What comes to your mind when you hear the word retargeting?
One may assume that retargeting is going back to square one to target your audience.
That it’s time-consuming and involves a ton of effort.
In reality, retargeting does the opposite.
It’s about showing your ads to people who already interacted with your business.
Perhaps someone showed interest in your products but abandoned his shopping cart.
You might also want to consider those who visited your website for the past six months.
Retargeting attracts previous visitors or prospects who are likely to turn into new or repeat customers.
In today’s guide, we’re going to discuss:
- The benefits of retargeting (regardless of your marketing funnel)
- Facebook retargeting tips to make your ads more effective
Buckle up and keep reading.
7 Benefits of Retargeting for Your Marketing Funnel
Do you know what makes retargeting a powerful tool for your business?
It can be used in any stage of your sales funnel and move people further down the funnel.
You’ll be able to personalize your messages and convince people to take action.
And it doesn’t matter what kind of funnel you have:
- Webinar sales funnel
- Lead magnet funnel
- Product launch funnel
- Live demo funnel
- Membership funnel
Picture this scenario:
Let’s say you have a membership site where you offer premium content for fitness enthusiasts.
Some visitors express interest in your content and decide to try your 7-day free trial.
But as they enter their details into the sign-up page, their phone rang. They answered and forgot to complete the sign-up process. ?
You want to remind them to join the 7-day trial. So, you create a Facebook ad that retargets everyone who has been to your free trial sign-up page.
When they log into their Facebook, they see your ad and remember about your product or service. Once they click on it they’re taken back to the sign-up page. Right where they left.
You can replicate this whole process for any campaign you have.
Thanks to retargeting, you can help your prospects pick up where they left off.
If you’re not yet convinced, here’s a list of powerful retargeting benefits:
1. Heightens brand recognition
You might think that retargeting is all about increasing sales.
But no.
Just because people landed on your site, doesn’t mean they’re in a buying mood. A lot of times, they’re simply looking around for information.
Yet, this isn’t a reason to skip retargeting.
Even first-time visitors can be nurtured by retargeting.
Give them more opportunities to learn more about your business.
Entice them with a free ebook or video training that provides a lot of value. That way, they will understand how you can help them.
2. Shortens the time prospects move through your funnel
Here’s something you should know:
A marketing funnel is more complex than you realize.
Like this zig-zag road!
Contrary to what most people believe, a marketing funnel isn’t a straight line.
Just think about it:
Every prospect’s journey is unique.
Before a person would consider buying, he may check out other options, read reviews, or may completely forget about you.
It could take forever before they click that “buy” button of yours!
Plus, we live in the 21st century where people have a million distractions.
One of the benefits of retargeting is that it allows you to create personalized content based on their journey through your sales funnel.
By showing them personalized content, they’ll be able to take the next step in less time.
3. Learn more about your audience
How are your retargeting ads performing?
There are different metrics inside Facebook’s Ads Manager that will help you understand your campaign’s performance.
Results also tell you if your retargeting ads resonate with your audience.
You can check your post reactions, saves, and comments, down to specific website conversions.
If you run a brick-and-mortar store, you’ll also be able to retarget everyone who walks-in and see how they’re responding to your ads.
The screenshot above shows that you can set-up custom reports in Ads Manager based on the metrics you want to see displayed.
4. Expands your reach
Retargeting doesn’t only ensure that you bring back potential customers.
You can also use retargeting audiences to expose yourself to more potential customers who’ve never heard of you or been to your website yet.
To do this, you need to leverage Lookalike Audiences.
As the name suggests, Lookalike Audiences allows you to use data from your best audience to find people who resemble them.
Let’s say you’ve gained 1,000 customers through campaigns.
Now, you’ll be able to upload your customer file to Facebook. And Facebook will find new people who are very similar to your existing customers.
This leads us to the next retargeting benefit… ?
5. Increases your ROI
A bigger, highly-targeted audience = more sales.
But creating a Lookalike Audience isn’t the only way to get more ROI from retargeting.
Here are other ways to increase your revenue with retargeting:
Offer something that your current customers don’t have yet.
Upsell and cross-sell to customers who’ve enjoyed using your product or service. It’ll be easier to promote to these people since they already know, like and trust you.
Only retarget those who added something to their shopping cart.
You might feel the urge to target everyone who visited your website. But if you’re aiming for a higher ROI with your campaign, focus on those who’ve abandoned their carts.
6. Complements your email marketing efforts
Your email list is a valuable asset because it allows you to form deeper connections with your audience. When used with retargeting, both make a great combo.
I did an experiment to test the impact of Facebook Ads on my email marketing efforts.
Here’s what I did:
I split my email list into two groups – Group A and Group B.
Group A only received my email promotions. Meanwhile, Group B got the email promotions + was retargeted with two Facebook ads.
The result? Group B, which was shown retargeting ads, converted better. I was able to gain an extra $1782 in sales and a 2021% ROI.
Check out my email retargeting case study.
7. Retains existing customers
Do you believe that just because someone bought from you once, that person now becomes a loyal customer?
Many businesses make this false assumption.
A single purchase isn’t enough to retain customers. You also need to consider the fact that other brands are competing for their attention.
There are many ways to do retargeting for customer retention.
One tip is that you can retarget those customers who buy from you during certain times of the year. For example, a week before Christmas, start retargeting them with holiday items.
Another tip is to retarget them with a product that complements with what they purchased in the past..
Tips for Your Next Retargeting Ad Campaign
Now that you know the benefits of retargeting, how do you make it more effective?
1. Offer something of value to first-time visitors.
Don’t treat everyone the same. If you have people who interact with your brand for the first time, earn their trust by providing a lot of value. Perhaps show them a free ebook related to the blog post they viewed on your site or a free webinar training.
Read more: 5 Facebook Retargeting Strategies You Didn’t Know Existed
2. Keep your retargeting ads fresh.
People get bored seeing the same ads over and over. Combat ad fatigue by creating variations of your ad. Use a different copy and call-to-action. Try different images for the same ad. Rotate your ad schedule. Change your campaign objective.
3. Make them aware that they’re being retargeted.
Not a lot of advertisers do this, but people appreciate it if you’re being honest and transparent. One way to do that is to show a retargeting ad that reflects the last page or item they viewed on your website.
Your retargeting ad’s call-to-action could say:
- “You left some items in your cart!”
- “We miss you…Come back!”
- “Did you forget something??”
4. Drive more sales with offers and discounts.
Some of your audiences may be close to buying but leave their shopping cart for various reasons. Increase their chances of returning by enticing them with discounts. It might nudge them into taking action!
5. Use social proof.
Adding social proof in your Facebook retargeting ad in the form of testimonials and reviews improves your credibility. Use video testimonials if possible to really make an impact.
Are You Retargeting Your Audience Already?
Grow your business today with retargeting. If you do it right, it can help you gain brand recognition, widen your audience, boost your email marketing, and more.
Before you go, I would like to introduce you to our tool called ConnectRetarget. ?
ConnectRetarget enables you to show retargeting ads to people based on how long they stayed on your website, where they came from, how often and when they visited you… and more.
You’ll learn everything about ConnectRetarget here.
Got thoughts about this article? Share them in the comments section below!