Understanding Retargeting

Prospects arrive at your site, look around – then leave – every day. Whether they’ve abandoned a cart because they just aren’t ready to buy, didn’t have a payment method ready or even had tech troubles, retargeting can remind them of the reason they visited in the first place. Retargeting allows you to reconnect with these bounced prospects and can help enhance your conversions. If you have a lot of lookers but not a lot of buyers, then retargeting can help boost your conversions, increase your brand awareness, and give you another shot at closing these prospects. Learning more about retargeting can help you make the most of this powerful strategy and ensure your best prospects aren’t slipping away.

What is retargeting?

Have you ever visited a site or viewed a product – then been followed all over the web by the image of the item you checked out? That’s remarketing in action; once you visit a site using this marketing technique, you pick up a small cookie, which other sites use to show you targeted and appealing ads. For example, when you shop for dog food, then head to Facebook and you start seeing ads for dog food or other related pet products, you’ve just experienced retargeting. As a business owner and advertiser, you can put this effective strategy to use for yourself. This online advertising strategy can help ensure that your brand stays top of mind for those people that visited your website, but maybe didn’t take any action. They will get specific reminders in form of banner advertising while they are surfing the website. When remarketing is done effectively, visitors that have been exposed to your brand will get a fresh, and creative reminder to revisit your website.

How does retargeting work?

When a prospect, or potential client visits your website a piece of harmless code, called a cookie, is attached to that user’s browser. While the user is surfing the web, the cookie stays with them. As they visits other sites, from blogs to forums and even social media, the cookie activates and places a targeted ad or reminder of your brand in a visible location. These ads only show up for those who have visited your site. The process is simple and flows like this:

• A prospect visits your site from any of your marketing efforts or pieces of content – or even a Google search.
• The prospect departs without buying anything.
• The prospect continues to browse the web.
• Your ad is displayed for the prospect on one or more visited sites.
• Clicking the ad leads the prospect back to your website, a visit which gives you another another opportunity to convert that visitor into a customer.

Retargeting vs. remarketing

These terms are similar, but the marketing actions they describe are not; understanding the difference can help you implement both strategies effectively. They both involve reaching out to prospects who have not yet converted, but retargeting and remarketing are different. Retargeting works as described above, placing relevant brand or product info in ad form in front of prospects after they leave your site. This is largely automated and runs efficiently once set up. Remarketing is using email or another method to reach out to a customer who has not yet converted; this is a more active approach that requires a specific campaign to implement. Both are effective strategies, but they work in different ways; knowing the difference can help you determine which approach is best for you. How effective is retargeting? Retargeting can increase your ability to reconnect with those prospects who visited your website but didn’t take a desired action. Consumer opinion of retargeted ads is also high; only 11 percent object to or feel negatively about retargeted ads, according to eMarketer. Retargeting on its own can boost ad response considerably, by up to 400 percent in some cases. Health and beauty manufacturer Kimberly-Clark sees 50 to 60 percent higher conversions for retargeted consumers; this affordable strategy can easily be implemented by smaller brands. Benefits of retargeting By placing your brand not only in front of consumers, but in front of those who have been targeted because they already expressed interest, your chances of reconnecting with prospects soar. No matter why your prospects bounced, retargeting can remind them of the items they were interested in and their desire to purchase, or contact you – and can bring them back to you. This second chance to convert is just one of the ways retargeting can benefit your brand. Retargeting can help improve your brand awareness; consumers and prospects are constantly reminded of your brand and message when you implement this strategy, and your visibility is enhanced, too. Retargeting also provides valuable data about your search engine optimization and search engine marketing efforts and can help build your audience for your other campaigns. Need to make a big impact? Retargeting can help level the playing field and present your brand alongside big brands, increasing your credibility with consumers and prospects. This visibility can increase trust and connection even when it is not directly benefiting your business. The word “targeting” matters. When you just place ads everywhere and anywhere, you can easily overspend. By properly targeting those prospects who have already expressed interest, you can maximize your return on investment and ensure you’re not wasting your precious marketing and advertising budgets. Retargeting best practices Like any marketing strategy, the way you implement retargeting will impact its effectiveness. When done correctly, retargeting is a valuable addition to your marketing and advertising lineup. Following these best practices can help you get the most ROI from your investment and ensure your efforts are resonating with prospects: Properly define your targets: Retargeting is not for every visitor. Only those who visit and do not buy are candidates for this process. In some cases, you can expand to include those who bought an item but not the pieces that complement it, but implementing a strategy that targets those who visited but didn’t take any desired action should be your first priority.

• Limit your efforts: Brand exposure can turn into overexposure or ad fatigue pretty quickly. Make sure you are not presenting the same image or ad to the same individual too many times. Ads that are seasonal need to be run only during specific times – back-to-school specials won’t do much good in May, and no one wants your Halloween décor in December.
• Make it specific: Your prospects should get an offer that is specifically about the page or item they visited for best results. They chose that item or page for a reason, so your retargeting should specifically remind them of it.
• Include a call to action: CTAs increase results in all marketing efforts, and retargeting ads are no exception. Make sure your prospects know what to do when they view your ad by including a clear and concise CTA. Whether you want your prospects to revisit a specific item, view a promo or even sign up for your newsletter, a call to action can help
• Track and test ads: Which ads are performing best when it comes to retargeting, and which are missing the mark? Your metrics and A/B testing can provide valuable information if you incorporate them into your process.

Harness the power of retargeting for your business At its best, retargeting improves conversions and gives you a second chance at prospects by placing the right offer in front of them at the right time. Regularly reviewing your metrics and testing can help further streamline and enhance your efforts. If you’re not getting the results and conversions you want, it may be time to look at implementing a retargeting strategy to bring those bounced visitors back to you. Learning more about this process can improve your effectiveness and ensure that your hard work at getting customers to visit isn't going to waste. We can help you get started and come up with a plan for your retargeting strategy that places your brand in front of bounced prospects and ensures you don't get overlooked. Contact us to learn more about incorporating the latest retargeting strategies and technology into your marketing efforts to ensure you get a second chance with your best prospects.