Retargeting is a marketing strategy that allows you to track traffic that bounces from your site and target them with ads on a third party site. Multiple ad platforms support retargeting through the use of a specialized pixel or code that helps your ad campaigns find users who have visited your site.
On average, about 98% of traffic will bounce from your site. That’s 98% of your traffic just left on the table, but with retargeting you can turn that 98% of traffic into new opportunities. All it takes is using the correct strategies. Retargeting isn’t as simple as re-serving visitors the same ad that brought them to your site. When done right, retargeting can keep the buyer’s journey alive, improve conversion rates, and enhance your ability to upsell.
In today’s post we’ll be tapping into these strategies and looking at why retargeting needs to be one of your go to strategies.
Some brands see retargeting as a tool to continue targeting customers with their original ads. This is the worst way to utilize retargeting opportunities. To deliver impact with your retargeting ads you need to consider the cornerstone of effective advertising:
– Personalization
– Relevance
– Optimization
Personalizing your ad to your audience segments is what got them to your site in the first place. Simply reusing that same ad in your retargeting is not going to be as effective the second time around. You’ll only end up deflating any momentum you garnered by showing them a lazy attempt at trying to funnel them back to your site. This is why it’s important to refresh the creative of your ad to keep the personalized focus alive.
The good news is your retargeting audience can be treated as a new audience segment. What’s important is to understand what ad or sales channel first funneled them to your site. From there you can target the new segment of audiences with ads that build on the original content.
Your refreshed content ideas could focus on things like:
– Discounted offers
– Special coupon codes
– Unique product bundles
– Alternative products
Relevance in retargeting is more about understanding the sales channels you’re engaging your audience on. It starts with the sales channel that originally brought them to your site. Platforms like Facebook and Instagram make it easy to continue the buyer’s journey in a relevant manner. What’s also important is to keep in mind the type of ad you served them.
On Google it may have been any number of creatives that drew your audience to your site. If you originally captured their interest with a Google display ad, consider reusing this trend on a third party site with refreshed imagery and copy. It’s also important to understand where you plan to retarget your customer.
In the case where the audience originally clicked on a display ad, you might consider retargeting them with another display ad on a relevant third party site. D2C businesses could consider a site like Amazon, where they can display their products for sale almost as if it belonged on the site. In other cases you may want to retarget on the original third party channel such as a Facebook ad or a Google search ad.
The content also needs to remain in line with the original intent of the first ad. If you were selling the audience on an offering involving home remodels your retargeting ad needs to remain focused on home remodeling services. An ad about landscaping would be too wide of a pivot to successfully reclaim their interest.
Refreshing content focuses while remaining relevant may include:
– Focusing on pricing
– Focusing on social proof
– Focusing on aligned products
– Focusing on pain points
The biggest opportunity of any retargeting effort is optimization. You should look at every retargeting campaign as an opportunity to test your creative and analyze your audience. Using the strategies mentioned above means you should already be testing new creative against the audience.
Next you need to be sure your reporting is on point. You’re going to want to segment your new retargeting audiences and track their data individually. If you can cross analyze this data to the original segment they belonged to you can begin to track how your different creatives perform against each other. Consider it like an extended A/B test. If your retargeting campaigns start to outperform your original campaign you can use those insights to optimize additional ads or marketing funnels.
There are few options for getting your retargeting ads up and running. Facebook offers a step-by-step guide for retargeting on their platform, as well as Google. There are even options to set up first party retargeting campaigns from your own site.
Unfortunately none of these options are simple without some coding knowledge. Not to mention the resources it takes to maximize your retargeting efforts or the strategy expertise.
KNB online has the experience and know how to help you get your retargeting efforts in motion. We’ve enabled brands to extend the lifelines of their marketing funnels through successful retargeting strategies and optimization efforts. If you want to meet to learn about our strategies or discuss a personalized partnership with my team then we’re available to meet. It’s up to you, simply click here and book some time so we can evaluate the best path forward for you.