How often in life do you get a second chance? What about a third or fourth opportunity to make an impression? When it comes to connecting with consumers, retargeting is another shot at making a sale. It’s a way to reconnect with someone who’s already shown an interest in your product or service, but hasn’t fully committed. Put it this way: on average, a first-time visitor to you website will buy something only two per cent of the time. Retargeting is your chance to remind them about your product and try to make the conversion.

How Does Retargeting Work?

Retargeting is also called remarketing or even remessaging. The main difference between remarketing and retargeting is the strategy. Retargeting is usually based on serving ads to potential customers based on website visits. Remarketing typically refers to information collected through user lists for sales emails. The common denominator is that you’re reaching out to someone who’s already had contact with you.

Retargeting is like tagging someone who has visited your site. This is done with cookies that follow that person around the web. That way, your ad can be served up when that person is on another website. It’s a gentle reminder that you’re still out there with the product or service they once showed an interest in.

Remarketing best practices include promoting an offer and including a CTA. For example, let’s look at a visitor who put a pair of pants in their shopping cart but never purchased the item. Use remarketing to tell that person when the pants go on sale and present them with a link taking them straight to the purchase option. Fifty-four per cent of shoppers said they would purchase abandoned items if those items were offered at a lower price later. You can also use the visitor’s behaviour to target them for related items by showing ads for pants or clothes from the same designer.

Smart Marketing

Google ads retargeting has been around since 2010. According to Google, using retargeting in conjunction with the other advertising can help you sell 50% more stuff. In fact, retargeting has been shown to be a hugely successful placement strategy. Online shoppers are 70% more likely to convert when retargeted with display ads. Retargeting also increases brand recognition.

Supporting Stats

Here are some cold, hard facts about lost business in the online marketplace.

• nearly 60% of shoppers abandon carts before making the purchase
• requiring a user to create an account before purchase results in a loss of 35% of transactions
• an improved checkout process could recover $260 billion

And here are some numbers that are a strong argument for retargeting.

• the bad news: a whopping 72% of customers abandon their shopping cart
• the good news: 26% of online shoppers will complete the checkout process after seeing a retargeted ad
• 72% of millennial shoppers say they don’t mind retargeting

Helpful Info or Intrusive Ad?

How does retargeting make you feel? When you’re presented with an ad for the air conditioning unit you looked at last week while you’re shopping for shoes, do you feel violated? Spied on? Or maybe you welcome the reminder and are glad to know the unit will be on sale this weekend? There seems to be a fine line between helpful information and creepy stalking. One research study suggests that it’s overstepping to be too specific about someone’s search history. Another study shows 30% of people who had been retargeted had a positive reaction to the ad.

Video Retargeting

Video retargeting uses video ads to reach out to contacts. You may have learned about these potential customers when they watched your product video on YouTube. Now you can reinforce your message with a tool such as AdWords. The information gathered from videos these viewers have watched will help you show them personalized ads based on their preferences. This approach increases the chance of making a sale.

A Nudge in the Right Direction

Retargeting is an effective way to move customers down your sales funnel. Take advantage of a population that has already shown interest in your product or service with a gentle reminder. Three out of four users notice retargeting ads. You’re already a familiar face, so give them a reason to return to your site and click buy.