Re-Targeting

Re-Marketing To Your Audience

In the digital world, business competition is stiff and it takes an army, or a sleuth, to stay competitive.

Statistics show that on average, only 2 percent of visitors actually convert on their first visit to a website before becoming distracted and leaving.  Perhaps they have work to get done, or maybe they want to check out a few different sites offering similar products and services to your business, or could it be that they just got bored?  The fact is, once a user leaves, they are very often gone for good, unless of course you have a strong digital marketing team like Bearhug Digital standing beside you.

If your feel your website is experiencing this type of traffic loss, there’s something we can do to help.  It’s called Re-targeting (also knows as Re-marketing). Re-targeting will help you reach the other 98% ensuring your business stays present in the minds (and eyes) of your audience even after they exit.

You have probably experienced Re-targeting yourself from time to time.  Here are a couple of examples of common Re-targeting strategies:

Scenario # 1

You surf to Amazon and look at a few products, then leave to either check prices at other online retailers who sell the same product you’re interested in.  The next day, you open your browser and suddenly you see targeted ads offering the very same products. This is the ‘take another look’ version of Re-targeting.

Scenario # 2

You visit a major department store’s website, that you’ve shopped at before, and place a product in the shopping cart, and then change your mind and close the page instead off finishing your purchase transaction.  A few hours later, you receive an email asking ‘did you forget something‘or ‘are you still interested in this product?  This is a ‘cart abandonment’ version of Re-targeting.

How Re-targeting Works

Have you ever heard the phrase ‘come to the dark side, we have cookies’?  Well, it’s a joke.  There’s nothing at all sinister about cookies, and they certainly don’t lurk in dark places (at least not in our office!).  But they do tend to hang around, either when you’re on a diet and shouldn’t be eating them, or when you need to leave a trail of crumbs behind you.

Re-targeting uses a web or browser cookies to ‘identify’ you, or sometimes even to ‘re-identify’ you.  All it takes is a little bit of code on a website, and a cookie is initiated for every unique visitor to your website.  And while cookies don’t provide any personal identifying information about a user, they generally remain encrypted in the browser cache to signify that an event has occurred, in this case, a visit to a particular website.  If a user opens their browser and begins a new search for particular products and heads back to Amazon, instead of being treated as a new visitor, the visit will be treated as a returning customer.  This handshake makes for a better user experience, and the site is able to customize, and tailor information based on the content of the cookie.

The Benefits of Re-targeting

Although there are still some who believe that cookies are an invasion of privacy, or that they are somehow malicious, most users today understand and even appreciate what a cookie can actually do for them as an end-user.  But what are the benefits of cookies for your site?

Omnipresence!  That’s right, that little tiny piece of anonymous information can help build your business into an empire and increase your conversions dramatically.  How?  Let’s take a look.

Show Ads to Previous Visitors

Re-targeting will allow you to show your ads to past website visitors, even if they aren’t on your site.  As you know, most search engines will display ‘sponsored links’ or ads along with your search query results.  These ads can be targeted to your previous visitors if they have a cookie stored in their browser.  With Re-targeting, your ads can be specific to a single product or service, or they can be more general and simply point the visitor back to your website – it’s up to you.

Like PPC and SEO, there is some backend work that needs to occur in order for your past visitors to receive your ads.  At Bearhug Digital, we are experts in Re-targeting.  Along with our SEO and PPC services, we can help you launch Re-targeting campaigns that will draw users back to your site when they’re most ready to follow through with a sale.

Re-targeting can isn’t just for websites!  We can launch Re-targeting campaigns that work effectively on any type of device including mobile phones and tablets.  And Re-targeting isn’t limited to websites – ads can be placed on mobile apps and social networking platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

If you’re interested in increase conversions through Re-targeting, get in touch today.  We’ll build out an effective Re-targeting strategy to get your visitors back to your site and ready to buy!