Most companies working to drive more traffic to their site know the frustration of seeing so many visitors, but not seeing them all converting into buyers. However, just because a visitor left your site doesn’t mean all hope is lost. There’s still a chance to find and convert them through something called remarketing.
So, what is remarketing?
Remarketing is an online marketing strategy of targeting ads to guests who have visited and left your site, so these ads may persuade them to revisit your site and convert from a visitor to a buyer.
This is something done specifically with Google Adwords, and the process goes something like this:
- Put a piece of Google Remarketing code, or a tag, on a page within your website. A tag relates specifically to what’s on the page. If your page is about offering web design services, for example, you may have a “web design” tag. You can put multiple tags on the page, but make sure they are related to the content (see below for more on tags).
- When a visitor goes to this page, interested in your web design services, the Google code will then place a cookie related to that tag in their browser history.
- If the visitor leaves your site without buying, that cookie will then allow Google to target them with specific ads after they leave. If they visit a website that’s part of the Google Display Network (GDN), such as Youtube, or many other main-stream sites, then they’ll see targeted ads based on the cookie. So the visitor who visited your web design page will see ads about your web design services.
- This then creates a second-chance to appeal to users about the services or products that interested them, and give your business another shot at converting them to buyers.
It sounds complicated, but the result is simple: you continue marketing the services that interested your user, even after they’re gone.
(Image courtesy of LeadSquared – Google Ads Remarketing)
How can I take advantage of remarketing?
One of the key tricks for a good remarketing strategy is having a wide sales funnel so you can target users based on a lot of different interests.
What this means is that you should aim to attract users with a variety of interests related to your site. If you offer a wide selection of marketing services, make your sales funnel so you’re attracting users based on that broad interest. After they’ve arrived on your site, showcase the specific marketing services you offer, so users with those specific interests will visit those site pages. For example, people who prefer the SEO aspect of online marketing will be funneled to the page with your SEO services.
Once you’ve funneled your online audience this way, you’ll be in a much better position to remarket your services to them. Choose specific remarketing tags based on each specific service for these pages. This way, if your users decide to leave your site, the ads targeting them will appeal to their best known interests, and they’ll be more likely to return and convert.
What pages should I put remarketing tags on?
For deciding what pages to put remarketing tags on, begin with the ones that get the most traffic. Find the most important keywords associated with those pages (including synonyms, phrases, etc) and add them as tags. Then choose other pages that advertise specific services you want to reach more people with.
You may decide to remarket your front page to reach more users, but this is likely to be less effective. The front page is where you begin to funnel your audience into their specific interests, so your remarketing efforts will be more broad and less likely to appeal enough to them. The more specific of an audience you can remarket too, the more likely they’ll get interested enough to return.
Are there other ways I can funnel users to specific pages?
One good way to do this is simply fine-tuning the SEO for your pages, making them easier to find in search results.
If you’re using WordPress, one plugin we recommend is the SEO plugin by Yoast. It makes it easy to improve each specific page’s SEO. However, you’ll only need to focus on these four important parts of each page.
- The Title Tag
- The Header Tag
- The Meta Description
- The Meta Keyword
Wait, won’t people eventually get annoyed by my ads?
That’s true, after a certain period remarketing ads aren’t very effective for specific users. If they’re not interested enough to revisit your site after a few weeks of targeted ads, it’s clear they’re not a potential conversion and may simply get annoyed.
Thankfully there’s a simple way around this. Remarketing ads can be set so that after several weeks, or after a customer has made a purchase, they’ll be turned off automatically. That way, they won’t stick around after their job is done, and you won’t waste any more money on remarketing ads that aren’t showing results.
So, when all is said and done, should I try remarketing?
If you’re getting a good amount of website traffic, but not seeing many conversions or sales, remarketing is just one of several strategies you can experiment with to improve. It helps convert potential customers to buyers by reminding them of your site. If you’re seeking to improve your website conversions, definitely give it a try to see if it improves your results. When in doubt, remember the tips in this article. If things are still tough to pull off, you can always call for some experienced professionals (such as ourselves) to lend a helping hand.
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