What Is Remarketing and Why You Need It?

To put it simply, marketing has one single purpose: to get more sales. That’s not exactly a ground-breaking revelation, I know, but we need to say it to set the stage for the discussion and understand the purpose of remarketing.

Placing ads in front of potential customers has traditionally been one of the easiest ways to introduce your product to the world, but things have changed a lot over the years. While traditional advertisements still have their place, companies no longer have to rely on a chance encounter to get their products in front of their customers.

Now, those advertisements will follow those customers around on the internet. (Which sounds creepy, but it’s really not.)

The thing is, not every customer who sees your ad or comes in contact with some element of your marketing campaign will buy your product. In fact, the majority of people who reach your website for the first time probably won’t buy your product.

Most people browsing the internet will visit and leave pages in quick bursts. Many of them don’t convert while on your website. Some of them may visit while your product is out of stock. Others may just be in the “curious” stage and not ready to make a purchase yet.

All of which may seem discouraging.

But there is something you can do to counter these problems.

Remarketing is a simple solution that can help you stay right at the top of your customers’ minds.

What Is Remarketing?

First, let’s take a look at what remarketing actually is.

At its core, remarketing allows you to deliver ads that directly target the people who have visited your website. When those people leave your website, whether they bought something or not, they will start to see your ads show up in relevant places across the internet.

These ads are just like traditional PPC marketing. These ads may be delivered to your potential customers on other websites, but you don’t pay for anything until someone clicks on it.

Ultimately, remarketing is a strategy that lets you reconnect with potential and existing customers as they browse different areas of the internet. They may have only been curious about your products before, but as they continue to consider their options – and continue to see your brand show in relevant places – there is a much better chance that they’ll come back to your site when they’re ready to make a purchase.

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This is why remarketing can lead to higher conversion rates in the long run. It may not be as immediate as you would like (all online marketing takes time), but the returns can definitely be worth it.

How Does Remarketing Work?

Remarketing works on a simple concept, and it’s relatively easy to set up on your website.

You simply place what’s called a remarketing tag on your website. You could technically place this tag on every single page of your site, though it is more effective to focus on specific products or services.

For example, you may want to place this remarketing tag on a page that offers a product that most consumers won’t buy the first time they see it. These might be larger, luxury items that consumers naturally want to research before making a purchase. Or it could be a highly competitive product, where others are offering the same type of product.

Once a customer visits that page, a cookie is left on the user’s browser. If they leave your site without converting, they will begin to trigger your targeted ads through the Google Display Network when they visit other relevant websites.

You can customize how these ads are triggered and where the remarketing tags are embedded in your website, which gives you greater control over who you want to target and how you want to target them.

Remarketing and PPC go hand in hand, and the same techniques used to zero in on the best keywords and segment your audience to ensure your audience is seeing the best possible messaging.

Get Dynamic

Dynamic remarketing lets you take this process a step further. The simplest way to set up a standard remarketing campaign is to simply show these customers an ad for your company.

You don’t have to stick to the same old thing, though. It’s also possible for you to show these customers an ad that highlights the specific product or service that they viewed while on your site. This is particularly useful for ecommerce sites that have a lot of products or many repeat customers.

The Benefits of Remarketing

Remarketing offers a variety of benefits for your business. The first and foremost of which is the greater potential to turn a casual visitor into a paying customer.

Remarketing efficiently and consistently can raise conversion rates, if employed correctly. Simply put: this is a comparatively reliable way to reach your customers at the time when they’re ready to make a purchase.

Remarketing is also very cost effective, so even smaller businesses can see a lot of success with this strategy.

You can potentially see a lower cost per impression because you won’t be competing for keyword placement in a Google Search. Instead, you’re specifically targeting customers who have visited your site.

You can also get very specific with how you target your ads. You can send a specific ad to someone who abandoned their shopping carts and a different one to someone who spent a lot of time on a specific page.

And, just like traditional PPC advertising, you will have some hard data on how each ad performs on computers and mobile devices. This, of course, is the kind of information we need to continually evolve and improve your advertisements.

Bring Your Customers Back

Remarketing is a very effective way to reach customers and encourage them to come back to your website and are too good to ignore. You can target customers directly, and since you know they’ve already seen your site and product at least once, you know that they at least have some interest in your business.

Maybe it wasn’t the right time before. Don’t miss your opportunity if the right time comes around a few days later.