How To Use Retargeting For Business (Part 2 of 2)

In part one, we outlined some of the key ways to use retargeting for business, as well as the key networks that you can use to display your banner ads. In this post, part two, we’re going to outline how you can analyze the success of your retargeting campaign and what you can do to improve results.

How to Analyze Success
When analyzing the results of your retargeting campaign, the most important metric to pay attention to is the click through rate (CTR) on your banner ads. The bottom line is that the higher your CTR, the lower your cost per click (CPC) and cost per lead (CPL).

As a search engine marketing company, we always say that you should think of your CTR as your number one leading indicator of success. If your CTR is poor, the rest of your campaign will be expensive and inefficient. Try to target a CTR of .1% or greater, as .1% is the average CTR in retargeting. To put things in perspective, if the CPM rate is $4.00 and your CTR is .1%, your CPC will be $4.00. And if your landing page converts at 10%, your cost per lead will be $40.00. A .2% or .3% CTR is achievable and this is what you want to work towards to drive down your cost per lead.

How to Improve Results
Frequency caps, ad placement, audience targeting, and banner creative have the greatest impact on your CTR. Frequency caps are the maximum number of times that your banners are shown to a particular individual per day. It’s important that you do not set this to unlimited.

Depending on your industry, you want to show a maximum of 2-8 impressions per day and keep an eye on your CTR. If you find that your CTR goes down as the impressions go up, reduce the volume of impressions until your CTR is maximized.

The second variable that impacts results is ad placement. The bottom line is that banners that are above the fold get a higher CTR than banners that are below the fold. So, try to maximize the volume of your banners that are above the fold and as high as possible on the page. Also, the larger the ad unit the better as larger ad units typically get a higher CTR than smaller ones.

The third variable that impacts results is your audience targeting. In direct mail, we always say that your list has the greatest impact on results. In retargeting, your audience is just as important, so take the time to select the right target audience for your product.

The fourth variable that impacts results is your banner creative. Take the time to test different headlines and offers. Also consider testing different promotions and time sensitive offers that create a sense of urgency.

If you have any questions, please comment below. We’re here to help.