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New: Smart Lists With Google Analytics Automate Remarketing List Management

Ginny Marvin on April 11, 2014 at 1:49 pm

To help simplify the decision making process of creating remarketing lists, Google has introduced “Smart Lists with Google Analytics” which automate the process. Smart Lists rely on the anonymized conversion data gleaned from the millions of websites using Google Analytics that opt-in to share data with Google.

The lists are built with machine learning using signals like visit duration, page depth, location, device, referrer, and browser to predict which visitors are most likely to convert upon returning to the site. Then based on those visitors’ on-site actions, Analytics can calibrate remarketing campaigns in AdWords to align with each visitor’s value.

For sites with fewer than 500 monthly e-commerce transactions and 10,000 daily pageviews, Smart Lists are modeled on similar businesses that share anonymized data with Google Analytics.

However, the Smart List for sites with at least 500 monthly e-commerce transactions and 10,000 daily pageviews and using e-commerce tracking in Analytics, will be automatically customized based on the characteristics that lead visitors to convert on that particular site. Only that site will have access to the list and any new data will not be shared even if the list is never used. The list will be marked as [My Smart List].

While, Smart Lists in large part are aimed at making list creation decisions easier for remarketing novices, Melissa Shusterman, Engagement Director, www.maassmedia.com says in the announcement, “With Smart Lists, as with Data Driven Attribution, Google Analytics is operationalizing statistical analysis – making us not just smarter marketers – but faster and more nimble. While we might have been able to achieve similar results with ongoing statistical analysis and a complex cookie structure, Smart Lists are simply plug and play. This speeds us along, so we can focus not on list management, but on growing the business.”

Advertisers using Smart Lists should ensure their transactions and goals from Analytics are getting imported into AdWords. Google then recommends combining Smart Lists with Conversion Optimizer using Target CPA or ROAS in AdWords.

More To Come

The Analytics team writes that they are working on deeper integrations for advanced users to tie this machine learning into their current lists as an optimization signal in AdWords bidding.

Additionally, Google says they are working on surfacing these signals in other reporting and in the product to help marketers understand what factors help predict whether a user will likely convert.

About The Author

Ginny Marvin

Ginny Marvin is Third Door Media's Editor-in-Chief, managing day-to-day editorial operations across all of our publications. Ginny writes about paid online marketing topics including paid search, paid social, display and retargeting for Search Engine Land, Marketing Land and MarTech Today. With more than 15 years of marketing experience, she has held both in-house and agency management positions. She can be found on Twitter as @ginnymarvin.