Custom Audiences, Display Network... Lookalikes... Your Go-To Guide To Remarketing

Custom Audiences, Display Network... Lookalikes... Your Go-To Guide To Remarketing

Remarketing ads are 76% more likely to get clicks than regular ads... Learn all about them below!

Picture this: someone has visited your website and is about to purchase something when the doorbell goes. It's their friend arriving for dinner. A couple of drinks and a catch-up later, they've forgotten about the item they were within seconds of purchasing and you've lost out on a sale.

So, without tracking this person down and ringing their doorbell yourself, how do you remind them of your fantastic products?

Remarketing.

What is remarketing?

Remarketing is an innovative advertising technique that allows you to serve targeted ads to people who have previously interacted with your business. It is essentially a virtual tap on the shoulder; a digital "hey, remember us?"

People you can retarget include those who have:

  • Visited your website
  • Downloaded your app
  • Interacted with your social media
  • Subscribed to your emails

There are many different avenues of remarketing from Facebook Ads and Google's Display Network. The chances are, you will have been a recipient of both of these.

Ever been scrolling on Facebook and noticed those football boots you so nearly bought?  How about that time you were watching cat videos on YouTube and were served with an ad about the High School Musical boxset you were looking at as a present to your "younger sister" (who are you kidding, by the way?) No, Mark Zuckerberg is not hiding behind your curtain watching you; this is remarketing.

The important thing to remember at this stage is that remarketing is an effective advertising technique that specifically targets people who have already expressed an interest in your products or services in one way or another, therefore massively increasing your expected conversion rate.

Remarketing on Facebook

Facebook remarketing is made possible through the use of Custom Audiences in Business Manager.

Custom Audience Types:

  • Customer File

Uploading your database enables Facebook to find your customers and prospects on the social network by scanning the email addresses and details of each person on your list. It then collates this data into a Custom Audience that you can target with specific, relevant ads.

It's likely that the majority of your customers are on Facebook, and this is an ideal way to reach them where they spend most of their time.

As you can see from the below screenshot, Facebook allows you to add customers from copy and pasting or uploading your own CSV or TXT file. It also lets you upload them straight from email marketing platform MailChimp.

Remember, when uploading data, it's extremely important to make sure that it's 100% GDPR compliant to avoid a fine.

  • Website Traffic

If you implement the Facebook Pixel on your website, you can pull your analytics onto Facebook and target specific people who have been to your site.

How to add Facebook Pixel to your site

Once you have obtained your pixel, you can put it on certain areas of your site to track specific actions, such as purchases, downloads, or simple page views. Once you are tracking all of the actions that matter, you can create ads tailored to those who make said conversion.

Facebook allows you to target visitors who have visited your website any time within 180 days. You can also target people who have arrived at a specific page; for instance, you could track people who have visited the men's watches section of your site and then create ads targeting these people that promote men's watches and accessories.

For help with how to create an effective custom audience and remarketing campaign, get in touch with our friendly, expert team.

  • App Activity

Got an app? Want to reach those who have downloaded and used it? For this, you need to create a custom audience for your app after registering it with Facebook. Doing so will give you the opportunity to "target ads toward specific groups of people who are most likely to take the action you want them to take on your app."

  • Offline Activity

Those of you who receive most of your custom in-store or over the phone, fear not. Facebook has the option to remarket to a custom audience based on offline activity, too.

This innovative new retargeting feature on Facebook Ads serves your promotional, targeted content to people who have purchased a specific item in-store or over the phone within the last 720 days. To update the audience, simply upload refreshed data.

For more information on Offline Activity remarketing, check out Facebook's Offline Events guide.

  • Engagement

The remarketing avenue with the most available options is Engagement, which allows you to target those who have interacted with your Facebook page or Instagram profile. Whether that's liking your page, spending time watching your videos, filling out a lead form, opening your collection ad or responding to one of your events on the social network, is entirely up to you.

Facebook engagement remarketing is particularly effective if you were running a particular promotion or event in a certain period that received a lot of traction and are now looking to market a similar campaign. Why? Because you can target people who engaged with your business on Facebook during that period and advertise that you're running something similar again.

This method is also extremely beneficial if you're hoping to expand your digital presence because you can target people similar to those who already like your page.

Remarketing with Google Ads

The Google Display Network reaches 92% of all internet usersand with Google's Audience Targeting Tools, you can match your ads to those who have already displayed an interest in what you are selling.

Website visitors retargeted with display ads are 70% more likely to convert, so Display Network Remarketing is extremely powerful in terms of generating conversions. To bring customers back to your business, you need to tag certain pages on your site based on categories that you will later use for your marketing's targeting.

For instance, if you were a clothing brand, you could tag "Men's clothing", "Women's clothing", "Children's clothing", "men's footwear", "women's footwear", "men's sportswear", "women's sportswear" and so on. These tags will then track people arriving at those pages, and you can use the audiences generated to show them tailored messages on the Display Network once they leave your site.

This method of retargeting is how brands are able to promote items that relate to certain pages you have previously visited on your browser. By following users around online, they are constantly reminding them of the products they want and/or need. This level of brand awareness is invaluable in terms of converting leads and web traffic into profitable customers.

For more details on AdWords Display Network remarketing, check out Google's Targeting Tools guide.

Remarketing via email

In 2018, 75.6% of online shopping baskets were abandoned before purchase, according to SalesCycle. This massively underlines the importance of cart abandonment emails.

What are cart abandonment emails, I hear you ask? These are communications that reach out to those who have put something in their shopping basket and left your site without buying it.

These emails are an automated remarketing method that reminds users of what they were interested in buying and encourages them to complete their purchase. Remember to include a persuasive subject line and copy within the email, as well as attractive images of the product(s) left in their basket.

To set up an automated cart abandonment email process, check out MailChimp's guide.

Expand your reach with Facebook Lookalike audiences

So, you've set up your remarketing to reach current and potential customers. But what happens when your audience becomes saturated, or you decide you want to branch out?

Facebook's Lookalike Audience is the answer you are looking for. This intelligent feature is capable of looking at your Custom Audiences (website visitors, customer database, app users and so on) and look for similar people who match their demographics.

Lookalikes can dramatically increase your reach while ensuring you are still getting your products and services in front of those most likely to be interested.

How to set up a Facebook Lookalike Audience

To set up a Lookalike Audience, head to Facebook Ads Manager and create a campaign and Ad Set. When setting up your Ad Set, under Custom Audiences, select "Create New" followed by Lookalike Audience.

From here, you are able to pick from your current selection of Custom Audiences and target lookalikes that very closely match their demographics (1%) to those who loosely match them (10%).

Reach people in the right place, at the right time, with the right message

Liking the sound of remarketing and retargeting but not quite sure where to start? We'd love to help give your business the boost it deserves! Get in touch with our creative team to discover how we can create an immersive digital campaign for you!

Oliver Wilkinson
Content Manager
Knapton Wright

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