Expand Your Reach Without Expanding Your Budget: How Smart Audience Testing Drives Efficiency
Most brands assume they need bigger budgets to reach more customers. It's a logical assumption—more reach requires more spend, right? Not exactly.
Strategic audience expansion can actually reduce costs while dramatically increasing your reach and performance.
The secret lies in smarter testing, not spending more. By strategically reallocating existing budget to test new audience types, you can unlock hidden efficiency gains that deliver superior results for less money. GO's recent testing strategy proves this approach works: we helped a brand achieve 434% more traffic for 28% less spend through strategic audience expansion.
Yesterday's Targeting Doesn't Always Work for Today's Customer Journey
Traditional audience targeting often leaves significant performance on the table. When brands focus exclusively on their core customer segments, they miss opportunities to connect with high-value prospects who share similar buying signals but exist outside their current reach.
Today's customer journey is layered and complex, with overlapping interests that extend far beyond your traditional targeting parameters. Your ideal customer who doesn't know your brand yet might be shopping a few aisles over—engaging with complementary products, researching related categories, or exploring adjacent interests—and your current targeting approach may never reach them. This interwoven nature of customer behavior means that testing beyond your core audiences isn't just an opportunity, it's essential to discovering high-value prospects hiding in plain sight.
GO's data-driven testing methodology transforms this challenge into opportunity. By identifying strategic audience expansions and testing them through controlled budget reallocation, we consistently uncover efficiency gains that drive both reach and profitability.
Case Study: 434% More Traffic for 28% Less Spend
A brand with strong Walmart Onsite Display performance approached GO seeking to expand their reach and push their display results even further while making every advertising dollar work harder.
GO's strategic approach centered on launching a "New Audiences" campaign that tested two specific audience types: Lookalike Audiences (shoppers with similar buying signals to existing customers) and Custom Audiences (shoppers who'd engaged with competitors or related category products).
The testing strategy ran alongside the brand's existing "Traditional" Onsite Display campaign. Our GO team strategically reallocated 42% of the traditional campaign budget to test these new audience segments and optimize overall performance through parallel campaign management.
The results were remarkable even in the first month. As the new campaigns continued to run, the "New Audiences" strategy consistently delivered superior performance while using 28% less spend than the traditional approach:
Ad-attributed detail page views increased 434% compared to the traditional campaign
Ad-attributed in-store sales grew 23% above traditional campaign performance
Month-over-month improvements showed sustained gains: +141% page views and +21% sales comparing pre-launch vs. post-launch periods
This case demonstrates the power of strategic audience expansion—better results for less money through smarter targeting and testing methodologies.
Want to Try Something Similar? Here's How to Begin Your Test
The methodology behind these results isn't complicated, but it does require strategic thinking and disciplined execution. Here's how you can start testing audience expansion within your existing campaigns:
1. Audit Your Current Strategy and Identify Strategic Audience Types
Start by challenging yourself to audit your current audience targeting approach. Are you limiting your reach by focusing exclusively on core customer segments?
Two examples of high-potential audience types are:
Lookalike Audiences target shoppers who haven't purchased from you before but demonstrate similar buying signals to your existing customers. These prospects have proven interest in your category and comparable purchasing behaviors.
Custom Audiences include shoppers who've engaged with competitors or related products within a specific timeframe. These audiences offer direct access to active category shoppers who may be open to switching brands.
The critical factor is maintaining audience quality while expanding reach—you're not simply casting a wider net, but strategically targeting higher-probability prospects.
2. Strategic Budget Reallocation
Testing new audiences doesn't require increasing your total advertising spend. Instead, strategically reallocate a portion of your traditional campaign budget to fund audience expansion tests.
GO's approach involves shifting approximately 40-45% of traditional campaign budget to test new audience segments while running parallel campaigns for clear performance comparison. This methodology ensures you can measure the true incremental impact of audience expansion without compromising your core campaigns.
The parallel structure also allows real-time optimization—you can scale successful audience segments while maintaining overall efficiency and budget discipline.
3. Optimize Based on Performance Data
Use performance data to guide ongoing budget allocation decisions. Monitor key metrics like cost-per-acquisition, return on ad spend, and traffic quality to identify which new audiences deliver the strongest results.
The goal is scaling successful audience segments while maintaining or improving overall campaign efficiency. Consistent month-over-month measurement ensures clean testing and reliable data for strategic decisions.
Strategic audience expansion isn't about spending more—it's about spending smarter. The opportunity exists within your current budget; it just requires the right testing methodology and strategic approach to unlock it. Remember: change your mindset, not your budget.
Ready to unlock hidden efficiency in your campaigns?
Contact GO to develop your audience expansion strategy and start driving better results for less spend.