Marketing is all about reaching the right buyers and coaxing them through the sales funnel. But, alas, it doesn’t always go smoothly. Shopping carts are abandoned, forms left unfilled and prospects visit your site only to then disappear into the abyss.
What if you could find a way to recapture these people? One innovative advertising strategy makes it possible. It’s called remarketing, and it can help keep your buyers from slipping through the cracks.
Remarketing was introduced as a feature of Google AdWords in 2011. Its aim is to leverage your visitors’ interest in order to convert them into sales. Here’s how it works: A cookie is placed on your visitors’ computers to track their search habits on your site. You insert some code on each page that you want to track. These visitors are then targeted with future ads that reflect their interest in your products and services. Since they are already interested, the odds of these users clicking on the ads and converting into buyers are higher.
Studies have shown that behaviorally-targeted ads are twice as effective as non-targeted ads. Some key benefits of remarketing include:
Target buyers based on pages visited
Each page of your site can have a separate code embedded in it, to track visitor interest. This way, you will know which people are looking at cameras, which are researching TVs, and which are interested in MP3 players.
Target visitors who left without purchasing
Ok, so you lost the sale this time. The visitor left without buying. What if they really liked what they saw, but the prices were just a little too high? Remarketing allows you to lure these people back to your site next week, when your gaming systems are on sale. Just send them an ad when the time is right.
Target visitors who did purchase
Sometimes, people who have already made a purchase need a little prompting to come back and buy again. Anyone who has made it to the checkout page can be tracked and sent ads for similar items, to encourage future purchases.
Capture those who abandon shopping carts
Many potential buyers change their minds at the last minute. Use remarketing to create custom combination remarketing lists that tell you who put items in their carts and which of these never actually completed the transaction. Send these potential customers ads that prompt them to come back and purchase these items—perhaps at a discounted price.
Have control over ad time lengths
With remarketing, you have control over how long your ad campaign lasts. Google sets a default of 30 days, but you can adjust this based on your own preferences and the buying habits of your visitors.
In a tough marketing environment characterized by tight budgets and ever-shrinking margins, remarketing allows businesses to squeeze more leads and sales out of their website visits. This clever interest-based advertising tool can capture the ones who got away, encourage existing buyers to come back and increase your lead conversion rate without breaking the bank.
