Google announced new Pmax goals for new customers at Google Marketing Live, aiming to create distinct user journeys for new and existing customers. This includes promotions for new customers and special prices for loyalty program members. They are also testing individual assets for new customers.
About Pmax Customer Lifecycle Goals
Advertisers can now leverage "Pmax Customer Lifecycle Goals" to acquire and retain shoppers through personalized and engaging ads. This update, discussed at the GML 2024 Pmax Session, allows:
- "First Order Promotions NCA": Highlight direct discounts to new users, reducing initial buying hesitation.
- "Member Price Retention Goal": Offer exclusive benefits like price reductions to loyalty program members.
Using "Customer Match Lists" will reduce the new vs existing customer error rate in Google Ads.
Key points
Key points from a roundtable in Dublin with the product lead for customer cycles:
"Unknowns in Customer Tags": Many unknowns in setting up new vs. existing customer tags are due to unconsented users and iOS users. For iOS, Google shifts Gclid to GBraid and WBraid, which only refer to campaign-related data. Unknowns are treated as existing customers in the algorithm, and Google is testing if they can model out the unknowns.
"Importance of Tags": The new and existing customer variables in tags mainly train the algorithm to verify Google's prediction about customer status. The determination happens when a user enters the auction. First-party existing customer lists and enhanced conversion are crucial signals for determining customer status.
"Conversion Actions": It is practical to use two different conversion actions for new and existing customers and update the value from the API. The customer match list remains the most important.
Last Advice
Customer match is becoming increasingly important. As Google is launching "1st order price" and "member price" features, which can be utilized only if Google knows your customers, you should use "automated customer lists" to take full advantage of these tools.
