As any salesperson knows, cold calling is the worst. Reaching out to people who have maybe never heard of you may be necessary to grow your business, but your success rate is low. Much more effective is warm-calling – that is, calling someone who has already expressed some level of interest, or who you or a member of your team has previously reached out to.
These calls have a much higher success rate; studies show that while the average initial cold call has a measly 2% success rate, subsequent touch points dramatically increase the likelihood of conversion; as many as 80% of all sales are made between the fifth and twelfth point of contact.
These stats may be about traditional marketing, but they just as easily apply to digital marketing, too. Remarketing – showing your ads to people who are already familiar with or even interested in your brand – is a far more effective way of getting conversions. Remarketing has a dramatically higher conversion rate, and lower cost per conversion, than reaching out to a cold audience.
Unfortunately, as we’ve discussed before on this blog, a lot of marketers are not very good at remarketing. So, let’s take a deep dive into three of the most valuable and effective channels for remarketing – Google, Facebook (Meta), and YouTube – and see how they stack up.
Google Ads Remarketing
How It Works: Through Google Ads (formerly called Google AdWords), advertisers can remarket to audiences across the Google Display Network (GDN), which covers a vast array of websites and apps, including prime internet real estate like YouTube.
How to use Google remarketing? It’s simple. Add a tracking pixel to your website, which will track users who visit specific pages or take specific actions. From here, you can then segment these users into different audiences and target them with tailored ads.
Setting Up Google Remarketing
- Install the Google Ads Tag or use Google Analytics to create remarketing lists.
- Create different audience segments based on user behavior, e.g., cart abandoners, home page visitors, product page visitors, and so on..
- Build and design ad creatives using various formats – text ads, display ads, responsive ads, video ads, and others.
- Set your bids, budget, and targeting options based on factors like geographic targeting or demographics
Pros of Google Remarketing
The upsides for remarketing on Google are immense. The GDN covers over 2 million websites, giving you access to a massive audience. Google also provides powerful tools that you can use to create hyper-specific remarketing audiences; you can target based on behavior, demographics, the device type they usually use, and more.
Google also allows you to create dynamic display ads, which can change based on the products or pages a user interacted with. This provides a more personalized experience while also increasing conversion rates based on more relevant and highly targeted ads.
Cons of Google Remarketing
Creating Google AdWords remarketing ads can be intimidating for beginners due to the many options available and complex, sometimes unintuitive interface. Display ads also generally have lower clickthrough rates compared to search ads. Plus, over-targeting users can lead to advertising brand fatigue from repeatedly seeing the same ads – which can lead to negative brand associations.
Best Practices for Google Remarketing
To prevent brand fatigue, consider using Frequency Capping options to ensure that your targeted prospective customers aren’t seeing your ads too often.
Show personalized product ads to users who browsed specific items on your site by using Dynamic Remarketing.
Regularly update your Creative Assets to prevent the ads from getting stale.
Facebook Remarketing (aka Meta Remarketing)
Remarketing on Meta platforms lets you retarget users across some of the most highly trafficked social networks in the world, including Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger. The vast Meta ecosystem, paired with its advanced audience segmentation options, make it one of the best options for remarketing alongside Google.
To get started with Facebook remarketing ads, you’ll first need to install the Facebook Pixel on your website to track user actions – including page views, product purchases/add-to-cart, or form submissions.
Setting Up Facebook Remarketing
- Install the Facebook Pixel/Meta Pixel on your website to start gathering data about visitor behavior.
- Create Custom Audiences in Facebook’s Ads Manager based on the users’ actions, like viewing a product or visiting specific pages.
- Build creative assets tailored to the types of ads you want to be running, like carousel or slideshow ads.
- Set up the campaign’s budget; targeting options like age, gender, or hobbies; and whether you want to run these ads on the various platforms within the Meta network, like Facebook or Instagram.
Pros of Remarketing on Facebook
The Meta network has an incredible depth of user data, which you can leverage for highly targeted remarketing based on a number of factors – age, gender, location, marital status, even hobbies or interests, just to name some. You can also use custom and lookalike audiences to expand your reach in ways that you might not have expected.
Facebook and especially Instagram are highly visual platforms, which can be great for businesses that have visually striking products like fashion. When you remarket on the Meta ecosystem, you’re getting your products in front of billions of engaged eyes, since these are some of the most used platforms in the world.
Cons of Remarketing on Facebook
There has been increased scrutiny on consumer privacy concerns over the last few years. Things like iOS 14’s privacy update have made it more difficult for Meta to collect and use data and accurately track users, which may negatively impact the accuracy of remarketing data.
Meta is also a rather competitive advertising platform, which means Facebook and Instagram retargeting ads can be more expensive than on some other platforms, especially if you’re targeting highly competitive demographics.
Facebook’s automatic ad placement feature can be highly efficient, but you ultimately do have less control over your ad placement than you would on other advertising platforms, like Google.
Best Practices for Facebook Remarketing
Use Exclusion Lists to ensure that you aren’t remarketing to people who have already converted – this wastes your ad spend and annoys customers who might be less inclined to come back for repeat purchases or evangelize your brand.
Video Ads tend to have higher engagement rates on Facebook and Instagram, so they make a great tool for remarketing on Facebook and other Meta platforms.
Test different Ad Formats to see which of them resonate best with your target audience – like carousels, stories, and in-feed ads.
YouTube Remarketing
Though technically under the Google ecosystem, YouTube advertising should be thought of as its own particular type of beast due to its video-only format. Remarketing on YouTube involves primarily showing video ads to users who have already interacted with your brand on your website, app, or YouTube channel. These ads go in front of (or in the middle of) relevant YouTube content, reaching users as they watch videos.
Setting Up YouTube Remarketing
- Connect your Google Ads account with your YouTube Channel.
- Create a Remarketing List based on video views, subscriptions, likes, or shares.
- Design your video ads in various formats, considering where they will be placed (e.g., skippable in-stream ads, non-skippable ads, bumper ads).
- Set up targeting options like demographics, or content interests (i.e., if you sell fishing equipment, you probably want your ads to appear in front of content that appears to fishing or outdoors enthusiasts).
Pros of YouTube Remarketing
YouTube is one of the most popular, high-trafficked sites on the internet. Its format is also highly engaging; people are actively watching content on YouTube as opposed to idly browsing the internet or social networks like Facebook or Instagram. You can create remarketing lists based on highly specific YouTube interactions, like views or channel subscriptions. Videos also offer a unique way to show off your products in ways that static display ads simply can’t.
Cons of YouTube Remarketing
Video ads generally require more time and resources to create compared to display ads, and while YouTube may have a massive user base, certain industries or niches may not perform as well on this platform. Furthermore, video ads can be disruptive in a way that display ads aren’t; if a consumer gets annoyed because they need to sit through the same 30-second ad before every video they want to watch, it could negatively polarize them against your brand.
Best Practices for Remarketing on YouTube
Ensure your video ads have a strong call to action (CTA) that encourages users to return to your website or complete another desired action.
Keep video ads short and engaging, especially for non-skippable formats. Skippable ads are almost always cheaper than non-skippable ones, so if you can make the sales pitch in the first ~5 seconds or so before most users skip, you’ll get better ROAS.
Monitor video engagement metrics like view rate or watch time to optimize your performance.
Bing Remarketing
While often overshadowed by the more popularly used Google, Bing (aka Microsoft Advertising) still commands a significant portion of the search market. Bing’s remarketing ads work similarly to those on Google Ads, allowing advertisers to display ads across the Bing Search Network and its partner sites.
Setting Up Bing Remarketing
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- Install the Bing UET (Universal Event Tracking) Tag on your website to track user behavior.
- Create remarketing lists based on users who have visited specific pages or shown interest in various products.
- Build search ads or display ads that will be shown to users across the Bing Search Network.
- Set your bids, targeting, and creatives.
Pros of Remarketing on Bing
Bing typically has much less competition than Google does, which can lead to lower cost-per-conversion rates for marketing of all sorts, including remarketing. Bing users also tend to have higher household incomes, which can make them more valuable to advertisers for higher-end products or services.
Cons of Remarketing on Bing
Bing’s market share is smaller than Google’s, and while that does mean it can be more affordable and efficient, there are simply fewer opportunities here. Furthermore, while Bing’s targeting capabilities are robust and quite adequate, it doesn’t quite have the advanced, granular targeting capabilities found in Google Ads and Meta platform remarketing.
Best Practices for Bing Remarketing
Take advantage of Bing’s lower costs to run a highly efficient, affordable remarketing campaign.
Target high-value demographics like corporate professionals, who are more likely to use Bing as their default search engine.
Amazon Remarketing
As the largest ecommerce platform in the world, it should be no surprise that Amazon has its own remarketing network. Amazon offers its own ad platform, called Amazon DSP (Demand Side Platform), where you can run remarketing campaigns.
Through Amazon DSP, you can target users who have interacted with your brand’s products on Amazon or visited your website – both within the Amazon store ecosystem itself, or across a broader range of websites and apps that offer access to Amazon through partnerships.
Amazon’s ability to tap into high-intent, ready-to-purchase users makes remarketing on Amazon extremely appealing to businesses.
Setting Up Amazon Remarketing
- Set your brand up using Amazon DSP, whether through an Amazon remarketing agency or directly, if your business meets Amazon’s requirements.
- Implement the Amazon Tracking Pixel on your website to monitor user behavior, if you’re targeting off-Amazon activity.
- Build Audience Segments based on Amazon activity, e.g., users who viewed or purchased specific products.
- Design creatives, including display or product-focused ads.
- Set targeting parameters, including product-related searches, category views, and past purchase history.
Pros of Remarketing on Amazon
Amazon users often visit the site once they’ve made up their mind to purchase something and they want to research the best options. Since they’ve already decided to purchase something, this dramatically increases the likelihood of conversion, if you can make the case that your brand is superior to your competition.
Amazon has access to unique, first-party data from its platform, which means you can target users based on their actual shopping behavior, not just browsing habits. You can also target users with dynamic product ads about specific items they viewed.
Cons of Remarketing on Amazon
Remarketing on Amazon can be more expensive than on other platforms, specifically because of that high conversion potential. Amazon also imposes minimum spend requirements for DPS access.
Amazon is also most effective (if not solely effective) for businesses that sell physical products – that is, the ecommerce space – and is less ideal for service-based businesses or B2B brands.
Best Practices for Amazon Remarketing
Use Dynamic Ads for the exact products users viewed on Amazon. This significantly improves relevance and the likelihood of conversion.
Use Amazon’s deep pool of shopping data to refine your audience targeting. Focus on users who have shown interest in other products in your category, or those who have abandoned carts.
You can also combine these options with Amazon Sponsored Products ads to ensure visibility across the whole platform.
Choosing the Right Remarketing Platform
Remarketing is a vital tool in the arsenal of any digital marketer, offering the opportunity to re-engage with warm audiences who have already expressed interest in your brand. Each platform has its strengths and drawbacks, and the choice of where to focus your remarketing efforts should depend on your business model, target audience, and marketing objectives.
To recap:
- Google offers massive reach across millions of websites and apps, with dynamic ad capabilities, but can be complex to set up and run efficiently.
- Facebook (Meta) provides rich user data and cross-platform reach on highly visual networks, but its privacy challenges may impact performance.
- YouTube is ideal for highly engaging, video-based campaigns but can be resource-intensive in terms of production.
- Bing is a cost-effective alternative to Google with less competition but a smaller audience.
- Amazon is best suited for ecommerce brands, with high-intent users who are already shopping, at the cost of higher costs and complexity.
Ultimately, combining remarketing efforts across multiple platforms will be most effective. You should create a well-rounded omnichannel approach, diversifying where you reach your audience to increase the chances of converting potential customers.
To maximize remarketing success, you should be sure to avoid brand ad fatigue by capping the frequency at which your ads are shown. Properly segment your audience so that you aren’t showing bottom-of-funnel (BoFu) ads to top-of-funnel (ToFu) users; not all users are at the same stage of the buyer’s journey, after all. Finally, ensure your ads remain fresh with regular creative refreshes, both for visuals and copy.
Want help with remarketing on the world’s biggest ad platforms? You’ve come to the right place. Contact SevenAtoms today and see how we can help you remarket like a pro.
