Marketing teams are responsible for getting visitors to your site, but that's only half the battle. There's a good chance that most people who make it to your online store leave without ever buying a product.
While that might sound bad at first, it's better than you think: Instead of trying to sell products or services to someone unfamiliar with your brand, you're now tasked with reaching people who know about your company but are not yet customers.
There are plenty of ways you can target these visitors and turn them into customers. We will cover how to establish audience segments and how to use email and social media to connect with people who have previously visited your site.
Let's start by talking about what you can do behind the scenes to improve the performance of your retargeting campaigns.
Establish customer segments
Every business has customers that fit into multiple categories based on their preferences, pain points and goals. The culmination of these traits makes up different audience segments.
For example, an online pet store would likely create segments for different people, depending on the animals they own. The marketing team would look at user behavior and purchase history to determine what type of promotion has the best chance of seeing a conversion when sent to a specific customer.
Imagine if this company promoted a deal for 50% off all cat supplies. Do you think it would be more effective to retarget every customer who visited the website or only those who browsed cat products and content? The truth is, there's nothing wrong with putting this promotion directly on your website. But when retargeting, use personalized content to your advantage.
If your goal is to get more targeted conversions from customers who visited your website, it's best to create content based on their preferences. You can learn more about your audience by reviewing your Google Analytics account, as well as your email and social media data.
Break your customers up into groups based on the type of products you sell, and create campaigns that appeal to each customer subset. You'll want to use these buyer personas to develop retargeting campaigns that get results for your business.
Encourage email sign-ups
One of the best ways to reach users after they leave your website is through email. It's estimated that 4.4 billion people have an email account, which means you have a great chance of reaching potential customers through this platform.
The key to using this strategy to retarget customers is to gather their email addresses before they leave. You can accomplish this task by putting an email signup form in a prominent place on your website.
Use your website's sidebar or a popup campaign that asks users to sign up for future content through email. If the person reading your message visited your site and found a helpful piece of content or product, they may subscribe to your email list.
Now that you have some email leads, you can create a drip campaign designed to retarget customers who didn't complete a purchase on-site. Use what you gleaned about various users during the signup process to deliver high-quality, personalized content and offers that appeal to their pain points and goals.
Personalized email messages can result in 26% more opens, which means more people may read what you have to say. If people find your email relevant, they are likely to click through and visit your website. You won't convert every email subscriber, but you will drastically reduce your cart abandonment rate and reach more customers than you would otherwise.
Use Google remarketing tools
Google's Remarketing Ads give business owners the tools they need to connect with consumers using hyper-focused advertising. In fact, you've likely encountered these ads while browsing the internet.
Here's how it works: Someone lands on your website and starts browsing but doesn't make a purchase and eventually leaves. Next, the user decides to go to another website and start reading about something totally unrelated. When they glance at the new website's sidebar, they see an ad for your business. Depending on their stage in the buying journey and your campaign's effectiveness, you can get them to come back to your website to complete their order.
The best part about these remarketing ads is you have control over how they are presented to users. We suggest using the dynamic remarketing option if your goal is to get consumers to come back and place an order. Dynamic ads change based on how individual users browse your site.
Now, if someone adds a specific item to their cart but abandons your website, they see advertisements for the exact product they were looking at with a custom offer. This trigger could be the deciding factor in their purchasing decision.
Create dynamic creative ads on Facebook
While we are on the topic of reaching consumers with personalized promotions, we have to mention Facebook's dynamic creative ads. Facebook is one of the most popular social media websites in the world, with 66% of all internet users having a Facebook account.
Facebook's dynamic creative ads are slightly different from the similarly named Google ads, but they are just as powerful. Social media advertisements are a great way to convert visitors into customers, but they are also extremely effective at building brand awareness. You want to consider your intent when using this tool for your business.
Creative ads allow business owners to upload multiple images, headlines, offers and descriptions designed to reach specific audiences. Next, the algorithm creates personalized advertisements for customers based on their interests. The best part about this system is it can pick and choose how to serve these promotions to get more traffic on your website.
The reason 26% of consumers make purchases after clicking these ads is that they are relevant to their interests and pain points. You can create targeted promotions designed for people who know about your website but haven't yet completed an order.
Final thoughts
Most people who make it to your website for the first time leave before they ever complete an order. A whopping 69.57% of consumers abandon shopping carts after adding products, and many more people leave without getting that far.
Reaching people after they leave your online store is one of the quickest ways to build your audience and get more sales. Review the retargeting options listed above, and think critically about how you can use these tools to connect with more potential customers.
If you're unsure where to start, look at your website traffic and see how most people find your site. Use this data to start building more awareness on platforms where you're already seeing success, and then branch out to lesser-used platforms as your company grows.