Improve Your Conversion Rate with Retargeting

Understanding PPC

In short, PPC (pay-per-click) helps connect relevant search users to the service or products they are in need of. Google Text Ads are triggered by what the user is searching for, since they are tied to specific keywords. This method allows you to jump in front of the audience when they are searching for something relevant to what your company offers.

PPC is a very powerful channel that should be handled with extreme caution. Whether you are the type to "set it and forget it" or you are one to closely monitor your advertising, things can go bad real fast resulting in a poor return. However, having a strong presence on other marketing channels can help with your PPC.

There are many different aspects to paid search, but there is one tool that is often overlooked, yet proven to be successful for a lot of advertisers. It’s called retargeting. See the visual below, if you are not familiar with the term. Most sites you visit these days have some sort of retargeting set up and you don’t even know you are caught in their vortex.

Once you visit a site you’re generally placed into different buckets or retargeting lists depending what you view and shop for, and what you might not buy as well. One business that is extremely good at retargeting is (surprise, surprise) Amazon. It's likely you've seen display banners featuring the exact item you have in your Amazon cart on other sites that you visit. 

Closing the Gap with Past Visitors

Retargeting helps bring back past visitors at an affordable price and reassures the audience that you can help them with the service you offer or the product they are interested in. Most internet users are likely to respond to similar messaging. By keeping the content on the display banners and across the website the same, this boosts your brand awareness. As an added benefit you are only charged for showing that ad if they decide to click on it. At the end of the day you are increasing brand awareness, while continuing to build your online presence.

Because the targeting in retargeting can be poorly implemented with a snap of a finger, creating the correct audience list or bucket is extremely important. Paying close attention to the product or service that a site visitor viewed will inevitably help you to close the sale with retargeting. You can create all different kinds of retargeting lists within AdWords and Google Analytics. I am a fan of using the retargeting features within Google Analytics to better target past visitors and here’s why: The lists you can create will allow you to grab more than just paid search traffic and retarget via any channel you want. This allows you to grab a larger target audience than just one channel. The ultimate goal is to bring back these relevant users in hopes of converting them into a successful lead or sale.

Using Facebook to Retarget

Facebook remarketing works similar to Google AdWords remarketing, but instead of displaying ads on the GDN (Google Display Network) they are shown on, well you guessed it, Facebook. Facebook uses their own language for their advertising platform, and their remarketing lists are referred to as "Custom Audiences". Essentially, site visitors are tagged if they have submitted a phone number or email tied to a Facebook account. Facebook will then identify site visitors that did not convert and generate a list for retargeting.

More and more Facebook accounts are being created every day, bridging the gap between businesses and consumers.  Every business should consider Facebook advertising, and specifically remarketing. If you do move forward with Facebook Advertising there are some great benefits that you may not know about. Facebook ads are relativity cheap compared to other similar platforms, such as LinkedIn. The overall targeting ability is exceptionally strong and will help to prevent unwanted clicks. This also helps push the potential customer or user further down the sales funnel.

Don't Overlook Easy Wins

Buying cycles are changing and evolving due to technology. Being able to capitalize on these low-hanging fruit opportunities only boosts the overall success of your establishment. By not taking advantage of powerful marketing tactics, you could be selling your business short of easy sales at the end of the day.

If you are unsure if your business is right for Facebook or Google AdWords retargeting, feel free to reach out for a free paid search consultation to make sure your company is headed in the right direction.