Just about all major, self-serve ad platforms allow marketers to upload customer lists. These customer lists allow marketers to re-engage with past customers, show ads to newsletter subscribers, or even find new customers similar to their existing ones. Odds are, you already have a treasure trove of customer data residing in your sales reports and email subscribers.

The secret to these operations is your customer data. Many marketers have the data at hand but don’t put it to work. Learn how to utilize the data you already have on hand to improve your bottom line, acquire new customers, anticipate user needs, and elevate your marketing efforts past your competition.

Both Google Ads and Meta (Facebook & Instagram) allow marketers to upload contacts and create audiences based on these contacts. These audiences can then be used for ad targeting.

For example, your company is launching a new version of a popular product, and you believe that past purchasers might be interested in this new version.

Export a list of users who purchased the past version of your product

Upload the list to your ad platform of choice and create an audience

Select the audience as part of your ad targeting

Voila! You’re now officially ready to announce your product to past users and encourage them to explore and purchase the new version.

There are thresholds that your customer list must reach to be eligible to use for ad targeting. On Facebook, the threshold is low, customer lists must be a minimum of 100 users, but recommend a minimum of 500 users for better results.

, the threshold differs depending on the medium you would like to use. For display campaigns, the threshold is 100 active users for customer match targeting. The threshold for YouTube and paid search remarketing ads are 1,000 active users for customer match targeting.

Customer lists can also be used for attracting new potential customers whose demographics and behaviors are similar to your existing customer list.

, after uploading your customer list, you can create “Lookalike” audiences that will seek out and target users who are similar to your original list. To create a lookalike audience, Facebook’s platform leverages information such as demographics, interests, and behaviors from your source audience to find new people who share similar qualities.

Facebook recommends a minimum audience of at least 1,000 users in your customer list for the best results from Lookalike audience generation.

When creating a lookalike audience, there is a percent range to choose how closely you want your new audience to match your source audience. The size you choose depends on your goals. Smaller percentages more closely match your source audience, but larger percentages create a bigger, broader audience. VIA Studio recommends selecting a percentage between 1-5% for Lookalike audiences.

Not only can customer lists be used to target users to buy a new product, but customer lists can also be used to cross-sell additional products that complement the products they have already purchased.

For example, if you sell a high-value product and want past purchasers of it to follow up to buy a warranty, you can upload a customer list of purchasers who brought the original product and use that list to target a campaign that is focused on warranty purchases.

Additionally, if you sell companion products that go with an originally purchased product, a customer list of purchasers can be targeted to sell additional products to improve their experience with the original product. Companion products can be items like shoelaces or cleaning products offered to purchasers of sneakers, cases to protect tech devices, or even tickets to upcoming events offered to users who have attended similar events.

Using customer data in this way is a great opportunity to anticipate customer needs and even inform them of products that they might not be otherwise aware of.

Many products have a life cycle — these products wear down over the course of their usage and need to be replaced at regular intervals. Products like tires, athletic gear, or even filters for HVAC systems or water treatment are examples where end-of-product life can be an opportunity for marketers.

If you sell a product with an estimated lifespan, like brake pads, and you know they should be replaced roughly every 30K-35K miles, and you estimate that they should be replaced at least every 3 years, you can use your customer lists to target users who are due for a replacement.

Simply pull a list of customers who purchased brake pads 3+ years ago and upload them to the ad platform of your choice. Once uploaded to your marketing platform like Google or Facebook Ads, create a campaign specific to these users with a message encouraging them to replace their old brake pads.

Use this execution for any product you offer with an estimated lifespan. Many customers may not realize that it is time to replace it, and the nudge from your ads could be the catalyst for them to do so!

Customer lists have a variety of uses even beyond the examples covered in this article. Many marketers are sitting on a vast collection of customer data that can easily be used in their marketing efforts.

If you have a customer list but are not sure how it can be used for your marketing efforts, 

 today! Our strategy team would love to collaborate and find a way to put your data to work for you.

Let's figure out how your data can benefit your overall business strategy!

Marketing Strategy

Digital Marketing Optimization

Analytics

Putting Your Customer Data to Work

We are less than six months away from Google’s mandated transition to 

. Google Analytics 4 (GA4) was introduced in October 2020, but in March of last year, Google made another announcement:

“On July 1, 2023, standard Universal Analytics properties will no longer process data. You'll be able to see your Universal Analytics reports for a period of time after July 1, 2023. However, new data will only flow into Google Analytics 4 properties.”

Marketers have until the end of June 2023 to complete their migration without losing data on their website or application.

The transition isn’t as simple as opting into the upgrade and creating a new GA4 account/profile. Google Analytics 4 is an entirely new platform that tracks data in different ways, both technically and theoretically. Your transition from the previous version of Google Analytics, Universal Analytics, should be carefully considered and optimized to work within Google Analytics 4’s new methodology.

Universal Analytics profiles will stop collecting data on July 1, 2023, which means the time to upgrade to GA4 is now — and we’ve laid out all the details you need to know.

How Does GA4 Differ from Universal Analytics?

At its most basic level, Google is moving toward an event-based model and away from a session-based model.

Universal Analytics used a session-based approach to collect analytics data. Traditional session-based web analytics platforms, like Google's Universal Analytics, measure the traffic on your site and allow you to track metrics like page views, exits, and bounces. Events-based platforms, like Google Analytics 4, have the ability to track ALL user interactions on your website. When you track events, you can better understand how users are interacting with your website. 

Events were used in Universal Analytics, but they were intended to fill in the gaps of what a user did during the session.

In Google Analytics 4, using the event-based approach, there is greater visibility into the user, and their numerous potential interactions with your brand across website sessions, devices, and even platforms (e.g., website v. mobile app interactions). Additionally, with greater control of what data and activities you want to capture as events, 

you can now track a user's lifetime interaction with your brand as they naturally switch between their mobile phones and computers or your website versus your applications.

 Google Analytics 4 also has the benefit of being able to track both website and mobile application activity.

An additional benefit of Google Analytics 4 is that it recognizes that websites can be monetized in various ways. Whether you run an eCommerce website, or a subscription-based website or you are a content producer who relies on ad revenue, 

GA4 has a monetization tracking service for you

[GA4 eCommerce Monetization Report Example]

What Do I Need to Do Before Upgrading to GA4?

The first step to upgrading your website tracking to GA4 is to evaluate the role your website plays in marketing and what you want to continue tracking from your Universal Analytics account.

One of the first things to assess is the role your website plays in your business. Consider the following:

Is your website a storefront where your products can be ordered?

Focus first on your eCommerce integration and monetization reports.

Does your website fulfill a lead generation function for your business?

Optimize tracking to focus on form submissions and passing data along to your CRM or internal sales systems.

Is your website informative of your organization’s mission and service, or perhaps it provides information on your physical storefront?

Focus first on content tracking and how users find and navigate your website.

Is your website focused on generating and publishing new blog or news content?

Focus on page interactions like pageviews and scroll depth. If your website is Google Ads supported, be sure to set up the Publisher Ads report in the Monetization reports menu.

Once the role of your website is defined, it's time to start mapping the events you want to record. The specific events tracked are dependent upon your business needs, but below are some that our team regularly sets up for our clients:

 Product add-to-cart, check-out initiated, check-out completed, etc.

 Contact forms, lead gen forms, newsletter signups, etc.

Telephone numbers, email addresses, individual profiles, etc.

Social profiles, subsidiary websites, additional information, etc.

Fliers/brochures, free software, media assets, etc.

Determine how much of a blog, news story, or case study is being read.

After event tracking is documented, you’ll need to determine the priorities of your KPIs (key performance indicators). Your primary KPIs will relate to your website’s role in marketing — for an eCommerce website, your primary KPI should be transactions and revenue. Whereas the KPI for a lead generation website should likely be form submissions. Regardless of which KPI you identify as primary, make sure it is being recorded and set as a conversion in the events report or account admin.

The easiest way to upgrade to GA4 is from your existing Universal Analytics account, using the 

. From a technical standpoint, there are a variety of ways to complete your setup. To use the GA4 Setup Assistant, you need to have an Editor role for your existing Universal Analytics account. The tool can be used in tandem with an existing Universal Analytics account or with a brand-new GA4 account.

The GA4 Setup Assistant wizard offers a variety of useful features including:

Copies the property name, website URL, timezone, and currency settings from Universal Analytics property.

Creates a connection between Universal Analytics and GA4 properties

Sets the GA4 property to receive data from the existing Google tag, if users choose to reuse an existing site tag.

NOTE: The GA4 Setup Assistant wizard does not backfill your new GA4 property with historical data. Your GA4 property only collects data going forward. To see historical data, use the reports in your Universal Analytics property.

If you use Google Analytics, it is critical that you complete the upgrade to GA4 prior to the July 1st cutoff date. Avoiding reporting gaps will help ensure you are able to stay up-to-date on the performance of your digital marketing efforts.

If you or your team don’t have the capacity to manage this upgrade process, your digital transformation partners at VIA Studio are here to help!

We’ve already transitioned numerous clients to the new GA4 platform — and have experience in a variety of implementation methods, including CMS/plugin implementations, Google Tag Manager implementations, and more.

 is equipped to audit your current tracking setup, provide optimizations/recommendations, and handle the upgrade on your behalf. Reach out to us with your Google Analytics 4 needs through our 

Stay tuned for the next blog in our Google Analytics 4 series by 

Process

Now is the Time to Upgrade to Google Analytics 4

Marketing Campaigns

Louisville Silent Disco Digital Marketing

Advertising

Reporting & Analysis

Jack O'Lantern Spectacular + Winter Woods Spectacular

Is your digital marketing eating your budget, but not providing value? Do you even know what value it should be providing? We can help. With a fractured and intensely sophisticated landscape, it can be overwhelming. We can help you determine the return-on-investment (ROI) and value of your marketing, and help you get this critical marketing engine humming once again.

Digital Marketing Optimization

Digital Marketing Optimization: Case Studies

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Louisville Silent Disco Digital Marketing

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Jack O'Lantern Spectacular + Winter Woods Spectacular

Digital Marketing Optimization: Blog Posts

Putting Your Customer Data to Work

Now is the Time to Upgrade to Google Analytics 4