Remarketing (retargeting) is a way of targeting visitors who visit your site and then leave without converting and registering. It works using a simple javascript tracking pixel which attaches a cookie to every visitor’s browser. This cookie enables you to ‘follow’ potential customers across the Internet as they continue browsing, giving you a chance to reconnect with them, using Display Ads across specified ad networks.
If you’re new to remarketing, check out our introduction to remarketing here.
To help you improve your remarketing strategy, we’ve picked out the four most common mistakes people make, sharing tips on how to avoid them.
Failing to include a conversion pixel
Without a ‘burn’ pixel in place, you could be targeting customers who have already converted. By making sure you have the pixel place, you can avoid wasting your budget and make sure that you’re allocating all of your spend to targeting new, potential customers.
Targeting customers that will never convert
If you fail to set a frequency cap on your campaign, users may see your ads too often or not enough times to notice your site. Visitors could react negatively when followed everywhere by a company and overwhelming users with ads could damage your reputation. It can also contribute to banner blindness, when users fail to notice or acknowledge the ad at all because it’s being shown it too frequently.
As a general guide, begin by showing your ad at a high frequency for a short amount of time, analyse the results and adapt accordingly. Don’t forget to specify an end date to track users, as cookies can remain active for up to 180 days.
Not updating your banner ads
To avoid banner blindness, it’s recommended that you regularly rotate or change your retargeting banner ads. Keeping the visuals fresh will capture user’s attention and boost your click-through-rate. If you have a banner with a good success rate, consider creating multiple versions using different colours and images.
Using one advert to target every segment of your audience
Segment your audience using all of the available information to you. You can then create highly targeted ads for each group, which should result in a higher click-through rate. Showing an ad with images of older couples to someone who failed to convert on a mature niche site like JustSeniorSingles.com is likely to appeal more to them than a generic advert.
Getting the balance of how often and over what period to show your banners can take some testing; as with all forms of advertising, continuous optimisation is important. For maximum chances of success, support your search strategy with a remarketing strategy.
Retargeting is a great way to increase conversions, as online daters typically shop around before registering with a site. For more advice, check out our blog or get in touch with the partner team.