The 4 Best Retargeting Options For Ecommerce

The best ecommerce businesses have a firm understanding of how all their marketing channels can drive revenue. But, some may not know how powerful retargeting can be, as well as the best retargeting options to look at.

Let’s take a look at what retargeting is and how you can use it to drive more sales at your online store.

What is retargeting?

Retargeting ads aim to bring people who have previously visited your website back to your store to make a purchase. You can do this through retargeting ads on various channels.

Typically, retargeting works by using cookies on your website that remembers who visited your store. You can use this cookie data to serve that visitor retargeting ads as they’re browsing other sites and services online. You can also retarget shoppers based on email lists or innovative third-party solutions like SafeOpt.

Why is retargeting important for ecommerce?

Retargeting is important because it can:

Drive conversions
Increase brand awareness
Increase customer lifetime value
Be a force multiplier for your other marketing tactics.

In an ideal world, your shoppers see your ads or products, visit your site and purchase on their first visit (wouldn’t that be great?). In reality, the average bounce rate for ecommerce sites is between 20%-40% and the average ecommerce conversion rate is around 2.5%-3%. In other words, a lot of people visit your store and don’t convert on their first visit.

With retargeting, you have the ability to target those visitors with tailored ads. You’ll have a smaller audience to target than with other advertising channels because you can only target those who have already visited your site. But, these ads are more likely to work because this person has already shown intent by visiting your store.

How to use retargeting for your ecommerce store

As mentioned above, you can use retargeting ads for a variety of business goals including driving sales, increasing brand awareness, and increasing your lifetime value.

Here’s an example of how retargeting ads can be used to drive sales:

Jane sees your online ad and clicks over to your store
Jane browses and adds to cart but isn’t quite ready to purchase on this visit
Your ecommerce brand sends a retargeting message to Jane, which offers her a discount if she completes that purchase
Jane follows through and buys the item — leaving you with one less abandoned cart and increased sales.

The 5 best retargeting options for ecommerce

Here are 5 retargeting options every ecommerce brand should be using.

SafeOpt: Stopping abandoned carts

SafeOpt is an incredible way to retarget ecommerce site visitors to drive more sales. The SafeOpt marketing platform lets you send targeted emails to site visitors, even if the visitor’s email isn’t in your database.

Shoppers join the SafeOpt network by signing up directly on the SafeOpt website or through thousands of publishers or brands SafeOpt is partnered with. When shoppers browse your site without completing a purchase, SafeOpt empowers ecommerce brands to send them an email with a promotion. That promotion could be a discount or some other incentive. This spurs the shopper to complete their purchase.

SafeOpt is fully compliant with all email and privacy regulations. Unlike some retargeting platforms, SafeOpt uses a cost-per-acquisition pricing model, so you’ll only pay if it’s driving transactions. Try SafeOpt today.

Best for: Nearly any ecommerce brand that wants to drive sales and mitigate abandoned carts.
Note: SafeOpt is an exceptional fit for ecommerce brands, as it has delivered strong ROI for a variety of ecommerce brands.

Google

Google Ads offers a variety of retargeting ad options that you should consider. It lets you use pixel-based retargeting or list-based retargeting. Pixel-based retargeting lets you display ads to users once they’ve left your site thanks to cookies. List-based retargeting uses a list of email addresses you’ve gathered.

Google Ads lets you offer retargeting ads through Google Search or through its Google Display Network. Google Search ads are the results you see after making a search on Google.com and Google Display Network are the advertisements you see on websites that are part of the network.

Google has tremendous reach and has proven handy for retargeting. Depending on your products and ad budgets, you may also want to consider YouTube retargeting.

Best for: Purchases that may take a bit more research versus impulse buys.

Facebook

Facebook retargeting ads work similarly to Google’s ones but allow you to reach users on the social media giant’s platforms like Facebook and Instagram. With Facebook, you can retarget people based on a custom list, from your website visitors or from people who use your app.

Facebook offers a variety of ad formats to use including ads in the Facebook and Instagram feeds, more standard static banners for its Audience Network or even ads for Facebook Messenger.

Best for: Ecommerce brands who have audiences that are on social media a lot.

Note: Recent privacy changes to the iPhone have potentially hampered the efficacy of Facebook retargeting ads.

Criteo

Criteo is a long-standing retargeting company that allows you to serve ads to your shoppers all across the web. The company says it uses powerful machine learning to drive customer conversions, as well as help you accurately target and re-engage your customer base. With Criteo, you can use a variety of retargeting ad formats including text, banner and video ads

Best for: Brands with established retargeting programs looking for new channels.
Note: Criteo doesn’t have the broad reach as Facebook or Google and may not be as directly performant as SafeOpt when it comes to driving sales.

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