How Does Retargeting Work?
Retargeting involves marketing to customers who have already visited your website but left without converting. It’s a way to move customers who aren’t ready to buy deeper into the sales funnel while luring back buyers who tried to leave it prematurely.
Considering the average eCommerce conversion rates are reported to be around 2.5% to 3%, your brand stands to benefit significantly from bringing even a fraction of that 97% of lost customers back. Let’s look at how retargeting works and how this form of digital promotion can be used to market your brand effectively.
What Is Retargeting?
Simply put, retargeting enables you to market to your site visitors after they leave through cookie tracking. With the Google Ads interface, you can follow visitors across the web and send them relevant ads through Google’s Display Network or using traditional ads. Similar campaigns can be set up on other platforms like Facebook or Instagram, where your site visitors will see ads for your brand when they bounce from your website.
To break it down further, here is how you set up a retargeting campaign and how your ads reach your past site visitors:
For additional resources on setting up your retargeting campaign, including step-by-step instructions for navigating the Google interface, start with this YouTube video created by Google Ads. Keep in mind that this video was before Google updated its Ads interface. AdEspresso created a new guide for the updated format with screenshots of each step. These two resources should help you get your retargeting campaigns up and running.
When done well, retargeting can show compelling ads to customers who are familiar with your brand and already considering making a purchase.
Why Is Retargeting Effective?
Retargeting is an effective form of marketing because it reaches people already familiar with your products. Instead of constantly introducing your brand to new customers, you can market to people who already know what you offer. Some companies use retargeting to create a more compelling offer for buyers on the fence. If a customer bounced because they wanted to shop around, a coupon code or discount might bring them back to pull the trigger.
In order to make retargeting effective for your brand, you need to know why your site visitors bounce. While every customer is different, these are a few common reasons why people don’t convert:
For example, think about a travel eCommerce site like Southwest. A customer might browse for flights but want to keep shopping before deciding where to go. They bounce, but a compelling ad reminds them about their vacation plans a few days later, so they return to the Southwest site to finally book the trip. The retargeting ads kept them in the sales funnel and brought them deeper to the point where they could buy.
The Data Behind Retargeting
This information isn’t just based on theory, either. There is concrete data that proves customers respond well to retargeting and are likely to engage with your retargeted ads. Consider a few of these retargeting statistics:
This data shows that your customers want to buy from you – they just need a little extra prodding sometimes to come back and complete the purchase.
What Is the Difference Between Retargeting and Remarketing?
Throughout your research process, you may come across people and pages that refer to remarketing instead of retargeting. While remarketing and retargeting are similar, they have distinct differences:
For example, if you send a follow-up email to a customer who didn’t convert, that’s part of your remarketing campaign. If that customer sees an ad from the Google Display Network, they’ve been retargeted.
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