conversion pixel, it doesn’t take into account purchases from different channels like a mobile phone or a physical store, whereas Custobar Google Ads matching feature can do that.

As Customer Match allows you to target customers who are not willing to get SMSes or emails, this gives you a new medium to reach customers whose information you have in your customer data platform. Existing customers are also more likely to convert than new ones.

If you have already been using the Customer Match before, this integration is a safe and GDPR proof way to do it. No more manual file import-export. Also, Custobar API integration sends the email and phone numbers in a securely hashed format to Google.

How Scandinavian Outdoor does it

Here’s how our customer, the Finnish retail and online store chain Scandinavian Outdoor is using the Google Customer Match integration during their sales campaign, the Outdoor-Days.

When a customer makes a purchase either online or in a physical store, the information is first recorded in Custobar. Second, it automatically updates another audience in Google Ads, which removes the customer from the remarketing audience. This way, customers will not be haunted by pictures of products they already possess.

Here's an example of Scandinavian Outdoor's dynamic retargeting ad. It shows products a customer has browsed on the website but not bought.

Scandinavian Outdoor uses Custobar's Google Customer Match integration also when marketing to their loyal customers, the Life Outdoor's club. During the Outdoor-Days sales campaign, they target a video ad to their club members on Youtube. The video ad is particularly crucial for reaching loyal customers who don't want to receive email or SMS marketing.

If you have any questions or you would like to try the integration, please contact us at support@custobar.com