Retargeter

Top 3 Retargeting Frustrations and How to Fix Them

The numbers prove the point — retargeting works:

• An average display ad campaign will typically come in at a .05%-0.1% CTR
• Retargeting, on the other hand, averages at about .2% (at least double) CTR
• Looking at conversion rates, some companies’ site conversion rates come in at 2%, but retargeted traffic converts at 20%

Retargeting has become an essential part of any overall marketing strategy because it boosts company visibility, builds the brand, is highly targeted, and secures quality conversions — all with minimal marketing effort. But sometimes, marketers can face challenges with their retargeting campaigns. Read on to learn about the top 3 retargeting frustrations and how to fix them so you can get your campaigns back on track and hit peak performance in no time.

1. I’m not serving enough impressions – help!

If you have enough unique visitors but your campaign still doesn’t serve enough impressions, you may not be bidding high enough for ad inventory. Ad inventory is purchased through a process called real-time bidding (RTB). Essentially, an auction for available ad inventory begins the moment a user clicks a link and ends before the page loads. If you don’t bid high enough, you’ll lose out on that inventory. Try increasing your bidding limit and measure whether your campaign sees a lift in performance. If you have an account manager, talk to them to see how changing your bidding limit might help you win more impressions.

2. My ads show up in places I’d rather not be associated with.

There are two solutions to this problem: embrace it or set up blacklisting.

Although you may not approve of where your ads are showing up, it’s important to recognize that retargeted ads display on pages that your customers and prospects visit. By excluding certain domains, you may lose valuable opportunities to influence their buying decision. Before doing anything, take a look at how the ads perform on those domains. If they’re driving clicks and conversions, consider embracing the fact that you do well on those domains. If you’ve done your analysis and decided you still don’t want to appear on certain domains, start blacklisting. Most retargeting providers give you the option to prevent your ads from showing up on specific domains. All they need is a list of the domains and usually they can handle the rest.

3. My retargeting campaign works, but now I’m getting complaints that my ads are overbearing.

It’s great that customers see your ads, but overexposure can sour a customer’s perception of your company. Set a frequency cap to limit how often users see your ads and to stop targeting customers after they’ve seen your ad a certain number of times. We suggest setting it to 17 to 20 ads per user per month, but you should work with your retargeting provider to determine what frequency cap works best for you. Frequency capping is also financially smart — you aren’t wasting money showing ads to people who have seen them dozens of times already and likely won’t convert.

In addition to frequency capping, exclude converted customers from your campaign. Again, doing so ensures that you aren’t wasting money by advertising to customers who have already converted. These are only two ways to prevent overexposure; for more ways to prevent overexposure to your customers, read on.

Retargeting is a smart decision for any company with an online presence. Because of it’s exceptional ROI and the minimal resources required for management, marketers gain great efficiencies with their time and boost their overall ROI. However, if your campaign is facing these common issues, our solutions and expert account management will help you quickly fix them so you can get back to generating ideas for driving your business forward.