Remarketing is a powerful tool to re-engage people who have already interacted with your brand, but its effectiveness directly depends on a well-defined strategy.
Simply impacting the audience again is not enough; it is essential to know when, how, and with what objective to re-engage.
Define Your Objective First
Before getting started, ask yourself: what is the purpose of my remarketing campaign? There are three main objectives that can help guide your strategy:
Branding (Brand Awareness):
- Ideal for users who have had initial contact with your brand but do not yet know your products or services in depth.
- Example: Display institutional ads to reinforce your brand’s presence in the market.
- Goal: Keep your brand top of mind for the audience.
Lead Generation:
- Focused on capturing user data, such as emails or contact details, to build a closer relationship.
- Example: Offer free materials, such as e-books or checklists, in exchange for sign-ups.
- Goal: Convert visitors into leads for future nurturing.
Direct Conversion:
- Targeted at users who have already shown strong interest, such as those who visited a product page or added items to their cart.
- Example: Offer a discount or incentive to complete the purchase.
- Goal: Turn intentions into sales.
When Does Remarketing Make Sense?
Not every time someone visits your website does it mean they will make a purchase. Therefore, it’s crucial to understand the timing and behavior of your audience before deciding on the approach.
First Contact (Awareness):
- Users who accessed your institutional page for the first time.
- Strategy: Reinforce your presence with branding ads.
Demonstrated Interest (Consideration):
- Visitors who explored specific pages, such as educational content or product descriptions.
- Strategy: Offer more in-depth content or invites to try your services.
Unfinished Action (Decision):
- Users who reached the shopping cart or watched several videos about your product but did not complete the action.
- Strategy: Encourage the purchase with personalized offers, such as free shipping or discounts.
Remarketing Strategies in Practice
Here are clear examples of how to strategically apply remarketing:
Initial Impact (Branding):
- Objective: Fix the brand in the audience’s mind.
- Campaign: “Check out Adriano’s Blog – Learn all about Digital Marketing.”
- Action: Show generic ads explaining your brand’s purpose.
Re-engagement with Free Offers:
- Objective: Capture leads.
- Campaign: “Download now: 30 Digital Marketing tips to boost your business.”
- Action: Direct to a landing page with a free offer.
Direct Conversion:
- Objective: Finalize the purchase.
- Initial Campaign: “Complete your purchase – Your cart is waiting.”
- Incentive Campaign: “Get 10% off if you complete your purchase today!”
- Action: Offer exclusive conditions for users who abandoned their cart.
Why Defining the Strategy is Important
Without a clear strategy, you may end up trying to achieve a goal with the wrong approach.
For example:
- Common mistake: Running a branding campaign to generate direct sales.
- Consequence: Unsatisfactory results and wasted budget.
Defining your strategy avoids confusion and ensures that each action is aligned with your goal, whether it’s educating the audience, capturing leads, or converting visitors into customers.
What Is Not Remarketing?
Remarketing is not persistence. It’s important to differentiate between strategically re-engaging users and forcing them to repeatedly see ads they are not interested in. This excessive approach, besides being ineffective, can drive potential customers away.
Think about how you would feel in a physical store if an overly persistent salesperson followed you around all the time. In the digital world, the effect is the same: instead of engaging, persistence creates aversion.
Why 97% of the Audience Does Not Convert on the First Interaction?
Statistically, only 3% of visitors take an action such as making a purchase or signing up on their first visit. The other 97% do not convert, whether due to a lack of trust, temporary interest, or just market research. Remarketing aims to bring these 97% back into the conversion funnel.
Before creating a remarketing campaign, ask yourself: what would make this person convert? This question defines your strategy and avoids the common mistake of just “following” users with generic ads.
If someone visited your site and left without interacting, your strategy should be based on understanding the behavior and needs of that audience.
Examples of Strategies Aligned with the Goal
Branding:
- Objective: Strengthen brand presence.
- Strategy: Ads focused on institutional messages like “Get to know our brand” or “Explore our services.” Ideal for visitors who accessed only the homepage or institutional pages without engagement.
Generating Visitors:
- Objective: Increase traffic to specific pages.
- Strategy: Ads promoting popular products, launches, or highlighted offers.
- Example: “Discover the new Kindle – Learn about the advantages of digital reading.”
Lead Generation:
- Objective: Capture user information to build a relationship.
- Strategy: Offer something of value, like e-books, webinars, or free chapters.
- Example: “Download for free: 10 Marketing Strategies that Work.”
Qualified Leads:
- Objective: Engage further with an audience that has already shown interest.
- Strategy: Campaigns with relevant and in-depth content, such as mini-courses or advanced tutorials.
- Example: “Already familiar with the basics of Google Ads? Enroll in our advanced course.”
Sales:
- Objective: Finalize purchases or offer complementary products.
- Strategy: Incentives to complete the purchase or present related products.
- Example: “Complete your purchase today and get 10% off.”
Creating Layered Strategies
Remarketing is not a one-time action, but a layered strategy that follows the customer through the conversion funnel. Here’s how to create an intelligent flow:
- First Layer: Branding: Target those who accessed the homepage with institutional ads.
- Second Layer: Re-engagement: For those who returned to the site, offer relevant content or free materials.
- Third Layer: Purchase Incentive: Target specific offers to those who showed interest in a product or abandoned the cart.
- Fourth Layer: Post-Sale: Offer complementary products or upgrades to customers who have already made a purchase.
Remarketing with Context and Relevance
A successful remarketing strategy delivers ads at the right time, with a personalized and relevant message. Remember: success is not about “forcing” a conversion but creating a natural path that turns initial intent into a concrete action.
By aligning your campaigns with the customer’s stage in the funnel, you not only improve results but also create a positive user experience.
The Power of the Right Triggers
Many campaigns fail because they try to “win by exhaustion,” repeatedly showing ads to those who have already decided not to buy. This not only wastes resources but also harms brand perception.
Just like in personal interactions, no one likes to be pressured into making a decision. The key is to understand the audience’s behavior and implement strategies that respect the moment of each user.
Testing Triggers to Engage
Not everyone responds to the same stimulus, so testing different triggers is essential.
- Promotions: For users who added items to the cart but didn’t complete the purchase, an exclusive discount could be the push they need. For example: “Complete your purchase with 20% off today!”
- Scarcity: Use urgency in an ethical and truthful way. Example: “Only 5 units left” or “Offer valid until today.”
- Social Proof: Display customer testimonials or sign-up numbers, such as “Over 1,000 people have already enrolled in this course.”
- Exclusivity: Create a sense of belonging, such as: “Offer available only for the first 50 sign-ups.”
- Fear of Missing Out: Work with real deadlines or scenarios of loss, such as: “Don’t miss the deadline to comply with the new law.”
The key is always to adapt the message to the context of the customer’s journey, without exaggerations or falsehoods.
Creating Personalized Strategies
Segmentation is crucial for the success of remarketing. Here’s how to structure personalized strategies:
- Initial Branding
- Audience: Those who visited the homepage or became familiar with your brand for the first time.
- Objective: Reinforce brand presence.
- Example: “Discover more about our exclusive products and services.”
- Conversion Incentive
- Audience: Users who visited specific pages but didn’t complete an action.
- Objective: Move them to the next stage of the funnel.
- Example: “Download our free e-book and learn strategies that work.”
- Cart Abandonment Recovery
- Audience: Those who added items to their cart but didn’t complete the purchase.
- Objective: Recover lost sales.
- Example: “Complete your purchase and enjoy 10% off now!”
- Post-Purchase and Upsell
- Audience: Those who have already bought a product or service.
- Objective: Offer complementary products or upgrades.
- Example: “Customers who bought [product X] also purchased [product Y].”
Rethinking the Potential
Remarketing is not just a tool; it’s a strategy that, when well planned, enhances the reach and results of your campaigns.
Before activating it, understand where your users are in the funnel and choose the correct approach to impact them efficiently and personally. To ensure remarketing works, align your actions with the behaviors and needs of your audience.
Before creating a campaign, ask yourself: “What would make this user take action now?”. By testing different triggers, adjusting messages, and respecting the consumer’s timing, you turn remarketing into a powerful tool for engagement and conversion.
When used intelligently and with a user-centered approach, it can turn ordinary campaigns into conversion machines. Evaluate your strategy, experiment with different approaches, and harness the full potential of this technique.