Mac Duggal more than doubles retargeting audience size with Shopify Audiences

With new privacy regulations and operating system changes making it tougher to get results from digital ads, brands have been greatly impacted. The updates have forced companies of all sizes to rethink their strategies for finding buyers most interested in their brands, and luxury women’s apparel brand Mac Duggal was no exception. The team turned to their trusted digital agency partner Prospect Knight for help.

Prospect Knight implemented Shopify Audiences, which helps merchants find more customers on top ad platforms by leveraging the scale and volume of commerce that happens on Shopify, so Mac Duggal could boost their ad performance. As a result, the brand experienced strong retargeting growth and a significant reduction in ad costs.

Since moving to Shopify Audiences, Mac Duggal has used the Retargeting Boost custom lists and has seen:

• 2.3X larger retargeting audience size 
• 3.6X lower cost per purchase with retargeting ad set
• 2x Return On Advertising Spend (ROAS)

The Challenge: Retargeting more potential buyers

Mac Duggal had partnered with Prospect Knight for years to help build and maintain their direct-to-consumer web presence on Shopify. Now the brand looked to the ecommerce marketing agency to grow their reach and turned to Shopify Audiences, which works on top ad platforms including Meta, Google, Snap, TikTok, Pinterest, and Criteo.

Prior to using Shopify Audiences, Prospect Knight leveraged Mac Duggal’s first-party audience data, including customer email lists and customer relationship management (CRM) data stored on their marketing automation platform. However, relying solely on first-party audience data limited the brand in terms of retargeting to and acquiring new customers to give the brand their desired growth and return-on-ad-spend (ROAS).

“Shopify Audiences opened up additional scope for growth when paired with the conventional targeting capabilities,” says Prospect Knight Head of Digital Conor Maurice.

The Solution: Shopify Audiences offers an advertising edge

Prospect Knight recommended that Mac Duggal try Shopify Audiences to help boost their ad performance and find new customers on the ad platforms they were already using, including Meta and Google. Audiences uses millions of commerce insights only available on Shopify and generates custom audience lists of the most likely buyers to use in ad campaigns. Brands get their ads in front of interested buyers and reach the right audiences across the funnel, from awareness to conversion.

The team used different types of audience lists in Shopify Audiences to fulfill various goals. They added Retargeting Boost to their existing retargeting ad sets with the aim of driving more conversions. Most merchants at least double the size of their retargeting audiences with these custom Retargeting Boost lists compared to only using pixel-based lists. 

To boost awareness and consideration, they used the Prospecting audience list to target buyers who bought complementary products to theirs and could be interested in buying their products as well. They also used Shopify Audiences’ Lookalike audiences to target buyers who are similar to those who show an interest in the brand. “Pulling in data from other sources, such as Shopify, is a key ingredient to Mac Duggal’s success,” says Conor. “The ROAS from Shopify Audiences was two times better than our existing activity, so we have used it ever since.”

The Results: Future-proofing digital ad campaigns

Shopify Audiences has helped drive the performance of Mac Duggal’s ad campaigns in two main ways. First, the solution has opened the brand to new high-value customers, which has increased conversion rates and created top-line growth. Second, Shopify Audiences has reduced customer acquisition costs. Based on this foundation of success, Mac Duggal is now planning to use Shopify Audiences on other platforms such as TikTok.

“While it was harder to get strong performance out of ads as a result of digital industry changes, Mac Duggal is now able to target more effectively and more efficiently through Shopify Audiences,” says Emily Greenfield, Ecommerce Director for Mac Duggal. “The solution allows us to reach new potential shoppers that are worth targeting.”

With many brands still looking for an advantage in a digital ecosystem that is shifting due to new privacy regulations and operating system changes, Mac Duggal and other users of Shopify Audiences are leveraging the scale and volume of commerce that happens on Shopify to improve their ad performance.