Retargeting Previous Website Visitors

March 10, 2015 8:47 am

If you have ever watched someone window shopping at the mall, then you know the behavior is enough to drive marketing specialists mad!  A window shopper may stop and visually browse, show interest in a specific product but never actually purchase anything. 

The same problem occurs with online marketing.  A visitor to a site may search your site for an item but never convert over to a paying customer.  In fact ReTargeter Online states  that 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. Let’s look at how Retargeting can change your window shoppers into loyal customers.

The basic idea behind retargeting is to show ads to people who have visited your website or used your mobile app before. When people leave your website without buying anything, for example, remarketing helps you reconnect with them by showing relevant ads as they browse the web, as they use mobile apps, or as they search on Google. On the technical end, all that is needed is a code inserted in the footer of your website.  This code creates a list of people that visit your site by placing anonymous retargeting “cookies” in their browser. Using this code, marketers can display ads to potential customers as they visit others sites. Ultimately this keeps your brand in front of your “window shoppers” with the idea that they will convert over given special offers, or strategic placement of ads.

Getting Started-

  • Regardless of whether you choose a self-service platform or a managed platform, your company can benefit from the expertise of several retargeting vendors.  These include: Google AdWords Remarketing, ReTargeter, AdRoll, FetchBack, and Perfect Audience.
  • After picking a vendor, you need to set several targeting parameters. These parameters can include: audience geography, cookie duration, hours, numbers of impressions per client per day, and rotation of ads.
  • Make retargeting easier by segmenting your visitors.  To do this you may need to divide your site into interests, products, or visitor profile.

Retargeting tends to be effective as it focuses your advertising dollars on people who are already familiar with your brand, product or services and have already demonstrated an interest.

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