If you have spent any time at all researching a product online, then there’s an almost 100% chance you have experienced some form of retargeting—even if you were not aware of it. Retargeting has gotten so powerful with recent technology that it may even feel a bit creepy for internet users. The good news is, no one’s looking over your shoulder. However, brands and search engines do have the capabilities to obtain information as if they were. Read on to learn more about retargeting, why it’s not as “creepy” as it seems, and how to harness this digital superpower for your company’s benefit.
What is Retargeting?
Also known a remarketing, retargeting is a digital advertising strategy aimed at online users who have visited your business website. That is, targeting potential customers who have already expressed interest in your business.
Retargeting is a way of reminding people that they were once interested in your site. An effective retargeting ad should noticeable to users, but not so noticeable that they feel intruded upon.
Why Retargeting?
Many studies show that only 2% of people who visit a website are converted to a sale of some kind during their initial visit. Retargeting is the purposeful pursuit of these other 98%, who have already found your website in today’s noisy and crowded web. It makes sense to put your digital marketing dollars into vehicles that are going after interested prospects, instead of people who have not already demonstrated an interest and taken the first step.
How Does Retargeting Help a Business
Retargeting will not drive new traffic to your site, but it will give you additional exposure to those customers who have browsed your website at least once. Here are a few more compelling reasons to start a retargeting campaign for your brand:
• Find customers more easily
• Target precise populations
• Increase conversions
• Generate leads
• Maximize return
• Create brand awareness
• Reinforce loyalty
With an effective strategy in place to gain initial traffic to your site, retargeting will then help you to get the most out of this traffic.
How Does Retargeting Work?
Retargeting is all about browser cookies. A java script code inserted on your website creates a list of people who have visited your site and inserts an unobtrusive cookie into their browser. This allows retargeting providers to isolate out the people who were previously on your website, and to serve your online ads to them as they traffic other sites on the web.
Facebook is a great example of retargeting. Have you ever searched for a product on its website, and then the next time you were on Facebook, started seeing ads in your feed for exactly the same item? This is retargeting working its magic.
Types of Retargeting
There are different types of retargeting depending on what types of digital activity your traffic was engaged in. These can be broken down into two different categories: On-site events and off-site events.
Retargeting On-Site Events
Website Retargeting:
Triggered by any action that a user completes on your website, abandonment of a shopping cart or general product browsing.
SEO/SEM Retargeting:
Allows the source of your traffic to direct them to a customized message that is specifically targeted to this demographic.
Email Retargeting:
Subscribers to your email lists can be targeted based on their responsiveness to your promotions, offers, and newsletters sent to their inbox.
Retargeting Off-Site Events
Search Retargeting:
Takes place when potential customers search for products on Google, Yahoo or other search engines.
Social Retargeting:
Allows you to created granular, targeted ad campaigns to people who are interested in similar content as your current customers.
Contextual Retargeting:
Occurs when potential customers have visited or shown an interest in an affiliate or partner site that appeals to similar interests and topics as your website.
Engagement Retargeting:
Users take specific action after viewing or interfacing with a click-to-expand ad or online game or application.
The digital marketing tools available today make retargeting more simple than ever. Hopefully this introduction to retargeting will encourage you to develop a retargeting strategy of your own so that you can capitalize on your website traffic.
