E-commerce Advertisers Adjust Google, Meta Ad Strategies for Q4

Image credit: Search Engine Journal

E-commerce advertisers globally are restructuring their Google and Meta ad accounts ahead of the fourth quarter, prioritizing full-funnel coverage and new customer acquisition after recent platform changes.

The strategic adjustments are essential to counteract the tendency of automated campaigns to over-allocate budgets to bottom-funnel conversions, potentially neglecting broader brand awareness and the acquisition of new buyers, according to industry reports.

Meta recently removed its ‘Existing Customer Budget Cap’ from Advantage+ Shopping campaigns, compelling advertisers to manually implement controls for comprehensive full-funnel management.

To replicate Meta’s former existing customer cap, advertisers can create manual sales campaigns or utilize two distinct ad sets, one targeting existing customers and another specifically for new customers with appropriate exclusions and spending limits.

On Google, the ‘new customer acquisition goal’ allows advertisers to bid higher for new customers or exclusively target them, yet this feature often remains underutilized or is configured sub-optimally, experts said.

Effective implementation of Google’s new customer acquisition goal requires providing a Customer Match list of actual buyers, as relying solely on conversion history can yield incomplete results.

Analysts emphasized that configuring these structural changes now is important for maximizing impact during the fourth quarter, which includes major shopping events like Black Friday on November 27.

Both Google and Meta automated campaign types, such as Performance Max and Advantage+, tend to concentrate advertising spend on lower-cost, bottom-funnel conversions, which can inadvertently limit investment in top-funnel awareness initiatives.

The strategic shift aims to ensure a balanced approach, driving both immediate sales and sustainable growth through the expansion of customer bases.

Source: Search Engine Journal