What is Retargeting, and How Does it Work?

What is Retargeting? It is a cookie-based advertising technology that allows you to follow your website traffic as it hops from your website to another. We will know how does it work in this article. 

In an ideal world, 100% of the visitors that come to your website would convert into customers. Unfortunately, it’s a far cry from reality.

In truth, only about 2% of your website traffic would actually contribute to your business. This is because the path followed by an average customer is not linear:

A person looking for a particular product lands on your blog first. They skim through the content and jump to another blog in less than a minute. They are indecisive at this point and thus close the next blog they have just landed on shortly too. A few days go by, but since now they are more serious about the service they are looking for they again come back to your website and finally download the brochure. If they find it satisfactory they will make a purchase.

If you are selling your products or services online then it is really important you get to grips with the non-linear and erratic customer behaviour. This is where retargeting can be of great help.

What is Retargeting?

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Simply put, retargeting is a cookie-based advertising technology that allows you to follow your website traffic as it hops from your website to another, unlike traditional banner advertisements which are static.

How does Retargeting Work?

Retargeting is based on the use of cookies for tracking your website visitors. Here is how it works:

• You place a small unobtrusive piece of code in your website.
• When a new visitor land on your website the piece of code drops a cookie (a small file that contains user-specific information that can be used for tracking them across the Internet) in their system.
• When the visitor checks another website, the cookie checks where the website has an ad space available. If it’s available it will display your ad on that website. This process repeats with every website that the person visitors. Thus, your ads discreetly follow them everywhere.

What are the Advantages of Retargeting?

In comparison to traditional advertising, retargeting is highly effective. The following are some of the biggest advantages that you can enjoy with retargeting:

Targeted Advertising

With retargeting, you get to target only those customers who are actually interested in your products/services, indicated by the fact that they have visited your website. Thus, you can avoid the “spray and pray” marketing approach and focus directly on your high-quality leads.

Directing your Customers to Your Website

Retargeting subtly emphasizes on “call to action” by following your visitors. Since they are already looking for the kind of products/services that are available with you, by coming across your ad repeatedly, they are likely to come back to your website without much delay.

Increased Conversion Rate

Retargeting can greatly increase the visitor to customer conversion rate. Not only it identifies your leads, but also nurtures them in an automated manner, thus reducing overhead and staff costs.

Retargeting is a powerful marketing technique that’s especially popular on social media platforms such as Facebook, where users are active participants. You too can benefit from retargeting. Just be sure to pick the right tools, strategy, and platforms.