Remarketing tactics are sneaky, but effective. These tactics are built and based on consumer behavior by extrapolating data from visits to your website. For instance, if you have ever shopped for a cookbook on one website, but didn’t buy it just yet (or sometimes even if you did buy it), you might notice that on the next few websites you visit, as if by some magic Internet spell, you see advertisements for similar cookbooks from the same website. This  is remarketing, and it’s over 96 percent effective when it comes to lead conversion and taking customers successfully through the buying and upsell process.

Remarketing Is Not Like Traditional Advertising

The majority of traditional ads on any website are static, meaning they only change or update when the web administrator manually changes the HTML code. The difference between traditional static advertising and remarketing is that the ads on most sites are unchanging, whereas remarketing takes consumer buying behavior and interests into account by consistently changing out ads.

How does remarketing do this? With the brilliant use of tracking cookies installed from the origination site on to the visitor’s device, allowing the company to behaviorally target their marketing to that specific consumer, guiding them through the purchasing process faster and more effectively than most generic ads ever will.
Related:[Infographic] How Retargeting Works in eCommerce

How to Set Up Your Remarketing Campaign

Even if you aren’t a tech-savvy user, it’s easy to set up your remarketing campaign using Google Analytics or AdWords. Here is the process:

Log on to your account and go to the “Admin” panel.
Click on “Remarketing Lists.”
In the upper left-hand corner of your screen, you will see an option titled, “New Remarketing List.” Click this.
Target your remarketing list based on your criteria. You can select every visitor in the last few days, months or even year. You can select specific page visitors based on demographics, or even visitors who downloaded a free report or watched a certain video the last time they visited your site.

However, don’t get too engrossed in the criteria at this step, because Google Analytics allows you to create multiple lists based on your company’s sales conversion goals, so you can change them at any time. Simply start with one list, track the performance and adjust as necessary. (You will need an AdWords account for this step.)

Strategically Placing the Code

When you have completed the criteria for your list, Google Analytics will generate your new code. Copy and paste this code on every page of your website that you would like to receive tracking data from. If you have a blog like Blogger or WordPress, you can simply copy and paste the code in the control panel and it will track every post and static page visit and conversion on your website without you having to physically input the code on each page. Once complete, you can check the statistics as often as you would like.

Choosing Your Customer Wisely and Making Smart Advertising Choices

The more targeted you make your list, the better your conversion rates will be. Think about who is the perfect customer for your product. Target your advertising to that demographic for best results, as opposed to just going after every visitor to your site.

Also consider the length of time you leave the tracking cookie from your site on your customer’s device. Many advertisers make the mistake of selecting 180-day terms.You run the risk of annoying a customer if you don’t have a high ticket price point for whatever it is you are trying to sell. Instead, consider a 60-day duration for optimum conversion rates.

You will also need to think about how often you want your potential customers to see your ads. If you use a feature called frequency capping, you remain in control of how many impressions your ad gets with each targeted customer as well as your advertising budget.

Attaining Success with Remarketing

An effective remarketing ad is all about the message. Make sure your message is clear, concise and attractive. If you find yourself struggling, hire a creative expert.

Tips for Remarketing Ad Success:

Each ad you create for your remarketing campaign needs to include a strong call to action. Give users a reason to click and be curious about whatever you are offering.

Your ad should be brand friendly. Don’t stray away from traditional brand images, colors or your company message.

Make the ad visually compelling, but remember that if you have an animated ad, you should also create a still image to display on sites that don’t support animation or intensive graphics. It’s also wise to include a text version of your ad so that you have a complete suite of options to ensure maximum exposure.

Advanced Tactics for Beginners

Whenever you initiate a remarketing campaign, focus on any upsell related to the primary product. For example, if you are selling kitchen appliances or cookware, offer something like an Italian cookbook as an accompaniment to the purchase of a pasta maker. If you offer two or more related items at a discount, you are more likely to entice the customer to buy the first time they click on your ad.

Leverage the calendar. Use holidays, special occasions or upcoming events to help you create targeted lists that focus on the right product to sell to customers at the right time.

Don’t be afraid to give deep discounts. If you find your customers constantly leaving you hanging in cyberspace by abandoning full shopping carts, use email marketing or remarketing to give them an added discount to come back and check out now.

Add your Google Analytics code to your email marketing template so that you can track the customers who opened your emails and clicked your links. These will be your highest-level conversions.

Above all, remember that remarketing is most effective when geared toward customers who have already visited your site, not as a tactic to capture new traffic, so don’t focus on remarketing alone. You have to have a complete arsenal of traffic-driving strategies to subsidize remarketing campaigns, so make sure you have a plan to drive traffic and remarket to that fresh traffic effectively in order to see the biggest impact in your bottom line.