Founder at M16 Marketing and a Forbes Agency Council member. He’s a leading marketing technologist on a mission to create success stories.
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Choosing the right type of ads is essential to your e-commerce business’ success. The top three online advertising platforms — Google Ads, Bing Ads and Facebook Ads — offer a variety of ad types. For more e-commerce sales, though, retargeting ads are the way to go. You can still use other types of ads, but retargeting ads are typically the most cost-effective at driving sales because of their unique targeting method.
What Are Retargeting Ads?
Also known as remarketing ads, retargeting ads are defined by an engagement-based method of targeting. They are designed to selectively show up for users who’ve engaged with an advertiser’s business.
Other types of ads use a traditional method of targeting. You create search ads, for example, that target users by keywords, or you can create display ads that target users by websites. With the former targeting option, only users who search for one of your target keywords will see your ads. With the latter targeting option, only users who visit one of your target websites will see your ads.
Retargeting ads, on the other hand, allow you to target users based on the interactions they have with your e-commerce business’s digital presence. An interaction can be something as simple as visiting your e-commerce store. Alternatively, interactions can consist of visiting a specific product page or even watching a video on your business’s YouTube channel.
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Retargeting ads allow you to create custom audiences of users who’ve, in some way, interacted with your e-commerce business online. Depending on which advertising platform you use, you’ll typically need to upload a tracking tag to your e-commerce store. Consisting of a file or code snippet, it will automatically add users to your custom audience list. Only users who meet your specified targeting criteria for your customer audience will see your retargeting ads.
Cross-Sell Products
You can use retargeting ads to cross-sell products. Cross-selling is a marketing strategy that involves the promotion of related products. If a user has expressed interest in a product, he or she may also be interested in a related product. While you can cross-sell products by displaying them on your e-commerce store, retargeting ads are more versatile.
With retargeting ads, you can cross-sell products to users who purchased a product as well as users who visited your e-commerce store but didn’t purchase a product. Users who purchased a laptop, for instance, may be interested in accessories like a carrying bag and wireless mouse, whereas users who visited a product page for a printer may be interested in toner cartridges and paper. Regardless, retargeting ads support custom audiences based on interactions so you can use them to cross-sell products.
Recover Abandoned Carts
In addition to cross-selling, you can use retargeting ads to recover abandoned shopping carts. Not all shoppers who add a product to their cart will place an order. According to a study, on average, 69% of shopping carts are abandoned and 88% of shoppers never get to the cart.
With retargeting ads, you can target users who abandoned their cart to attract them back to your e-commerce store. After abandoning their cart, users may forget about your e-commerce business. Retargeting ads serve as a reminder. When they see one of your retargeting ads, users may return to complete their order.
To recover abandoned carts with retargeting ads, you’ll need to create a custom audience consisting of users who viewed the shopping cart page but didn’t view the order confirmation page. Viewing the order confirmation page means the user has completed his or her order. As a result, you should exclude these users from your customer audience.
Foster Customer Loyalty
Retargeting ads are particularly effective at fostering customer loyalty. You can create retargeting ads that only show to users who’ve placed at least one order with your e-commerce business. In these retargeting ads, you can promote exclusive discounts to encourage users to come back and buy more products.
A higher level of customer loyalty will likely result in more sales for your e-commerce business. Research conducted by Adobe shows that nearly half of all revenue generated by e-commerce businesses comes from just 8% of its customers. In other words, it’s returning customers who will generate the most revenue for your e-commerce business and not new customers.
Retargeting ads foster customer loyalty because they allow you to target users who’ve already purchased products. As their loyalty increases, they’ll place more orders while spending more money.
Connect With YouTube Users
If your e-commerce business has a YouTube channel, you can use retargeting ads to connect with users who’ve visited it. YouTube-based targeting is available in Google Ads. You can set up YouTube retargeting ads to display on Google or YouTube. After visiting your business’s YouTube channel, users will see your ads in these places.
Users who visit your YouTube channel may be interested in its products. Some users, however, may only visit your YouTube channel and not its store. With YouTube retargeting ads, you can point them in the direction of your e-commerce store.
To use YouTube retargeting ads, you’ll need to link your business’s YouTube channel to your Google Ads account. You’ll also need to enable the retargeting feature in YouTube, and you’ll need to add at least 1,000 users to your custom audience list.
Retargeting ads typically yield a higher earnings-per-click (EPC) for e-commerce businesses than traditional search and display ads. You can use them to cross-sell products, recover abandoned carts, foster customer loyalty, connect with YouTube users, and more. With their engagement-based method of targeting, retargeting ads are a powerful solution for maximizing e-commerce sales.
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Author: Don Dodds, Forbes Councils Member
