Matchmaking with Google Customer Match
By Jarrod Adams
“Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match, find me a find, catch me a catch.” – Fiddler on the Roof
Like the lyrics from the 1971 musical suggest, finding the right match can be daunting, and oftentimes we need to lean on a matchmaker to help us identify the perfect fit. Google assumed the role of matchmaker in 2015 by offering Customer Match, a service that lets advertisers use their online and offline data to reach and re-engage with customers across Search, the Shopping tab, Gmail, YouTube, and Display.
Google recently updated their eligibility requirements on Customer Match, removing the $50,000 lifetime spend. This now allows most accounts to tap into this 1st party data targeting capability. This comes at a time when 1st party data is extremely valuable due to Google’s eventual removal of third-party cookies. Plus, advertisers no longer have to wait on Google for their match rates, with new Instant Match Rate capability.
With Google opening up their access to Customer Match it begs the question, is this something you should add to your digital strategy?
What is Customer Match?
Customer match allows businesses to upload their own 1st party data (email, phone, first name, last name, country, zip) into Audience Manager for targeting purposes. Google will then use this list to match customers with Google accounts. This type of targeting allows businesses to reach and re-engage their customers across Google’s suite of platforms including Search, Shopping, Gmail, YouTube, & Display.
Match Rate Updates
Google will now show advertisers the estimated match rate at the time of upload via their new Instant Match Rate capability. Previously, advertisers had to wait for the list to populate, which could take a day or so. This availability now allows advertisers to anticipate performance and troubleshoot their list if things seem to be inaccurate.
Google also removed the $50k lifetime spend requirement for accounts to be eligible. Considering most advertisers that use Google Ads don’t have million-dollar ad budgets, this will now allow SMBs to take advantage of this targeting option. Accounts still need to have a good compliance & payment history and at least 90 days of history.
What does this mean?
If you’re a business owner, manager, C-suite executive and you or your team is not currently collecting data from your clients or customers, start now. Customer match is one targeting tactic that could help soften the blow to your market efforts when Google removes third-party cookies from its Chrome Browser.