Do you remarket to your website visitors? If not, why not?

Did you know that approximately 96% of people leave a website without taking the action the website owner would like them to complete? Whether it’s buying a product, signing up to a mailing list or requesting a callback, the vast majority of people visiting your site do not do it! However, just because they don’t do it on that occasion, doesn’t mean they never will, and the wonders of remarketing strategies means you get a second, a third, a fourth chance to make that all-important impression…

Remarketing, also known as retargeting or remessaging, is a form of pay-per-click marketing, through which you can display banner adverts to people who have already visited your website and performed a particular action. Perhaps you want to target people who added a product to their basket but never got as far as the checkout? Maybe you’d like to charm the people who looked at your blog but who didn’t sign up for updates? Do you want to win over the users who viewed your pricing information without making an enquiry? Your specifically targeted banners will entice and encourage these people to revisit your website, increasing the chances of them completing your desired action.

How does remarketing work?

Targeting previous website visitors in this way involves dropping a tracking cookie on their browser. You can then specify how many days following their visit to your website they will be shown your remarketing adverts, known as your Audience Membership Duration. Research shows that by showing adverts on other sites visited by those users, you can typically reach 84% of your audience within a month.

How do I get started?

You don’t need any special software or tools to get started with remarketing. It can be done using the same Google Display Network you’re already using for AdWords and other PPC marketing. You’ll need to define an audience list of people you want to target, which may include existing customers, users who viewed a particular page or those who abandoned a shopping cart or online form. When creating your ads, you have a choice of 14 different display ad formats in different shapes and sizes, and it’s advisable to create a diverse range of advert in order to increase the chances of it being displayed in a good position.

What should my adverts look like?

Google calculates the cost-per-click for your adverts based on your click through rate using a Quality Score algorithm. Ads with the highest CTR will have a lower cost-per-click, and so – to state the obvious – it makes sense to create ads that people will want to click on. You could offer an incentive such as a % discount to users who return to your site to complete the purchase they abandoned, or perhaps advertise a sale or great offer you’re currently running. Image based ads perform far better than text ones, so spending a little time designing a winning advert is definitely a worthwhile investment.

Is remarketing worth the effort?

If you’re already doing targeted PPC anyway, remarketing takes no more time and effort to set up, and can have some great results for your business. From increased brand visibility to a higher conversion rate on your existing traffic, you can improve your customer retention and gain more sales through targeting people you already know are interested – why wouldn’t you want these benefits?! 

For more information, here’s a really detailed article by Hubspot examining specific results of remarketing strategies and how you can make them work for you. For a more concise piece, this post from Blue Fountain Media contains key facts and tips for a successful campaign.