For most websites, only 2% of web traffic converts on the first visit. Retargeting is a tool designed to help companies reach the 98% of users who don’t convert right away.
Retargeting, also known as remarketing, is a form of online advertising that continues to display ads for your products and services to users that have previously visited your site. Retargeting is a cookie-based technology that uses simple a Javascript code to anonymously ‘follow’ your audience all over the Web.
To do retargeting, your developer places a small, unobtrusive piece of code on your website that is unnoticeable to your site visitors. Every time a new visitor comes to your site, the code drops an anonymous browser cookie on the user. Later, when your visitors browse the Web, the cookie lets your Google know when to serve ads, ensuring that your ads are served to only to people who have previously visited your website. In some cases, it actually serves up and ad for the exact product or service that they were looking at on your website before they left.
Retargeting is so effective because it focuses your advertising spend on people who are already familiar with your brand and have recently demonstrated interest. It’s also extremely valuable to incentivize users to who abandoned a previous cart without purchase. That’s why most marketers who use it see a higher ROI than from most other digital channels.
Retargeting works best in conjunction with inbound and outbound marketing campaigns like Adwords, targeted display ads and triggered email strategies. Retargeting is so effective because it focuses your advertising spend on people who are already familiar with your brand and have recently demonstrated interest. It’s also extremely valuable to incentivize users to who abandoned a previous cart without purchase. That’s why most marketers who use it see a higher ROI than from most other digital channels.
Google lists several ways to use Adwords campaigns to remarket:
- Standard remarketing: Show ads to your past visitors as they browse Display Network websites and use Display Network apps.
- Dynamic remarketing: Show dynamic ads to past visitors with products and services they viewed on your website as they browse Display Network websites and use Display Network apps.
- Remarketing for mobile apps: Show ads to people who have used your mobile app or mobile website as they use other mobile apps or browse other mobile websites.
- Remarketing lists for search ads: Show ads to your past visitors as they do follow-up searches for what they need on Google, after leaving your website.
- Video remarketing: Show ads to people who have interacted with your videos or YouTube channel as they use YouTube and browse Display Network videos, websites, and apps.