Using Retargeting to Get the Most Out of Your Ad Dollars
We live in a day and age when browsing the web is no longer an anonymous activity. In addition to all of the "+1's" and "Likes" we leave in our digital wake, we're also the recipients of retargeting (or remarketing) advertisements and emails. We've all experienced retargeting by now. Retargeting is a simple yet effective solution that places anonymous tracking cookies on your browser. This cookie is a small file that stores information on which pages you've visited on the web. This same cookie lets your retargeting provider know when you've gone to another website, and it will bid on ad space in real time so that if you're the highest bidder, an ad will show on the page. For example, if you visited Zappos.com today and looked at hiking boots, you may see the same boots in an ad while browsing CNN.com.
Retargeting is more efficient than traditional display or email advertising because marketers can use the technology when shoppers have shown intent to purchase or familiarity with a brand. There are many solutions for retargeting, and some firms specialize in it (e.g., AdRoll, ReTargeter and Fetchback), while others integrate it into their overall advertising suite.
The placements are determined largely by how much you're willing to spend. When setting up your campaigns, you do have some control over the types of sites that your ads appear on, so it's a good idea to work with the vendor to identify ideal sites for your target audience. The ads themselves can include standard messaging that displays to everyone or they can be personalized, dynamic ads. It's highly advisable to customize your ads based on the user's behaviors, particularly for retailers.
Dynamic Ads
Instead of showing a basic ad, it's much more effective to show your shopper the boots that she was browsing before leaving your site. Even better, if your shopper has an item in their cart, why not serve up a promotion to entice her to come back and complete the order? These customized methods of reaching out to consumers typically convert better and are more eye-catching than traditional forms of web advertising.
Email Retargeting
Email retargeting is another useful form of remarketing, particularly when retailers use in conjunction with abandoned carts. When a shopper abandons their cart, the first dynamic email sent with the product in the body of the message generally represents around 40 percent of revenue, according to research published by ExactTarget. A second and third email with customized content represents 43 percent of revenue!
Key Considerations
While the costs of retargeting are often lower than traditional channels, it's still important to put some strategic thought into your retargeting campaigns. When starting your program, you'll need to decide which model you'd like to use. The standard models for online advertising apply to retargeting: CPM (pay for all impressions), CPC (pay per click) and CPA (pay per conversion). Some vendors offer you a combination of these three. CPM and CPC are more common and widely available, while marketers that choose CPA are generally more interested in return on investment since they're only paying per conversion.
Other things to keep in mind are that you don't want to show too many impressions, as it will increase the likelihood of "creeping out" your customer. On the other hand, you don't want too few impressions either — the number that's widely used as a guideline is 17 impressions to 20 impressions per user per month. Additionally, you'll want to identify the behavioral segments that you want to plan your campaign around and then test those ads and emails.
Finally, be sure to spend time on your creative. Ads that aren't customized or are unattractive won't get the traction you're looking for. After spending all of this time strategizing your retargeting program, don't let the creative drop the ball.
Will Devlin leads ShopVisible's Professional Services group, which is focused on implementing programs and strategies designed to grow client's online revenue.
