In-Depth Guide to Using GA4 Audiences for Black Friday Remarketing and Retargeting

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are just around the corner and capturing the attention of shoppers during this busy season requires more than just generic marketing messages; it requires planning an effective customer targeting. With Google Analytics 4’s audience-building capabilities, we can build custom audiences based on users' behaviors, interactions and interests, making retargeting efforts more effective.

In our recent posts, we’ve focused on Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) topics, including the Ultimate Guide, also advanced conversion tracking, and leveraging UTM parameters for custom BFCM campaigns. In this post, we’re shifting focus to the power of GA4 audiences for Black Friday remarketing, offering a comprehensive guide to creating high-impact custom audiences for remarketing campaigns.  

Why This Guide on GA4 Audiences for Black Friday Remarketing and Retargeting Matters

Let’s touch a little bit why this is important - GA4’s audience-building capabilities allow us, marketers to go further in terms of targeting and reach wider users based on nuanced behaviors, previous interactions, and predicted future actions.

At Analytics Mates, we believe that for businesses aiming to increase conversions, a well-executed GA4 audience strategy is one of the keys. It enables them to connect with shoppers who have shown genuine interest or who are likely to convert. By understanding how to use GA4 audiences, we can create highly relevant ads that impact customers at different stages of their buying journey, which should effectively boost engagement, reduce cart abandonment, and drive sales in the most critical season of the year.

Defining what GA4 Audiences is

GA4 Audiences are groups of users created in Google Analytics 4 based on specific actions or behaviors they’ve taken on a website or app. These audiences help us target users more effectively by allowing them to create custom segments, such as users who viewed certain pages, added items to a cart, or are likely to make a purchase. Using these audiences, we can run more personalized and relevant ad campaigns, improving engagement and conversions.

What is remarketing and retargeting 

Remarketing typically refers to the practice of targeting users who have interacted with your brand, such as visiting your website, signing up for a newsletter, or abandoning a shopping cart, through email campaigns. Remarketing usually involves reaching out to these users via emails or other direct communication channels to remind them about your products or services and encourage them to complete their purchase.

Retargeting, on the other hand, is more commonly associated with display ads on platforms like Google Ads or Facebook. It involves using cookies to track users who have previously visited your website or engaged with specific content and then showing them targeted ads across different websites or social media platforms. The goal is to bring those users back to your site and drive conversions.

Setting Up Prebuilt or Custom Audiences in GA4

Before diving into the steps, you need to know about these important notes:

1. You need the Marketer role (not an editor role) for the property in which you want to create the audience.

2. There are a few limits to consider when managing your audiences:

• You have a limit of up to 100 audiences for each property for Standard properties. For 360 properties, there is a limit of up to 400 audiences per property.
• You can export an audience to an unlimited number of destinations, including native integrations with Google Ads, DV360, SA360, Ad Manager, Firebase, or export via the Audience Export API. However, you can only save a maximum of 100 audiences for each Google Analytics standard property.
• Each audience condition has a character limit of 500 characters.

Steps

1. Log into your Google Analytics 4 account and navigate to the property where you want to create the audience segmentation.

2. In the left-hand menu, click on "Admin" and then select "Audiences" under the "Property settings" column.

3.Click on the "New Audience" button to begin creating a custom audience.

4. In this page you’ll be presented with the option to either start from scratch or to use prebuilt segments.  In this example, we’ll build from scratch so click on the “Create a custom audience”.

5. Define Audience Conditions →
Use "Conditions" to define the criteria that will determine the audience. Conditions can be based on various user behaviors, such as:

• Sessions (e.g., users who visited specific pages or spent a certain amount of time on your site).
• Events (e.g., users who completed a specific action like adding to cart, viewing a product, or completing a form).
• User properties (e.g., demographic data like location, device, or user type).

You can combine multiple conditions using AND/OR logic for more granular targeting.

6. If you want to target users based on a series of actions over time, use "Sequences". This feature lets you create audiences based on the order of events or actions users take. For example, you can target users who first visited a product page and then added an item to the cart.

7.  You can also set up exclusions to exclude certain users from your audience. For example, exclude users who have already converted or those who have visited your site in the last 30 days.

8.  Once you are satisfied with the conditions, give your audience a descriptive name. Then, click "Save" to create your audience.
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9. After creating the audience, you can use it for remarketing and retargeting campaigns in Google Ads or for deeper analysis in GA4 Reports. To connect the audience to Google Ads, make sure to link your GA4 property with your Google Ads account.

10. Once the audience is set up, monitor its performance in your reports and optimize as needed by adjusting the conditions based on user behavior insights.

Key GA4 Segmentations for Black Friday & Cyber Monday Campaigns

GA4 provides helpful guidance for creating common segmentations tailored to your marketing objectives. We’ve also put together a list of possible segments to consider when building audiences specifically for your BFCM remarketing and retargeting efforts.

1. User Lifetime Value (LTV) Segmentation
   • Overview: This segmentation categorizes users based on their projected lifetime value, allowing you to identify high-value customers.
   • Importance: Prioritize your Black Friday campaigns toward users with high LTV, as they are likely to make repeat purchases.
   • Setup: In GA4, navigate to Audiences and set conditions that define high-value customers based on historical purchasing patterns and projected LTV.
2. Custom Event-Based Segmentation
   • Overview: Segment users based on specific actions they took on your site, such as viewing a holiday deal or engaging with promotional content.
   • Importance: Target users who interacted with previous holiday campaigns, as they’re more likely to convert during Black Friday.
   • Setup: Create custom events in GA4 to track specific actions, then use those events to build audiences for retargeting.
3. Purchase Probability Segmentation
   • Overview: This predictive segmentation analyzes users’ likelihood to make a purchase.
   • Importance: Focus on users with a high purchase probability to maximize conversions during Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
   • Setup: Utilize GA4’s predictive metrics to create an audience of users with a high likelihood to purchase.
4. Cart and Checkout Behavior Segmentation
   • Overview: Target users who added items to their cart or reached the checkout but didn’t complete the purchase.
   • Importance: Recover abandoned carts by retargeting these users with tailored Black Friday offers.
   • Setup: Build an audience using events like “add_to_cart” and “begin_checkout” to retarget users who showed purchase intent. You can check out this help guide from Google Analytics documentation. 
5. Engaged Session-Based Segmentation
   • Overview: Segment users who had longer or highly interactive sessions on your site.
   • Importance: Users who engage deeply with your site content are more likely to convert; reach out to them with personalized Black Friday deals.
   • Setup: Use GA4’s engagement metrics to build an audience based on session duration or engagement rate.
6. Predictive Churn Probability Segmentation
   • Overview: Identify users at risk of churning to re-engage them during Black Friday.
   • Importance: A well-timed Black Friday offer could reignite interest from users about to disengage.
   • Setup: Use GA4’s churn probability metrics to define an audience of high-churn-risk users.
7. Source and Medium Segmentation
   • Overview: Segment users based on the marketing channels through which they arrived, such as organic search, social media, or email.
   • Importance: Allocate resources effectively by targeting users from the most effective channels.
   • Setup: Configure GA4 audiences based on traffic source and medium to tailor retargeting campaigns to the channel of origin.
8. Product Interest Segmentation Using Item Views
   • Overview: Focus on users who viewed specific products or categories in the past.
   • Importance: Leverage past product interest to present relevant Black Friday offers, increasing the chance of conversion.
   • Setup: Use item view events in GA4 to build an audience based on specific products or categories viewed.
9. Demographic and Location-Based Segmentation
   • Overview: Segment users by demographics or geographic location for more relevant messaging.
   • Importance: Geographic-specific promotions or demographic-targeted ads can improve conversion rates.
   • Setup: Use GA4’s demographic dimensions to create audiences by age, gender, or location.
10. User Engagement Frequency Segmentation
    • Overview: Identify users who frequently engage with your site to maintain brand recall.
    • Importance: Consistently engaged users are more likely to convert, especially with well-timed Black Friday promotions.
    • Setup: Set audience conditions in GA4 based on the number of sessions or other engagement metrics.

FAQs

Q:Is the GA4 audience data updated in real-time?

Answer: No, GA4 audiences are not strictly real-time.

While GA4 offers a real-time report to monitor current website activity, the audiences themselves are based on historical data. This means that they are updated periodically, and any changes to user behavior or new data coming in might not be reflected immediately in the audience segments.

However, GA4 does process data relatively quickly, and you can often see changes in audience membership within a few hours. For the most accurate and up-to-date insights, it's best to check your audience data regularly.

Can I use GA4 Audiences with Google Ads for remarketing?

Answer: Yes, GA4 integrates seamlessly with Google Ads. You can import your custom audiences into Google Ads to run highly targeted remarketing campaigns across the Google Display Network, YouTube, and Search. By using GA4’s audience data, you can ensure your ads are reaching users who are most likely to convert during Black Friday.

Can GA4 help me personalize my Black Friday offers for different audiences?

Answer: Yes, GA4 allows you to segment audiences based on their interests, actions, and behaviors. By understanding each group’s unique characteristics, you can tailor your offers accordingly. For example, you might offer a discount code to cart abandoners, while showing product recommendations to frequent visitors. Personalizing the shopping experience can significantly increase the chances of converting these users into paying customers.

Are GA4 audiences based on past behavior or live user activity?

Answer: GA4 audiences can be based on both past behavior and live user activity. You can create dynamic audiences that update in real-time based on users’ actions, like viewing a product or adding items to the cart. These audiences can be used for remarketing in real-time or for targeting past visitors based on their historical interactions.

How long does it take for GA4 to populate an audience after it’s created?

Answer: After creating an audience in GA4, it can take anywhere from a few minutes to several hours for the audience to populate, depending on the size of your website traffic and the conditions you've set. Larger audiences and more complex segments may take longer to build.

What is the maximum number of audiences I can create in GA4?

Answer: In GA4, you can create up to 100 audiences per property. If you need more complex segmentation, you may want to consider using custom dimensions and events in combination with audiences to create more granular targeting.

How do I combine multiple conditions when creating a custom audience in GA4?

Answer: To combine multiple conditions in GA4, you can use "AND" or "OR" logic when setting up your audience. For example, you could create an audience of users who have visited a specific product page AND added items to the cart, or users who have visited any product page OR viewed a promotional offer.

Final Word

As Black Friday approaches, GA4’s advanced audience features offer a powerful way to reach the right customers at the right time. By using GA4’s segmentation tools, you can create highly targeted audiences based on user behavior, demographics, and past interactions, enabling you to retarget shoppers who have already shown interest in your products or services. This allows you to deliver personalized, relevant ads that remind customers of what they’re missing and encourage them to complete their purchases. With the ability to track customer journeys across devices and channels, GA4 ensures your ads are reaching the right people with the right message, whether they’ve visited your site, added items to their cart, or engaged with your brand on social media. By leveraging these capabilities, you can run more effective remarketing campaigns that drive higher engagement, increase conversions, and boost sales during the holiday season. Now is the time to set up these powerful audience segments and take full advantage of Black Friday opportunities.

Thank you for reading!

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