Remarketing – or retargeting – is a digital marketing technique that involves using the insights you have stored about your audience to tailor your advertising and promotion more specifically.

The bounce rate of your website can be a bit of a headache – potential customers arrive on your landing page and then leave without engaging. So, how best to keep them interested to achieve your end goal i.e. turn them into paying customers.

Remarketing is a little akin to creature courtship – if they’ve shown a little interest, your brand may need to strut its stuff to pique interest, converting those causal interested visitors into profitable clients.

A data-driven remarketing plan is, therefore, as an essential part of your branding strategy as targeted stimuli is to the continued existence of the animal kingdom.

So, any good agency will use a little of this animal magic to retarget and put your brand in front of those who matter most to you. Marketing stimuli may come in the form of the physical – such as a product offer – or audio or visual, such as a podcast or film, and will be designed to be seen where it is most likely to receive the best responses.

It is not serendipity that you see the ads of a website you recently visited all over the web, that’s retargeting in action.

Whatever the tools used, this should be a bespoke strategy to influence the consumer purchasing behaviour of your specific target audience.

A remarketing agency should access signals from multiple sources to maximise retargeting capabilities.

Don’t be afraid to ask about their data-processing technology. Is their target identification in real time or as near as damn it? Immediacy is important if retargeting is to make a conversion rather than lose a customer.

Mobile constitutes a growing portion of all Internet traffic; in fact, mobile usage overtook desktop in 2014, accounting for 60% of time spent online and your chosen agency should be able to reach your audience on any device.

As well as identifying your target audience, an agency should have the technology to ID non-human traffic and click fraud.

Of course, digital marketing is an ever-changing landscape and it is essential the agency keep its eye on changing strategies to hold the attention of an audience, understand their online habits and trace their (potential) customer journey. This inevitably requires careful manipulation of digital data with the aim to boost visibility with specific brand storytelling techniques, making them available on appropriate platforms where your brand will get seen.

In essence, remarketing campaigns are designed to show ads to people who may have visited your website or used your app but gone no further. These campaigns provide you with extra opportunities to reach previous visitors and users.

The aim is to enhance and extend that ‘initial conversation’ made with a customer so they (and your brand) enjoy a lifelong relationship and keep returning time and time again.

Past visitors to your site, who already familiar with your brand but not yet making a full commitment, are statistically much more likely to become customers or take valuable actions on your website than new visitors. However, you need to hold their attention and re-engage, keeping your brand in front of bounced traffic after they leave your website.

These past visitors may not have previously made a purchase – or even an enquiry – but they have shown interest

Did you know?

For most websites, only 2% of web traffic converts on the first visit

This requires remarketing skills that can help you reconnect with your audience by showing relevant ads across their different devices.

Remarketing agencies can do this by employing various tools to drive traffic and retarget to get the most out of that traffic. But first, it will need to understand your remarketing strategy.

Do you wish to target all visitors to your website or are you targeting visitors to a specific page?

How it works

Potential customer ––––> Visits your website ––––> But leaves without a purchase ––––> Later, when surfing the web ––––> Your ad recaptures their interest ––––> They return to your website ––––> To become a purchasing customer!

Reportedly, a retargeting strategy can prove extremely efficient in terms of ad spend and may even result in reducing the overall marketing campaign costs.

Retargeting offers a brand a second bite of the apple. Chances are the visitor has already halfway bought into your product or service and has been exposed to your brand. Repositioning this exposure elsewhere and not necessarily on your own website can prove a gentle reminder that you are ‘still here’.

Retargeting builds brand awareness and, although it might not necessarily create a direct conversion, it is a vital tactic for organic growth. By leveraging your own first-party audience data, you really can get a second chance to make a great first impression and target the right person at the right time.

Retargeting; How to hit the bullseye

Be specific. By retargeting audiences who browse a certain page on your website – rather than those who simply land on your home page, you will ensure you are promoting a specific service or product to the correct audience. Ensure the agency will personalise ads rather than use generic approach.

Timing is everything. Leaving a website only to see an ad for its brand immediately elsewhere can be a turn off. However, leave it too long and the moment is lost. An experienced retargeting agency will understand what works and what irritates.

Package it differently. Rethinking the way your website presents its products or services when remarketing is crucial. Visuals and copy both need to be compelling and different from what they have seen before, especially if showcased on other platforms. However, there also needs to be an obvious branding so any potential customers make an immediate link.

Remain relevant. Don’t be that cold caller, hoping that if you create enough interactions, you’ll make a sale. Retarget at relevant times and limit it for high-value opportunities, such as holiday times or to coincide with a key promotion or campaign. Make it a great offer but target it to the right audience at a time that is most likely to suit them.