Thousands of sales are lost every month. In fact, researchers estimate that upwards of 98% of visitors leave a website without contacting the company. Typically the first visit someone makes to a website is for research purposes. The visitor isn’t ready to make a purchase yet. Studies have shown that it can take up to seven individual visits before a visitor is ready to take that next step.
Simply put – it isn’t enough to bring visitors to your website. You have to remind them who you are and what you do. That’s where ad retargeting comes in. Retargeting can help transform researchers into prospects and eventually clients. For small businesses that lack the major advertising budgets of large corporations, retargeting offers a cost-effective way to maintain brand awareness.
To give you a clearer picture of what ad retargeting is and how it works, here’s concrete example:
The Initial Search
Let’s say a law firm is looking for a new IT consultant. The law firm’s office manager searches for “outsourced IT for law firms.” One of the results leads to an IT consultancy with a creative web design that highlights their qualifications.
Don’t Let Them Forget
The office manager is impressed with the website, but wants to evaluate other options. Like the 98% we had mentioned before, the office manager doesn’t take any action other than browsing a few pages. After 2-3 minutes, she’s off to another one of the search results, perhaps never to return.
In a Prospect’s Consciousness
Because the IT consultancy set up re-targeting, the office manager doesn’t forget. Retargeting places a cookie in the visitor’s browser. The browser “remembers” that the office manager visited. Now she sees ads for that IT consultancy when she goes to websites like CNN, Mashable, and even YouTube.
Top of Mind When They’re Ready to Engage
The goal of the ad is to remind that office manager of the IT consultancy and how they can help her. Without retargeting, the office manager might forget and never contact the IT consultancy. With retargeting, she sees the ad frequently. After the typical six to seven touches, she goes back to the IT consultancy’s website (by clicking on the ad, of course!). When she visits the website again, she sees an offer to download a resource on what type of IT solutions law firms need. She fills out a form to get the resource, and now the IT consultancy has her email address for a direct follow-up.
Retargeting: Maximize ROI of B2B Website
A strong website design is only the beginning. Serious firms need to consider how they can draw visitors back and encourage them to take action. Ad retargeting is a great, cost-effective way to maximize the ROI of a B2B website design.
