Remarketing and dynamic remarketing are among the most popular targeting methods, especially for e-commerce sites. With the right optimization methods, it is possible to get better efficiency from your remarketing advertisements.
To give a brief definition of remarketing, we can say that it is showing your advertisements to people who have visited your site even after they leave your site. However, since merely showing banner advertisements would not be correct, it is beneficial to diversify this.
It is possible to easily adapt these optimization methods, gathered under 19 separate headings, according to your needs. In our list, which is also gathered under sub-headings such as targeting, bidding, and general strategy, you can carry out remarketing by showing your advertisements to people who have visited your site.
Note: These 19 tips that I will share on remarketing have been taken from the Google AdWords Official page and shared by me. Since such important and official data is available, it would be impossible not to share it.
1. Reaching All Visitors of Your Website
The simplest way to perform remarketing is to reach all visitors of your website. In other words, anyone who visits your website can see your remarketing advertisements.
To create a remarketing list to reach all visitors of your website, create a remarketing list where the URL contains your website's domain name (for example, “YourDomainName.com”) or is identical to your home page URL (for example, “http://www.YourDomainName.com”).
2. Showcasing Different Product Categories
In order to showcase different product categories, create a remarketing list for each product category where the URL belonging to each list contains the category name.
Example
Jale, who operates a clothing store on the internet, wants to show different remarketing advertisements to her customers searching for women's clothing and her customers searching for men's clothing.
Jale creates two separate advertisements targeted at customers browsing the “Women's Clothing” page and customers browsing the “Men's Clothing” page.
3. Appealing to Visitors Who Have Not Converted
If your website has attracted visitors who did not convert, you can create a remarketing list to draw these customers back to your website.
Custom combination lists can help you target those who left your website without converting, by excluding visitors who have converted. If you already have a list targeting all users visiting your website, create a remarketing list for visitors who have previously completed a conversion action on your website. Then, create your custom combination list to exclude visitors who have previously converted.
Example
The website of a university attracts a large number of visitors, but the university wants to reach visitors who have not filled out a form to request more information. The university uses a custom combination list to reach these visitors in order to inform non-converting visitors about the services offered at the university.
4. Re-Engaging Visitors Who Abandon Their Shopping Cart
Users sometimes add products to their shopping carts in the virtual store but do not complete their shopping. Since these customers are usually very close to a purchasing decision, reaching them and helping them perform the purchasing transaction can be an important opportunity.
In order to reach users who add at least one product to their shopping carts, create a list of customers who visit your “Shopping Cart” page (for example, the URL contains the phrase “shoppingcart.asp”) and create a second list for users who complete their purchases and visit the “Order Confirmation” page (for example, the URL contains the phrase “purchase.asp”). Then, you can use a custom combination list to perform remarketing targeted at users who have visited your “Shopping Cart” page but have not visited your “Order Confirmation” page.
Example
Nimet operates an electronic products store on the internet. Nimet notices that her customers frequently put very expensive products into their shopping carts but do not complete the shopping. Nimet decides to create a remarketing campaign to draw these customers back to her store in the hope of completing the sale.
5. Upselling or Cross-Selling to Existing Customers
Customers who have previously purchased products from your website may also be interested in complementary products or services you offer.
By creating a “converted customers” list, you access a smaller group of your website visitors. However, these customers already possess knowledge about your business and are interested in your business. Absolutely customize your advertisements according to this group.
Additionally, you can also create remarketing lists for specific products. That is, if customers viewed and purchased specific products, you can show them advertisements targeted at another related product.
Example
Cemil, who operates a garden products store, wants to reach customers who previously viewed the plant seeds section of his store and purchased products. Since he knows that customers who buy plant seeds are generally interested in plant food products, he creates a remarketing campaign to advertise these related products to them.
6. Reaching Customers Within a Specific Time Interval Following Their Shopping
If you estimate that customers have a high probability of performing a purchasing transaction from your business within a specific time interval following their initial interaction, you can create a remarketing list with a specific membership duration.
To reach customers who purchased products within the last 30 to 90 days, create two remarketing lists, one with a duration of 30 days and the other with 90 days. Then, use the custom combination list to reach all customers who are on the 90-day list but not on the 30-day list.
Example
Mehmet is the owner of a website that sells video games. He knows that customers who purchase a game console from his site usually purchase other games after a period between 30 and 90 days, whereas those who exceed the 90-day period have a low probability of making another purchase. Mehmet decides to create a remarketing campaign to sell video games to all customers who purchased a console 30 to 90 days ago.
Ad Strategies
7. Making Your Advertisements Suitable for Your Remarketing Strategy
Your ad strategy is as important as your remarketing list strategy. Below are some general recommendations regarding your remarketing advertisements:
Relevant to the audience you want to reach
Possesses the same look and feel as your site
Contains an engaging call to action
Example
Remarketing advertisements targeted at users who visit the women's winter clothing section of Jale's website would be more relevant if they promote women's coats instead of presenting a generic message to the said users.
8. Using All Ad Formats and Sizes to Reach Your Audience
In order to reach as many customers as possible on the internet, create text and image ads using multiple ad sizes for your remarketing campaign. Then, test which format works best for your campaign's business.
9. Using the Ad Gallery to Create Image Ads More Easily
When you are ready to create image ads for your remarketing campaigns, use the Ad gallery, which is a free AdWords tool that enables you to create your advertisements.
Selection can be made from among over a hundred ad templates. By adding text, customized colors, images, and your logo, you can have a professional-looking image ad designed specifically for each remarketing list.
Bidding Strategies
10. Bidding for Lists with a Higher Probability of Conversion
Higher bids maximize your chance of encountering this valuable audience by increasing your probability of reaching more users in your remarketing lists. Consider the value of your customers in each of your remarketing lists when determining which bid to adjust.
Example
Recep carries out electronic product sales. Since televisions are more profitable than cameras, he places a higher bid for a remarketing list targeting users who visit television pages than the bid he gives for a list targeted at camera pages.
Additionally, he has created two custom combinations in order to target two customer groups:
Users who have visited the website but have not initiated a purchasing transaction
Users who have already started the payment process on your website but have abandoned it without completing the purchasing transaction
It is more likely for users who have already added products to their shopping carts to complete a purchasing transaction. Therefore, these users are probably more valuable for Recep. In this case, he places a higher bid for the ad group containing the remarketing list in question.
11. Using Bidding Strategies That Maximize Conversions
Automated Bidding Strategies
You can use Conversion Optimizer, which is a bid optimization tool that can help you maximize your return on investment (ROI) by optimizing bids for each impression in real-time. With Conversion Optimizer, you no longer need to manually adjust your bids to reach your conversion goals.
You can combine automated bidding strategies with remarketing lists for search ads (RLSA) to increase the number and quality of your conversions.
Manual Bidding Strategies
If you prefer to manage your remarketing campaign bids manually, we recommend setting a maximum CPC bid.
Below are a few bidding strategies that can help you increase your remarketing performance:
If you are satisfied with the performance of your remarketing campaign, you should consider increasing your bid to reach more customers and raise your ROI. Increasing your bid can help you increase your chance of continuously appearing on Display Network websites to users in your remarketing list by improving your ad's position.
If you have created remarketing lists with various membership durations, you can benefit from bid management. Assume that you want to reach visitors coming to your website within the last 30 days, separately from users who visited your site within the last seven days. You can create two different lists, each having distinct durations, and place a higher bid for the list you think is more valuable.
Example
Nimet possesses a site where electronic products are sold and knows that customers have a higher probability of purchasing a television in the first week after viewing television pages. She places a higher bid for users who entered her list within the last seven days. Users who visited her site within the last 30 days can also purchase products, but she does not want to place such an aggressive bid for these customers.
For this, she creates a list of users who view the television page with the membership duration set to seven days and targets this list with a more aggressive bid. Additionally, she creates a second list of users who view the television page with the membership duration set to 30 days. Then, in order to prevent seven-day visitors from being present in both lists at the same time, she creates a custom combination to target the 30-day membership list, excludes the seven-day list, and uses a less aggressive bid.
General Strategies
12. Expanding Your Location and Language Targeting
Since remarketing helps you reach your ideal customers, you need to be able to show ads to these customers wherever they are on the web. Your site visitors might speak more than one language and access your website from any country in the world. Therefore, make sure you choose to target all languages in your campaign settings.
Keep in mind that you need to be able to show ads to customers in the locations you target when determining your location targeting setting.
13. Extending the Membership Duration of Your Lists to Reach More Visitors
Extending the duration of your list (for example, from 30 days to 60 days) allows you to establish a connection with people who visit your website within the specified time frame. In most cases, as the duration extends, the number of users present in your list increases too.
14. Shortening the Duration of the List to Reach Only the Newest Visitors
In order to potentially increase the conversions you obtain from your list, you can shorten the membership duration to reach only the newest visitors. However, do not forget that shortening the duration can limit the number of potential customers you can reach.
15. Limiting the Number of Times Visitors Can See Your Advertisements
Frequency capping limits the number of times any user sees the same ad in a day. This can reduce your number of impressions.
16. Scheduling the Ad Delivery to the Time When the Probability of the Advertisement Being Seen by Visitors is High
Ad delivery time scheduling allows specifying the hours or days of the week you want your ads to be shown. Thus, you can ensure they see your advertisements by reaching your customers when they are awake and online.
17. Accelerating Ad Delivery for Visitors to See Your Advertisements Immediately After Coming to Your Site
Accelerated delivery tries to show your advertisements more quickly until your budget is exhausted. Thanks to this option, you can reach users in your list and deliver your advertisements while your customers browse the Display Network.
Long-Term Strategies
18. Spending Your Ad Budget on Websites That Yield Results
If you are spending a large portion of your budget on one or two websites but cannot obtain a number of conversions worth the investment you made, you can reduce the bid you give for the website in question or exclude the site from your campaign.
Contrary to this situation, if some sites perform extremely well and provide a low Cost Per Acquisition (CPA), you can increase your bid regarding the sites in question.
Conversion Tracking allows you to learn the number of conversions you obtain from your remarketing campaign. Additionally, you can evaluate your performance on Display Network sites where your ads are shown and decide how to bid and optimize based on these data.
19. Growing the List by Increasing Your Website's Traffic
Utilize a complementary online advertising strategy to attract more users to your website to add to your list. Display and search network campaigns are effective ways to achieve this goal.