Once upon a time, if you browsed the internet for the best laptop to purchase, you might have come to a conclusion about what type of laptop to buy or where to purchase it. Suddenly you start to see ads about laptops. You might be wondering, does the internet read my mind quite well? Hmmm, I’m not sure how to answer that. But, I am happy to inform you that you are among those who have experienced retargeting.
Making a sale is not always easy, but it is more likely to succeed if you don’t expect people to buy from you right away. You need to generate multiple touchpoints with your customers in order to get them to buy from you. Retargeting can help you reach your target audience more effectively by advertising to them again after they have already interacted with your brand or product. It is easy to track down the right contacts and information to help you reach your target audience quickly.
Let’s dive deep into it.
WHAT IS RETARGETING IN E-COMMERCE
Retargeting is an advertising technique that allows you to keep your brand in front of potential customers who have left your site. This is a highly effective way to bring people back to your store, and has been shown to increase brand awareness, boost website conversions, and lower your overall customer acquisition costs.
HOW RETARGETING WORKS: Retargeting works by placing a piece of code on your website (called a pixel) that drops an anonymous browser cookie on each visitor. This cookie allows us to track the visitor’s behavior on our website and serve them targeted ads, content, or offers in the future. This cookie is used to target ads to users who visit other websites in the ad network. The goal is to reel them back onto your site and turn them into a paying customer.
There are a number of different retargeting platforms available, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Some are better suited for certain types of ads, while others are better at targeting specific demographics. It can be difficult to decide which platform is the best fit for your needs, so it’s important to research each one thoroughly. The most popular advertising platforms are Google AdWords, Facebook Ads, and Perfect Audience.
HOW TO USE RETARGETING IN ECOMMERCE
If you’re thinking about retargeting, be sure to target your audience based on where they are in the buying process. Depending on where your customers are in that journey, your ads will have completely different goals. Make sure to match the best ad creative with the audiences you’re targeting.
With this in mind, there are several ways to use retargeting in ecommerce. Here are a few of the most common examples:
- RECOVERING ABANDONED CARTSRemember the laptop you were trying to buy. You were about to complete your purchase, but then you got a phone call from your mother. We know that this can often last for hours and after the call, you may forget to go back and finish your order.
A few moment later, you receive one of these: Did you have any doubts about your purchase? Would you like to speak with customer service? You’ll receive a 5% discount when you make your purchase. Just a reminder for free shipping, the product will arrive within 2 days.
Somehow, one of these actions results in you completing that order.
Did you just convert? Yes! Retargeting is a great way to connect with new customers and keep them engaged.
- CROSS SELLING & PRODUCT RECOMMENDATIONS
Right after a customer makes a purchase from you is one of the ideal moments to contact them. They are more inclined to shop at your store again in the future when they have complete faith and confidence in it. Also, this is a fantastic moment to begin retargeting your e-commerce advertising with even more product suggestions.
Let’s go back to the previous example.
Assume you own a computer store and someone purchases a laptop. You noticed that person recently purchased a HP pavilion laptop with a laptop cover. In addition to tagging them as “interested in laptops and accessories”, what are your options?
You send them emails in the following months about the various types of HP laptop accessories and what they can do for them. Because the tool recognizes that they’ve clicked on many related items about HP laptops, you only offer a discount for HP custom laptop bags to repeat customers. The possibilities for cross-selling with email retargeting are endless..
AWAKENING INACTIVE USERS
Email marketing tools can be very useful for targeting people who may not have opened your emails in the past, as well as those who have been inactive recently. By using retargeting, you can keep track of who opens your emails and then send them relevant updates and promotions.
