Every person has a unique digital experience when looking to purchase a product, or when seeking out a service. It is often overlooked how valuable existing customer databases are for marketers to leverage, and how those databases can aid in targeting new/existing customers across multiple channels.
Email marketing is a cost-effective solution allowing you to reach customers daily, resulting in a profitable opportunity to engage with your enthusiastic customers. Coordinating messaging across channels allows you to easily reach customers in multiple places. With so many channels available to consumers, it’s important to evaluate how these channels can work together and maximize ROI. To bridge the gap of opportunity between Facebook advertising and existing email marketing, you can leverage Facebook custom audiences and ultimately garner key conversions on your website.
According to this case study released by Salesforce Marketing Cloud and Facebook Marketing Science, Salesforce observed a campaign of a US online outdoor equipment and apparel company to understand what would happen if this advertiser utilized their customer data to coordinate across email and Facebook News Feed ads.
Here is what they found:
- The online retailer targeted 565,000 of their existing email subscriber list with email and Facebook marketing. Using Facebook offline conversion measurement to measure the in-store impact of the Facebook campaign the study analyzed anonymized email subscriber data, engagement data, ad impressions and transaction data to create three exposure segments:
- 18% only opened email
- 27% only saw Facebook News Feed Ads
- 16% opened emails AND were exposed to Facebook News Feed ads
- Consumers are regularly swapping between multiple devices throughout their day, making it important for marketers to not only activate campaigns across channels, but also their marketing messages.
- In this case study, the advertiser’s most valuable customers were those who both opened the email and saw the News Feed ads as they were being reached by multiple channels.
- Based on business objectives, marketers can activate their customer data to create a customer list they care about. In this case, this advertiser used the list to talk to their existing best customers with News Feed ads, extending the email campaign reach by 77%.
Consider this: since your email subscribers have already expressed interest in your product or service, this makes them an ideal audience compared to those who have not interacted with you or expressed any interests related to your businesses. Facebook offers marketers the opportunity to re-engage current customers and prospects as well.
In addition to targeting your existing customers through email lists, you can use this information to your advantage with Facebook advertising capabilities and build upon the data from your customer database/email subscribers. Your targeting opportunities are expansive when it comes to Facebook. You can create a similar audience to target based on your current customers, prospects, Facebook fans, and website visitors. This audience is known as your “lookalike” audience because it’s similar to your current customers and/or prospects.
With Facebook advertising, you can build a re-targeting lists by placing a Facebook pixel on your website. When someone visits your website, they may not always complete an action (like downloading a coupon, or giving you their contact information). Your Facebook pixel will allow you to target visitors at a different time through Facebook News Feed ads, for example.
Ultimately, custom Facebook audiences allow you to:
- Bring website visitors back to your website
- Find new people who are similar to your website visitors
- Get more value from new customer acquisition campaigns by excluding existing customers
Check out our Restaurant Facebook Advertising guide for more helpful information, Download the eBook here.
Are you taking advantage of custom audiences and Facebook pixels? Are you reaching your customers on multiple channels?
Lili is a Freelance Writer/Digital Marketing Specialist based in Denver. She has a bachelor’s degree in journalism with a minor in English. She enjoys reading, traveling around the world, and outdoor adventures in beautiful Colorado.