Retargeting, also identified as remarketing, is a form of online advertising that can help you keep your brand in front of bounced traffic after they leave your website. 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.
Remarketing works on building a list of prospects through an insertion of code onto your website. The code tracks prospects that have visited your site and places ad’s on websites throughout Google’s ad network. The users can then click on your ads and return to your landing page.
How Does Google Remarketing Work?
It’s quite simple really. Remarketing works by placing cookies on your website visitors machine when they meet your criteria. Their cookie ID is added to your remarketing list. You can have multiple lists with a range of different criteria.
For example you may wish to target visitors that viewed a particular page or section on your website but didn’t make a purchase or complete and enquiry form.
There are a number of advertising controls including the period of time that a cookie ID stays on your remarketing list; impression caps on how many ads per day are shown to an individual and the ability to block ads on certain websites.
The Google remarketing feature has recently been through a revision and Google has added more features and controls for advertisers. The remarketing feature now allows more flexibility through using upgraded Google Analytics code. This allows for lists to be created and managed without the need to place specific code on the website.
What Is Google Remarketing
Remarketing is a clever way to connect with visitors to your website who may not have made an immediate purchase or enquiry. It allows you to position targeted ads in front of a defined audience that had previously visited your website – as they browse elsewhere around the internet.
The remarketing ads can be delivered in either or both text and image display formats. The ads are managed in Google AdWords and are shown on web pages visited by your target audience that accept Google advertising placements.
Google remarketing is an ideal tactic especially where the sales process is long and considered and competitive. Executed in the right way it can be a powerful tool to improve sales conversions and to raise your brand profile.
Using Remarketing
How a business uses a remarketing strategy depends on how that business first makes contact with its customers. An online retailer must approach the strategy in a different manner than a brick-and-mortar service industry business might.
Businesses that make first contact with customer’s in-person will need to use what is known as an “opt-in” method for gathering customer information. Opt-in systems are simply ways to ask a customer’s permission for contact information.
For remarketing to work, it’s important to remember that even though online customers are leaving, it is that information that is most important. Remarketing will find that information and act on it, giving prospects the opportunity to revisit a brand they already expressed an interest in and giving you the opportunity to gain a customer.
