After shopping for a certain wristwatch online, you move on to gathering information for a project on which you’ve been working.
Remarkably though, ads for the watch begin to appear as you visit different websites.
This is retargeting in action.
Depending upon where you are in terms of your Internet sophistication, you might understand what’s going on and think nothing of it—aside from making a note to go back and look at the watch again.
However, if this is your first experience with the strategy, you might feel stalked instead.
This is one of the potential retargeting fails.
How Retargeting Works
Ad networks such as Facebook and Google Display Network have access to the vast majority of Internet connected devices. When you were on the watch website, it placed a cookie in your browser with data relating to the watch.
The cookie triggers the ads when you visit sites that are part of Facebook’s or Google’s Display Network—depending upon which one the watch’s advertiser contracted. Completely automated, advertisers can accomplish this with no secondary effort. However, they must set the parameters of their campaigns thoughtfully.
Said simply, just as investing in premium web templates like Shopify’s can be a good move, retargeting can be a powerful tool when implemented carefully. Used negligently though, merchants can flame their own good names all across the internet.
Here’s how.
Irritating the Converted
Let’s say you went back and bought the watch after seeing one of the ads again. If the advertiser hasn’t set up a provision to stop serving ads when shoppers convert, you’ll keep getting ads until the campaign ends.
This is wasted spending on the part of the promoter and irritating for you as a consumer. After all, you’ve bought the freaking watch—why won’t they just leave you alone already?
Repetition and Frequency Issues
When shoppers see the same ad over and over again, they become numb to it or irritated by it. Either way, it isn’t doing the brand’s perception a whole lot of good.
“Jeez, there’s that stupid watch ad again—when WILL these people get a clue?”
Similarly, if an ad is being served too often, it can make the subject feel creeped out when it comes up—unbidden—once again. Serving varying ads for the same product is a good way around this. Setting them to rotate so the user doesn’t see the same advertisement repeatedly is a smart move too.
In other words, balance frequency and repetition to achieve optimal results.
Ignoring Audience Segmentation
Ad deliveries can be predicated upon how many pages of a marketer’s site were visited. How long a user stayed on a particular page and what actions they took can also be set as factors.
Let’s say you placed the watch in a shopping cart, then went off and did some other things. Meanwhile, another user spent a lot of time looking at its product page, did nothing else and moved on.
The two of you should see different retargeting ads.
Because you were closer to conversion and might respond to a gentle nudge, your ad could include a promotional incentive to complete the purchase. Conversely, the one aimed at the more casual shopper should be a simple reminder the watch exists.
Being careful to avoid these retargeting fails will get you a better return on your investment, as you’ll be more likely to reach people who are interested in purchasing your products.
What’s more, you’ll be less likely to irritate people and far more likely to achieve a positive association in the minds of consumers.
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Should companies plug the leak or keep filling the bucket? – TheMarketingblog https://t.co/gkurOmk9pC pic.twitter.com/dlsuHVfghM
— Will Corry (@slievemore) March 5, 2019
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— Will Corry (@slievemore) February 15, 2019