By Wayne Brown
In today’s technical world of open-source platforms and plug-ins, it’s easier than ever to track and market to people who’ve come into contact with your brand through ad click-thrus and website visits. There are great opportunities to market your products and services to users who’ve expressed interest no matter where they go on the internet. The two terms you hear most about when it comes to this approach are Remarketing and Retargeting.
Remarketing is an email strategy that marketers use to continue engaging customers who’ve already purchased a product or service or came close to buying, but bailed just before checkout. The reasons for sending a user an email can include thanking them for a purchase, asking why they abandoned a purchase, up-selling and cross-selling, and letting them know about warranties and product updates. These users have expressed an interest in your brand, sometimes buying, sometimes not. For those on-the-fence shoppers, an email can be a great way to convert them to a sale by helping them overcome any obstacles in their decision-making process.
Retargeting takes a little more effort, but is relatively inexpensive with a potentially high ROI. This is your opportunity to keep your brand fresh in the minds of potential customers. Retargeting involves placing online ads and display ads, based on a user’s activity on your site. After a cookie is set, you can target ads to these users on other similar sites they visit. This can be done by using 3rd party networks like Ad Roll and the Google Display Network. This approach allows marketers to reach potential customers wherever they go on millions of sites.
So which is better? Actually, it makes more sense to use both. You want to use email remarketing when you have a customer or potential customer who has shown a significant interest in buying, while ad retargeting works to keep your brand fresh on the minds of consumers wherever they take their online searches for products and services similar to yours.