Have you ever visited a website and the next day while browsing elsewhere, you saw an ad for the very same website? Or have you ever been online and added items to your cart, but didn’t check out? Then the next day, while browsing elsewhere online, you saw an ad for the products you left in the cart? Congratulations, you were “retargeted.”
What is Remarketing?
Remarketing, also known as retargeting, is a very common and popular form of digital marketing in which marketers serve ads to users who have visited their website, or a specific web page, and who have or have not taken a specific action. It’s an effective way to target people who have already shown some interest in your business or brand.
Because you are targeting past visitors or existing customers, it’s called “re”-marketing. Think of it as a second chance to convert, up-sell, or retain customers with online ads or campaigns. The aim is to remind people of your brand, rekindle their interest with an incentive, engage them, and hopefully encourage them to make a purchase.
You can remarket individuals in different ways through a variety of channels, including Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Instagram, Email, Whatsapp, SMS and more.
Whichever way you use it, remarketing is an absolute MUST in every marketer’s playbook.
Remarketing vs Retargeting
The words ‘remarketing’ and ‘retargeting’ are now used interchangeably. The distinction was clearer in the past as both tactics existed in silos. Remarketing was limited to email and retargeting was more involved with paid advertising. However, both tools have since evolved and now go hand in hand. This is primarily because email no longer exists as a separate silo of information from the paid media part of the world.
How Remarketing Works
When you create a campaign with a particular ad network, the network provides you with a small piece of code, called a pixel tag, to add to your website. Every time a new user visits your site, the code drops an anonymous browser cookie, and the user is added to your retargeting list. When the same user visits another site that hosts ads from your ad network provider, the system serves your ad to that user. This will continue as long as you have an active campaign running.
Types of Remarketing
There are a number of tactics you can use as part of your remarketing strategy. Here are some of the most common types. You should test a few tools to see which strategy works best with your audience.
- Simple display remarketing: This is the most popular remarketing type. Display remarketing is where you use display ads to reach users who have previously visited your site. The aim is to use the information collected through cookies to drive traffic to your site, then target them with ads.
- Native advertising: Marketers can re-engage their website visitors with valuable content, recommended across premium publishers in native ad placements.
- Email remarketing is the most traditional form of remarketing. It involves sending promotional emails to users who have subscribed to your site or newsletter. You can use this strategy to contact users who have abandoned a shopping cart on your site or suggest additional products to existing customers.
- Search remarketing: Remarketing lists for search ads (RLSA) is a feature that lets you customize your search ads campaign for people who have previously visited your site. This is where you use tracking information gathered from Google searches to target traffic that has shown an interest in your brand. But instead of targeting them with a display ad, you use paid advertising on search engine results pages (SERPs).
- Social media remarketing:Show your retargeting ads to people on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and TikTok after they’ve already engaged with your brand or business.
When to Use Remarketing
Some marketers use the “always on” tactic, meaning they constantly run a remarketing campaign for all users who visit their website. Some marketers opt for a more personalized approach where they focus their remarketing campaigns according to predefined criteria - running remarketing campaigns only for visitors who land on certain pages or only for users who visit their website at a certain time of day or year. It will really depend on your overall strategy; marketing tactics can be as simple or complex as you want them to be.
One crucial remarketing tip to remember is to avoid ‘overkill’. You don’t want to risk annoying potential customers by showing them too many ads. Put a cap on how many ads can be seen by each user – we recommend no more than three per day.
Remarketing Costs
Remarketing typically works on Cost-Per-Click (CPC), CPM (Cost-Per-Impression), and CPA (Cost-Per-Acquisition). This means that you define how much you are willing to pay per click, impression, or conversion, giving you the control to manage spend and adjust your bids according to the specific remarketing list or campaign.
Benefits of Remarketing
Remarketing is one of the best ways to increase the sales of your business.
- Capitalize on lost website traffic. Your website may be attracting lots of traffic, but the fact is, the average conversion rate for first-time visitors is low. On e-commerce sites, a ‘good’ conversion rate is only around 2.5% to 3%, which means most traffic does not equate to sales. Remarketing is your best option to capitalize on all that potential in your traffic.
- Improve brand awareness. Remarketing means you stay fresh in the minds of potential and existing customers by checking in regularly with incentives.
- Target audiences who are more likely to convert. Targeting people who have already shown an interest in your business is one of the most effective ways to remind them to come back to your site. The more times you show a user your website, the more likely they are to make a purchase, especially if you personalize your remarketing efforts. You can target users with different interests at different points in the purchasing process.
- Stay connected in a cost-effective way. Improving the relevancy of your ads and strategically targeting the right users will increase brand recognition and overall sales.
- Increase engagement and reach. You can follow potential users from one platform to another and promote your brand accordingly. You can also reach more prospects who have shown an interest in your site. This helps you stay engaged with your target audience.
- Develop a strategy based on your comfort level. Retargeting can be used in all verticals and industries, though it is obviously an important tactic in e-commerce. Affordable marketing tactics are available on a range of platforms and channels.
The reason a website visitor didn’t convert to a sale is something you can never really know for sure. The offer could have been outside their budget, they could just be browsing now and plan to make a purchase in the future, or they could have simply become distracted and left. Whatever the reason, remarketing / retargeting is a great way to keep your business at the top of their minds. Keep giving them reminders and reasons to come back - eventually they might! Then you’ll be on your way to generating more leads, conversions, and sales for your business.