When you “remarket” or “retarget,” you show your Facebook or Google ads to people who have already visited your site. The goal is to remind potential customers that you exist and to move them closer to making a purchase. Remarketing ads can move you closer to that goal.
Why remarket? Because most people need a little encouragement before paying good money for anything. Almost no one converts on their first visit to a website.
According to an Episerver survey, 92 percent of first-time visitors do not visit websites to make a purchase. Even worse, one-third of visitors who are there to buy something never complete their checkout. Rumor has it, only 2 percent of first-time visitors actually convert.
What Visitors Want
Many are just window shopping – they’re curious about what you have to offer. Some are comparison shopping – they’re evaluating your prices, assessing your expertise, and checking out competitors.
Others are ready to buy. They put an item in their shopping cart. They click the checkout button. They get their wallet out… and then they have second thoughts. “Should I really spend the money?” “Do I really need a new pair of loafers?” “Do those bookends really go with my décor?” “Should I wait for my next paycheck?”
Perhaps they get cold feet. Maybe they get distracted by a call or a text. For whatever reason, they never input their credit card number and become a bone fide customer. Does that mean they’re lost? That it’s hopeless? That you should move on to the next potential buyer?
On the contrary, it means you should double down with remarketing ads.
Why You Can’t Afford to Ignore Remarketing Ads
A remarketing ad gives you one, two, three more shots at winning a customer. Rather than take a hit-and-run approach to advertising, you’re nurturing leads and cultivating relationships.
It’s no surprise that remarketing ads have significantly higher conversion rates than raw ad campaigns – up to 2 or 3 times as much. By the time someone sees your ad a second, third, or fourth time, they might be thinking something very different than they were the first time they saw it. “On second thought, that pillow does look good, doesn’t it?” “I do need a new pair of sneakers.” “I just got paid. Why not spend a little money?”
The more you show your ad, the greater the chance that you’ll reach them at just the right moment. Repeat ads also help with brand recognition. We may live in the age of instant gratification but many still take their time when shopping (particularly for expensive items). In other words, you need time to build trust with potential customers. Why spend all your energy trying to attract even more first-time visitors when they’re just as unlikely to convert? Why not spend more time trying to convince those who are already interested in your brand?
But how do you do it?
How to Reel in Repeat Visitors with Remarketing Ads
In order to retarget someone, you need to know who they are in the first place. The only way to do that is to put a piece of code (a cookie) on your site that tracks what they do and where they go next. Google AdWords, for example, lets you insert “tags” in your site and Facebook Ads has a similar feature called “tracking pixels.” No matter which you use, you’ll need to add that little piece of code to the header of a webpage, you can:
– Show an ad to someone who has already visited your site
– Show people products they looked at while browsing your site
– Retarget people based on how they found your site (i.e. through Facebook, Twitter, Google search, etc.)
– Send an email that reminds former visitors that they have items in their shopping cart
What’s the Difference Between Facebook and Google Remarketing Ads?
There are plenty of differences between Google AdWords and Facebook Ads. When it comes to retargeting campaigns, here are some key distinctions between Google Remarketing and Facebook Remarketing:
– Minimum Users Required: You only need 20 Facebook users in order to set up a retargeting campaign while AdWords requires 1,000 users.
– Demographics: Facebook is better when it comes to targeting people based on very specific demographic data. You can filter results based on where people live, what hobbies they’re interested in, what beliefs or worldview they subscribe to, etc. Mix that level of granularity with retargeting and you have the ingredients for marketing success.
– Actions completed: When you use AdWords, on the other hand, you can leverage the incredible power of Google Analytics. That means you can track exactly what people are doing across your entire website and set up retargeting goals based on specific actions, like when someone downloads a PDF, signs up for a newsletter or puts something in their cart and then abandons it. You can then show different ads to people depending on what actions they’ve taken.
– Social engagement: Facebook lets users like and comment on your ads, which increases engagement and may improve your brand image in the eyes of potential customers, particularly if you have plenty of satisfied customers.
– Cap view numbers: If someone sees your ad 50 times per day, they may get tired of it. They may also get incredibly annoyed with you. Google AdWords lets you cap the number of times people see your retargeted ad. Facebook does not.
– Integrate mailing Lists: Facebook lets you design your retargeting campaign around an imported mailing list, so you don’t have to rely exclusively on their user data.
– Location-based targeting: Both Facebook and Google let you show your ad to customers based on where they live and hang out, which is great if you’re a local business.
In the end, both Google and Facebook offer incredible remarketing capabilities. Whether you use one or the other depends primarily on which ad platform you use in the first place – AdWords or Facebook Ads. If you advertise on both, you’ll want to retarget on both as well.
Rethink Your PPC Strategy
If you think you’ll snag new customers on the first try, you haven’t yet encountered the hard reality of PPC marketing. The truth is that remarketing ads are necessary for advertising success. People need repeated exposure to your brand, frequent reminders about your products, and plenty of encouragement before they hit the “checkout” button.
If you need help setting up your remarketing campaign, get in touch with the digital growth experts at National Positions. We can help you remarket your way to PPC success.
