Perhaps while surfing the web, you’ve noticed a certain ad following you around the Internet as you move from website to website. And lo and behold, it’s an ad for a website you’ve visited recently. How did they know?!!
This practice is called “ad retargeting.” If a surfer clicks on a pair of skinny jeans on one site, what better way to advertise said jeans than to show them again and again to someone who was already interested enough to view them?
Browser Cookies: They Are Out There
Hansel and Gretel of fairy-tale fame left breadcrumbs behind them as they walked through the forest so that they would be able to find their way home. Internet surfers leave behind cookies or small pieces of text behind as they surf the net, unintentionally.
Some cookies are generated by the websites a person visits, so if you check out backpacks at LL Bean, they will store data about your visit on a cookie that then sits in your computer. Other cookies are called tracking cookies, and are used by third-party sites for advertising purposes.
Ad Retargeting Focuses on Conversion
Online retailers work profoundly hard to convert browsers to shoppers. Marketing experts tell us that only 2% of website traffic is converted on a first visit. When browsers click on products to learn more about them, they are providing the e-retailer with invaluable information as to the type of product they are interested in and even as to price range and desired features.
According to CMO.com, an online space targeted at chief marketing officers, visitors to websites are 70% more likely to convert into a customer when they are the focus of ad retargeting.
Ad Retargeting is Not Complex
Small business owners can easily introduce ad retargeting into their marketing strategy. Google AdWords, for example, offers a user-friendly tutorial on how to create remarketing lists – the base of an ad remarketing campaign, and to build a campaign that is targeted to the defined list. Other online marketing firms, like ReTargeter, do the set-up work for tech-shy business owners.
Ad Retargeting is Showing Growth as a Trend
Marketing experts have identified ad retargeting as a tactic that will be used much more liberally in the foreseeable future. Perfect Audience, an online firm offering support for clients who want to manage their own ad retargeting, set up a platform to help such clients spread their retargeted ads across Facebook.
This platform is currently being used to promote over 800,000 products. According to The Retargeting Barometer Report by Digiday, 1 in 5 marketing managers now have specific budgets for ad retargeting. All indicators point in the direction of more ad retargeting.
Of course, some online shoppers are annoyed when those skinny jeans start to follow them around the Internet. But, according to eMarketer, 30% of e-shoppers surveyed feel good about retargeted ads, while 11% have negative feelings about them and 60% are sitting on a very long electronic fence.
With all research pointing to increased conversion for business owners who use ad retargeting, it is undoubtedly time to give this tactic a genuine look-see. I’ve used retargeting successfully in the past when promoting my own high-converting internet marketing offers to new leads online. If you want to take a look at my system, or even have it implemented for you, click here.
