Understanding Retargeting
Retargeting is a digital marketing technique that involves showing ads to people who have previously visited a website but did not complete a desired conversion action like making a purchase.
The goal of retargeting is to reconnect with these “warm” prospects and encourage them to take the next step towards converting.
By retargeting the right people with the right message at the right time, businesses can significantly improve conversion rates and return on ad spend. Let’s explore some best practices for crafting highly engaging retargeting ads.
Craft Memorable and Entertaining Ads
People may feel annoyed or distrustful seeing the same ad repeatedly. To avoid ad fatigue, make your retargeting ads stand out with memorable visuals and messaging. Tell a story in a lighthearted, entertaining way to pique people’s curiosity without coming across as pushy or salesy. Humor, puzzles and interactive elements can make your ads more engaging.
For example, Dollar Shave Club famously retargeted people who abandoned carts on their site with an ad showing a cartoon character delivering a comedic monologue about why they should complete their purchase. This unexpected, humorous approach helped boost conversions.
Target the Right Audience
Not everyone who visits your site will be a qualified prospect. Use advanced audience targeting and segmentation tools to only retarget people most likely to convert. For example, you may target:
- People who viewed high-intent pages like product detail or checkout but didn’t complete a purchase
- Visitors from paid search or social media campaigns
- Users who engaged deeply by viewing multiple pages or spending significant time on your site
Narrowing your retargeting audience in this way helps ensure relevance and increases the chances someone will take action.
Solve an Unfinished Task
Remind people what drew them to your site initially and solve the problem or task they left unfinished. For example, if someone abandoned a shopping cart, retarget them with a message like “Did you forget something? Only 3 items left in your cart!” This addresses their previous intent directly.
You can also retarget people who showed interest in a particular product by featuring that product prominently in the ad to jog their memory. Directly addressing an open loop keeps people engaged and motivated to complete what they started.
Test Multiple Ad Variations
Don’t rely on a single retargeting ad – test multiple variations with different visuals, headlines, calls to action and creative elements. What resonates most will vary between individuals so having options increases your chances of success.
Use your retargeting platform’s built-in A/B or multivariate testing to efficiently try new combinations and isolate high-performing ads. Keep optimizing based on conversion data to continuously improve results. The right testing and optimization approach can significantly boost return on ad spend over time.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long should I retarget visitors?
Most experts recommend retargeting windows of 30 days for consideration-stage prospects and 7 days for those closer to converting. Test different retargeting durations within those timeframes based on your specific business goals and customer journey.
What is the best time of day to show retargeting ads?
Morning and evening weekday hours when people are commuting or relaxing tend to see higher engagement rates. However, test different schedules to understand what resonates most with your target audience.
How many ad variations should I test?
Start with 3-5 initial variations testing different headlines, images and calls to action. As long as you have sufficient daily conversions, continue expanding your testing pool up to 10-20 variations to fully leverage testing capabilities.
What is the ideal retargeting ad format?
While banner ads remain popular, formats like video, collection and carousel ads often see better engagement since they allow for more visual storytelling. Always A/B test different formats against each other.
How do I measure retargeting success?
Key metrics include click-through rate, conversion rate, cost per acquisition and return on ad spend compared to other channels. Set benchmarks and optimize creatives, audiences and bids based on your goals of driving site traffic, purchases or other conversions.
Conclusion
With strategic audience targeting, creative testing and optimization, retargeting can be a highly effective way to reconnect with in-market customers and prospects.
The tips covered here on crafting memorable, problem-solving ads will help you engage visitors and improve conversion metrics through this important digital marketing channel.
