What’s your reaction when you discover that visitors to your site didn’t convert? Do you shrug your shoulders and think, “Oh, well. Must not have been the right fit.” Do you wring your hands and sob, “Woe is me.”? Do you get as mad as hell and refuse to take it anymore? Or, do you take a deep breath of objectivity and try to dig into what you could do differently to reengage those customers? Hopefully, you have enough business smarts to keep a cool head and explore your options, of which retargeting is one. Retargeting is simply the act of getting browsers who didn’t convert the first time around to take a second look and complete a sale. It’s a way to capture lost prospects, and it’s a proven revenue channel as well as a way to generate traffic. Check out these stats:
- Nearly 90% of online shoppers don’t complete the sale
- A retargeted customer is about 70% more likely to complete a sale than a non-retargeted customer
- On average, retargeted shoppers spend 50% more than non-retargeted shoppers.
Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need a colossal budget to take advantage of retargeting opportunities. Many affiliates are growing their revenue with retargeting by investing as little as $100 per month. Play around with these strategies for making retargeting work for you.
Be aggressive. Why are you letting that 90% walk away from a sale? Go after them! Comb through your data wearing a consumer lens instead of a sale lens and figure out why they didn’t convert. Study their behaviors. How long did they look at a particular product? What items did they put into their shopping cart that they later removed? What other items did they peek at while on the site? Any behavioral information you can extract from the data can give you insight into how to retarget to those lost propects.
Be exceptional. Online shopping sites can be placed into two categories: Boring or Brilliant. Which one is yours? Make yourself standout. Use eye-catching graphics and subtle persuasion. Figure out what your target audience really wants and needs and then get to the heart of that. With every piece of copy and every ad, ask yourself, “How can I kick that up a notch?” Play to emotions and be persuasive.
Offer meaningful promotions. A person can only have so many coffee mugs, thermal mugs and drawstring knapsacks. Again, be exceptional. Create meaningful promotions that urge your customers to take action (“Click here for a $2 coupon!), poke their emotions (You, too, can find true love in just 5 days!), or convey a sense of urgency (Act fast! Limited time only!)
Study the search. Dig into how customers are searching for products and services in your category. What search terms are they using? What related search terms might they use? People love to comparison shop, so analyze what sites they visit that are similar to yours as well as site in similar niches. Revisit your e-mail efforts to see if you can uncover some customers that might be prime candidates for your retargeting efforts.
I will offer you one caveat: Effectively retargeting is a balancing act. If you over do it, you run the risk of annoying people, which will drive them away. Be especially careful about retargeting to loyal customers. So, what are you waiting for? Go grab that 90%!
