Retargeting and remarketing are not new terms in the ecommerce-sphere. Around 20% of marketing professionals now have a dedicated budget for recovering abandoned transactions – and 50% of them say it will increase in the next 6 months.
It does make sense too. Why spend large sums on advertising to uninterested shoppers, when you could spend a fraction remarketing to interested shoppers?
Below are some of the retargeting tools that your business cannot do without.
Phone power
Although it isn’t the most commonly used method – and possibly not one you will have experienced as a consumer – picking up the phone is statistically the most successful way to retarget abandoned shoppers.
Achieving decision-maker contact rates of around 65% gives sales teams a great chance of converting orders, bookings, quotes and transactions, that would otherwise be forgotten about.
Co-op Travel started converting 30% of abandoned bookings by calling customers that dropped off their website. Using technology by specialists, Optilead, they found that customers often needed assistance that was not readily available on the website, which meant that a phone call was extremely helpful.
A friendly conversation is probably the most effective tool a sales agent has at their disposal. It also gives your business a chance to proactively overcome problems with online orders, such as high shipping costs.
Email campaigns
Sending a reminder email to shoppers after they have abandoned a website is probably the most widely used method of retargeting, as it is easy to implement and cheap to use.
But across sectors, only 22.87% of retargeting emails are opened, and 3.26% are clicked through. With a strong design and powerful copy, a well-presented campaign can surpass these figures, providing they are relevant and well timed.
SMS remarketing
A more untapped resource, but one that can be incredibly successful, is text messaging.
Open rates soar to over 90%, and with high speed internet access available on most mobile phones, links to web content are now more easily accessible than ever.
An added benefit includes the ability to launch campaigns. Asking the recipient to respond with keywords can encourage them to return to your site and complete an order.
Website retargeting
At some point or other, we have all seen those eerie ads pop up on the side of a website. Those laser-guided scissors you searched for seem to follow you round every website for the next few hours – tempting you to buy them even if they are utterly ridiculous.
They seem to work too. A recent survey by Chango revealed around 86% of professionals that used retargeting tactics, opted for website reminders after customers had abandoned their order.
Exposure is clearly very high with site remarketing, as products that you have shown interest follow you round like a fanatical stalker. If they do get annoying at any point, or you are a terribly compulsive buyer, simply delete your browser cookies to prevent them popping up.
It is for this reason many big brands do not use site retargeting, as they are considered intrusive and less personal than some of the other channels we’ve covered. Sure, they can increase sales, but potentially at the risk of your brand’s reputation.
This advert from John Lewis appeared on the very next page we visited after searching for Insurance on Google
Which channel should I use?
Each option has its own advantages. With outbound calls, you will see the best return on investment and the highest level of customer service. With others you may not have the same costs, but the returns are relative too. As opposed to just using one approach, it is always better to use a combination of remarketing channels, depending on what your company offers. If you don’t remarket already, it is about time you consider investing in this rapidly expanding market.
Increasing revenue is ridiculously easy if you know who is visiting your website and how to successfully retarget them. Otherwise they are just another lost customer.
To find out more about how Optilead can increase your business revenue, please contact us.
