Retargeting offers a second chance to engage and convert potential customers who have visited your social channels or website but haven’t yet made a purchase or followed through on whatever call to action you set.
Window shopping is alive and well online. Like almost every brand with a digital presence, you’ve had potential customers stop by your sites and social channels to research, scroll through product pages and learn more about you. They are aware of what you have to offer and have shown interest. They just haven’t made a purchase — at least not yet.
That’s where retargeting can be a gamechanger. Done well, a retargeting campaign can breathe new life into your marketing efforts by encouraging people who have visited your business, website or app to return and become customers.
What is retargeting?
Retargeting is a marketing tactic that serves online ads to people who have shown interest in your company by visiting your website or engaging with your social media channels but haven’t made a purchase or responded to your call to action. Retargeting ad campaigns use tracking pixels, also referred to as tags, on your social channels or website. They paint you a picture of how each user interacted with your site, such as where they landed, the pages they visited and products they clicked on. When users leave your site, all the information collected is used to present them with relevant ads on their preferred social media channels to keep your brand and products top of mind. Done well, the ads are compelling and ultimately prompt the potential customer to return to your site and make a purchase.
How does retargeting work?
Tracking pixels are pieces of code provided by advertising/social platforms such as Google Ads or Meta’s Ads Manager and LinkedIn. You can place these pixels in your website’s header and they will load on every page. When a user visits your site, the tracking pixel is placed in their browser and records their IP address so you can serve retargeting ads to it. Tracking pixels also allow the advertising/social platform to recognize users when they visit other websites or social media channels.
In addition to recording users’ IP addresses, tracking pixels can monitor page and video views, clicks, downloads, add-to-carts, purchases and form submissions. They do not collect names, addresses or other personal data.
There are three types of retargeting advertising campaigns:
- General website retargeting is the most prevalent. As noted above, it involves tracking visitors to your digital properties who have not converted and encouraging them to come back and make a purchase via retargeting ad campaigns that appear on social media and other websites the user visits.
- Search network retargeting shows ads to users based on the keywords they’ve used in previous searches. In this case, when the potential customer uses the keywords again, your retargeting ads will follow them on social channels, other websites and search engine results pages.
- Remarketing Lists for Search Ads is a feature from Google Ads that lets you tailor your keyword bids and ad text for people who have previously visited your website when they are searching for products you sell.
Benefits of launching a retargeting ad campaign
Retargeting ad campaigns:
- Take personalization to the next level. You can tailor your message based on the online interactions your target audience has had with your brand.
- Accelerate the buyer’s journey. Using the insights you’ve collected, retargeting ads to high-intent prospects guides them on their path from awareness to conversion.
- Allow you to engage with your target audience before, during and after they engage with your brand.
- Improves return on investment. Retargeting ads typically drive better returns than ads that don’t leverage retargeting because you are reaching potential customers who already know and have an interest in your brand. These people have checked out your site and liked what they saw, so they are more inclined to buy.
- Keep your brand front of mind for potential customers. Retargeting ad campaigns create multiple touchpoints with your target audience, helping to make you more memorable when they are ready to make a purchase.
- Are an effective way to promote products. Whether you want to turn the spotlight on new products or your most popular products, retargeting ad campaigns provide a powerful way to showcase them to people who have already demonstrated an interest in your brand.
The difference between retargeting and remarketing
The terms retargeting and remarketing are often used interchangeably, but there is one distinct difference. While retargeting serves personalized online ads to potential customers who have visited your site without buying anything, remarketing sends customized messages — often via email — to people who have made a purchase to get them to buy again. Remarketing can involve offerring discounts or special offers to existing customers to help build brand loyalty.
Retargeting best practices
Know who you’re targeting
Take a close look at product page views and other key interactions, such as adding items to a cart, and use this information to create your high-intent target audience. This will ensure your retargeting campaign is directed to the people most likely to make a purchase.
Be specific
The biggest benefit of retargeting ad campaigns is the ability to customize your messaging based on all the data you’ve collected about their interests. Use this information to create and serve ads based on what they viewed, clicked or downloaded when they were on your website.
Align landing pages to retargeting ads
Landing pages designed to support and reinforce retargeting ads are more likely to convert paid traffic to sales. That’s because they take users to exactly what they’re looking for and have a clear call to action to buy. Keep the page simple and focused on the end goal with clear, concise and engaging text and clean design.
Set the right budget
Understand what you can afford to spend, the results you want to achieve and the sales cycle for your products. The longer the sales cycle, the longer the campaign will have to run and the more you’ll have to spend. Be sure to allocate enough time and money to achieve your desired outcomes.
Avoid ad fatigue
Make sure your audience isn’t bored and losing interest with your ads now that they’re seeing them more often. Keep ads updated and fresh. Add new text, images and video. Use ad sequencing to tell a story and drive interest. Set parameters for how often during a specific period the same user can see your ads. This will also help you reduce your cost per result by cutting out impressions that don’t drive conversions.
Marketing is not a one-and-done project. It is ongoing. Leveraging retargeting is a powerful way to encourage people who already know and have interacted with your brand to take the next critical step: becoming a customer.
