Ever been on a website and noticed it’s featuring an advertisement for another website you had just browsed moments before? It’s no coincidence. You’ve been retargeted.
The online marketing tactic has really gained momentum over the past few years and allows businesses to re-engage visitors as they leave their brand’s website and browse other places online, including social. Some say creepy, but it is a smart move, especially for small businesses in today’s digital, social and mobile world as it keeps your offerings top of mind. And as a small business owner, you need that extra push now more than ever to get in front of consumers and battle competitors in your space.
I’ve asked Erika Jolly Brookes, CMO at Springbot to share her insight on this with us.
When done right, retargeting can transform window shoppers into customers. In fact, generally two percent of shoppers convert on the first visit to an online store. Retargeting brings back the other 98 percent, according to AdRoll.
However, retargeting can be challenging, especially for first-timers. Without a good strategy in play, you run the risk of developing ads that won’t resonate with your target prospects and end up wasting money. The following are tips to help you overcome those challenges and master retargeting for your small business.
Let Data Guide Your Campaign
First things first, in order to execute a successful retargeting campaign you will want to come up with a killer offer that’s going to drive clicks and conversions. Struggling for ideas? Look no further than your customer data to devise a genius idea.
Analyzing the purchase data trends of your customers can give you a better handle on what will pique the interest of similar consumers. When reviewing the data, ask yourself:
- What items are these customers purchasing most frequently?
- When are they purchasing? Does seasonality play a factor?
- Where are they purchasing, online or in-store?
- What marketing campaigns and offers are driving traffic and conversions?
Another opportunity is running seasonal and promotional ads to reach a cyclical group of site visitors. You might find your most loyal customers purchase twice the amount of gift sets during the holiday shopping season, for example. This would indicate that a holiday focused retargeting campaign with ad creative featuring a special offer on gift sets with a unique coupon code has tremendous potential for new sales.
Additionally, today’s consumer likes options. Small businesses operating online storefronts and brick and mortar should look for ways to integrate special offers into their retargeting campaigns that can be taken advantage of both online and in-store.
When it comes to Retargeting, Looks Matter
Once you have your offer nailed down, it’s time to think through compelling ad format and creative. In the world of retargeting, the visual attractiveness with a strong call to action is critical.
In order to create click-worthy ads, here are 5 tips small businesses should follow:
- Make your logo on each ad stand out. You want viewers to know exactly what they’re clicking on and drive brand awareness in the process.
- Have a strong, clear call-to-action on each ad. This can come in the form of a button or graphic, with text like “Shop Now”, “Click Here”, or “Learn More” to prompt customers to click back to your site and purchase.
- Keep text minimal but impactful. Balance text with engaging images that reinforce the copy on your ad.
- Steer clear from using ads with a white background, as they will easily blend in with the colors of a webpage that has a white background.
- Make typography bold and engaging to contrast with standard webpage text and draw attention.
To take things a step further, advanced retargeting through dynamic ad delivery will also allow you to increase appeal to consumers through personalization. Dynamic ads leverage visitor website behavior once they leave to another site within the AdRoll ad network to show the exact products previously viewed along with your logo. That feels like a win-win for the retailer and consumer.
Run Retargeting Ads Across Web AND Social
While web-based retargeting is very powerful, within the past year, social retargeting has really opened the doors for small businesses, especially those struggling to reach customers via mobile. Social now represents nearly 20 percent of total time spent online in the U.S. across both desktop and mobile, so it’s important that you ensure your marketing plans include these channels.
By running retargeting ads across the web and social networks, small businesses can cast a bigger shadow, meeting shoppers where they are and reminding them of the great products they offer. Our research, in conjunction with AdRoll, suggests adding social to your retargeting strategy can increase conversions up to 73 percent.
Not a Silver Bullet, but Part of a Powerful Marketing Plan
Ultimately, it takes a smart strategy and back-end work to make retargeting successful. Before diving in, it’s important as a small business owner to really understand your customer base and develop offers that will appeal to them and others like them. You also want to create ads and leverage ad technology like dynamic retargeting that will stand out to consumers and pull them back to your site. Moreover, it’s becoming increasingly important to ensure your ads display across social and web channels where your customers spend their time.
Putting these tips into play can generate real retargeting results and elevate your marketing efforts to drive consumers to your small business.
About Erika Jolly Brookes
Veteran technology and marketing executive Erika Brookes is chief marketing officer for Springbot, a marketing automation platform for eCommerce businesses, and her responsibilities include leading all brand, product, marketing campaigns and communications. Find her on Twitter at @ebrookes.
