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Your Primer on Remarketing: What It Is and Why It’s Important

Your Primer on Remarketing: What It Is and Why It’s Important

Remarketing is how companies create the most relevant and timely ads for their customers. Learn more in this article.

If people landed on your site, but left without completing the action you were hoping to see, you still have a valuable opportunity to reach out to them. In fact, these people are perfect candidates for remarketing. Remarketing strategies display advertisements to people who left your site without converting; these relevant ads usually appear in searches, on webpages (related or not), or when they’re scrolling through mobile apps.

For example, last week I was looking on Warby Parker’s website for men’s glasses. After I finished my search, I went on Facebook. There, in the side panel of Facebook, was a remarketing ad for the exact same pair of glasses I’d viewed previously. When I clicked on the link in Facebook, it took me directly to the product page for that particular pair, rather than to the main site.

This is a great example of remarketing for two reasons. First, the ad was for a specific product that I was researching. And second, the link took me directly to the product page, which is where I found all of the information I needed to complete the purchase. This is a fast, easy way to get someone to reconsider a product they have already expressed interest in.

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Get Started with Remarketing

One of the more popular ways to remarket is directly through Google (specifically, Google AdWords), since it’s the most popular search engine and is used by consumers for product research. Google has the added benefit of showing your remarketing ads on its Display Network, “a collection of websites—including specific Google websites like Google Finance, Gmail, Blogger, and YouTube—that show AdWords ads.”

  • Standard remarketing: This option allows you to show general business ads to visitors who have left your site as they browse Display Network websites and use Display Network apps.
  • Dynamic remarketing: Dynamic ads also show as past visitors use Display Network websites and use Display Network apps, but they allow you to customize to a greater degree. These ads allow you to advertise specific products and services they viewed on your website as they browse (for example, the Warby Parker ad).

There are other ways to target mobile users, implement video ads, and utilize other strategies to remarket to potential customers after they leave your site.

Why Remarketing is Important

According to Digital Information World, 95 per cent of users will leave a site before they convert, and 49 per cent of individuals will need to visit a site at least two times before they make a purchase. That’s a significant portion of visitors on your site who could be purchasing and converting to being customers, so it’s up to marketers to make sure they bring back these targeted leads. Remarketing, especially when you track it through Google Analytics, is a great way to make this happen.

The What, where, why and how of social selling. Get the ebook.

Amanda DiSilvestro

Amanda DiSilvestro gives small business and entrepreneurs SEO advice ranging from keyword research to recovering from Google Algorithm updates and changes. She writes on the side as a freelancer and works as the Marketing Manager for a Travel Company, Discover Corps, full-time. Learn more about her work at Plan, Write, GO.

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