In order to capture the attention of a prospect who has been interested in a company’s offer, a marketing team will create what are called « retargeting ads ». Also called « retargeting ads », they appear on the web to remind potential customers of goods or services they have viewed but not yet purchased. Retargeting is an effective approach when prospects are still in the thinking phase. This technique makes it possible to push potential customers to purchase and retain them.

Remarketing and retargeting: what are the differences?

While remarketing and retargeting can be used in a complementary way, the difference between these two strategies lies in the phase of the buying process from which each campaign is conducted.

Companies use retargeting when prospects are close to being converted into customers. It usually uses cookies or email addresses to deliver paid advertisements on sites or social networks visited by Internet users.

Remarketing, on the other hand, is an approach used upstream, where the company’s objective is to introduce the offer to its target. Remarketing typically involves email marketing, where a company deploys a series of creative emails as a strategy in order to engage with potential customers.

Although remarketing and retargeting strategies approach marketing in slightly different ways, it is important to leverage both strategies in order to deploy an effective campaign.

How do retargeting ads work?

Retargeting ads work by deploying cookies, which are small pieces of data, stored in a web browser used to track a user’s activity. Concretely, here is how it works:

• Pixel-based retargeting: In order to gather information for retargeting, you need to place a retargeting pixel – or a piece of code – on the pages of the company’s website where you want to track customer behavior. Once visitors are exposed to this pixel, they will receive personalized advertisements as they browse;
• List-based retargeting: This involves collecting and aggregating the email addresses of current and potential customers in order to target these prospects on social networks. After uploading the contact list to a social network’s advertising platform, a retargeting campaign can be created to target certain behaviors and characteristics, such as interests, hobbies, age range, and location. Although list-based retargeting is less used and involves more preparatory work than pixel-based retargeting, this approach provides companies with more information about customers.

How do I launch an ad retargeting campaign?

Before launching an ads retargeting campaign, it is necessary to identify the company’s marketing objectives , the target and the sites where to broadcast the ads. It is necessary to carry out this step carefully in order to effectively measure the results.

The type of ad retargeting to opt for

To do this, it is essential to refer to the marketing objectives. Will the ads be used to improve brand awareness ? Or is the company looking to convert prospects into customers ?

In the first case, the ads will have to focus on the company’s mission, as well as the message to be conveyed to consumers. The value proposition should be clear and easy to follow. It is necessary to optimize the campaign to have a good image rather than provoking purchases.

In the second case, the message to be broadcast must be direct and sales-oriented. Potential customers must therefore be clearly aware of the offer. Optimization is now done at the level of clicks, downloads or other conversion goals.

Target segmentation

During a retargeting ads campaign, you have to target a specific audience. As a result, the company will be able to adapt the ad. There are also other factors to consider when segmenting:

• Demographics: what is the age range of the ideal target? What is the target’s main place of residence? Does the target share common interests or similar behaviors? Most retargeting tools will allow you to segment an audience based on a variety of demographic information. These questions just need to be answered before determining the target.
• Time: Grouping the audience based on time is another key variable that can impact the campaign. Identifying the time between a customer’s first and last visit — and the frequency of visits — will help segment groups. This data can also help identify the best approach to set up the time between a prospect’s visit to a website and when they see their first and last ad retargeting.
• Acquired customers: If the ads retargeting campaign includes customers who have already acquired, it will be useful to note their behaviors. To do this, simply leverage the company’s CRM to be sure to set up a campaign that will touch the demographics of acquired customers.

How to choose a retargeting platform?

For the realization of a retargeting ads campaign, it will be necessary to evaluate the tools to be used. There are, for example, different social networks and platforms on the web. Once again, in order not to be mistaken in this choice, it will be necessary to consider the data already acquired upstream.

Facebook Ads and Facebook Pixel are, for example, two methods available. To do this, the company must either set up a Facebook business account to serve ads or set up a pixel on the targeted site. From there, the marketing team can segment the audience through Facebook’s demographic filters, set a budget, and track the results of the ads retargeting campaign.

Bottom Line: Retargeting ads campaigns improve a company’s visibility and/or convert prospects into real customers. It will simply be necessary to arm yourself with patience to collect data about them in order to offer effective personalized ads.