Using Retargeting Ads

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been writing about different methods to drive traffic to an e-commerce website. So far I’ve covered such topics as PPC, SEO and the future of search engines. But another method to drive traffic to a website that many businesses are not aware of is with the use of retargeting advertising.

What is retargeting?

Retargeting advertising is a method of marketing that keeps your brand in front of online users who have already visited your website. For most websites, roughly only 2% of the traffic actually converts into a sale on the first visit. Retargeting ads are an effective tool designed to help websites rein in that other illusive 98%.

It is an extremely effective way to display your content to the appropriate audience as the only people who see the ad are those who have visited your website. And they typically provide a higher ROI than other online marketing methods because it focuses advertising dollars only on those who have shown an interest in your company. Want to see how it works? Go visit an ecommerce website, and then visit a different, more general site like a news or weather site. You’ll probably see an ad for your original visit.

How does it work?

So how does this work? Retargeting ads are displayed by way of a cookie that uses a basic Javascript code to follow your web traffic around the internet. Once it’s active, every time a new visitor visits your site, the code places a cookie on their browser. Then, when the visitor browses the web, the cookie will let the retargeting provider know which ads to display, thus ensuring that your ads are only seen by those who’ve been to your site.

When should I do it?

By now you’re probably imagining all of the possibilities for your brand with retargeting ads. But don’t get ahead of yourself! Retargeting ads work best with they’re part of a full digital marketing campaign as they help improve conversions on traffic, but they do not drive new visitors to your site. Your SEO, PPC, email outreach and social media campaigns are the best for driving traffic to your site and the retargeting will bring them back.

What should my ads look like?

You do not need to completely reinvent the wheel with designing a retargeting ad. As I said earlier, they’re best done in conjunction with a complete digital marketing campaign. So my best recommendation on how to design the ads would be to keep the messaging in line with the overall campaign. Use the same language, style and messages that brought the user to your website in the first place. This will ensure there is no confusion for the audience as to who your brand is.

Overall, putting together some retargeting ads as part of a complete digital marketing campaign is a great way to help boost the overall conversion.

Have you used retargeting advertisements before? Where they effective? Let us know in the comments section below!

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