Retarget, re-activate
AdRoll, the retargeting company, puts it like this: “2% of shoppers convert on the first visit to an online store. Retargeting brings back the other 98%.” If your customer leaves your site without buying an item, you can use a retargeting service to show them the item again in another feed. The hat they abandoned in your cart may suddenly look irresistible when it’s displayed on one of their go-to social media sites.
And retargeting has certainly produced some impressive results. Get Satisfaction, a customer engagement platform, used it to increase their ROI by 248% over a three month period. While PeopleTree, a fair-trade fashion retailer, was able to get 30% of non-converting visitors to return to their website through retargeting.
Segment and conquer
Some of your customers will be more responsive to retargeting than others. That’s why it’s worth segmenting your abandoned carts. Customers who have spent more than 15 minutes on your site before heading to the checkout may be a better remarketing target than those who’ve spent less time there.
You should also consider other factors like 'repeat vs. first time customers', 'cart size' and 'cart value'. Different demographic segments react very differently too. A Sherpa marketing study found that 23% of women aged 33 to 44 felt the most negative sentiment toward retargeting, while 16% of men aged 18 to 34 said they always purchase when retargeted with a discount.
Be smart about discounts
VWO (Visual Website Optimizer) unearthed this amazing fact: “54% of buyers will buy retargeted products if offered at a discount.” However, if you give discounts away too freely, you may become a target for serial discount-hunters (more on them later). For some customers, a reminder email will be enough to get them to complete their purchase. So it’s a good idea to save discounts for your second email or even subsequent follow-ups.