Have you ever visited a website and, the next thing you know, you’re seeing ads for that site’s products or services in your Google searches or on your Facebook and Instagram accounts? That’s retargeting via a remarketing campaign. And the fact that you noticed is what makes them so successful.
If done correctly, retargeting ads can be an extremely effective online advertising approach. Remarketing ads through Google can appear on any site that accepts advertising from Google and have a high degree of targeting flexibility, meaning you can filter your ads to appear only on specific sites. Facebook is a also great channel to set up retargeting and is easy to use. Start by creating a custom audience from your customer lists and start targeting those website visitors most likely to buy. Companies such as AdRoll provide effective means to retarget potential customers through both the web and social media channels.
The Basics of Retargeting
First, the essentials. Did you know that over 90% of visitors may leave your site without converting? Or that, on average, at least 70% who make it to the shopping cart abandon it? Plus, it typically takes anywhere from two to seven visits to your site before someone makes a purchase. One of the best ways to significantly turn these stats around is with a solid retargeting strategy that brings visitors back to your site.
Retargeting is like turning window shoppers into buyers. The most popular method of retargeting works by placing cookies on a person’s laptop or mobile device when they’ve met predetermined criteria. They’re then shown what’s known as “retargeting ads” which are highly personalized based on the actions the user took when visiting your site.
Benefits of Retargeting
Here are just a few of the advantages to using retargeting ads as part of your overall marketing strategy.
- You can generate more sales by reaching out to already interested prospects. Since the person you’re targeting has previously expressed curiosity in what you offer, the retargeting is like a little nudge to take them to the next step—conversion.
- It encourages repeat purchases by showing existing customers products and services similar or complementary to ones they’ve already bought.
- Yes, it’s true that compared to broadly marketed campaigns, you pay higher rates for targeted ads. But because they’re so focused, you end up paying generally lower costs overall in retargeting campaigns, with the returns typically higher.
Some people avoid retargeting because they see it as invasive and aggressive. The secret to successful retargeting is finding a way to make it less intrusive and repetitive. The best way to do that? By understanding your audience, where they are in the process, and how they like to be marketed to.
- Use data analysis to determine why visitors didn’t initially convert and address those concerns or questions in your retargeting.
- Make sure visitors re-enter the funnel at the right stage. In other words, don’t use retargeting ads to take a person back to where they abandoned the site. Use fresh content that offers them something new.
- No one likes being bombarded with ads. But too few ads won’t leave a big enough impression. Work to find a balance between overwhelming and under serving your audience.
Retargeting Done Right
Retargeting is an effective way to convert users because it focuses on people who’ve already shown interest in a particular product or service. But retargeting on its own is not enough—it works best as part of a comprehensive digital strategy. That’s because even though it may be great at optimizing conversion, it doesn’t actually drive new traffic to your site. So, while you can see a high ROI with retargeting, if you want to increase brand awareness and drive demand, you need to be implementing multiple marketing strategies.
