What is Retargeting Ads and How Does It Work?

You know those customers who get distracted right before they make a purchase, or those who aren’t ready to buy or take the leap of faith to purchase a product or service then. There is a way to bring them back on track. Retargeting ads are just that. It reminds them of the products or services that you offer after they have left without making a purchase.

Retargeting Ads help businesses to continue engaging with a prospect that is yet to be converted or make a transaction through our website or other means available.

To run an ad that converts, you need to acquire and hone relevant digital marketing skills by enrolling in some or all of the courses to get started. This course will help you learn the fundamentals of digital marketing and how to run ads that convert

In this article, we will be covering everything you need to know about retargeting ads.

What is Retargeting?

Retargeting is a marketing strategy that aims to visit users who have already visited the website before and looks for a way to convert the users who didn’t become customers at that time.

What Are Retargeting Ads?

Retargeting ads main goal is to bring back a customer who once interacted with your website but didn’t follow through on the call to action. It is like a reminder to the potential customer of something they might have been interested in but couldn’t get at the time or of something that has slipped their minds.

Retargeting ads can be compared to those persistent salespeople who keep bugging you after you have left a store. So if you’ve ever wondered why you searched for a product or service and now it keeps popping up on your screen and you keep seeing it everywhere, this is retargeting ads at work.

When Should You Use Retargeting Ads?

Retargeting is a useful tool for attracting potential clients who have visited your website but did not complete the desired action or make a purchase. It functions as a kind reminder for them to return and finish the task they began. When you have a specific objective in mind, like raising sales, reducing cart abandonment, or promoting a certain good or service, retargeting works best.

Additionally, it works well for interacting with your audience across a variety of media and boosting brand awareness to help you get the most out of your limited advertising budget by focusing on customers who are already familiar with your products or brand.

It is an effective technique for companies trying to increase their online sales and engagement since it may help them re-establish contact with interested prospects and steer them toward conversion.

If you want to learn how to get deals from customers who have interacted with your business, click here to learn how we can help you achieve that.

Retargeting vs Remarketing

Retargeting and remarketing are closely related to each other; in fact, some people would even refer to them as cousins in the digital marketing space.

While retargeting is meant to focus on people who have had a previous interaction with the site but not enough to take the desired action, such as making a purchase or signing up, they can take the desired action, thereby finishing what they started.

Retargeting is the use of paid ads to reach a target audience that has checked or clicked on your website

Remarketing targets people who have interacted with a brand or its product without considering where they encountered it, such as websites, social media, or even email.

Remarketing covers a wider reach of people and does this to keep the brand at the top of their minds as a way of encouraging and probing them to take action. Albeit similar, both lead to an increased conversion rate and drive more sales.

Remarketing makes use of mail to reach people who have already made a transaction with your website.

Benefits of Retargeting Ads

1. Increase conversions

Research has shown that retargeted customers are more likely to convert than users who are visiting the site for the first time. When we targeted swoop-in, they served as personal reminders encouraging return to the site to complete the desired action. Increased conversion means increased sales for businesses.

2. Increase brand awareness

Do you know what happens when you see something over and over again, unconsciously? That thing sticks. You can see the same for retargeted ads. It is said that people develop a preference for things they are familiar with. We are targeting to expose consumers repeatedly to your product from your brand; they have shown interest before. By seeing it multiple times, it sticks to their memory, leaving a lasting impression. If there is ever a need to purchase that item, the first brand that comes to mind will be yours. Those who see your brand over and over help to solidify brand awareness.

3. Reducing cart abandonment

Cart abandonment is when a consumer wants to make a purchase but, in the process, opts out and doesn’t complete the process. It can occur for some reasons, including:

• Unclear call to action
• The steps involved in purchase are tedious and not easy to understand
• The user doesn’t have funds at the moment.

Cart abandonment is one of the things every online marketer fears. With retargeting ads, users stand a chance to give these abandoned cards a second chance. Retargeting ads do this by constantly reminding the user and encouraging them to complete the purchase.

4. Enhancing upselling and cross-selling

Cross-selling is a marketing technique where the marketer tries to persuade the customer to buy more items related to what they are purchasing so they can increase the number of products purchased.

Selling is also a marketing technique where the marketer tries to promote more expensive products to increase sales revenue. When you analyze user browsing and purchasing patterns, you can find opportunities for cross-selling and upselling.

For example, if a customer just purchased a smartphone, retargeted ads could showcase airpod or a smartwatch that can complement the smartphone purchased.

5. Improving customer engagement

Retargeting ads help to build deeper connections with customers, thus encouraging them to take action. Reaction may be signing up for a newsletter, making a purchase, or even clicking a link to download a free eBook. These actions help to improve customer engagement.

6. Capitalizing on ads

The goals of running ads would be to increase sales, increase targeted traffic, increase conversions, and increase the return on investment. Every business or company wants to ensure that they get their money’s worth on every ad. Retargeting ads help with this by only seeking out those who have interacted with the company before. This allows for a great chance and increases the chances of generating more revenue from the ads.

How Do Retargeting Ads Work?

Retargeting ads walk like friendly reminders, edging you on to complete a sale or make a purchase. When a user decides to buy a pair of sneakers and visits a website online, the website drops something that can be likened to a tiny tracker called a cookie on the web browser of the customer.

What this cookie does is keep an eye out for what the customer searches for. Social media platforms see the cookie and remind the customer of those sets of sneakers he or she searched for.

So if the customer sees ads for the exact shoes everywhere when they go online, it’s not a coincidence; it’s the cooking doing what it’s supposed to do. The ads remind the customer of the shoes intending to bring the customer back to the website so he or she can purchase the shoes.

Types of Retargeting Ads

Search retargeting

This is using search engines to retarget users who have searched for keywords or queries similar to what your business offers. Search retargeting ads target users based on their search behavior. This allows for a wider business reach to users who are searching for products or services similar to a particular business.

Email retargeting

This allows marketers to target users based on the actions they have taken in their emails. In simpler terms, it retargets users who have come in contact with a brand via email but haven’t taken any specific action. It gives an extra boost to these users who have shown interest in a brand or product.

Email retargeting ads aim to remind people about goods or services they have expressed interest in and persuade them to take action—like finishing a purchase or starting a subscription.

Businesses can increase conversions, stay at the top of their consumers’ minds, and get the most out of their email marketing campaigns by using email retargeting ads.

Social media retargeting ads

This is because the users who have engaged with a particular brand on social media have not taken any action. These could be in social media feeds or sponsored content. Businesses can re-engage with their audience, boost conversions, and eventually improve sales by using social media retargeting ads.

Mobile app retargeting ads

For users who have interacted with a mobile app before but have taken action, mobile app retargeting ads serve as a distinct reminder. These advertisements may have personalized text, exclusive deals, or prompts to get people back to the app and use it. Retargeting ads may boost engagement, encourage conversions, and eventually enhance revenue for businesses by focusing on users who have already expressed interest in the app.

Video retargeting ads

This is mostly used by sites like YouTube and Instagram. These remind users who have engaged with videos of the brand to come and finish the steps of carrying out the desired action. This can come before, or during the video on these platforms.

Because they offer a visual reminder of goods or services that viewers have previously expressed interest in, video retargeting advertisements are successful. Re-watching the product in action on video might pique their curiosity and inspire them to take action, like buying it or subscribing to a service.

Retargeting Ads Platform

There are a lot of platforms where targeted ads can be shown. Some of them are:

LinkedIn

LinkedIn serves as a platform for retargeting advertisements by using user data to show relevant ads to people who have engaged with a brand’s content or website.

It uses tracking tools like cookies and pixels to identify people who have interacted with a brand’s posts or visited its website. Then, when these people visit the platform or peruse their LinkedIn feed, it presents customized ads to them.

Pricing: It is free to start, but as time goes on, you will have to pay as people start clicking your ads.

Facebook

With over 2.6 billion active users, Facebook is a great place to run retargeting ads. Facebook serves as a platform for retargeting ads, using user data to show targeted ads to people who have interacted with a brand’s website or content. Facebook tracks individuals who have visited a brand’s website or engaged with its content using tracking technology like cookies and pixels.

Pricing: It is free to get started and set up your retargeting ads.

Adroll

Adroll is best for B2C businesses. It can be used as an alternative to Google Ads and has a strong analytic system that allows its to display ads across other networks.

Pricing: It has free features, but the paid plan starts at $9 per month.

Google ads

Google Ads is a platform for retargeting advertisements; it uses user data to provide targeted ads to people who have already engaged with a brand’s content or website.

It links data from Google Analytics and other Google platforms.

Meotora

This platform uses an approach to retargeting called geofencing ads. What it means is that they reach the target audience through the physical locations they have visited. It is very suitable for local businesses and helps confirm the location of the potential customer before showing them the ads. Meotora also helps the ads reach an audience that is not in the geographical area.

Pricing: for pricing, contact Meteora.

Retargeting ad best practices

1. Discover your audience

This sounds cliché, but the aim of retargeting will be defeated if you don’t know your audience. It means if you didn’t know your audience enough to know what they like, and the platforms they spend time on the most, how would you run retargeting ads? When you know your audience, it is easier to focus your ad campaign on specific audience segments.

2. Retarget ads for existing customers

This saves you the stress of having to explain yourself and your company to a new customer all over again. Also, research has proven that retargeted ads to customers who have already interacted with the brand tend to convert more and boost sales.

3. Use captivating display ads to capture audience attention

The main aim of running retargeting ads is to remind potential customers or users of their previous transactions or what they are missing by not interacting with your brand. To do this, the display ads must be captivating. Use products and images that the user’s previously engaged with on your site. Captivating display ads will encourage users to make purchases.

4. Divide your audience into segments

Rather than just sending out general retargeting ads, divide your audience into segments such as those who didn’t complete purchases (abandoned carts) and those who didn’t sign up for newsletters. By segmenting your audience, you stand a chance to send relevant ads, which can increase conversion rates.

5. Stay away from stalking your customers

Retargeting can be very effective, but what’s not is bombarding your customers with so many texts and messages. It can be annoying and very unpleasant. To avoid doing this, have a maximum amount of time a user can see your ADS within a certain time frame. It can be set to three or four times. This allows your ads to remain impactful and relevant.

6. Optimize your landing pages

Retargeting ads don’t just stop at clicks. It takes the user straight to a landing page. A landing page that isn’t optimized properly will send the user running, and this will not look very good for your brand. Ensure that each landing page is optimized to be user-friendly, loads quickly, has clear content that is easy to understand and has a definite call to action.

7. Regularly monitor and evaluate

Evaluation helps you know the performance of your retargeting campaign to know what areas are working and what areas need to be adjusted. Frequent evaluation boosts the efficiency of retargeting ads.

Conclusion

Retargeting ads are a great way to connect with potential customers. It is a valuable tool for businesses, and when used correctly, businesses can expect an increase in sales and conversions. To sum up, retargeting ads are an effective technique that companies may use to reconnect with prospective clients who have expressed interest in their goods or services.

Through deliberate targeting of consumers who have engaged with their website, social media accounts, or other digital platforms, companies may enhance their brand recognition, generate website traffic, and augment conversion rates.

If you still don’t know how to get started with your Ads, why not attend our next digital marketing training to start to understand the fundamental of online marketing.

FAQS

What is the best type of retargeting ad?

The ideal kind of retargeting ad relies on the target market and particular objectives of a company. Dynamic retargeting ads, however, are frequently very successful. These advertisements display viewers the exact goods or services they have previously viewed, personalizing the information based on their previous interactions.

Dynamic remarketing advertising boosts conversion rates by sending messages that are specifically targeted to the user. Furthermore, they produce a smooth and pertinent user experience, increasing engagement and, eventually, optimizing the success of retargeting ads.

Do retargeting ads still work?

Retargeting ads are still effective in the modern digital environment. They continue to be a vital resource for companies looking to reconnect with clients who have expressed interest in their goods or services.

Retargeting advertisements continue to send timely and relevant messages to users across a variety of online channels, increasing conversion rates and optimizing advertising return on investment.

Why are retargeting ads important?

Because they reunite companies with prospective clients who have already expressed interest in their goods or services, retargeting advertisements are important. Retargeting ads work as polite reminders to visitors who have visited a website but haven’t performed a desired action, such as making a purchase, by focusing on those people.

Additionally, by concentrating on quality leads, retargeting advertisements assist businesses in making the most of their advertising budget, ultimately increasing conversion rates and optimizing return on investment.

More Resources

Facebook Ads for Nigerian Businesses: How to set up your Facebook Ads

PPC Ads – The Ultimate Guide to Pay-Per-Click Advertising

Google Ads Cost in Nigeria: Everything You Need to Know in 2024