How To Stop Struggling With Remarketing And Nail Leads

Roughly 30% of the internet now uses some form of ad blocker. Does this herald the impending doom of digital ads? Are people simply not responding to adverts anymore? Are PPC professionals everywhere doomed?

Calm down – there’s no reason to set your Google Ads account on fire (yet). While this figure alludes to some dissatisfaction with ads, it is simply more evidence that people dislike ads they find irrelevant, not ads in general. Nobody is going to think an advert relevant to their interests, tastes or internet habits is negatively intrusive. People want ads that catch their eye, but not for the wrong reasons – they need to feel like the ad is made precisely for them at that exact time.

How can you focus on those who are interested and relevant, though?

Writing sharp, pointed ad copy is a good start, but really,
it comes down to targeting.

Inch-perfect targeting still won’t get you guaranteed results. People will still leave your site without converting, and some leads won’t visit at all. Lots of factors can influence a conversion, so how do you reel these ultra-relevant users back in? Voila! Enter remarketing. Some get confused by what remarketing is, but essentially, it is targeting previous website visitors at the perfect time.

In 2020, it’s time to tame your remarketing campaign so it can get the results that mean the most to you: leads and conversions.

The Best Kind of Cookies

Remarketing is far from being the newest kid on the marketing block, but a mixture of confusion and ambivalence has led to little uptake from otherwise switched-on brands. While that’s disappointing, it likely means your competitors aren’t doing it – that’s a big opportunity.

The reason why this marketing technique hasn’t seen the uptake it deserves is mostly due to the perceived difficulty in using it. It’s worth getting to grips with it though – on average, a person on a remarketing list will be twice as likely to convert as a fresh visitor. So, once you figure out how to retarget website visitors, it gives your whole digital strategy a conversion boost. In the simplest of terms, it’s money you can’t turn down.

To start with remarketing, you need to get the lowdown on cookies. While we wish we were talking about (and eating) the biscuit variety, these cookies can be even sweeter.

Remarketing relies on placing cookies in the browser of people who visit your website. Based on information gathered from these users, you can then present adverts to them; the advantage of having this information means you can write ads that you know they will like, not just ads you think they’ll like. Once you have enough cookies to make even Mary Berry blush, you will be armed with enough information to remarket using display and search.

Putting it All on Display

Information alone won’t achieve leads for you. You need to properly interpret that information, figure out the timing of your remarketing ad, and consider ad frequency. After that, you’re ready to show off with display remarketing.

Reading into the information provided by cookies doesn’t need to be complex – keep it simple. There are going to be differences between those who visit the most expensive product on your site, for example, and those who only look at the items on sale. Another could spend significant time lingering around your careers page.

Segment these visitors into lists and consider a few questions:

1. How would these people like to be spoken to?
2. What are they looking for?
3. How can you entice them to come back to your website?
4. If you could have a second chance to speak to these people, what would you say?

That person who wanted your most-expensive products? Show them your best stuff and maybe offer a referral discount – be direct in your language! The person looking at the sales? Try to cross-sell an add-on or accessory with softer language. This is what remarketing is all about: tailored messaging.

Even across industries, there are a few commonalities and quick wins that come up in remarketing:

• Shopping cart abandoners: Offering free shipping to abandoners can help get conversions over the line, but this is really an opportunity to review your customer and checkout journey.

• Products which run out: If a customer has purchased a product that needs replacing, say, every three months, remarketing back to them two months post-purchase can net customer loyalty.

• Blog fans: Is someone is lurking on the blog but not purchasing anything? Consider remarketing to them with the specific products they have been looking at in your blog content.

These are just a few examples of how remarketing can be utilised in display. It truly is a blank canvas, as long as you carefully analyse and segment the data that is afforded to you.

If You Want Leads, You Gotta Search

While remarketing was originally exclusive to display, we can now use the Search Network taking advantage of Remarketing Lists for Search Ads (RLSAs). This is a fancy phrase, but really, it’s just about tailoring your ads to a previous visitor when they input a search on Google. So, when a previous visitor inputs a relevant search, this “triggers” a RLSA. Now, you can now tailor an ultra-relevant ad to them.

For example, let’s say a fashion business had an end-of-season sale on and needed to ship stock quickly. Targeting extremely broad keywords like “cheap clothes”, “discount clothing” or “clothes sale” would be inefficient.

With RLSAs, however, the business can bid on these broad keywords and target it to those on their remarketing list. Thanks to relevancy and the existence of a previous relationship, this business will then be able to outbid competitors on the same terms due to a higher likelihood of conversion.

Once someone has purchased, they can be excluded from seeing future ads to maximise the efficiency of PPC spend.

Remarketing can provide you with moments of significant efficiency in search. If your competitors are doing this, then soon you’ll be out of sight.

The Tip of Remarketing’s Benefits

This blog is really just the first step in remarketing. Remarketing is a multi-layered and ever-evolving facet of the industry, plus we haven’t even touched on advanced Google audiences or the real nitty-gritty details.

If you want to be on top of the Google Ads game, then read our ‘Advanced Google Ads Audiences for Ecommerce Retailers’ whitepaper.

We’ve been shouting about remarketing for a while, so if you’re looking to find out more about how to do it right, check out the below blogs:
What is Remarketing and Why Do I Need It?
Remarketing: Why It’s Bad (And How You Can Do It Right)

Go on – get out there and get those leads back.