Advantage+ campaigns automate targeting, but that doesn't mean you have no influence. The right audience inputs guide the algorithm toward better results. The wrong inputs — or no inputs at all — leave performance on the table.
Understanding Audience Inputs in Advantage+
Advantage+ doesn't require targeting inputs, but it can use them. Think of inputs as suggestions that give the algorithm a starting point, not hard constraints.
Key input types:
- Existing customer definitions: Who to treat as warm audiences
- Audience suggestions: Interests and demographics as starting signals
- Custom audiences: Seed audiences for pattern matching
- Conversion data: Historical signals from your pixel and CAPI
Existing Customer Definitions
Why This Matters Most
Your existing customer definition determines how Advantage+ splits prospecting vs retargeting. Get this wrong and you waste budget retargeting to non-customers or prospecting to existing buyers.
Building a Comprehensive Definition
Include multiple data sources:
- Customer lists: Email/phone hashes of purchasers
- Pixel purchasers: 180-day purchase events
- High-intent visitors: Add-to-cart, initiate checkout
- Engaged users: Multiple site visits, long sessions
Combine these into a single "existing customer" custom audience. This relates to how Andromeda allocates delivery.
Lookback Window Decisions
- 30 days: Only recent purchasers (aggressive prospecting)
- 90 days: Balanced approach for most businesses
- 180 days: Comprehensive for longer purchase cycles
- 365 days: For annual products or subscriptions
Audience Suggestions
What Are Audience Suggestions?
In Advantage+ audience campaigns, you can provide "suggestions" — not requirements. These include:
- Interest targeting suggestions
- Demographic suggestions (age, gender)
- Custom audience suggestions
- Lookalike audience suggestions
The algorithm uses these as starting points but can expand beyond them.
Effective Suggestion Strategies
Start With Proven Segments
If certain interests or demographics performed well in manual campaigns, suggest them. The algorithm starts there and expands intelligently.
Use High-Value Custom Audiences
Suggest audiences based on your best customers:
- High-AOV purchasers
- Repeat customers
- High-engagement visitors
Learn about building these audiences in our audience strategy guide.
Lookalike Suggestions
Suggest lookalike audiences based on:
- Purchasers (standard approach)
- High-value purchasers (quality focus)
- Repeat purchasers (retention focus)
When to Skip Suggestions
Sometimes no suggestions perform better:
- Very broad-appeal products
- High conversion volume (algorithm has strong signals)
- When past targeting limited your reach
Test with and without suggestions to find your optimal approach.
Conversion Signal Quality
Why Signals Are the Best Input
Your historical conversion data is the most powerful input to Advantage+. The algorithm learns from every conversion who your buyers are.
Improving Signal Quality
- Implement Conversions API: Server-side tracking captures more data
- Event Match Quality: Aim for 8+ EMQ scores
- Customer Information Parameters: Pass email, phone, name, address
- Value Optimization: Send purchase values when possible
Strong signals make all other inputs less necessary — the algorithm learns directly from results.
Event Selection
Choose conversion events with sufficient volume:
- Purchase: Best if 50+ weekly (use value optimization if 30+)
- Add to Cart: Good alternative for lower volume
- Initiate Checkout: Middle-ground option
Product Catalog Inputs
For Advantage+ Shopping
Your product catalog is a crucial input for shopping campaigns. The algorithm uses product data to match users with relevant items.
Catalog Optimization for Algorithm Performance
- Rich product data: Detailed titles, descriptions, attributes
- Category accuracy: Proper product categorization
- Custom labels: Segment by margin, bestseller status, season
- Price updates: Real-time pricing and availability
Learn more about catalog strategy in our creative optimization guide.
Product Set Strategies
- All products: Maximum selection for algorithm
- Top sellers: Proven converters for reliability
- High-margin: ROAS optimization focus
- New arrivals: Test new products with algorithm help
Testing Input Strategies
A/B Test Framework
Test different input strategies systematically:
- Campaign A: No audience suggestions (pure algorithm)
- Campaign B: Interest suggestions from manual winners
- Campaign C: Custom audience suggestions (best customers)
Run for 2-4 weeks with equal budget. Compare new customer CPA and ROAS.
What to Measure
- New customer acquisition cost
- New customer ROAS
- Reach and frequency
- Learning phase exit speed
How ROASPIG Helps
Audience inputs work best when paired with diverse creative that resonates with different segments. ROASPIG supports both:
- Segment-Specific Creative: Generate creative variations for different audience suggestions
- Conversion Signal Support: Integrate tracking that improves signal quality
- Catalog Enhancement: Optimize product feed data for better algorithm performance
- Performance Attribution: Understand which audience inputs drive which creative performance
- Testing Infrastructure: Structured framework for testing input strategies
The Bottom Line
Advantage+ doesn't require audience inputs, but strategic inputs improve performance. Focus on comprehensive existing customer definitions, thoughtful audience suggestions, and strong conversion signals. Test different input strategies rather than assuming one approach works best.
Remember: the best input is quality conversion data. If your tracking is weak, fix that before optimizing other inputs.
Frequently Asked Questions About Advantage+ Audience Inputs
It depends on your conversion volume and product type. Test with and without suggestions. High-volume accounts with broad-appeal products often perform well without suggestions. Lower-volume or niche products may benefit from suggestions based on proven manual campaign targeting.
Create a custom audience combining: customer email/phone lists, pixel purchasers (180-day lookback), high-intent visitors (add-to-cart, checkout), and engaged users. Use this as your existing customer definition and set appropriate budget caps.
Creative is more important. Advantage+ can find audiences automatically with strong creative, but weak creative fails regardless of audience inputs. Prioritize creative diversity and quality, then optimize audience inputs.
Lookalike suggestions can help, especially for accounts with lower conversion volume. Suggest lookalikes based on high-value or repeat customers rather than all purchasers. Test against no suggestions to verify improvement.
Conversion signals are the most powerful input. The algorithm learns from every conversion who your buyers are. Strong signals (CAPI implementation, high EMQ scores, value optimization) make Advantage+ dramatically more effective, often reducing the need for other inputs.