Remarketing Campaign: how to create & run

Ever wonder how you could make good use of past traffic? Say you’ve run a fantastic marketing campaign and got loads of people visiting your site. The sad thing is, they’ve all taken a visit, and scrolled around, but didn’t quite finish the deal as you’d expect. Maybe it's time to throw in the towel and move on.

Not so fast.

Introducing remarketing campaigns. That’s how you market to people who’ve already been exposed to your marketing efforts but haven’t done any specific actions. It’s an effective way to target people who have shown some interest in your brand and do that extra persuasion.

What is remarketing?

There are moments when you see the same ads over and over, no matter which sites you visit. This is a vivid remarketing example.

Since you’ve already targeted these leads before, you’re not exactly marketing to them. Instead, you’re “remarketing” to them, and that’s where the name comes from. But just like all other branches of digital marketing, remarketing is also all about customers’ interests and behaviors. So that’s why remarketing is to determine what customers are after and focus on that.

If you’re already using Google ads, all you need is to add a code to your site. This way, you can add your visitors to the remarketing audience through their browser cookies. Then, you can customize the code for different pages for different purposes and campaigns.

For example, you can tag a specific product page, the home page, or a page for any specific campaigns you’re running. One good rule of thumb is when you start your first remarketing campaign, start by targeting everyone who has viewed your homepage. Though it’ll initially cost more, it’ll help you capture more contacts. Then, you can start creating narrowed-down ads to increase relevance and lower the cost per click.

Why should you consider a remarketing campaign?

Besides the obvious reasons for winning your customers back and finishing the persuasion, how’s remarketing actually good for you?

Since 96% of people who visit your site for the first time will probably leave empty-handed, a remarketing campaign lets people get to know your brand better. We’ve got five advantages of having one. Ready?

1. Broader reach

The Google Display Network includes over 2 million websites and over 90% internet users. That’s the coverage other platforms like Facebook can’t provide since you’re the whole of the internet world.

2. Higher relevance

You can customize your remarketing campaign based on users’ detailed interactions. If they considered books on UX before, you could create a segment for people interested in UX design. Besides, you can set campaigns based on devices, apps, geographical locations, languages, and languages. Since they’ve already looked up the product before, they’ve got to be interested in it in the first place.

With your expertise in customizing remarketing campaigns, you can tailor outreach to users' specific interests, such as UX design, ensuring a more personalized experience. Partnering with a proficient webflow design company can further enhance your strategies, optimizing campaigns for maximum engagement and conversion potential.

3. Trackability

You can always assess your remarketing campaigns’ performances on Google Ads. If you see one doing well, you always have the option of doubling down on it. Additionally, you can send data from Google Ads to BigQuery to gain deeper insights into your campaign performance.

4. Cost-effectiveness

When users see your remarketing campaign, it reminds them of the product they considered. And since you’re charged by the click, you’re basically getting free exposure. Also, remarketing is an excellent addition to SEO, social referrals, and standard ads, so you’re creating a whole web of channels to capture those who are already potentially interested.

Still not convinced? Let’s look at some stats. Did you know a user is far more likely to engage with a remarketing ad after seeing it several times before?

The conversion rate actually goes up about 5 to 6 times after seeing the same ad again. The average click-through rate (CTR) is almost 10 times higher than regular display ads, and 37% of customers click on the ad because they like what they see.

Looks good?

What kind of remarketing ads are there?

So now, what kind of remarketing campaigns are there? Here are the 5 types. Let’s look at them one by one:

Standard remarketing: this one is simply showing your display ads to past visitors as they make their way to other websites. The most common one.
Customer list remarketing: when people upload contact information onto your website, you can specifically target them with Google ads.
Video remarketing: this involves targeting people who’ve previously viewed websites or videos. You can then set video ads that will display when they watch a YouTube video.
Dynamic remarketing: this involves serving visitors specific ads based on their interaction with your website. For example, if they’ve browsed your shoe catalog before, you can show them ads specifically about your latest shoe collection or even the exact pair of shoes they browsed before.
Remarketing lists for search ads: this lets you customize your search ad campaign when they do follow-up searches after visiting your website

If you want your next remarketing campaign to be successful, read on. We’ve sourced a few tips on setting goals.

Tips on setting remarketing goals

First, think about who you want to aim for. Usually, remarketing campaigns target people who didn’t take certain actions on a page, reached a certain checkout stage but fell short of completing the purchase, or haven’t seen the page you’d like them to see. The most obvious example would be an abandoned cart.

It’s good to mix and match since you’d probably be running multiple campaigns at a time, capturing different sorts of audiences. Once you’ve identified who you’d like to target, think about which pages you want to tag, which platform you’re focusing on, and whether you want to create custom pages for your campaigns.

How to set up a Google ads remarketing campaign

Here’s some good news: creating a remarketing campaign on Google is easier than you think. And for that, we’ve prepared a step-by-step guide for you.

Option 1: create via Google Ads

First, log on to Google Ads and select ‘Shared Library’ on the left-hand sidebar. Then, choose ‘Audiences’ and find ‘Tag details’ to start adding the remarketing tags. Next, make sure you install tags on the relevant webpage on your site.

Once you’ve done that, you can start adding remarketing lists. First, go to the ‘Audience list’ section and find the ‘Remarking tab.’ Then, add the type of remarketing list that suits you.

Option 2: create via Google Analytics

First, log on to Google Analytics, select ‘Admin,’ find the link labeled ‘Audience definitions’, and select ‘Audiences.’ Then, click on the ‘New audience’ button. Once you’re on that page, you can start specifying the type of remarketing you want to do, who you want to target, and for how long.

How about creating a remarketing campaign on Facebook or Instagram?

If you consider yourself a social media guru and want to use remarketing on social media platforms, we can testify that it works. Here’s our quick guide on how to run remarketing campaigns on Instagram and Facebook.

Similar to Google Ads remarketing, Facebook remarketing shows your ads across the social media platform. When someone interacts with your brand, they’re tagged with a code just like with Google remarketing. Then, you can run any specific ads and target them when they scroll on Facebook.

Log on to your Facebook Business Manager, then select ‘Tools’ and ‘Audience’ to get started. Then, select ‘Create audience’ and ‘Custom Audience.’

Once you’ve selected ‘Custom Audience,’ you can choose which type of marketing list you want to create: customer list, website traffic, or app activity. For the first option, you can copy and paste the list or upload it as a file. For the second one, you must first create and install Facebook pixel on all your pages. For the final one, you can target those who’ve logged on to your app and perhaps send them a discount code via an ad.

Remarketing campaign via WhatsApp

Instead of sending ads to remind your potential customers, have you ever considered utilizing the channels that your customers check on regularly? The messaging app is definitely a place you cannot miss! The shopping cart reminder can be sent through WhatsApp automatically.

It is estimated that 80% of social sharing now happens on dark social channels where the social interactions cannot be tracked and measured by traditional analytics. Instant messaging is an example of dark social.

To achieve this, a basic WhatsApp business account is not enough. What you need is a social messaging CRM that can seamlessly integrate your eCommerce site. For example, SleekFlow, an omnichannel social commerce platform can natively integrate with the Shopify platform. Shopify merchants can now set up automation via SleekFlow to streamline their whole commerce process. Triggering an automatic shopping cart with a WhatsApp reminder is an example. Real-time abandoned cart updates can help optimize conversions!

Know more about Shopify and live chat. Check out our blog Top 5 Live Chat Apps: Must-know Tricks for Shopify eCommerce Success.

What does a successful remarketing campaign look like?

To declare your remarketing campaign successful, you’d surely need to track different metrics so you can get an idea of where you are and how you’re going. Depending on whether you’re focusing on leads or awareness, you can base your metrics on click-based or view-based conversions.

Click-based conversions like click-through rates measure how many of these people want to re-interact with who has licked on the ad you showed. If they’re interested in your brand, or if the ad is relevant, they’ll click on the ad and convert to our site.

Meanwhile, taking a view-based approach will show the number of people who saw your ad, did not click on it, but became interested and converted later. It represents people who still think of your brand enough to find it in other ways besides clicking on an ad.

And here are some metrics you can track:

Clicks
Impressions
Click-through rates (CTR)
Average cost per click
Conversion

For CTR, the Google Ads remarketing benchmark is 3.17%, for CPC it’s USD2.69, and the conversion rate for remarketing display is 0.77%.

Where does SleekFlow come in?

At SleekFlow, we handle all different extended functions and features to unlock the marketing potential WhatsApp or other social messaging apps such as Facebook, and Instagram have to offer. Imagine you could immediately collect leads you’ve received when you receive the customers’ messages; they are already automatically segmented , labeled, and assigned to a specific team. Remarketing automation can also be set up. Automation should be your priority to streamline workflow and improve effectiveness.

See how Lalamove, a logistic unicorn, manages its large network of drivers using SleekFlow.

Lalamove’s customer success story.

Through SleekFlow, our staff members can handle 3-4 conversations at the same time instead of one to one. The result is quadruple.