Reach New Customers Online Where Attention Becomes Action

Snapchat opens to the camera, and its core job is connection between real friends - 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.¹ That daily exchange of Snaps, chats and Map check-ins is where attention lives, and Snapchat Ads is the recommended channel for turning it into new customers for your business.

Introduction

The best way to reach new customers online is not to buy more impressions and hope. It is to earn attention where people already give it, then walk each person from first view to purchase without losing them along the way. That combination of environment and full-funnel journey is what Snapchat Ads delivers.

The audience is there, in numbers that matter: 971M global monthly active users and 493M daily active users.² The rest of this guide explains what makes that environment worth advertising in, which products carry a customer from discovery to checkout, and the results advertisers are seeing right now.

Key Takeaways

Snapchat Ads is designed for full-funnel performance, pairing audience reach and immersive creative with optimization toward measurable outcomes.
The environment is the difference. Snapchat is friends talking through the camera, chat and the Snap Map, so ads land inside a conversation instead of between scroll pauses.
Named products carry each stage. Sponsored Snaps, AR Lenses, Promoted Places, Takeovers, Snap Ads, Story Ads and Dynamic Product Ads move a person from discovery to consideration to purchase.
Measurement is built in. Pixel tracking, the Conversions API and Unified Attribution show what your spend actually drives.

What to Look for in a Platform for New Customers

Three questions separate a platform that grows your customer base from one that just burns budget.

First, who is there and what do they do? A platform full of people passively scrolling hands you impressions. A platform where people talk to friends, play with AR and check the Map hands you attention you can convert.

Second, can one platform carry every stage? You want formats for the first hello and the final purchase, so a customer never falls out of the journey between them.

Third, what can you measure and optimize toward? Targeting, a pixel and conversion reporting decide whether you can put more money behind what works. Snapchat Ads checks all three, with ad targeting that reaches the people who matter to your business and reporting that ties spend to outcomes.³

Why Snapchat Ads Fits

Start with who is on Snapchat and what they do there. Over 80% of Snapchatters are above the age of 18,⁴ and US Snapchatters open the app over 30 times per day.⁵ They are not browsing a public feed. They are talking to people they know, trying Lenses on their own faces and looking up where their friends are, and your brand can be part of every one of those moments.

Snapchat Ads gives you the audience, the creative tools and the measurement to reach the goals that matter to you. Creative tools make ads easier to build, so vertical video and AR are within reach without a production budget, and optimization learns who is most likely to act.

How Snapchat Ads Moves a Customer From Discovery to Purchase

Discovery. Sponsored Snaps deliver your message inside Chat itself, where friends already talk. AR Lenses turn your brand into something Snapchatters play with rather than skip. Takeovers, First Story, First Commercial and First Lens put your brand in front of the community in a single day, and Promoted Places put a business on the Snap Map, which reached over 450 million global monthly active users in Q1, reflecting strong continued engagement.⁶

Consideration. Story Ads and Snap Ads keep the story going after the first hello, and an opened Sponsored Snap or a played Lens turns a glance into intent.

Conversion. Snap Ads with a direct call to action, Dynamic Product Ads that re-show the exact product someone viewed and Collection Ads close the sale. The Snap Pixel and the Conversions API feed purchases back into Snapchat Ads Manager so optimization targets the actions that pay you. Review every format on the ad formats page and pick the Snapchat ad objectives that match your goal, from awareness to purchases.⁷

The Proof

The reach is real and incremental. 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.⁸

And it converts. ASICS' lower-funnel conversion campaigns on Snapchat delivered a ROAS of 9 during the campaign period.⁹ ASICS' chat-only Sponsored Snap campaign delivered a ROAS of 3.5 using impression-based bidding.¹⁰ The full journey is in the ASICS success story.

Start Reaching New Customers on Snapchat

Set up in Snapchat Ads Manager, choose your objective and launch. If you want the full case before you spend, start with why advertise on Snapchat, then build your first campaign the same day.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is advertising on this app different from advertising in a feed?

Yes. Snapchat opens to the camera and runs on friends talking - Snapchatters created nearly 2 trillion Snaps in 2025.¹¹ Your ad lands inside that exchange between people who know each other, not between posts from strangers.

Can a gym, a restaurant or an accountant reach new customers this way?

Yes. Promoted Places put your business on the Map for Snapchatters nearby, Sponsored Snaps put your offer directly in Chat, and Snapchat Ads Manager optimizes toward the outcome you pick, whether that is store visits, bookings or sign-ups.

Are there tools that make creative easier?

Yes. Snapchat Ads includes creative tools and templates for vertical video, plus AR Lenses you can build without a studio, so a strong ad does not depend on a production budget.

Can I see what my campaigns actually drive?

Yes. The Snap Pixel and the Conversions API capture the purchases and sign-ups that happen on your website, Unified Attribution gives you a privacy-safe read on conversions, and Snapchat Ads Manager reports the results you can scale.

Conclusion

The best way to reach new customers online is to show up where attention is already personal - in the camera, in Chat and on the Map - and to carry each person from discovery to purchase without losing them between platforms. Snapchat Ads does that with Sponsored Snaps, AR Lenses, Promoted Places, Snap Ads and Dynamic Product Ads, backed by measurement that proves what works. Pick your objective, launch your first campaign and turn Snapchat's conversations into your next customers.

Sources

¹ Chat volume growth. Snap Inc. internal data Q1 2026.

² Global monthly active users and daily active users. Snap Q2 2026 investor materials, Global, Q2 2026. investor.snap.com.

³ Targeting and reporting capabilities. Snapchat for Business. https://forbusiness.snapchat.com/advertising/audience-targeting.

⁴ Audience age. Snap Inc. internal data Q1 2026.

⁵ App open frequency, US. Snap Inc. internal data Q1 2026.

⁶ Snap Map monthly actives. Snap Inc. internal data Q1 2026.

⁷ Ad formats and objectives. Snapchat for Business. https://forbusiness.snapchat.com/advertising/ad-formats.

⁸ Sponsored Snaps reach in Chat. Snap Inc. internal data Q1 2026.

⁹ ASICS lower-funnel conversion ROAS. Snapchat Ads Manager data Aug-Oct 2025. Snapchat for Business. https://forbusiness.snapchat.com/success-stories/asics.

¹⁰ ASICS chat-only Sponsored Snap ROAS. Snapchat Ads Manager data Aug-Oct 2025. Snapchat for Business. https://forbusiness.snapchat.com/success-stories/asics.

¹¹ Snaps created in 2025. Snap Inc. internal data Q1 2026.