With our websites, there are multiple visitors in a day. We would think once they see our offers, they will purchase or request a service. Well, this happens for about 4% of the people who visit the website. Most people don’t usually decide immediately how they want to interact with your business. So, therein lies the need for a form of advertising called Retargeting. It deals with bringing back the remaining 96%. Those interested in your goods and services but did not purchase to your website.
What is Retargeting?
Retargeting allows businesses to keep their products and services in front of potential clients even after visitors leave their website. The goal is to persuade them to rethink your business offers when they need it. This advertising is also known as Remarketing and it aims to target visitors who have recently shown interest in business and are also those familiar with it by using ads to re-engage and convert them into buying customers. Retargeting campaigns do not simply show ads, but also follow visitors as they explore the internet. This is done by using search engines and social media channels. These remind them about a problem they want to solve. And why the product or services your business offers will be the best solution.
Image credit: Retargeter
When Does Retargeting Work?
Retargeting is a powerful tool for conversion optimization as it helps increase conversions from prospective customers. It works best when used as an element of a digital strategy. Also in combination with inbound and outbound marketing.
Familiar digital strategies such as AdWords, content management and marketing are great for driving traffic to your website. But, they do not help in conversion optimization. Retargeting helps with conversion as it makes the individuals in that traffic to perform an action. To ensure it’s use is a success, use one or more tools to help drive traffic to your company’s website. Use retargeting to get the most out of that traffic.
Using Retargeting campaigns
Retargeting ads, unlike search ads, do not depend on visitor inquiries to ensure that the right audience sees it. The data needed for retargeting campaigns for the right audience can be obtained using these two types; the Pixel-based and List-based.
1. Pixel-Based
Pixel-Based Retargeting is the most common method of audience collection today. It works by re-displaying ads to anonymous visitors. When an individual visits your website, a pixel (a non-obstructive piece of Javascript) is placed on their browser. After browsing through your website or decide to leave to surf the web, the cookie notifies retargeting platforms. They serve the user with specific ads based on the pages they visited on your website.
The advantage of using pixel-based retargeting is its timeliness and specificity. As soon as the visitor leaves the website they are immediately refocused, based on the specific page they visited. Although this type of retargeting has its downsides. It is dependent on the number of people that visit your website. This can make the number of individuals being retargeted low. Also, adding the javascript code to every website page can take a lot of time to complete.
Image credit: Retargeter
2. List-Based
A less commonly used type of retargeting is the list-based. It only works with the contact information of a user in your database. The process for retargeting is; upload a list of the contact information. This can include email addresses, social handles, to a retargeting campaign on social networks. Then, the platform will find user accounts that have the corresponding addresses and serve retargeting ads to them. With this type of retargeting, you can customize your list for ads.
The email address provided by visitors to your website will not always match that used on other platforms. So, they will not be able to see your ads. According to MediaMath, match rates can vary from 70-80% down to as low as 20-30% for some platforms, so this type of retargeting needs a reasonably large list of contacts for increased effectiveness. Uploading and maintenance of the lists are from your discretion. It is not as automated and timely as the pixel-based retargeting.
Retargeting campaign goals
Now you understand what retargeting entails, its types and how it works. We will explore the basic goals you should aim for and these are:
Awareness
This campaign should try to re-engage visitors and inform them about relevant products, new releases or announcements. This campaign’s goal is to make prospective customers informed about your brand. Acceptable metrics to track the success of awareness campaigns are engagement and impressions. The content for awareness campaigns are less targeted, sp the clickthrough rate (CTR) will be low. Visitors who are not familiar with your business are the target. Most times, this campaign is just a starter to a more effective campaign goal which is to get conversions.
Conversions
Goals associated with conversions are simply to get people to click on your ad. Also, to perform an action, such as filling out a form on your landing page. To align a specific list with the next step in the advertising funnel, use conversion campaigns. To measure your conversions, use typical metrics such as website clicks, form submission, and cost per lead (CPL). A great advantage of a conversion campaign is that it attains success in multiple parts of the funnel. Using pixel-based ads to generate leads, the ads will direct users to landing pages where they can provide more information.
You can also use list-based ads to better qualify these leads. Your ads will appear to contacts who provided you with inadequate information. Also, they lead them to pages they can fill longer forms with additional fields. You can also use retargeting to move these qualified leads closer to the bottom of the funnel as stated earlier. For example, you might use retargeting to send a list of contacts that have downloaded an eBook. You tell them to sign up for a free trial of your service.
Choosing a Retargeting Platform and Tool
Bex-IT Digital Solutions can be your one-stop to help your business retarget website visitors and increase your ROI (Return on Investment). You will get the opportunity to customize a friendly platform that translates your clicks to conversions. Brands can retarget using specific platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. There are also third-party platforms you could use- PerfectAudience, AdRoll, Retargeter, Bizo. Figure out the most suitable provision and start retargeting today!
