There’s no question about it: Online marketing has changed dramatically over the last several years.
While digital advertising used to be a continual hustle of content, campaigns and publishing on various platforms – all meant to attract new customers and bring former shoppers back – it’s evolved.
Today, marketers can work smarter, not harder
This is thanks, in large part, to a marketing method known as retargeting. Retargeting is a type of online advertising that targets specific consumers based on their digital actions. With retargeting, marketers can display ads to people who abandoned a cart, made a purchase, or bounced from a website.
Here’s a brief breakdown of how retargeting works:
These ads are the heat-seeking missiles of the digital world. Instead of taking the broad net approach, they go after the customers you want, where you want them.
Because of that, they’re incredibly effective and are definitely a tool you should have in your marketing quiver.
Here’s what you need to know about retargeting and how it can help your brand succeed.
Different Types of Retargeting and How They Work
“Retargeting” is an umbrella term.
There are actually several types of retargeting, all of which serve different purposes and help achieve a variety of outcomes.
Here are some of the most popular retargeting methods being used by marketers today.
1. Search Retargeting
Search retargeting allows you to display advertisements to individuals who used search engines to search for keywords and phrases that are relevant to your business.
While this type of retargeting relies on assumptions about user intent, it can be a helpful add-on to your marketing tactics.
2. Site Retargeting
Site retargeting is a bit more intimate than search retargeting.
After a user lands on and bounces from your website, site retargeting allows you to display relevant ads to them on other digital channels, such as a social media site they use.
3. SEO/SEM Retargeting
Running parallel to site retargeting is SEO/SEM retargeting. Like search retargeting, it uses the search terms a user entered before landing on your site to target ads. It goes a step further, though, by combining these search terms with the actions the user took on your site.
From there, it allows you to build highly customized ads to target consumers who searched for and visited your site but didn’t convert.
4. Email Retargeting
Email retargeting pinpoints people who have taken action on your emails. These ads take into account the type of action the user took. For example, someone who merely opened an email will be treated differently from someone who clicked a link or forwarded the email.
5. Contextual Retargeting
Contextual targeting allows you to target users who visit sites that are very similar to, and thus highly relevant to, your site. You see this all the time with car rental websites that target airline site visitors, and vice versa.
6. Engagement Retargeting
While it’s not commonly used, engagement retargeting can work well for companies that offer rich media, flash and videos. This type of retargeting looks at user action and displays ads based on intent and engagement levels.
2018 Retargeting Statistics You Need to Know
So, there are a bunch of different types of retargeting, but how effective is the process as a whole? Here’s our roundup of 2018 retargeting statistics that you need to know so you can make the most of your marketing efforts.
Here are a few 2018 retargeting stats to chew on:
- Customers who see retargeted ads are 70% more likely to convert on your website. Sometimes it takes more than one impression to drive a sale. Retargeting ads are essential for moving on-the-fence customers through the funnel.
- The average CTR for retargeted ads is 10x that of display ads. While display ads earn about 0.07% CTR, retargeted ads come out at about 0.7%.
- While 72% of customers abandon carts, only 8% of customers who are not retargeted come back to convert. Retargeting has the potential to convert shoppers who abandoned their carts. It can also be a great way to make that sale, after all. When you retarget ads to these customers, the conversion rate goes up to 26%.
- 46% of marketing professionals believe retargeting is one of the most overlooked online marketing methods. Get the upper hand on your competition by taking advantage of this underused methodology.
- 9% of brands allocate a separate budget for retargeting efforts. This demonstrates the importance of retargeting and can give your company a model to follow.
- 33% of customers retarget for the sake of increasing revenue. Meanwhile, 33% do it to earn new customers, 16% do it to improve site engagement, and 12% do it to boost brand awareness.
- 3 out of 5 U.S. buyers notice ads for products they viewed on other sites. This exposure can be essential for your sales.
- 30% of consumers have a “positive” or “very positive” reaction to retargeted ads. Only 11% of customers feel negative about them. 59%, meanwhile, have a neutral response.
- Online consumers are open to behaviorally retargeted ads. What’s more, 25% of consumers enjoy them because they remind them of products they’ve viewed previously.
- Email retargeting CTRs are 3-5% higher with upsells. This is compared to standard site targeting.
Retargeted ads can increase branded search exposure. In fact, they can increase it by 1,000% or more! If this is one of the primary efforts, retargeting can be a valuable tool to use.
The Case for Retargeting
Regardless of what industry you’re in or what your goals may be, retargeting is an effective and engaging way to boost your conversions, earn more customers, and bring back consumers who have shopped with you before. In addition to being effective, retargeting is also flexible, which means you can use it to create pretty much any outcome you want.
Need even more info? Check this infographic we’ve created. Feel free to upload it to your site and to share it on social media.
