Customer lifecycle goals help you prioritize specific customer segments in Performance Max, Search, and Shopping campaigns. Learn more About customer lifecycle goals.
Depending on the lifecycle goal and bid mode you use, there are different ways to enable Google to detect which customers are in your desired segments. The different approaches can be used in combination with one another. Note that Google auto-detection will always be used by default in the New Customer Acquisition goal.
On this page
- New customers detected by Google
- New customers from an uploaded audience list
- New customers from a conversion tracking tag
- Conversions from existing customers
Customer segment detection by lifecycle goal and bid mode
| Lifecycle goal | Mode |
Customer segment reached / prioritized |
Customer list type | Customer lists options |
|
New Customer Acquisition |
New Customer Value Mode |
New customers | Existing customers |
Options:
|
|
High Value New Customer Mode (Beta) |
High value new customers | High value existing customers |
Options:
You can only upload lists via the methods above to identify customers in this segment. Autodetection and Tag-based Remarketing Lists and other Customer Match options are not compatible with this mode. |
|
| New Customer Only Mode | New customers | Existing customers |
Options:
|
|
| Customer retention | Win-Back Mode (Beta) | Lapsed customers | Lapsed customers |
Options:
You can only upload lists via the methods above to identify customers in this segment. Autodetection and Tag-based Remarketing Lists and other Customer Match options are not compatible with this mode. |
| High Value Win-Back Mode (Beta) | High value lapsed customers | High value existing customers* |
Options:
You can only upload lists via the methods above to identify customers in this segment. Autodetection and Tag-based Remarketing Lists and other Customer Match options are not compatible with this mode. |
**High Value Win-Back Mode and High Value New Customer Mode both use the same customer list, i.e. ‘High value existing customers’. As a result, if you’ve already set up one of these modes, your ‘High value existing customers’ list will be automatically applied to the other mode as well, once enabled. This is because both modes rely on a list of high-value existing customers to reach the desired customer segment, although the list is used differently in each mode. In High Value New Customer Mode we use your high-value existing customer list to predict which new customers are likely to be high-value, whereas in High Value Win-Back Mode we use your high-value existing customer list, in combination with your ‘Lapsed customers’ list, to understand which lapsed customers are high value.
Google autodetection
This is automatically used when you select the new customer acquisition goal. If your Google Ads conversion tracking is set to track purchases, Google can automatically create an audience list based on up to the last 540 days of campaign activity and tracked purchases. This is the easiest method to distinguish new customers from existing customers but is less comprehensive because users can remove cookies and opt out.
Customers from an audience list
You can also designate audience lists via Customer Match (CRM and CDP connectors through Google Ads Data Manager, Conversion Based Customer Lists, GA4 Audiences and/or Direct Upload) or by using tag-based remarketing lists, if applicable. This allows you to define customer segmentation based on up-to-date information that has been audited by you. Follow the steps below to assign your audience lists to your lifecycle goals:
After you’ve created your audience list, follow the steps below to select your list.
- In your Google Ads account, click the Goals icon
.
- Click the Conversions drop down in the section menu.
- Click Summary.
- In the left "Conversions Summary" menu, click Edit in the "Customer acquisition" section or 'Customer retention' section.
- You’ll find your available audience lists you’ve uploaded in the “Existing customers definition” or 'Lapsed customers' box, or you can search for your audience list by typing the list name in the search field and selecting the box beside the correct list.
- Select up to 5 audience lists.
- Click Apply.
How customer segment is defined in reporting
Refer to measuring your lifecycle goals campaigns to learn more about how customer segmentation is defined in your reporting.
