What Is Ad Retargeting? - A The Complete Guide to Begin

Feb 7, 2023
Ad Retargeting

You've invested a significant amount of time, energy, and money to promote your website. And you're probably elated whenever people visit your site. However, the enthusiasm will disappear after a certain period when it's not helping turn a profit.

The research suggests that websites and e-commerce stores manage to convert just 3% of customers. This means it is only 3 sales from 100 people on an average. It is usually six to eight touches before a customer decides to purchase from you.

The biggest issue with this is that most of these visitors will never be back in time to close the sale. So how do you keep them in touch and create those 6-8 contacts needed to earn their attention and trust? This is the solution. It's Retargeting ads on the internet.

This is all you have to know about ad-retargeting as well as how to use it and the best way to start in just two minutes! You are free to navigate to a section of interest:

What is Ad Retargeting?

Retargeting ads, also referred to as retargeting or even remarketing is a method of marketing where you show advertisements to people who have previously engaged with your site or platform but haven't yet converted into a purchase.                                                                    Assistance

In the case of a visitor who visits your website and browses several different sites, but does not fill out your contact form or place an order, retargeting could allow you to reach them in the future.

Because you don't have their email or information about their contact details, retargeting operates through cookies and pixels. So, when someone lands on your website and is not able to purchase, you can create a retargeting advertising program to provide them with additional advertising messages.

Instead of using your advertising budget entirely to get new visitors it is better to consider retargeting people who have already visited your website by sending them personalized messages and ads.

We'll dive deeper into how retargeting actually does its job.

What is the effectiveness of Retargeting?

Once visitors arrive on your site, they will be identified by a cookie or pixel. This lets you earmark and target these people by displaying ads that are specific to where they go online.

To illustrate as an example, I just finished reading this BigCommerce affiliate marketing study. This is packed with useful information and a lead magnet in the final paragraph of the blog post. However, I did not end in giving them my contact details, such as an email and phone number.

Instead, I read the post and went on with my day. Just a few days later I began receiving ads by BigCommerce on Facebook related to the affiliate marketing guide as well as the development of my online store.

Ad retargeting example on Facebook
Retargeting ads with examples on Facebook

This is not a coincidence. I didn't magically start to get advertisements at the same time. As they already had their Facebook Pixel set up, which is a tag for their website connected to Facebook which allows them to advertise to users who are on Facebook I saw an ad that retargets.

Retargeting is a very straightforward process that is in its nature

  1. First, a website and advertiser will add a "tag" on their site which tracks the behavior of visitors.
  2. After that, the advertiser launches an advertisement that targets those who visit by providing them with information they were interested in.

Does it work? You betcha. Ad retargeting has impressive backings.

Retargeting stats
Statistics on Retargeting (Image source: ReadyCloud)
  • Retargeting improves your odds of increasing the amount of traffic you receive from your website by 70 percent.
  • Retargeting may result in an average of 147% conversion rates
  • Retargeting significantly increases brand recognition (by 500%) in search results
  • Retargeting increases your site's visitors by 700% returning visitors from the past

So, how can you start to use retargeting today? What other advantages are there? Find out below!

Benefits of Retargeting and Retargeting: How Retargeting ads are superior than Display Ads of the Normal Type

Retargeting ads are superior to traditional display ads in many ways.

A typical campaign will mean that the ad you place on display will be noticed and clicked by many that aren't your prospective clients (even considering all of the choices for targeting available). However, retargeting allows you to target people who have expressed interest on specific pages or categories on your site that confirms their enthusiasm for your product or services.

This means that your chance/likelihood of driving the sale has dramatically been boosted. Why? It's because you are targeting a list of people who previously expressed enthusiasm for what you offer! This is basically advertising to an "warm" audience, meaning an audience who has engaged in the past with you and displayed evidence that they're a good fit for your product or service.

When you display traditional ads, many of the individuals you meet will show little or no curiosity.

Retargeting is extremely beneficial to:

  • Making personalized advertisements: You can categorize your visitors based on their behavior and then serve up personalized ads for each. A fitness store could focus on people who have visited the aerobic training category by displaying ads for aerobic equipment, while those who visited strength training will see strength fitness equipment advertisements.
SERPs known retailers
The SERPs are the most well-known retailers (Image source: Search Engine Land)

Thankfully, retargeting allows you to monitor your customers almost anywhere they go online and give them the impression that you're an established, well-known company. By seeing your brand names more frequently, visitors begin to be acquainted with it, which helps in brand awareness for future sales. If they come across your advertisements on so many websites They will be immersed in your name and what you stand for and are influenced by your brand identity.

Once you've understood the advantages of retargeting advertisements, let's look at the various types of ads you could use to increase business.

Different types of Retargeting

You can retarget customers based on all sorts of variables, like searches, intent, website visits, email addresses and more. Each of these can be very effective at returning traffic to your site and increase leads or sales. Let's read about each of these in depth.

1. General Website Retargeting

General website targeting is the most common method of Retargeting. On platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Quora, Google Ads, Bing and LinkedIn there is the possibility of using this method of retargeting.

In essence, you can choose from a number of choices with web targeting. The most common method is to create a retargeting checklist of anyone who's visited your site in the past 30-90 days.

Facebook retargeting audience - last 30 days
Facebook's retargeting of audiences - the in the last 30 days

It means that anyone who has visited any webpage on your site during the last 30 days will receive further marketing ads. An alternative that is more complicated is to be more precise and restrict visitors to certain websites. For example, perhaps you want to not show your advertisements to those who already bought the product, or submitted the contact request form. This will reduce the amount of ads you show.

Exclude customers or leads in Facebook audience
Remove leads or customers from Facebook's viewers

Or you could show retargeting ads to only people that have visited particular web pages (like your pricing page) however they did not convert which means they weren't converted. This lets you tailor the ads to meet specific needs. In the case of, say, if you offer men's and women's clothing, it is difficult to tailor your ads when you are targeting all website customers.

If you are targeting website visits by:

  1. Clothing for men
  2. Ladies' clothing

Then, you can create even more specific and personalized ad content!

The retargeting of websites is commonly done via platforms such as Facebook, Google partner websites along with other social media websites. With the help of general web retargeting ads, one luxury brand of watches earned 130% return on investment and 34% lower CPAs. Retargeting customers who displayed interest but did not purchase from their website, they were an ideal target audience for retargeting.

2. Search Network Retargeting

Search network retargeting
Search network retargeting

The person who visits your site will be tracked with this information and you will be able to reach them with your business's ads.

3. Remarketing Lists to Search Ads

Google Ads allows you to retarget your site visitors when they are searching for a relevant product in the context of a specific Google Search. These are called Remarketing Lists for search Ads or RLSAs.

Set higher bids for those who have been to your website in the recent in the past, since they're more likely to convert. The procedure for doing this is straightforward.

First, a user will arrive on your site, such as .com.

 website
website

After they've done this, they're tracked with a cookie, or pixel.

If you are an advertiser, suppose you'd like to be up on Google results pages for"WordPress hosting" keyword "WordPress hosting" search term (using as an example).

Google ad
Google ads

Instead of targeting all person on the internet searching for "WordPress hosting," you could target those who've visited your website before AND searched for the keyword.

RLSAs are an excellent option to redirect visitors to your website on specific terms that they are likely to search for on Google. eBags is one of the largest online retailers of bags and accessories. Read this review to learn the methods they used to achieve 10 % - 15% increase in revenue by making use of Remarketing Lists for Search Ads.

4. Email Ad Retargeting

Like the strategies previously mentioned, retargeting could be achieved using email too! Email retargeting allows you to identify potential customers with customized adsthat appear in the middle of their inbox with Gmail ads.

Email retargeting in Gmail
Retargeting email using Gmail

Certain platforms allow CRM Retargeting, which lets you target people on your mailing list even if they haven't read your newsletters or emails.

What platforms are you able to run Retargeted Ads?

If you're interested in trying the ad retargeting method, you'll require a third party solution to handle all the technical details such as tracking pixels, cookies, audience building, reporting and segmentation of users.

It is possible to choose one of the following platforms. Certain of them offer self-service, while some are managed fully, but it's up to you depending the level of external involvement that is needed.

Here are some great platforms to choose from.

Google Ads can be the most popular advertising network all over. It has an easy-to-use dashboard and fast setting up, you'll have retargeting ads running in a matter of days time. If you're making use of Google Ads, setting up the retargeting campaigns is straightforward. All you need is to turn on Retargeting, set up remarketing lists, and create personalized ads to draw attention to users on those lists.

AdRoll

AdRoll is very simple to create as well as to execute and analyse the effectiveness of retargeting ads. It supports all popular networks and ad exchanges like Google, Facebook, or Twitter, so you can follow your potential customers wherever they travel. If you're deciding whether to use AdWords or AdRoll, AdRoll has a greater coverage and is simpler to establish.

AdRoll
AdRoll

Perfect Audience

Perfect Audience is an additional easy to utilize platform offering site retargeting, mobile app retargeting, Facebook retargeting, and other similar services. It doesn't require a set-up cost or minimum amount to be spent, which makes it a great option for small businesses.

Retargeter

Retargeter provides DIY as well as Managed services to its customers. DIY plans are limited to the retargeting of websites and Facebook targeted retargeting. Managed services offer additional choices like the CRM and search retargeting.

Social Media Retargeting Platforms

Apart from the mentioned platforms Popular social media platforms also let you target your site's visitors with native advertisements.

Facebook monthly active users
Facebook Monthly active Users (Image source: Statista)

This is everything you have to know about starting by retargeting your ads on Facebook.

Facebook Retargeting

Facebook has such a massive number of users, and it has tons of advertising potential.

However, Facebook also has some of the most sophisticated targeted tools available.

It is possible to create completely new audiences from scratch, targeting all kinds of interests, behavior, or data on demographics that you could think of.

Facebook demographic and interest targeting
Facebook demographic and interest targeting

At present, Facebook offers three distinct audience types, each packing dozens of subtypes to target everyone from people who come to your site to social engagement and brand new audiences:

Facebook audience types
Facebook audience types
  1. Custom audiences: Develop audiences for Retargeting on the basis of people who showed interest in and were engaged prior to. It can be done on your site, on Facebook and mobile apps as well as other.
  2. Lookalike audience: Upload a list of your customers on Facebook who will match it with comparable target groups for precise targeting.
  3. Audience saved: Make a new audience by using demographics, interests in income, behaviour, and many more.

Step 1

In order to do this, you must first, create an account on the Facebook Business Manager. This platform will help you manage all of your Facebook advertisements. You can create a free account!

Facebook Business Manager
Facebook Business Manager

Step 2.

On the Business Manager dashboard, click on your toolbar and select"Pixels" "Pixels" option from the section on measuring and reporting.

Facebook pixel
Facebook Pixel

Step 3

Then, you can then click "Set Up Pixel" for it to be added to your website:

Set up Facebook pixel
Create a Facebook pixel

Step 4

In this section, there are three simple options to get going.

Facebook pixel integration options
Facebook pixel integration options
  1. Utilize tags with the help of tag managers (easiest choice if have this setup on your website and aren't familiar with code)
  2. Manually copy and paste this code onto your site's page.
  3. Forward the information to the developer of your website

Step 5

Once you have the pixel set up, give it time to begin collecting data on traffic prior to launching a campaign. Although there is no harm by starting early however, you may not notice much activity until the pixel has greater information. If you're ready launch the campaign, head to the audiences section of your Facebook Business Manager to build a customized audience to retarget.

Facebook audiences in Ad Manager
Facebook audiences in Ad Manager

Step 6

From here, you can create a new custom audience using a range of Retargeting options. For a retargeting campaign, this will typically include "Website traffic."

Facebook custom audience
Facebook custom audience

Step 7

Once you create your retargeting list and you have it, you can make new ads using the Ads Manager (which is within the business manager) and then watch how traffic is coming in!

Additional Social Media Retargeting Networks

A lot of social media sites are now offering some kind of retargeting within their advertising options. There are others you could want to test it on.

  • Pinterest Retargeting: Pinterest Recently, the social media giant has introduced a retargeting feature for advertisers. This means that you can make your site's visitors more visible through Pinterest via promoted pins.
  • Qora Retargeting The Quora platform lets you target users in your advertising pixel who have visited your website but haven't made a purchase.
  • LinkedIn RetargetingLinkedIn is just as Facebook and Twitter. Segment and re-engage with visitors who've visited your site with LinkedIn Ads.
  • YouTube Retargeting: Retargeting is conducted through Google Ads, with the same audiences you have set up in the normal Google Ads remarketing (as seen below).

How to Set up Google Ads Retargeting campaign in just Minutes

Making a retargeting marketing campaign using Google Ads (previously Google AdWords) is super simple. Just follow these simple steps.

Step 1

Then you will receive a little snippet of code (also referred to as "Tag" or "Pixel" for some platforms) which you must place on your website. You can find this code by clicking to the "Conversions" section in your toolbox.

Google Ads conversions
Conversions of Google Ads

Step 2.

Then, you can create a new conversion tracking element that is based on the actions of your site.

Google Ads website actions
Google Ads website actions

Step 3.

The next step is to create remarketing lists.

Based on your budget and objectives, you may decide to focus on all site visitors, returning visitors, visitors who browsed particular sections, or the visitors who completed a specific activity on your site.

Make ads, and they will be displayed to those you have on your remarketing lists!

Step 4

For those who want to get an ideaof what to do, here's the procedure you can set up an retargeting program using Google Ads for the display network. To get started, head to your Google Ads dashboard and click on the campaign tab. From here click the blue + button to start an entirely new campaign.

New Google Ads campaign
The latest Google Ads campaign

Step 5

Following, Google Ads will ask you to choose the objective you wish to achieve. Based on what goal you select, you will get different options to choose from. Retargeting is a possibility, and you may opt to target websites for visitors. Choose "Display" as your option from the drop-down list.

Google Ads website display
Google Ads website display

Step 6

Display is the simplest way to get started on your retargeting campaign. Pick the "Standard display campaign" subtype and then enter your website's URL.

Google Ads display campaign subtype
Google Ads display campaign subtype

Continue and you'll be able to modify all your campaign settings like budget, spend, and much more.

Step 7

The next most crucial step it to edit your audience targeting for this campaign to select the Retargeting list!

Go to the "Audience" section and then choose "How they have interacted with your company." That's the place you'll see the list of retargeting.

Google Ads remarketing and similar audiences
Remarketing by Google Ads, and other similar audience

Step 8

Next, you can design your ads right through the tab of campaign setup and then publish it after you're done:

Google Ads create ads
Google Ads create ads

That's it!

Creating a Retargeting List From Google Analytics

Very Important It is recommended that that you've already linked Google Ads with your Google Analytics account prior to attempting to use it.

Step 1.

Visit the website of your Google Analytics account. Select the admin gear icon at the bottom left corner, and then select the tab for audiences:

Google Analytics audiences
Google Analytics audiences

Step 2.

Press the red button to create a new retargeting audience.

Create new audience in Google Analytics
Create a new audience in Google Analytics

Step 3.

From here, you can select a bunch of premade kinds of audience, including targeting all website traffic, returning visitors, specific site pages, etc. Or, you can make your own custom audience types. To make it easier, if this is your first audience, select to target everyone.

Google Analytics audience definition
Google Analytics audience definition

Step 4.

Once your audience is created Simply link the audience the Google Ads as your destination and make sure to publish your public!

Google Analytics publish audience
Google Analytics publish audience

Refresh Your Google Ads dashboard and you can now view the brand new audience ready to use.

Thank you for retargeting!

Summary

Retargeting advertising is an extremely option for people on a budget. Why? because you are able to focus only on those interested in your company's name. You can also easily exclude those who have already purchased or reached out to you. It is highly recommended to give it a try to see whether it is a good fit for your business.

We'd like to get in touch with you. Have you set up an advertising retargeting strategy? What was the outcome? Share your thoughts in the comments!

  • It is easy to set up and manage My dashboard. My dashboard
  • 24/7 expert support
  • The best Google Cloud Platform hardware and network that is powered by Kubernetes to ensure maximum capacity
  • An enterprise-level Cloudflare integration for speed as well as security
  • Global audience reach with more than 35 data centers, and around 275 POPs in the world.