Retargeting is currently one of the most-used digital marketing strategies on the market. The proven effectiveness of retargeting campaigns and the level of personalization you can now do are great things to have in your arsenal, especially with the market being as competitive as it is today. Retargeting – differs only in method from remarketing – isn’t just useful for sales purposes, but also for building a better relationship with potential and existing customers.
Similar to other digital marketing tools, you have to know how to use retargeting to your advantage. Simply taking raw data and hoping the campaign will work will not cut it. That is why in this article, we are going to take a look at the four secrets to a successful retargeting campaign.
Relevance
The first secret is relevance. Relevance is everything in retargeting; in fact, it is the underlying principle that makes retargeting so popular and effective. Instead of displaying the same ads to every visitor or potential customers, you utilize the information you have on those customers to deliver a more personalized message.
By using cookies and other tools, you can get to know your potential customers better. Let’s say a visitor browses through your collection of T-shirts. The ads displayed to that particular visitor will focus more on T-shirts and other relevant items. The way this is achieved is by reading cookies generated when the visitor browses through your site. Of course, you have to be non-intrusive (and present a clear privacy policy) to incorporate retargeting successfully.
There are advanced retargeting tools too. For example, OnSite Retargeting from OptInMonster is one of the most comprehensive retargeting tools you can use today. The suite offers so many features, from the ability to gather insights on customers to tailored advertising messages and retargeting campaigns. You don’t have to do anything manually either, since the entire suite is automated.
Variation
Relevance is important, but there is another secret that will boost the effectiveness of your retargeting campaign: variation. Sure, the main goal of retargeting is to remind users about the items they searched for – or have added to the shopping cart – in the past. That said, you should recommend other items in the same category or complimentary items that will get users more excited about making a purchase.
Variation is what will separate your retargeting campaign from the rest of the market. Instead of displaying the same items over and over again through display ads and other channels, you can now recommend more items from your catalogue to attract the users into returning to your site. This is a strategy that many businesses have used successfully as well.
Try searching for hotels in a certain area on Agoda or other travel sites. It will not be long before you start seeing ads on special deals and offers for hotels in that area when you open other ad-supported sites. What’s interesting is the fact that these ads will not only display the hotel you were interested in, but also other great deals in the area.
Some retargeting campaigns take it a step further. Using the previous example, you may start seeing ads for flights to the destination, holiday packages, and tours that are even more affordable than when you choose to book things separately, and of course additional services that compliment a visit to the destination of your choice.
Positioning
Next, we have positioning. Retargeting isn’t about spamming your potential customers with ads; that will only drive them away. You have to be strategic with the ad placement and timing. Instead of bombarding customers with ads – and wasting a lot of money in the process – you now have the option to fine-tune details about the campaign for maximum effectiveness.
If you’re selling holiday packages, for instance, you can take advantage of the industry insights to refine your targeting. For example, you can display the retargeting ads during peak office hours – usually around 3pm when workers are already tired but still have plenty to do – to capture impulsive customers. Some potential customers will make their purchases almost immediately.
Where the ads are displayed matters too. Many businesses are more interested in beating their competitors than reaching actual customers. As a result, you see many retargeting ads being displayed on competitors’ sites or on search results for certain keywords associated with the competitors. This is a strategy that may work from time to time, but it is not the strategy that offers the highest return on investment.
Instead, focus on the customers. You already know who your target customers are, which means it is relatively easy to learn about the sites they normally visit and their online behavior in general. Use those insights to position your ads strategically and you’ll be surprised by the return on investment you get from the campaign. You can also use analytics plugins like MonsterInsights to review how your visitors are behaving on your site. If the bounce rate is incredibly high on a page where you’ve just placed an ad, you’ll know it needs moving.
Delivery
Last but not least, there is the delivery of the ad itself. This covers more than just the content of the ads. What the customers see after clicking on the ads matter just as much. Fortunately, you also have more tools to use and a wider variety of contents to add to the digital ads. You can even display multiple items and set up hotspots that lead to different landing pages.
Customers are much smarter – and much more sensitive – today. Instead of using the old-school strategy of extravagance, you can get better engagement with subtle and clean display ads. Limit the number of colors and animations you use and try to make the ads appear seamless regardless of where they are placed.
The next part of this equation is the landing page itself. There is no point in doing a retargeting campaign if you’re only going to direct customers to the home page of the site instead of the actual product page; unfortunately, this is also a mistake many businesses still make today. Create a landing page that personalizes the customer’s experience and you can take your conversion rate to an entirely different level.
Using Retargeting Effectively
Aside from the four secrets we covered earlier, there are strategies that will also help you improve the effectiveness of your retargeting campaign. The one thing you always have to keep in mind when using this digital marketing instrument is that the customers need to feel good. This means improving user experience (UX) at every turn.
Small things such as displaying the customers’ abandoned shopping carts when they revisit your site are the kind of touches you need to deliver that feel-good UX. They will appreciate the fact that you remember the items they were interested in; they are far more likely to finish the checkout process too, since there are only one or two more steps to complete.
Lastly, always go the extra mile to make the user experience very personalized. Offer exclusive discounts for the specific purchase the customer wants to make, deliver a variation of your key message that works for that particular customer, and don’t forget to offer support whenever possible.
These are strategies that you can implement easily, but they are strategies that will further enhance the impact of a retargeting campaign. With the four secrets and top strategies tailored to the needs of your business, a simple retargeting campaign can turn into an incredible investment that keeps paying off.
Zoe Price
Zoe is a young, passionate writer with ample experience in blogging and all things e-commerce.
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