According to DMN, 67 percent of visitors who don't make a purchase the first time they visit a website do make a purchase the second time. Said differently, people who've visited your website are arguably your hottest leads. The good news is that there's a relatively simple way to connect with these leads: it's called remarketing.
What Is Remarketing?
When you visit popular websites – like Walmart or Facebook – you might notice that some of the display ads you see seem to know which websites you've visited recently. In some cases, those ads display the same products you looked at while on those sites.
Businesses achieve this marketing sleight of hand by inserting a piece of JavaScript code into their websites. That code instructs the site to tag site visitors with a browser cookie. The cookie then follows site visitors to other designated websites, enabling ads which match the preferences they display through their behavior on the original site, such as product pages they've viewed.
Search Engine Journal (SEJ) defines remarketing in this way:
"Remarketing…are banner ads that target you after you've visited a company's website. So after you visit a site like 80sTees.com…and move on to a site like Gawker, you might see a 80sTees.com banner ad."
The most effective remarketing campaigns thoughtfully segment site visitors to achieve particular marketing goals. For example, remarketers can tag all site visitors, or those who've viewed specific products, or those who've abandoned shopping carts.
Is Remarketing an Effective Strategy?
CMO recently gathered a spate of data which points to the effectiveness of remarketing ads. Consider, for example, those salient metrics:
• In a recent survey, 30 percent of consumers report a "positive" or "very positive" response to remarketing ads. Only 11 percent reported a negative reaction.
• Retargeting boosts ad response by as much as 400 percent.
• Consumers who view remarketing ads are 70 percent more likely to convert.
• Almost half of search engine marketers say that remarketing is the most underused online marketing technology.
Are There Best Practices to Guarantee Remarketing Results?
Every business is different and has different marketing objectives. That said, some remarketing tactics have been proven to be more successful than others. Here are 10 remarketing tactics we've picked up from our friends at Wishpond that are highly effective for most businesses:
1. Tagging Web Pages Strategically
The web pages you tag should be aligned with key marketing objectives. For example, if there are products or groups of products which are underperforming, you could tag those product pages. Alternately, you could tag landing pages related to a lead generation campaign, or pages with high bounce rates to enhance visitor engagement.
2. Segmenting Site Visitors
Visitors to your website are not monolithic – they have different wants and needs, and they behave differently on your site. It's important to know the best time to leverage remarketing ads. For example, you could tag site visitors who've spent a given amount of time on your site, or viewed a certain number of pages, or downloaded specific content.
3. Bidding More on Your Hottest Leads
Some site visitors are more likely to be influenced by display ads than others. For example, prospects who've visited key landing pages, downloaded eBooks or abandoned shopping carts are more engaged with your business than more casual site visitors. Adjust your bidding strategy to front load those leads who will convert in the largest numbers. This will increase sales and boost your campaign's return on investment.
4. Bidding Less on Cold Leads
This is the flip side of the same coin. Spending on leads who've bounced from your home page (or other general information pages) will produce minimal results and bump up your advertising costs.
5. Offering Discounts to Lost Shopping Cart Visitors
There are many reasons visitors abandon shopping carts – everything from distraction to price point to comparison shopping. You can persuade these site visitors to complete their purchase by offering coupons and discounts related to their abandoned purchase. For those for whom price was a factor in their abandonment, you'll increase conversions.
6. Using Google Analytics Remarketing Lists
Google Analytics (GA) remarketing lists can be particularly helpful. Log into your account, go to admin, property settings, tracking information and data collection. From here, you can switch on remarketing. You can create lists based on a variety of metrics, have those lists imported into your AdWords audience list, and have AdWords create similar lists to extend your campaign to new visitors.
7. Scheduling Ads Strategically
This strategy works well with AdWords and can be equally effective with remarketing ads. Take the time to find out when target leads are most likely to be on the internet and schedule your remarketing ads to appear at those times.
8. Altering Messages That Don't Convert
It's important to monitor the success of your ad messages and change those which aren't successfully converting within a designated timeframe. For example, if you find that the offer of a discount to first-time buyers is falling flat for 10 or 15 days, you could offer free shipping instead. This requires you to produce a variety of quality creatives in a short time, in order to align your ads with different messaging.
9. Not Neglecting Converted Customers
The fact that leads convert (making a purchase, for example), doesn't mean you should cease remarketing to them. You can tag post-conversion landing pages, remarketing to turn converted leads into repeat customers and brand advocates.
10. Testing
You should always A/B test your remarketing campaigns using varying calls-to-action, images, landing pages and messaging. To determine which version of your ads to push, measure metrics like click-throughs, views and conversions.
Conclusion
Remarketing can be among the most effective (and cost-effective) weapons in your marketing arsenal, but it can also be challenging. To ensure the success of your remarketing campaigns, have clear goals, follow best practices and monitor progress. If you need help, check out online resources like those from Google, WordStream and Neil Patel.
