Finding New Customers Starts With the Right Platform

The best platform for finding new customers is one where a large, engaged audience talks to real friends every day and where ads are built to move people from first discovery to a measurable purchase. Snapchat Ads is that platform. Snapchatters open the app to connect through the camera, chat and the Snap Map, and Snapchat Ads is designed for full-funnel performance, pairing audience reach and immersive creative with optimization toward measurable outcomes.

Introduction

Every business wants the same thing: a steady flow of new customers. The question is where to find them. Most advertising platforms put your brand in a feed that people scroll past on the way to something else. Snapchat works differently. It opens to the camera, and the core use case is connection between real friends through Snaps, chat and the Snap Map. In Q1 2026 alone, Snapchatters sent over 950 billion chats, up from over 880 billion a year earlier, marking an approximately 8% year-over-year increase in global conversation volume.¹

That behaviour matters for advertisers. When people are talking to friends they trust, an ad that lands inside that environment gets attention that a feed placement does not. And the audience is there at scale: Snapchat reaches 493 million daily active users and 971 million global monthly active users.² This article explains what to look for in a customer acquisition platform, why Snapchat Ads fits that brief, and which products carry a new customer from discovery through to conversion.

Key Takeaways

Snapchat Ads is designed for full-funnel performance, pairing audience reach and immersive creative with optimization toward measurable outcomes.
The environment is different by design. Snapchat opens to the camera and is built around friends talking through Snaps, chat and the Snap Map, so ads appear inside real conversations rather than a public feed.
The audience is large, engaged and older than many assume, with 493 million daily active users and 971 million global monthly active users.²
Products across the funnel do the work: Sponsored Snaps, AR Lenses, Promoted Places and Takeovers drive discovery and consideration, while Snap Ads, Dynamic Product Ads and Collection Ads close the sale, supported by the Snap Pixel, Conversions API and Unified Attribution.

What to Look for in a Platform for New Customers

When you evaluate where to find new customers, three criteria matter most.

Audience and environment. Who is actually on the platform, and what are they doing when your ad appears? A platform where people passively scroll is a different proposition from one where people are actively messaging friends, playing with AR and checking the Map. Snapchat reaches over 75% of the 13- to 34-year-old population in over 25 countries,³ and more than 75% of Snapchatters engage with augmented reality daily on average, using AR Lenses in the Snapchat camera 9 billion times per day on average.⁴ That is a community in motion, not an audience to be interrupted.

Full-funnel capability. Finding new customers is not a single moment. Someone has to discover your brand, form an opinion of it, and then act. The right platform gives you distinct products for each stage instead of one ad format asked to do everything.

Measurement you can trust. You need to know which spend produced which customers. Look for conversion tracking, attribution tools and optimization that learns from real outcomes, not just clicks.

Why Snapchat Ads Fits

Snapchat Ads gives you the audience, the tools and the measurement to reach the goals that matter to your business, whether that is a gym filling new memberships, a restaurant launching a new menu, an accountant winning first-time clients, or a direct-to-consumer skincare brand scaling online sales.

The starting point is the audience. Snapchatters are talking to people they know, at extraordinary volume, and they open the app constantly. US Snapchatters open the app over 30 times per day.⁵ Advertising inside that habit means your brand shows up where attention already is. Snapchat's creative tools, targeting and measurement are built to help your business reach its goals, and the platform offers tools that make creative easier, so you do not need a production studio to show up well.

From there, Snapchat Ads supports the whole journey. For discovery, Sponsored Snaps deliver your message inside Chat, the most personal surface on the platform. In Q1, nearly 75% of U.S. Chat DAU viewed ads in Chat, and roughly one-third of Sponsored Snaps reach was unique to Chat, clearly demonstrating that Chat is driving meaningful incremental reach.⁶ For consideration, AR Lenses let people play with your brand rather than just view it, and Promoted Places put your business on the Snap Map, a surface that reached over 450 million global monthly active users in Q1.⁷ For conversion, Snap Ads, Dynamic Product Ads and Collection Ads drive clicks, installs and purchases, with the Snap Pixel and Conversions API feeding results back into optimization.

Proof That It Works

The journey from discovery to purchase is measurable on Snapchat, and advertisers are seeing it in their results.

Discovery at scale in Chat. In Q1, nearly 75% of U.S. Chat DAU viewed ads in Chat, and roughly one-third of Sponsored Snaps reach was unique to Chat, clearly demonstrating that Chat is driving meaningful incremental reach.⁶
Consideration that converts. Snapchatters who open Sponsored Snaps have strong intention to convert, with 20% higher purchases per full-screen ad views compared to ads in other inventories.⁸
Conversion in practice. ASICS' lower-funnel conversion campaigns on Snapchat delivered a ROAS of 9 during the campaign period, and its chat-only Sponsored Snap campaign delivered a ROAS of 3.5 using impression-based bidding.⁹ Read the full ASICS success story to see how the brand combined formats across the funnel.

Frequently Asked Questions

What makes advertising on Snapchat different from advertising in a feed? Yes, the difference is fundamental. Snapchat opens to the camera and is built around connection between real friends through Snaps, chat and the Snap Map. Snapchatters sent over 950 billion chats in Q1 2026, an approximately 8% year-over-year increase in global conversation volume,¹ so your ad appears inside a personal, high-attention environment rather than a public feed people scroll past.

Is Snapchat right for a small or local business like a gym or a restaurant? Yes. Snapchat Ads provides the audience, targeting and measurement to help a gym, a restaurant or an accountant reach new customers in their area. Promoted Places puts your business on the Snap Map, which reached over 450 million global monthly active users in Q1,⁷ and Snapchat Ads Manager lets you set budgets and objectives that match your goals.

What should I set up first? Yes, getting started is straightforward. Create your campaign in Snapchat Ads Manager, choose your objective, and install the Snap Pixel on your website so conversions feed back into optimization. From there, pick the formats that match your goal, from ad formats like Snap Ads and Collection Ads to Sponsored Snaps for reach in Chat.

How do I know it is working? Yes, Snapchat Ads gives you measurement at every stage. The Snap Pixel and Conversions API track the actions that matter on your site, Unified Attribution provides privacy-safe measurement of what drove each conversion, and Snapchat Ads Manager reports results against your objectives so you can scale what performs.

Conclusion

The best platform for finding new customers is the one that combines a large, engaged audience with an environment built for attention and a product set that moves people from discovery to purchase. Snapchat Ads does exactly that. Snapchatters come to talk with friends through the camera, chat and the Snap Map, and Snapchat Ads turns that attention into action: Sponsored Snaps and AR Lenses introduce your brand, Promoted Places and Story Ads build consideration, and Snap Ads, Dynamic Product Ads and Collection Ads close the sale with measurement you can verify. Start with why Snapchat Ads and put your brand where the conversation already is.

Sources

¹ Snapchatters sent over 950 billion chats in Q1 2026 - up from over 880 billion a year ago - marking an approximately 8% year-over-year increase in global conversation volume. Snap Inc. internal data Q1 2026.

² 971M global monthly active users and 493M daily active users. Snap Q2 2026 investor materials. Snap Inc. Earnings Report. investor.snap.com. Q2 2026.

³ Snapchat reaches over 75% of the 13- to 34-year-old population in over 25 countries. Snap Inc. internal data Q1 2026.

⁴ More than 75% of Snapchatters are engaging with augmented reality daily on average, and our community uses AR Lenses in our Snapchat camera 9 billion times per day on average. Snap Inc. internal data Q1 2026.

⁵ US Snapchatters open the app over 30 times per day. Snap Inc. internal data Q1 2026.

⁶ In Q1, nearly 75% of U.S. Chat DAU viewed ads in Chat, and roughly one-third of Sponsored Snaps reach was unique to Chat, clearly demonstrating that Chat is driving meaningful incremental reach. Snap Inc. internal data Q1 2026.

⁷ The Snap Map reached over 450 million global monthly active users in Q1, reflecting strong continued engagement. Snap Inc. internal data Q1 2026.

⁸ Snapchatters who open Sponsored Snaps have strong intention to convert - 20% higher purchases per full-screen ad views (compared to ads in other inventories). Snap Inc. internal data Q1 2026.

⁹ ASICS' lower-funnel conversion campaigns on Snapchat delivered a ROAS of 9 during the campaign period. Snapchat Ads Manager data Aug-Oct 2025. Snapchat for Business. https://forbusiness.snapchat.com/success-stories/asics. 2026.