How to tailor your ads to reach customers at every stage of their purchase journey

Why should I tailor my ads for different buying stages?

Online shoppers encounter thousands of messages every day. Ads that feature clear benefits and the appropriate keywords are good, but those that show why a product is right for that customer are even better. Ads that are relevant to their needs and tastes are more likely to cut through and potentially prompt them to act.

Understanding where potential customers are in their purchase journey allows you to tailor ads that resonate with their current needs. For instance, someone in the research phase might be drawn to an ad emphasising the unique benefits or features of your product. However, as they move closer to making a purchase, their priorities shift. At this stage, ads showcasing special offers, discounts, or limited-time promotions can be the final nudge they need to complete a transaction.

By tailoring your ads to different stages of the customer journey, you can increase the relevance and effectiveness of your campaigns, ultimately driving more conversions and sales.

How can I tailor my ads to drive conversions?

Different types of content appeal to shoppers at different stages of the buying process. Are they seeking inspiration and ideas, or are they actively comparing products and prices? Google Ads and Google Analytics provide powerful tools to understand your audience and their behaviour. By analysing user data, you can determine which types of content resonate most with your target audience at each stage of their journey.

1. Reaching new customers at the start of their journey

Reaching new customers who have never visited your website before starts with a robust keyword strategy that aligns with the search terms your target audience uses. Carefully selecting relevant keywords will make it more likely that your ads will appear when users search for products or services related to your business. This approach helps you reach a broad audience and introduce them to your brand.

For these new users, focus on creating brand awareness and establishing your value proposition. Your ads should answer the question, “Why should I choose this product or service?” Highlight the unique benefits, features, or qualities that set you apart from competitors. Craft compelling ad copy that speaks directly to their needs and interests, piquing their curiosity and encouraging them to visit your website.

By focusing on building brand awareness and showcasing your value proposition, you can effectively engage new customers and prompt them to learn more about your product.

2. Nurturing interest on your website

Tailored ads can help bring more potential customers to your site, but they won’t stay long if they don’t find what they’re looking for. For a successful online ad campaign, you need to tailor your landing pages — the page your ad links to — as well as the ads themselves.

It can be tempting to link to your homepage so potential customers have the widest choice of places to browse. However, visitors may leave a website if they have to hunt for the product mentioned in your ad.

To minimise the risk of prospective customers leaving before they buy, an ad for a specific product or service should lead to a specific webpage. For instance, if a sporting goods store in Bristol shows an ad focusing on hockey, the landing page URL should take the user directly to the hockey goods page on the store’s website.

3. Re-engaging customers and building loyalty

Not every user who clicks through makes a purchase the first time they visit. When a prospective customer lands on your website, Google Analytics collects useful information about them in accordance with their privacy preferences, such as the pages they viewed and which products they added to their basket.

This is a powerful indicator of which items they were most interested in. Once users have spent time on your website, you might be able to entice them to return.

Remarketing is a method of showing highly relevant ads to past website visitors to encourage them to return and complete a purchase. For example, imagine a potential customer visited a formal wear shop’s website to browse wedding dresses. Later, while browsing online, they might encounter ads from that same shop featuring the dresses they viewed, perhaps even offering a special promotion to incentivise them to return and complete the purchase.

By strategically using remarketing, businesses can re-engage potential customers who have already expressed interest in their products or services. This not only increases brand recall but also significantly improves the chances of converting those initial visitors into paying customers.

What kind of information should I include in my ads?

The more you know about potential customers, the more tailored you can make your ad content. Initially, when you have limited information about your audience, you’ll need to create ads based on general assumptions about their interests. As more people visit your site, Google Analytics gathers more data about them, in accordance with user privacy preferences and relevant regulations.

You can begin to use data, such as which pages people have visited and how long they have spent on them, to understand how strong their interest is.

Use this information to tailor the content shown in your ads. For example, a financial advice site where previous visitors have spent a long time browsing ISA pages could create ads with the copy “Looking for a tax-free investment?” or “Confused about savings accounts?”. This would appeal to potential customers seeking relevant products.

How do I know if my tailored ads are working?

It’s important to track and measure the impact of every ad campaign. This is especially true when ads are tailored for different products, services, or types of potential customers.

To determine which ad elements resonate most with your audience, experiment with different options using A/B testing.

For example, someone marketing a furniture store may see visitors abandoning their basket at checkout. To find out why, they could run two ads to test a theory that it’s a delivery issue. One ad might offer free delivery, while the other promotes next-day delivery. If the next-day delivery ad generates the most clicks, it may be worth promoting this speedy service in future ads. To encourage more people to purchase, the company could also feature this option prominently on its website.

Generic ads may reach a lot of people, but they are much less effective than ads with tailored content that make it clear how your business can meet consumers’ needs. To make the most efficient use of your ad budget and have the best chance of turning browsers into buyers, use Google Ads’ tools and products to take a more detailed approach.