Marketing & Paid Advertising

Custom Audience

A targeting option reaching people who have already interacted with your business.

1 min readLast updated Apr 2026

A targeting option reaching people who have already interacted with your business.

Why It Matters

Custom audiences let you reach warm users who know your brand with tailored messages. From website visitors to email subscribers to past purchasers, custom audiences power retargeting, upselling, and reactivation. They typically convert 3-10x better than cold audiences.

Practical Example

Scenario

A brand creates custom audiences for: cart abandoners (last 7 days), past purchasers (90-180 days ago), and VIP customers (3+ orders). Each gets tailored creative.

Result

Cart abandoners see urgency messaging (10% conversion). Lapsed customers see 'we miss you' offers (5% conversion). VIPs see new arrivals first (15% conversion).

Pro Tips

  • 1Segment custom audiences by recency and behavior—don't lump 7-day and 180-day website visitors together
  • 2Create exclusions: exclude purchasers from prospecting, exclude cart abandoners from general retargeting
  • 3Upload email/phone lists quarterly to keep custom audiences fresh and match rates high

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Creating one giant 'all visitors' custom audience instead of segmented audiences by intent
Not excluding recent purchasers from acquisition campaigns—wasted spend

Frequently Asked Questions

Related Terms

Lookalike Audience
LAL

A targeting feature reaching new people who share characteristics similar to your existing customers.

Retargeting

Showing ads to people who have previously visited your website or engaged with your content.