Over the past few years, marketer’s sentiment of display advertising has been deteriorating. Many advertisers and merchants still find it beneficial to run display ads, but more so for branding efforts as ROI is often low.
Retargeting offers marketers and business owners the ability to target display ads, specifically to users who have previously been to their site and haven’t completed the desired action.
With industry estimates reporting that less than 2% of web traffic make a purchase, complete a form or sign up for a product or service when on your site; marketing to that other 98 % has been lost in the weeds. With retargeting, you can display ads to the 98% who bounce and keep your brand in front of them until they’re ready to convert.
Let’s take a look at these two different groups of visitors and see how they interact with your website. You, the marketer or business owner, generate or buy traffic and direct it to your website. The objective is to have that user complete an action, make a purchase, complete a form or sign up for a product – helping grow your business.
Scenario #1: those who convert:
As this visitor browses your site, they love what they see and instantly become interested in purchasing, signing up or completing a form. This visitor is part of the 2% of your web traffic that will, on average, convert when on your site. This visitor is now a customer and will go into your customer retention funnel. They will not be part of your retargeting efforts.
Scenario #2: those who bounce:
As this visitor is browsing your site, they look at a few pages and then “bounce” or leave your website without purchasing, signing up or completing a form. This can be for any number of reasons. Perhaps they received a phone call, were distracted by the kids, wanted to read reviews or perform price comparisons, etc. In any event, they leave your website and don’t return. This visitor is part of the 98% of your traffic, on average, that will leave your website without completing an action. This visitor is still interested in the products or services you offer but just wasn’t ready to pull the trigger.
What are your options?
Previously, you’d lose this visitor and best case scenario; you’d pay to get them to visit your site again. Today, with remarketing services, you’re able to retarget them using display ads as they surf the internet after leaving your site. As they browse other websites, your display ad will render – encouraging them to click through and return to your website.
Retargeting allows you to isolate all the visitors who left your site without performing your desired action. There are many benefits associated with remarketing.
What are the benefits of retargeting?
Continue the conversation: with a well-defined marketing plan, communication with your potential or current customers doesn’t end when they leave your site. Create custom banners to speak to these visitors differently than your general messaging.
Provide additional product information: deliver custom content to visitors who visited specific pages on your site. Providing additional information about products or services to these visitors will increase conversion rates.
Set yourself apart from your competitors: reaffirm your competitive advantage over your competitors in retargeting banners. It increases brand awareness and keeps you in front of the visitor until they’re ready to convert.
Close the sale with a promotion: offer an exclusive promotion to visitors who bounced from your site. Because this won’t be available to the general public, you can offer deeper discounts to these visitors.
Promote similar products and services: perhaps the product or service your visitor looked at wasn’t right for them. With retargeting, you can feature similar products or services they may not have found while on your site, but could have been looking for. New technologies are created which make retargeting more sophisticated and beneficial to your business.
Content-First Strategy Works
It‘s not advertising – it‘s content magnification. You are a position to send prospects to the landing page related to the content they read through retargeting. This method yields a lower cost per lead than using an ad directly to the landing page. The timeframe will be a little longer to make the sale.
An example of a Facebook Retargeting Ad, you would give your prospect good content they want to read. The goal isn‘t to convert upon the first interaction – it is to teach and build relational equity with your potential customer.
Your goal is to build a pixeled audience. (Google and Facebook) It is how you deliver value in advance without losing lots of money in the process. The future of traffic isn‘t about who can get the most clicks the cheapest… it‘s who has the most customer prospects pixeled. This is done by delivering value in advance.