According to a recent survey, over 60% of U.S. consumers now shop online at least once a month. Nearly one-third of those online shoppers surveyed anticipated spending more money on online purchases the following month than they did in the previous month. That’s certainly good news for your business’ website. But is it up for the challenge? And, how can you stay connected with site visitors who leave without making a purchase or giving you their contact information? That’s where display remarketing comes in.
What is Display Remarketing?
When someone using Google Chrome as their browser visits your website, it releases a cookie that then identifies and tracks that user after they leave. Later, when they visit other websites within the Google Display Network, your Google ad will pop up on their screen in a text or image format. Available through Google Ads, this feature is called “display remarketing”, or “retargeting”, and it’s a great way to consistently remind visitors about your product or service.
Each generated cookie has a unique digital footprint that’s based on a specific page or section of your website that was visited, and by whom. Google compiles and makes available detailed lists from that “cookie footprint” data so that you can more accurately target ads using demographic information that’s already been collected about the people that recently visited your site. However, unless you know what you’re doing, developing an effective remarketing campaign can be very time-consuming and confusing.
What Are the Benefits of Display Remarketing?
Here’s how display remarketing can help your business:
- Brand awareness. Repeatedly seeing your ad (“touchpoint”) establishes trust and brand awareness in a person’s mind. The more a consumer sees your brand, the more likely they are to return to your site.
- Higher conversion rates. Remarketed consumers are 3X more likely to click on your ad and remarketing ads have a 10X higher click rate than conventional display ads.
- Specific audience targeting. Consumer retargeting can be done based on progression through the sales funnel, previous actions taken, or by category – like “women’s shoes”.
- Stay connected. Rather than losing a potential customer forever, remarketing gives you a second chance to attract and convert them.
On average, display remarketing costs 66 cents to $1.23 per click. And, you only pay when a user clicks on your ad, which makes remarketing sensible for any sized marketing budget.
What Platforms Support Display Remarketing?
E-commerce experts estimate that over 90% of online shoppers don’t purchase during their first visit to a given website, which levels the playing field for everyone selling online. In addition to Google Ads, some of the more popular platforms that support remarketing ads include:
- Facebook Ads
- Yahoo
- Bing
Which Remarketing Myths Are Untrue?
Some companies that use Google Ads are hesitant to try display remarketing because of myths that are usually untrue. Here are some of the more common ones:
It doesn’t work well. Again, even if a consumer doesn’t click on your ad, it still serves as an extra marketing touchpoint that they subconsciously take in. As a business, you should monitor click and conversion rates.
I can’t control where my ad runs. Although it’s true that a potential customer may not see your ad that’s usually because they don’t fit the demographic profile. That’s where the targeting part of remarketing comes in, as it allows you to control who your intended audience should be.
My ad will just look like spam. This is not true for several reasons. First, you can place a monthly cap on the number of times your ad is shown to a given user so that it doesn’t look like spam. Secondly, your ad contains a product or service the user was initially interested in. And finally, Google is constantly coming up with format updates so that remarketing ads more smoothly “blend in”.
Why Use a Marketing Agency to Optimize Remarketing?
When used correctly, display ad remarketing can be a powerful and cost-effective way to reach online consumers, increase brand awareness and boost sales. If you don’t know how to develop an effective retargeting strategy, an experienced digital marketing specialist can show you how.
Contact us today to learn more details about how our specialists help clients attract more visitors to their websites.
