Last week we talked about the benefits of using Google Remarketing in display-based campaigns and discussed the ease of use, customisation opportunities, and overall flexibility provided by this targeting tool. Today I would like to talk about how to create effective remarketing lists and share a few ideas on what sort of visitors you should consider for remarketing.

Most potential buyers go through several steps when considering a purchase on a site:
1. They research the potential options that would match their criteria.
2. They narrow down the options that they would actually consider buying.
3. They place an item in the shopping cart and leave.

As it happens in a real world, some potential clients may abandon your purchase funnel at any stage so why not do something that will draw them back in there again?

This is where Google Remarketing steps in. Remarketing is an effective way to retarget these shoppers with a message that is relevant to the stage they were in. As an advertiser, you should segment your audience into different lists and tailor your advertisements in accordance to your client’s needs to see a significant improvement when it comes to your ROI.

Which Visitors Should I Remarket?

All Site Visitors

The most basic way to remarket is to target all users who have entered your site. If you are new to Remarketing, this option should probably be your starting point to make sure that you fully understand how the system works and how it reaches your target.

Different visitors for different categories

If you are running an online retail company that offers different product categories, you can remarket with an ad that is tailored to that product category.

For example, you are running an online fashion store and you sell clothing and accessories to both men and women. In this case you can show a more targeted message to users who browsed the ‘Women’s Clothing’ page versus users who browsed the ‘Men’s Clothing’ page. You can create a remarketing list for each product category and target both or more groups independently.

Non-Converters

If your websites conversion rates are strong and you are successfully converting the majority of your traffic, then target all users who don’t convert. First create a list of users who completed a purchase. Then, create a custom combination to show your ad to people who entered your site minus those who actually ordered something.

Indecisive Visitors/Shopping Cart Abandonment

Some people put items in their shopping cart, but don’t complete the transaction. These users are highly qualified and close to buying, so it might be very valuable to retarget these people with a strong call to action so that they proceed with the purchase. You can create one list for visitors who have put at least one item in the shopping cart and another list for people who actually completed a purchase. By doing this you can separate both audiences from each other and only remarket to the people who abandoned your shopping cart without paying.

Cross-Selling

You can reach clients who have previously converted for one product with an offer for another product. Let’s use an example:

You are running an online tennis retail shop and one of your customers bought a Wilson tennis racket. They may also potentially be interested in buying a Wilson racket bag.
You can easily retarget this customer by firstly adding a list for ‘converted users’ and then creating a product-level list with a tailored ad and deliver cross-sell and up-sell messages to make the client come back.

Reaching Your Audience

There are multiple strategies that you can use when you set up your remarketing lists. To take full advantage of your remarketing campaign, you should grow your list size and use a complementary advertising strategy to attract more users to your site. Use a variety of different ad formats for better reach and remove any targeting restrictions such as language or country because you may have multi-lingual clients. Focus on bidding strategies and your ads visibility. Raise the bids to see if you get wider reach and more conversions, which would result in a better ROI and better online success.

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PPC - Google Adwords