Remarketing for eCommerce is it and why is it so important? Remarketing, or retargeting, is the presentation of marketing messages for recipients who have visited the online store. It happens that customers may only compare your offer with that of the competition, search for a given model or even make a purchase. Each industry is different, and everything depends on the user’s purchasing path and the purchasing process – which your future customer carries out on the way to the transaction. This is one of the first things to consider in the context of remarketing for eCommerce.
Questions to start with in the context of remarketing for eCommerce are:
- Who is my client?
- Are the products I offer seasonal (e.g. Christmas socks) or are customers making purchases periodically (e.g. flour)?
- Does my offer consist of premium products? Is the user’s decision-making longer?
By standing on the other side – the customer side – we can see what the purchase process in our shop really looks like. On this basis, we can design appropriate actions to activate the user to buy again or choose our shop for the first time. So the most important thing, in my opinion, is to put ourselves in the customer’s shoes and understand exactly how the purchase path is executed.
To analyse the purchase path of users, it is worth using the Google Analytics tool. Of course, the more correctly collected data we have here – the better conclusions we will draw. You can find out how to set up Goals and configure the eCommerce module in Google Anaytlics here
How to interpret data in remarketing for eCommerce?
At the beginning, let’s consider a certain period of time – for example, let’s say 3 months. Remember that this period should be relative to your business (not always the period of the greatest seasonality will be objective for analysis). Let us analyse all data in the same time frame.
Audience report → Behaviour → New vs. returnee
remarketing for eCommerce – data about recipients
The above list of new users for remarketing for eCommerce gives us a picture of how many users actually return to the website and make a purchase. The above shows that despite such a large number of new users on the website – remarketing is characterised by a greater number and value of transactions. They also spend more time on the site. Remarketing, however, doesn’t behave the same for every business – even if they share the same industry.
Conversion report → Multi – Channel Funnels → Top Conversion Paths
Analysing the same case further, in the above report, we can see how long the conversion path of a user who needs time to think before making a purchase can be. Often, mailing, PPC campaigns or direct entries appear on his path. These are the ways to activate remarketing for eCommerce, more about which in a moment.
For comparison, another store – in which the users’ decision-making is not so long. The conversion path is also shortened to one or two points of contact with the store.
Audience groups are the most important point in remarketing for eCommerce
Before starting activities that activate remarketing for eCommerce, it is worth determining exactly who you want to return to. Thanks to properly configured groups of recipients, we will be able to reach users who have left their digital footprint in our store. What groups are we talking about? In Google Analytics, we have the option of defining remarketing – dividing it into smaller groups and immediate connection with the Google Ads panel.
From the perspective of online stores, I would distinguish the following groups:
- Users who have made a purchase
These users have just become your customers. It is worth having them in your segment – so that when conducting remarketing activities, you do not offer them the products they have just bought. It can be very annoying, right? However, chances are good that these customers will be loyal and will come back to your store. So you can use the Cross-Selling tactic – and offer them additional products from the offer that they might also like.
- Users who added the product to the cart
This is the hottest remarketing group. These users are just a few clicks away from the purchase. Make sure they don’t forget about the products in the basket!
- Users returning to the site
I know from experience that users who returned to the site, for example 3 times in the last 90 days, are very much interested in the store’s offer – and often end up making a purchase.
- Users based on visit depth
This is another valuable group of recipients interested in your offer. Example? Only 60 seconds spent on the website and a minimum of 3 pages viewed give us an interesting segment – which is also willing to convert.
- Social network users
If you operate on a large scale also in social networks – it is worth taking advantage of this traffic. Users, incl. You can easily define Facebook or Instagram based on the source. Thanks to this, you will also be able to reach them on Google.
- Users who visited specific pages
For larger stores, with an extensive website and a wide remarketing group, it will be useful to segment users based on specific interests. This will allow you to reach potential customers of a given category who, for some reason, have not yet decided to buy, again. Remember that these are only examples. You can modify each of these groups and adjust the parameters to the needs of your store.
Dynamic remarketing for eCommerce
When we know how important remarketing for eCommerce is – it’s time to raise the bar. I am talking about dynamic remarketing. In order for the activities activating users to be effective – and the ads do not follow the user step by step, it is important to properly configure dynamic remarketing. It allows users to display personalised suggestions for the products and services they were interested in.
Tego rodzaju śledzenie możesz utworzyć dzięki odpowiedniemu plikowi danych oraz tagom o niestandardowych parametrach. Plik danych zawierający niezbędne informacje o Twoich produktach lub usługach to nic innego jak feed produktowy, który konfigurujemy w Google Merchant Center. Tagi natomiast powiążą użytkowników z niepowtarzalnymi identyfikatorami z pliku danych – elementów które właśnie przeglądali.
You can create this type of tracking thanks to the appropriate data feed and tags with non-standard parameters. The data file containing the necessary information about your products or services is nothing more than a product feed that we configure in Google Merchant Centre. Tags, on the other hand, will associate users with unique identifiers from the data file – the elements they have just viewed. More information you can find here
The most effective forms of remarketing for eCommerce
With the most important technical issues set up, it’s time to act. There are many ways to reach users and activate them to purchase – which was announced before – there are many.
Google Ads Remarketing
Remarketing groups that we previously configured in Google Analytics can be connected to almost any type of PPC campaign. From Shopping campaigns to campaigns on the Search Network, Display Network and YouTube. It all depends on the resources at our disposal. Groups can also be created directly in the Google Ads panel. What is important! Note that these lists are specifically populated:
I personally recommend:
- Dynamic Search Network [DSA] campaign – targeting strictly remarketing users
- Standard product campaign – targeting strictly remarketing users
- Intelligent product campaign – which, thanks to properly configured dynamic remarketing, is able to effectively reach the right users
Facebook Ads Remarketing
In this case, we also have a lot of room for action. As in Google Ads – in the Business Facebook panel, we can create almost identical segments of recipients, which we will also connect to each of the campaigns. We do not have to give up dynamic remarketing here – because the appropriate campaign setting (from the ad level) will allow us to reach each user with a personalised offer.
I personally recommend:
- product catalogue – with automatic division – we can choose from segments of website users, abandoned baskets or cross-selling
- product catalogue – with more precise targeting, e.g. for returning users
- dynamic product carousels – with the aforementioned dynamic remarketing setting
- campaigns for conversion – targeted at remarketing – e.g. with a promotional offer
Marketing automation
There are many marketing automation tools and they are really effective. Find out more about e-mail marketing and eCommerce marketing automation strategies here. This is a great way to personalise the content on the website, meet the user with an offer or even increase the commitment and trust of the seller.
I personally recommend:
- Cross-Selling and Up-Selling (application examples can be found here)
- Newsletter subscription
- Rescuing abandoned carts
Opposites attract!
What do new users have for remarketing? A lot! Building long-term relationships with customers through all kinds of loyalty programs or birthday discounts is one thing. However, many entrepreneurs forget that any – even the largest remarketing group – can burn out over time. To prevent this, it is worth investing in constantly fresh traffic on the website – that is, users who will end up in our remarketing segments. The larger our group will be – the more segments we will be able to distinguish – and the campaigns will convert better.
What to do when remarketing in the online store does not work?
It also happens that despite all efforts, remarketing in the online store does not work. A number of factors affect shopping in the store and the decision-making of users. They include, among others, price, offer or shipping methods offered. In this case, it is worth analysing the users’ path deeper – checking at what stage they resign from further purchases.
The flow of users from the cart to checkout for some stores will be appropriate at 30%, for others it will be a minimum of 60%.
In another example, we can analyse the percentage of users who give up the purchase at the intermediate stage between the cart and the transaction:
Thanks to these analyzes, we can improve the process of making a purchase, which is perhaps too complicated?
Summary
We live in an age where users have a huge amount of choice – and lured by numerous promotions, they can easily switch to your competitors. What is certain, however, is that users already familiar with your shop are more likely to make a purchase, and dynamic remarketing has the highest effectiveness. There’s a reason why remarketing records one of the higher conversion rates in eCommerce! Also, CPC rates for remarketing users usually come out cheaper. So it’s worth nurturing and constantly expanding remarketing groups to keep them interested and loyal for as long as possible. But let’s do it in the right way – one that will encourage conversions.
See also categories: Social Media in eCommerce | PPC Campaigns | Shopify technologies | eCommerce SEO | E-mail marketing | eCommerce project management | eCommerce marketing | eCommerce management | eCommerce development | eCommerce b2b | eCommerce automation | eCommerce analytics | Content marketing | Case Study eCommerce | News | Other