Tactics: using the conversions API to segment new and returning customer events

If you're running Meta ads for your e-commerce brand, chances are you're optimizing for the standard Purchase event like most brands do.

But there's a better approach that can dramatically improve the incrementality of your campaigns.

The Problem with Standard Purchase Optimization

When you optimize for Meta's standard Purchase event, you're telling the algorithm to find anyone likely to make a purchase—whether they're a brand-new customer or someone who would have bought from you anyway.

This means you could be spending ad dollars to reach people who were already going to convert, rather than acquiring genuinely new customers for your business.

The Solution: New Customer vs. Returning Customer Events

Meta offers two powerful custom events that most e-commerce brands aren't leveraging:

• New Customer Purchase event
• Returning Customer Purchase event

These events split your purchase data into two distinct categories, giving you far more control over who your campaigns are targeting.

💡 [Watch here] - Optimize your ad campaigns for NEW customer purchases

How to Unlock These Events

To access these custom events, you'll need to implement a strong server-side tracking solution. Tools like Elevar can help you set up CAPI (Conversions API) tracking that enables these events in your Facebook Events Manager.

Once configured, Meta will automatically categorize each purchase based on whether it came from a new or returning customer.

Why This Matters

When you set up your Meta ad campaigns, you can now specifically optimize for the New Customer Purchase event.

This tells Meta's algorithm: "We want to find genuinely new customers, not just any purchase activity."

The result? Your campaigns focus on truly incremental revenue rather than cannibalizing customers who were already in your funnel.

The Bottom Line

If your paid media team is only optimizing for standard Purchase events, you're likely leaving money on the table and wasting ad spend on non-incremental conversions.

By optimizing for New Customer Purchases, you can:

• Improve campaign incrementality
• Acquire more genuinely new customers
• Better understand the true performance of your paid acquisition
• Allocate budget more efficiently

This is the kind of strategic shift that separates good media buyers from great ones—understanding not just how to run ads, but how to drive profitable, incremental growth for your brand.

Want help implementing server-side tracking and optimizing your Meta campaigns for new customer acquisition? Send us a message.