Google Ads retention goals leave beta with three customer modes

Google said on 22 October that three updates to its customer lifecycle goals are rolling out this month. Retention goals have left beta and now run in Performance Max, Search and Shopping campaigns. Advertisers can use them to chase lapsed buyers, loyalty members or only the customer groups they name.

Google Ads splits retention into three modes

Retention goals tell Smart Bidding, Google’s automated bidding, how to treat people who have bought before. Re-engagement mode gives more weight to customers who have not ordered for a while. The campaign still shows ads to its main audience.

Loyalty mode targets members of a loyalty programme. A shop can offer them member-only prices or a separate message. Retention only mode runs a campaign that reaches just the customer segments the advertiser picks.

Google gave no results from the betas. A user screenshot published by Search Engine Roundtable shows three segment types: existing, high-value and lapsed customers. A note in the setting warns that ads may still reach other people because of privacy limits.

High value mode moves into Shopping campaigns

The second update is about first-time buyers. New customer high value mode asks a campaign to bid harder for new customers who are likely to spend more, while keeping its usual reach. Google first offered it in Search and Performance Max. Shopping campaigns get it this month.

Percentage multipliers replace flat bid boosts

The third change also leaves beta. Until now, advertisers could add a flat amount to the value of a customer type. A percentage multiplier grows with the basket instead. In Google’s announcement, a jewellery shop sets a 20% boost, or 1.2x. Its bids then rise in the same proportion for a $50 basket and a $500 basket.

Multipliers work in Search, Shopping, Performance Max and Demand Gen, both in Google Ads and in Search Ads 360. They follow other changes to Google’s bidding this autumn. Google’s August bidding change lifted CPCs for some budget-limited accounts, and Google is moving Dynamic Search Ads into AI Max.

Google’s rollout runs to the end of October

All three features are due in accounts by 31 October, before the holiday peak. The announcement sits on Google’s US business site and names no other markets. Advertisers outside the US can check the customer acquisition and retention settings in their bidding options to see when the new modes arrive.