A common misconception among brands is that customer retention primarily stems from their brand campaigns. However, data consistently shows a different story. Non-brand campaigns—especially shopping and category-specific campaigns—drive a significant portion of returning customers.
For instance, in a recent seven-day period, one of my clients saw:
- Non-brand shopping campaigns: 2,000 new customers and 2,500 returning customers
- Brand campaigns: 333 new customers and 751 returning customers
While the brand campaign exhibited a higher ratio of returning to new customers, the non-brand campaign delivered higher absolute volumes of both new and returning customers.
Why This Matters
Customers often don’t exhibit long-term loyalty to specific brands. Instead, they remain loyal to their immediate needs. In today’s instant-gratification era, users are less likely to return directly to a brand when searching for complementary or subsequent products—they simply Google what they need. By allocating more budget toward non-brand campaigns, brands can capture both new and returning customers who are already familiar with them but searching with generic intent.
The Playbook for Retaining Customers Without Overinvesting in Brand
- Analyze returning transactions in non-brand campaigns: Monitor the number of repeat buyers coming from non-brand search terms. This metric often goes overlooked but can be a goldmine for understanding how non-brand campaigns contribute to retention.
- Scale non-brand ad spend strategically: Instead of focusing solely on increasing brand ad spend, allocate budget toward high-performing non-brand campaigns, especially during periods of high search activity (e.g., seasonal peaks).
- Leverage broad categories and large SKU counts: This strategy works particularly well for brands offering diverse product categories and large SKU catalogs. Brands with 4-5 product categories are ideal candidates for this approach.
Hyper-Segmentation: Breaking Down Standard Shopping Campaigns
Scaling e-commerce brands requires more than simply increasing budgets. Hyper-segmentation—creating single-product ad (SPA) campaigns for top-performing SKUs—has proven to be a powerful method for driving consistent results.
Step-by-Step Approach:
- Start with a broad campaign: Launch a standard shopping campaign that includes all SKUs from a specific manufacturer or category.
- Identify high-performing SKUs: Use Pareto’s principle (80/20 rule) to determine the top 20% of SKUs driving 80% of sales.
- Create individual campaigns for top SKUs: Allocate a dedicated budget to each high-performing SKU by launching single-product ad campaigns.
- Set safe daily budgets: Ensure each individual campaign has a manageable daily budget (e.g., $50-$100) to limit downside risk.
By applying this strategy for a luggage brand:
- Sales growth: From $30K to $70K in a single month
- Improved ROAS: Maintaining high return on ad spend while scaling up individual campaigns
Key Benefits of Hyper-Segmentation
- Low-risk scaling: Small daily budgets reduce the risk of overspending while maximizing the return on high-converting products.
- Multiple placements for the same search term: By running several campaigns targeting the same search term but with different SKUs, the brand dominates the search engine results page (SERP), outcompeting even major retailers.
Broad Targeting with a Higher Gate: Scaling High-Ticket Lead Gen
For lead generation in high-ticket industries, using broad-match keywords combined with a high-barrier lead form can yield outstanding results. Here’s how it worked for a metal building company with an average order value (AOV) of $250K.
I ran a Google Ads campaign using only two broad-match keywords: steel building and metal building.
How It Works:
- Despite the broad nature of the keywords, Google’s advanced machine learning algorithm identified in-market buyers by analyzing search behavior and intent signals.
- The key to success was a high-barrier lead form that required users to fill out detailed information, including dimensions, location, and intended use of the building.
Results:
- High-quality leads: The detailed form acted as a gatekeeper, ensuring only serious prospects completed the form.
- Low cost per lead: Even with a $70 cost per lead, the high conversion rate and AOV yielded a consistent 3,000% ROAS.
Automating Lead Follow-Up
To ensure no lead was wasted, I implemented an automated workflow in HubSpot. This workflow:
- Rotates leads among the sales team
- Sends instant notifications to management if leads aren’t contacted within a specific timeframe
- Triggers follow-up emails and text messages to prospects
This end-to-end system ensured that high-quality leads were nurtured effectively, resulting in a seamless handoff from marketing to sales.
Takeaways for Advanced Media Buyers
- Customer retention starts with non-brand campaigns: Don’t over-rely on brand campaigns for repeat business. Instead, scale high-performing non-brand campaigns to capture both new and returning customers.
- Use hyper-segmentation for e-commerce scaling: Break down large shopping campaigns into individual SKUs with dedicated budgets to reduce risk and increase ROAS.
- Broad targeting can work for high-ticket lead gen—if you have a strong gate: Combine broad-match keywords with a detailed lead form to pre-qualify prospects and ensure high-quality leads.
- Automate lead follow-up: Use CRM workflows to manage and nurture leads, ensuring timely follow-up and maximizing sales team efficiency.
By applying these advanced Google Ads strategies, media buyers and e-commerce brands can achieve scalable, sustainable growth in both lead generation and online sales. Whether you’re managing thousands of SKUs or selling high-ticket products, the right mix of targeting, segmentation, and automation can make all the difference.
Want to see real-time campaign data and results? Visit my YouTube channel for video breakdowns and detailed case studies.