DID YOU KNOW?
Clients who receive retargeted ads are 76% more likely to convert
Websites that use retargeting see a 726% lift in visitation
Retargeting can increase conversion rates by 147%
Ever wonder how certain brands seem to stay front of mind; maintaining a place in your awareness just when you’re considering a purchase in their category?
Have you ever researched, let’s say, “new homes in Bergen Park, Colorado” and, for weeks afterward, seen display ads for a Bergen Park brokerage on the websites you visit, even if those sites are not related to real estate or Bergen Park?
Is this a sign? Is it Fate? Is the NSA harvesting your browser data? Nope, it’s Display Advertising with Retargeting, and it’s one of the most effective ways around to increase the value of your email and other digital marketing efforts.
Retargeting ads, like the ones shown above are enabled by technology that allows your brand to place targeted ads in front of your customer as they cruise the Web.
In the case of email marketing, anyone who opens an email you send is a candidate for retargeting.
Here’s how it works. In the template used to create an email marketing piece, we place a small, unobtrusive piece of code (referred to as a pixel). It’s unnoticeable to your recipient and won’t affect your email performance. But, when the email is opened, the code drops an anonymous cookie on your recipient’s browser. Later, when your recipient browses the Web, this cookie places your customized display ad on the sites they visit. These ads bring visitors back by containing offers that link them back to your site where they can take further action, covert to a lead or, and this is fun, make a purchase.
The result? Your brand stays in the mind of your target, resulting in increased sales, increased conversion and deeper engagement.
Retargeting is awesome because it doesn’t require additional work once the code is written into the email and the display ads are created. This “set it and forget it” quality makes it especially popular among brands who want to make the most of an especially busy sales season (think summer and real estate). It’s also great for products where prospects spend a long time researching online before making a decision or engaging a sales agent (again, think real estate).
To make retargeting work for you, keep these basic best practices in mind.
- Use a Frequency Cap – just because your client opened an email does not mean they want to encounter your brand everywhere they go online. A Frequency Cap places limits to how often and how long your ad is served to a given recipient. This ensures that you don’t become fatigued or, worse, begin to have a negative association with your brand.
- Segment Your Audience – you already know that not every contact in your list should receive the same email, and the same holds true for retargeting. Ads should be tailored to customers in specific stages of the purchasing process. In real estate for instance, a general brand awareness ad might be appropriate to recipients of a monthly Market Report, while a more specific “price trends” ad might be better for the segment of your database who are closer to either purchasing or selling a home.
- Optimize Your Creative - The banner ads you use are the most crucial factor in making your retargeting efforts successful. Don’t try to cram as much information as possible into your ad, it will only distract your audience and fail to win their attention and keep it. You want to be memorable, so that even if your audience doesn’t click your ad, it stays with them. Often, creating memorable ads is best achieved by keeping copy minimal and design simple. All of your banner ads should be well-branded and recognizable. Use bold colors, concise copy, and clear calls to action with big, clickable buttons.
Like to get started? Here at rezora, we offer a unique Display Ad Retargeting program that’s economical, turnkey and follows best practice. We’d love to explore how retargeting may help you reach your marketing objectives.
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