Google Announces Email Address Targeting With 'Customer Match'

Google is now going to let advertisers target people whose email addresses they have and others who are similar to those people. This is Customer Match, which Google is announcing at Advertising Week’s Times Center Stage on Monday. It lets advertisers target users of Google Search, YouTube, and Gmail.

To use Customer Match, advertisers upload a list of email addresses, which can be matched to signed-in users on Google. Advertisers can then build campaigns and ads specifically for these audiences.

“70% of online consumers agree that the quality, timing, and relevance of a brand’s message influences their perception of a brand,” says Sridhar Ramaswamy, Senior Vice President, Ads and Commerce at Google. “Google is in a unique position to connect consumers with your business in the most relevant ways. Whether they’re searching on Google, checking promotions on Gmail, or watching videos on YouTube, we can deliver the most relevant information based on what they’re doing, wherever they are, when they’re looking, and on any device they’re using. Today, we’re building on these capabilities with new ads innovations to deliver even more relevance.”

“When it comes to your most valuable customers, they expect even more from you,” Ramaswamy adds. “And now, Google can help you reach customers that you already have a relationship with — like those in your loyalty program or who have made a previous purchase — in ways that are most relevant to their intent and context.”

Advertisers using Customer Match can generate “Similar Audiences” to reach customers on YouTube and Gmail who Google thinks are likely to be interested in what the advertiser is selling.

The new capabilities will be rolling out to all advertisers over the next several weeks.

As others have pointed out, the email address targeting is something that’s already in use by Google rivals Facebook and Twitter.

Image via Google