Google Retargeting and Remarketing

Creating multiple remarketing lists with appropriate names is good practice that allows you to easily select these lists later on. Targeting different users means you can get the most out of your retargeting campaign by marketing to multiple segments instead of one segment to see which is the most effective. When managing user segments, make sure to focus on both website visitors and mobile app users to ensure you aren’t losing out on a proportion of prospective users.

Bidding is particularly important for remarketing as it shows how many people have viewed it and where your ads are displayed.

The 4 main bidding strategies to trial are:

1. Enhanced CPC – this strategy will bid more if Google thinks there’s a likelihood of a higher conversion rate.
2. Target CPA – this strategy will allow you to optimise in real-time to get a higher ROI. Google will automatically adjust bids to achieve conversion goals.
3. Target ROAS – this strategy will help you achieve a maximum CPC bid to reach your desired ROAS.
4. Maximise Conversions – this strategy will help you get maximum conversions at your budget set, independent of the target CPA.

Testing and experimenting with URLs and ad copy is a vital part of growing a strategy for any campaign, and remarketing is no exception. Frequently testing your ad copy and landing pages allows you to find the best formula to get the best results. If you’re finding that your ads aren’t receiving engagement, optimise accordingly.

Determining which landing page to tag with your remarketing code is a key for remarketing. The best strategy is to see which is your highest-performing page and insert your tag onto this page. By doing this, you can take advantage of data you already have on users are relevant and have the intent to purchase/enquire (and so are more likely to convert).

Although it’s important to constantly review your ad copy, it’s just as important to ensure you aren’t bombarding potential users with the same ad. If a user is constantly seeing the same ad it doesn’t have the same effect and can do the opposite. Using frequency caps will ensure that your audience only sees your ads a certain amount of times. This will help with the consistency of how often it’s being viewed.

Dynamic remarketing is a good way to display products/services that people have already viewed on your site. It helps close sales by giving potential buyers a direct path back onto the site with the same product/service they’ve shown interest in to complete a purchase. It still allows you to exclude particular sites that you don’t want your ad to appear on and audience segmentation. Essentially, it takes retargeting that one step further and recaptures lost visitors.

Not only does dynamic remarketing remind the users of the brand but it also entices them to browse the exact same product that they initially showed interest in. Once they click on the ad it will take them to that same product page, so the purchase process is a lot quicker to checkout and therefore is more likely to push conversions and reduce cart abandonments.

From a marketer’s point of view, it is also extremely optimizable and is ideal for a very granular approach as there are many opportunities to customise. Tailoring each ad is highly effective and ensures customers get ads that spark their interests. You can also pair your product feed which allows you to scale your ads, covering your entire inventory.

By default, Google Ads will automatically target your ads to similar audiences to ensure they’re being displayed to the relevant people. However, to achieve better results it’s recommended to expand your targeting to reach more people based on both similar audiences and contextual targeting.

We’d only recommend using auto-targeting when you have enough relevant conversion data within your account. By ensuring you’re using this tool with relevant conversion data, it means Google is able to see what has been performing and therefore focus on similar audiences that have already converted.

If you use this straight away with no previous data, Google doesn’t have any conversion data to go off and it’s more likely that your ad will be shown to audiences that aren’t relevant. Although auto-targeting reaches a wider audience, you can still gain some control by excluding placements at an ad group, campaign or account level.

Cart abandonment rates are known to be extremely high and continue to be an ongoing problem for e-commerce brands. However, retargeting ads are a great way to reduce the rate of cart abandonments. They allow shoppers who already have brand awareness and have shown an interest in your products/service to click on an ad, putting them right back into that purchase funnel.

It can be incredibly effective at reducing cart abandonments as you can actually send customers directly to their abandoned cart after clicking the ad. Ultimately retargeting ads are a lot faster and a more effective way to capture a sale while increasing overall ROI.

Retargeting campaigns should be a part of the overall marketing strategy and shouldn’t ever be left to run in the background. It’s important to continuously test and leverage your retargeting campaign when you can.

A/B testing is a great way to create variations of particular components of the ad, testing one component at a time to see what elements are more successful and contribute to an increase in conversions. Many creative components can be tested such as headlines, ads, and image placements that all contribute to click-through rates. However, it’s best practice to only test one component at a time and over different periods.

When it comes to Google search campaigns of any kind, in order to get a strong return on investment and keep remarketing ad costs as low as possible, it’s vital to regularly optimise and review your campaigns.

Rotate your ads and messaging frequently

It’s important to frequently change your ads when retargeting, as you don’t want potential users to see your ads as repetitive. If a user is seeing a different message every time your retargeting appears it makes it feel more personalised and interesting.

When optimising, ensure you have engaging titles, ads and creative assets to stand out from competitors. By doing so, you’ll have a better chance of increasing your CTR and sales/leads.

Be selective with where your ads are shown

There are some downfalls with remarketing campaigns and the risk that they can be seen as repetitive and bland. That’s why it’s important to be selective with where your ad is shown to ensure it doesn’t create a negative association with your product/service. Do your research before creating a remarketing campaign and choose the most suitable sites based on your strategy.

Monitor top-performing placements

Monitoring your retargeting campaign will ensure that you’re picking up on potential opportunities and tracking how well your ads are performing. By checking in on your ads regularly, you can increase bids on more successful ones. On the other hand, you will be able to see which ads aren’t performing and avoid wasted spend on ineffective ad placements.

Use all ad formats & sizes

By using a variety of formats and sizes your campaign can cater for a broader audience, as users consume content in different ways.

Choose the right timing

Timing is a key part of remarketing campaigns that can significantly impact conversion actions. If you show your ad too early, the potential user may be more likely to abandon their cart. However, if you wait too long before showing your ad, the user may have already lost interest and purchased elsewhere. A good practice is to show your ads within a certain predefined duration, which can be done by segmenting your remarketing lists.

For Google Ads and Facebook, the default time duration for visitors getting added to your retargeting list is automatically set to 30 days. Therefore, it’s important to remember to reset the 30-day cycle, if a user revisits the website within the first 30 days.

Expand your location & languages

A quick and easy way to optimise your remarketing campaign is to expand your language and location settings. Potential users can gain access to your website from any location and can translate the language based on their needs. By limiting language and location to only a couple of options, you could potentially be missing out on a large number of customers that could have converted were they able to access your ads in their native language.