Remarketing is a relatively simple, yet powerful, digital advertising channel which allows you to target pay-per-click ads at people you already know are interested in your product (because they’ve previously visited your website). We honestly can’t believe everyone doesn’t use it. Here’s why:
We all like to believe that every single person that comes in contact with our business follows a nice simple process to buy something from us. Someone visits our site, they become interested in a product, then they hand over their credit card details to purchase something, and all of this happens in one session on our website! In reality, the buyer’s journey is rarely so linear. People get distracted, and they easily change their mind.
Nearly everyone who visits a site for the first time leaves without completing some form of desired action. Getting people to visit your site is hard, and you may be spending lots of money to get them there. Customers could be slipping through your fingers at the last minute. What if you could get them back? You can. By bringing people back to your site through remarketing.
With remarketing, people who visit your site will see your ads elsewhere on the internet. Remarketing ads help direct visitors back to your websites, for another chance at turning them into customers. For example, remember all those times you’ve visited an online shoe store and added a nice pair of kicks to your shopping cart, but didn’t buy? Chances are, you will have been followed around by ads for those shoes on news pages, social media channels and others websites across the internet.
How does remarketing work?
Remarketing isn’t rocket science, but sometimes it can seem a bit like magic. Basically, when a visitor lands on your website, they trigger a Google Analytics script. This script ads a cookie to the user’s browser and adds their Google profile to an ‘audience’. You set up a Google Adwords remarketing campaign which displays ads targeted at this audience. After leaving your website, any user in your audience can be shown ads on other websites within the Google Display Network.
Remarketing isn’t limited to the Google Display Network. Other retargeting techniques include retargeting on social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter), mobile apps, dynamic retargeting (personalized ads up to the specific product/service level), and search retargeting (retargeting based on keywords a customer used to search instead of website visits).
Benefits of remarketing
There’s no doubt about it: retargeting people who have already been in contact with your business works. It makes sense to advertise to consumers who have already expressed interest in your product than pitching to someone who is not familiar with the brand. Remarketing is great because it multiplies the effectiveness of your other marketing channels in 3 ways:
- Increase conversions
Remarketing ads often convert at a higher rate, as they are directed at customers who have already visited your site at least once. Research shows that the average click-through rate for display ads is 0.07%, and the average click-through for retargeted ads is about 0.7% – a 1000% improvement.Further still, website visitors who are retargeted with display ads are 70 percent more likely to convert on your web site. Even giant companies like Kimberly-Clark, a global leader in selling paper products, use remarketing. They have reported 50-60% conversion rates from their retargeting efforts. The abilitiy to target old visitors with new messages is a great option to replace the old email newsletter list.
- Save precious money
On top of their superior performance, remarketing ads are far cheaper than normal display ads. A remarketing campaign will likely achieve one of your lowest cost per acquisitions. Search ads in super-competitive industries can cost up to $50 a click! Remarketing ad clicks by contrast might cost anywhere from 2-100x less, and the best thing, the ad impressions don’t cost you a cent until someone clicks.
- Supercharge your brand
Remarketing supercharges your brand recognition to improve understanding of your other products or services. Research shows that a consumer must be exposed to a message 7 times to get cold recall. Staying top of mind with reminders away from your own online properties ensures you aren’t forgotten and keeps your business at the top of your customers’ consideration. You now have the ability to communicate with potential customers throughout the decision making process.
Setting up your own remarketing campaign
So, if it’s so great, why aren’t more people using remarketing? We’re not entirely sure (common sense isn’t all that common), but it could be because not everyone understands how to get the most out of these campaigns. There are a few shortcuts to setting remarketing campaigns up to get the best results, which is something we do everyday for our clients at Ammo Marketing. Feel free to get in touch with us today for a quick chat about setting up remarketing for your business.
