Remarketing vs. Retargeting: Everything You Need To Know Now

When running ad campaigns, businesses might see an increase in web traffic but not a direct increase in sales. This is because many users do not purchase products or services the first few times they visit a company’s website. 

Even though they are not buying anything yet, this brand awareness will encourage them to choose your company when in the market for the products and services you offer. 

For this reason, the best audience to target are users who have visited your website or interacted with your brand in the past. The best way to do this is through retargeting and remarketing. 

Despite being used interchangeably in the marketing world, remarketing and retargeting do not mean the exact same thing. These strategies both give businesses an opportunity to reach consumers, but the way in which they reach their audience is different. 

Retargeting 

Retargeting uses online ad placements and display ads to target users that have interacted with your website but have not completed a transaction. 

In order to keep track of past website visitors, brands need to set up online tracking within their website. When a user visits your website, a cookie is set in their browser, which allows brands to serve retargeted ads. 

Businesses can choose to enable cookies for all visitors or just users that take a specific action, such as clicking on a product or adding something to their cart. 

With cookies in place, brands can then place their own advertisements on other websites visited by the user. For the best results, use ads that feature the products in which they interacted with while on your website. It is also a good idea to target users based on how they found out about your website, such as social media sites or search engine queries. 

Not only will this help retain users that are already interested in your brand, but retargeting also serves to increase conversions and sales. 

In addition to retargeting users that have visited your website, businesses can also use retargeting to reach “off-site” interactions. Off-site interactions occur when users interact with your company’s page on social media platforms. Many platforms, including Facebook and Instagram, allow brands to retarget users that have liked, commented, shared, or showed interest in your page. 

Remarketing 

Remarketing, on the other hand, is the process of re-engaging users via emails. Email remarketing allows businesses to follow up with website visitors who did not purchase products or services, as well as users who have completed a purchase. 

For this approach, businesses need to collect email addresses in addition to online tracking. One of the most effective ways to collect email addresses from website visitors is by offering a discount or special promotion. 

In order to achieve the best results, businesses should be using personalized email campaigns. This means using data and information gathered about the user through online tracking and cookies. Personalization is a proven way to increase open and click-through rates for remarketing email campaigns. 

Based on the user’s previous actions, brands can send emails to remind the user to complete a desired action, such as purchasing the products in their abandoned shopping cart or signing up for services. 

Since the user has already expressed interest in completing these actions, they are more likely to open the email and click the link. 

To further the impact of the email campaign, brands can include special offers or coupons related to the products or services they had previously clicked on. These emails are especially effective when sent within mere hours of the customers leaving the website. This is because the user does not want to miss out on the limited time offer to buy the product they want at a discounted price. 

Not only does remarketing help businesses retarget inactive customers, it also supports customer retention among active users. This involves emailing customers to renew services, repurchase products, upsell additional products or cross-sell accessories. If the user has already bought from the brand, and is satisfied with their purchase, they will be more receptive to remarketing emails. 

Shared Goals 

Despite their difference in strategy, the most important thing to note when comparing retargeting and remarketing is their shared goal. No matter what avenue you decide is best for your brand and audience, the goal is to re-engage with the audience that has shown any level of interest in your brand. This allows you to target the users that are most likely to buy from your brand, in the hopes of ultimately increasing your conversion rate. 

If you would like more information about avoiding a social media crisis, need help managing a social media disaster, or other digital marketing services please contact Pink Dog Digital at (410) 696-3305, email us at info@pinkdogdigital.com, or visit us on the web at www.pinkdogdigital.com.