our ideas

Behavioral retargeting is a straightforward tactic; it utilizes cookies to remind users of information they have already been shown or may be interested in. It’s also a tactic that enables over 65% of users to convert to website usage or product purchase, and businesses are adjusting their budget to take advantage of those conversion rates. While gaining insight into your niche audience is important to success, there are drawbacks.

We live in an interactive world with an emphasis on user experience, which simply means how the user interacts with a business and its aspects. The nature of retargeting leaves room for consumers to view the ads as a hindrance or eyesore in one way or another and many consumers report discouragement from businesses instead of encouragement. You need to minimize the risks to maximize the results, so here are some ways to retarget effectively and with a forward-thinking purpose.

Find Your Niche

The most fundamental step you can take in retargeting is to already have an idea of who you are targeting. Whatever product or service that you provide must have an audience there to want it and find value in it as consistently as you need. In other words, do your research on your audience and how to communicate with them.

Don’t Repeat Yourself

A top reason consumers are turned off by display ads is because they see the same ads over and over again, even after they’ve purchased items. If a consumer makes a purchase, try retargeting them to complimentary items, accessories, or even a loyalty program so they have the opportunity to be rewarded for that purchase. Whatever the alternative, provide new and interesting information instead of the same old thing!

Segment Your Niche

A good way to avoid repetition is to look more deeply into your audience’s behavior. A common way people segment is through two categories: those who have made a purchase and those who have not. Over 90% of consumers who visit a web page, one time, will not make a purchase, so that’s one segment; tailor their retargeting to get them back! Another segment makes it to the checkout page at least once, so offer incentives to continue that behavior such as:

1. Free shipping
2. Discounts
3. Samples

Keep incentives appropriate to what your business can do, but the idea is to talk to different members of your niche differently; once user behavior is involved, your niche and customer personas can no longer be approached with a broad stroke.

Diversify Your Communication

You should also watch out for communicating with your entire audience in the same way. This may depend on your audience and what social channels are most relevant to them, but Facebook, for example, isn’t the only social media outlet out there. Your audience is larger than one channel and you can increase your audience base by providing information across several channels instead of just one or two.

Look Into Mobile

Mobile is consistently showing increased relevance in the marketing world, and this goes for retargeting as well. If your website is optimized for mobile, your retargeting should be just as versatile. While it can be more challenging and costly, it’s entirely possible if you know what you’re doing and take the right steps.

The last thing you want to do, if retargeting is something you invest in, is encourage consumers to opt out of retargeting and display ads altogether. The future of retargeting will expand, and maybe even be “cookieless” but, for now, do what you can with what you have to see a return on your investment!

Fill out the form below to see how Michigan Creative can help you with your retargeting campaign!

– Kris Johnson

Sources:
http://www.digitalinformationworld.com/2014/09/infographic-retargeting-advertising-statistics.html
http://www.b2bnn.com/2015/08/retargeting-lead-generator-or-invasive-nuisance/