Retargeting vs remarketing

Retargeting Vs Remarketing: Key Differences Explained

By
Michelle Chia
|
August 16, 2024

Retargeting vs remarketing, which is the best option for you?  In digital marketing, two words that are often mixed up are retargeting and remarketing. On the surface, they may seem like the same, but it is crucial to understand the distinction between the two to maximize the effectiveness of your online campaign.

It’s important to note both strategies aim to re-engage potential customers, but they do so in different ways, each bringing unique benefits to the table. This article will cover the Retargeting vs remarketing debate and explore their differences to help you make an informed decision.

What Is Remarketing?

So, what is remarketing? Remarketing is like reminding people who have already shown interest in your brand that you are still out there. It leverages customer information to re-engage such people via email, display ads, and social media among others.

The concept is to remind them about your site and guide them to the right actions – whether it is to make a purchase or browse through other related products, remarketing is super effective because it taps into what your customers have already done. 

Imagine a customer adds items to their cart but leaves without buying anything. A remarketing email can remind them of their forgotten cart and maybe even offer a discount to sweeten the deal.

Other cool strategies include promoting products similar to past purchases or sending personalized offers based on their interests.

As it targets the people who have already engaged with your brand, remarketing increases the chances of conversion and customer loyalty. It is a great idea for companies who want to get the best out of their existing clients and convert random visitors into loyal customers.

Benefits Of Remarketing

Remarketing offers several key benefits for businesses:

  1. Increase Brand Awareness: Remind the potential customers about your brand and products so that they can consider you the next time they need to make a purchase.
  2. Recapture Lost Leads: Contact the users who were interested in your product but did not buy it, reminding them of the product and encouraging them to complete the purchase.
  3. Improve Conversion Rates: Target users who are already interested in your product or service, making it easier to convert them into paying customers.
  4. Personalize Marketing Messages: Personalize your messages to the users for a better and more efficient delivery of the messages.
  5. Increase ROI: Advertise to the right people so that you can be sure to get good returns on your investment.

What Is Retargeting?

Retargeting tracks users through cookies and website tracking pixels as they surf the internet. This enables businesses to place advertisements that are relevant to the user’s activities on the internet even after they have left the business website. It's like a gentle reminder that keeps your brand in their sights.

So what is retargeting in digital marketing? For instance, if a person goes to your website and views a particular product but does not buy it, retargeting can display ads of the product or similar products to the same person as they browse the internet. This makes your brand familiar to them and also makes them return to complete their purchase since they are reminded of your brand.

Benefits Of Retargeting

Retargeting also has its own set of benefits:

  1. Reach a Wider Audience: Serves clients who have no previous knowledge about your brand but have some level of curiosity about other related brands or products.
  2. Increase Brand Recognition: Create top-of-the-funnel (TOFU) awareness and consideration for the brand or product.
  3. Retarget Website Visitors: Keep those who haven't converted engaged with your brand, reminding them of what they left behind.
  4. Drive Valuable Website Traffic: Remind interested users of your website and thus increase the overall website conversions.
  5. Offer Personalized Ad Experiences: Show highly relevant ads to potential customers, driving sales and boosting engagement.
difference between remarketing and retargeting

Key Differences Between Retargeting And Remarketing

So what is the difference between remarketing and retargeting?  Well, while both strategies aim to re-engage potential customers, they differ in key ways:

Target Audience

  • Retargeting: Focuses on a broader audience. It communicates with customers who have used other related products or services and may not even know your brand exists.

For instance, imagine a school that wants to use retargeting strategies to increase enrollment for its new art program. They could focus on a broader audience by targeting parents who have recently browsed various educational websites, art supplies shops, or even blogs about parenting and child development.

  • Remarketing: It interacts with the audience that has had prior interaction with your brand, for instance, clients or subscribers. For example, an email to a customer who added products in the cart but did not complete the purchase.

Knowing how these two differ helps you to select the most appropriate approach for your marketing to ensure that your business attains its objectives.

Data Source

  • Remarketing: Uses customer information like email addresses and previous orders to create relevant messages.
  • Retargeting: It tracks users and uses cookies or browsing behavior to display advertisements relevant to the user’s activity.

Marketing Channels

  • Remarketing: This mostly employs e-mail, social media, and occasionally display ads to reach out to past clients.
  • Retargeting: Primarily uses display advertising networks and websites to show targeted ads based on a user's browsing history. There can be some overlap, as both can use display ads in their strategies.

Campaign Goals

  • Remarketing: Emphasizes conversion and customer loyalty. It is all about targeting users who have already shown interest and converting them into regular customers.
  • Retargeting: Intended to remind users of the brand and encourage them to visit the website by targeting them based on their activity even if they have not engaged with the brand before.

Using Remarketing Effectively: Tips And Tricks

To get the most out of your remarketing efforts, consider these strategies:

  • Leverage Behavioral Data and Purchase History: Try to make your messages as relevant as possible based on the data you have on your audience.
  • Enhance Static Ads: Enhance your ads with the help of dynamic content that will address the user’s interests.
  • Target Cart Abandoners with Cross-Sells and Upsells: Suggest other products or other items that are related to what they showed interest in.
  • Optimize Customer Loyalty Programs: Engage your customers and encourage them to return for more by using remarketing.

Tips For Retargeting That Works

To create effective retargeting campaigns, keep these tips in mind:

  • Optimize Landing Pages: Ensure your landing pages are designed for seamless conversions to maximize the effectiveness of your retargeting ads.
  • Utilize Paid Search Strategies: Combine retargeting with paid search to capture user interest across multiple touchpoints.
  • Retarget Based on Browsing Behavior: To keep the users interested, make sure that you are displaying ads that are relevant to what they have been searching for.
  • Retarget Across Devices: Make sure your ads are being displayed to the users on all their devices for constant brand exposure.
  • Utilize Lookalike Audiences: Expand the number of people who will be interested in your product by reaching out to audiences that are similar to your customers, therefore, increasing the overall traffic and conversion rates.
  • Consider Hiring a Digital Marketing Consultant: Retargeting campaigns can get complex, especially when integrating multiple strategies across various platforms. Hiring a digital marketing consultant can provide you with expert insights and tailored advice to enhance your campaigns.
remarketing vs. retargeting

Choosing Between Retargeting And Remarketing

Both retargeting and remarketing have valuable applications depending on your marketing goals. Here’s a simple framework to help you decide which strategy to use:

  • Target Audience: Decide if you are going to target completely new prospects (retargeting) or the prospects that have already interacted with your business (remarketing).
  • Campaign Goals: Determine whether your primary objective is to bring more traffic to your website and make people recognize your brand (retargeting) or to improve conversions and customer retention (remarketing).
  • Available Data: Assess the type of data you have. If you have detailed customer information, remarketing may be more beneficial. If you depend on the analysis of the user’s behavior, then retargeting can be considered as more suitable.

Using both strategies can offer comprehensive benefits, creating a well-rounded marketing approach that captures new leads and re-engages existing customers. Hiring a marketing agency can significantly boost this effort, providing specialized expertise and advanced tools for more effective campaigns. 

Examples Of Successful Retargeting & Remarketing Campaigns

E-commerce: Abandoned Cart Recovery

Example: Amazon

Amazon is perhaps the best example of abandoned cart recovery. If a customer places some products on the cart but does not make the final purchase, Amazon makes follow-up emails. 

These emails usually bring attention to leftover items, and sometimes, they contain recommended products and time-sensitive offers to compel the customer to complete the purchase. 

This particular strategy has greatly increased the conversion rates for Amazon since it draws the customers’ attention to a particular product and then encourages them to make a purchase.

Travel: Personalized Offers

Example: Expedia

Retargeting ads can be seen on travel booking websites like Expedia, where people interested in certain destinations are targeted. If a user goes to the website and searches for hotels or flights to Paris, Expedia will later advertise deals on Paris vacations on other websites. 

These are specific to the user’s browsing preferences, resulting in a higher click-through rate and, subsequently, more reservations.

SaaS: Free Trial Reminders

Example: Dropbox

Dropbox, a cloud storage service, uses remarketing emails in a way that helps it turn users who have tried the service with the free trial into the paying ones. These emails usually contain informative material on the advantages of the paid version, references to other users’ experiences, and limited-time offers. This way, Dropbox is able to convert a significant number of trial users into paying subscribers.

Final Thoughts

The retargeting vs. remarketing debate ultimately comes down to how best to re-engage potential customers and enhance their journey with your brand.

Retargeting and remarketing are two effective techniques that can be used by businesses to target the potential customers again and increase the conversion rates. It is therefore important to understand the differences and advantages of each so that you can make the right choices and create good marketing strategies.

Regardless of which of the two you decide to use, even if it’s a blend of both retargeting and remarketing, these strategies can be very useful in your marketing campaigns. Explore these strategies in more detail and think about applying them in your own marketing campaigns to experience the positive outcomes yourself.

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FAQs

Can I Use Both Retargeting And Remarketing?

You can use both retargeting and remarketing in your marketing strategy. Combining these approaches allows you to re-engage potential customers through ads (retargeting) and personalized emails (remarketing), maximizing your chances of conversions by addressing different touchpoints and behaviors.

What Are The Challenges Of Retargeting?

The drawbacks of retargeting include ad repetition, which can cause users to get irritated from seeing the same ads over and over again, and privacy issues, where users consider retargeting an intrusion. Also, targeting the right audience segments can be a bit challenging.

How Can I Improve My Remarketing Email Open Rates?

To improve remarketing email open rates, use compelling subject lines, personalize content, and send emails at optimal times. Segment your audience to ensure relevance and regularly clean your email list to remove inactive subscribers. Testing different elements (A/B testing) can also help identify the most effective strategies.

How Can I Segment My Retargeting Campaigns?

Segment your retargeting campaigns by user behavior, such as pages visited, time spent on the site, and actions taken (e.g., abandoned carts). You can also segment by demographics, past purchase history, and engagement level. This allows for more personalized and effective ad targeting, improving conversion rates.

Are There Any Legal Considerations For Retargeting?

Legal factors to consider for retargeting include GDPR and CCPA legal compliance. Make sure that visitors agree to have their behaviors monitored, give them a clear way to opt-out, and be very clear on how their data will be used. 

Which One Has A Higher Click-Through Rate?

Retargeting is commonly known to have a better click-through rate than general display advertising since it targets the intended market. Remarketing emails can also boast very high open rates, particularly if sent tailored to the person’s preferences. However, success depends on its implementation and reception by the target population.

What Are The Best Ways To Measure Retargeting And Remarketing?

Track the performance of retargeting and remarketing campaigns using CTR, conversion rate, CPC, and ROAS. Employ data analytics to monitor the users’ activity after engagement and run experiments to optimize. Campaigns should also be reviewed and optimized on a consistent basis with the help of performance indicators.

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