In recent years, targeting tactics such as using demographics, behaviour and specific geographic locations have become considered completely out of bounds in a number of different media groups. Of these, marketing based on behaviour, also referred to as retargeting or, in some circles, as remarketing, has been targeted for more than its fair share of criticism. Oddly enough, despite this, those advertisers who have had the courage to use this form of conversion tool have enjoyed amazing success.
In short, remarketing makes it possible for a marketer to place his products or services directly in front of customers who have already shown a real interest in what they are selling. They do this by monitoring them and displaying ads for these products as they continue to surf along on the web.

The Basics of Remarketing

Marketers have long been hesitant to employ remarketing as a part of their overall marketing strategy as they worry about the invasion of privacy, the effects on their overall ROI, and the attribution methods associated with it. The problem is that those who do not use remarketing are missing out on a golden opportunity to convert a large number of prospects into paying customers.
Remarketing is designed to deliver carefully targeted ads to customers based on what actions they have taken on websites they have recently visited. Those customers who have not converted during a visit will be tagged so that the targeted ads filled with specials and discounts can be delivered to them to help encourage conversion while they continue to surf the web.

What about Privacy

First and foremost, no remarketing program collects any personal information; all they do is base the ads displayed on where the consumer has been on the web. Many organizations such as the IAB have started consumer education plans aimed at teaching consumers that at no time is their personal information being collected and that this type of advertising is completely non-invasive.

How Does Attribution Play a Part in This?

Those remarketing programs in which the marketers are charged based on CPA worry that they are not going to realize an increase in their ROI or that this is not an effective way to monitor their ROI. According to Score.com a US based organisation, American consumers who see these targeted ads are 49 per cent likelier to visit the advertiser’s website. The data is very similar / identical to that found when sampling Australian consumers.

Going Past the Click

Whether we buy a product or not, simply seeing the ad keeps the product and its website in our minds when we are in the market for that product. While PPC has its uses, today’s advertisers need to go beyond the click and consider how powerful visual stimuli can be. Consider the fact that many people buy based solely on what they see. Case in point, more people buy Nike sports shoes because Michael Jordan said, “Just Do It” than because they are a top quality product.

Plan for the Long Haul

We have become a society that expects instant results, you put a bag of popcorn in the microwave and in two minutes you have popcorn. Advertisers have learned, incorrectly, to expect the same results for their ROI when it comes to advertising, and this rarely works out. While they do realise an ROI, it is far lower than it could be.
With remarketing, you are constantly showing interested customers ads based on their habits. Over time, this method is going to lead to far more conversions and a much higher ROI when used in conjunction with the right PPC programs. This is proof that a carefully targeted advertising program works.
According to recent surveys published by SEMPO and Advertise.com, remarketing may be the most under-used form of advertising in the marketplace. This might seem odd in the face of a number of advertisers realising a 400% increase in responses to their ads once they started using remarketing. This should be good food for thought as you start to develop your next advertising campaign.