Retargeting campaigns are simple to set up. But getting them to work properly — to provide maximized ROI for the least possible cost — requires a well thought out and well executed marketing strategy.
Just as your website can’t be expected to truly engage with prospects based on generic non-specific content, you can’t simply retarget everyone who has visited your site and retarget them with a generic catch-all ad. To up the engagement, conversion and profitability rates of any campaign, you need to look at a number of factors that help to further refine the segments, needs and intentions of your audience. Here are a few key practices to keep foremost in mind:
Optimize your strategy for “convertible” traffic.
A high percentage of your website visitors, especially first-timers, will visit your Home and About pages. This only tells you about their general interest in your company, products or services. And they may not be far enough down the sales funnel to be high-value targets.
Base your retargeting efforts on prospects who have clicked on more specific pages, articles and blogposts deeper in your site. This enables you to create messages based on interests they’ve already begun to define through their onsite behaviors, as they also get deeper into their decision journeys.
Use audience segmentation to inform ad creation.
Prospects who have visited your site fit into wide range of categories in terms of action or inaction. Some are in the early stages of discovery and not ready for respond to an offer. Some have previously bought products or services. Others have actually filled out a form and/or requested specific information. Think about where each segment of visitor reside in the buying/decision process. Then create specific ads or emails to logically take them to the next step in their journey.
Exclude converted users where it makes sense.
Converted users often tend to stay in the loop going forward. Analyze your audience behavior data to avoid sending the same messages, over and over, to the same people. Instead, look for ways to separately engage these converted users with new content and products that can extend the relationship.
Explore behavior data beyond the clicks.
All clicks are not created equal. Look more deeply into your data to see what pages are getting more visits and which blogposts are being read. Then analyze your unique visitors to see who’s showing up more frequently — along with the time they’re spending on your site in general and on specific pages.
Leverage data beyond your website itself.
The most sophisticated marketers look to synthesize data from multiple sources in order to form an ideal customer profile (ICP).
Google Analytics. Data from your CRM platform. Demographics for key audiences. These are some of the tools you can use to refine the prospects with the most potential to turn into repeat customers — and even into long-term relationships that grow and evolve over time.