Building Relevant Offers Your Customers Actually Care About

Imagine you’ve just bought tickets to a concert. Payment goes through, and the next screen offers discounted parking near the venue. The offer fits the moment because it solves a problem tied to the plans you just made.

Relevant offers follow the same logic. For publishers and advertisers using post-purchase marketing, the question is what deserves the customer’s attention after the initial transaction is complete. A good answer gives the customer another useful option while keeping the original customer experience intact.

Relevant Offers Start With the Audience

Before you choose a specific offer, look at the people who are likely to see it. Their shared interests and the reason they came to you can tell you a lot about which categories belong in the conversation.

A publisher that reaches home cooks, for example, may have room for an offer on specialty ingredients or kitchen tools. A business-travel audience might respond better to an offer for airport lounge access. Thinking at the audience level helps you narrow the field before you spend time comparing individual offers.

Research on personalization supports the value of a better audience match. One global survey found that 73% of consumers considered personalized experiences or rewards important in a loyalty program. The finding points to a broader consumer preference for experiences that feel more relevant to a given audience.

In personalized marketing, the offer doesn’t have to be tailored to one individual. Personalized offers can begin with a broader question: What would be useful to this audience after the action they just completed?

AdSmith focuses on moments after the click. In those moments, the audience and the action they just completed can help shape which offers belong.

A Smaller Offer Mix Gives Each Choice a Purpose

Once you know what types of offers fit the audience, you can be more selective about which ones make the final cut. AdSmith works with partners to handpick non-competing offers that complement the customer’s original purchase or interaction.

The offers should also give customers genuinely different choices. If every option solves nearly the same problem, the placement starts to feel repetitive. A focused mix gives each offer its own role while keeping the overall selection connected to the audience.

Give the Customer Room to Finish the First Purchase

Timing changes the way an additional offer feels. Someone who is entering payment details is focused on completing the purchase, so adding another decision at that moment can compete for attention.

AdSmith tests where offers appear within the purchase journey because timing can affect how naturally an offer fits the interaction. In fact, Baymard Institute found that optional account creation performed better when it appeared after checkout instead of during the purchase process. While its test focused on account creation, it offers a useful lesson about timing: customers may benefit from finishing the main task before they’re asked to consider something extra.

Post-purchase offers follow that same principle by giving customers another option to consider once checkout is complete.

Use Customer Response to Improve the Next Round

Once an offer is live, customer response can show whether the offer and placement work as expected.

A single “yes” tells you very little on its own. A pattern across similar placements is more useful. If one offer consistently earns more selections from the same type of audience, look at what separates it from the less effective options.

When it comes to placement, change one major variable at a time where possible, especially when you’re comparing the offer itself with its position in the journey. Keeping the test focused makes the result easier to interpret.

Over time, customer engagement patterns can guide the next round of decisions.

Make Relevance the Standard for Every Offer

Relevance gives you a practical filter for any added placement. If the connection takes a long explanation, the offer probably isn’t a strong fit.

Relevant offers should feel like a natural next step for the customer while creating another opportunity for the publisher. At AdSmith, we help partners curate non-competing offers and test where they fit within the purchase journey.

Want to explore where relevant offers could fit into your customer interactions? Talk with our team about your current customer interactions and where an added offer might make sense.