How businesses are crafting their next Facebook retargeting campaign
Studies have shown that 96% of visitors to a website are not ready to make a purchase. First impressions are essential, but in the times we live in now, it’s more about the next couple of impressions that make a difference between a sale or not. After leaving your website, the potential customer has now become a target from your competitors. Your potential customer more than likely forgets about their visit to your site, considering they now have offers pouring in.
What can you do as an eCommerce store to remind your potential customer you exist and keep your brand fresh in their mind? You establish a campaign that retargets them on a platform they will be on, Facebook being the focus of this article.
How does retargeting work?
Retargeting is a form of online marketing that brings back website visitors who did not convert on their first visit to an online store. You have to install retargeting pixels to the code of your website. A 1×1 transparent pixel exists on a page that is undetectable by visitors. As the visitor scrolls down on the page, a “cookie” is added to their web browser as long as they load the page with the pixel. However, they must “view” the pixel, although it is transparent.
When the visitor exits and enters another webpage, the web browser communicates with advertising software behind the scenes before the new page loads. The cookie is an indication to notify the advertising software to display one of your ads on the new site. Which type of advertisement is dependent on how you establish your campaign. Many options for retargeting ads exist, such as display, native, video, and other models.
Facebook retargeting
Facebook currently has 2.4 billion monthly active users globally, and this number is expected to continue to grow. It is obvious why businesses run Facebook retargeting campaigns on this platform, considering the sheer amount of active users. Couple this fact with how straightforward Facebook has made it to create retargeting campaigns.
As a matter of fact, creating and installing Facebook retargeting pixels is simple for most users to do themselves. Yet, for those not as technologically inclined, Facebook offers the option to send directions to your website developer to install the pixel rather than yourself.
Facebook’s custom audiences is where you would segment your viewers to send personalized ads based on your custom audience preferences. For instance, you may only target those who visited a specific page or those that put a product in their cart but didn’t purchase.
This is how most businesses are crafting their next Facebook retargeting campaign. By using the powerful custom audiences to segment their audiences into groups before advertising to them in a relevant way.
Facebook retargeting campaign idea
Most visits to a site either result in a sale within seven days or not at all. However, keep in mind visitors who don’t purchase immediately does not mean they have no interest in your product at all. Many reasons exist as to why the sale was not completed, including research on products or price comparison.
For those customers on the fence, it makes the most logical sense to keep a subtle reminder in their social media feed, especially for those that put items in their cart but exit the site before committing to a purchase.
What some online shops offer for those that left without buying is a limited-time discount code. Research shows that this tactic works – 54% of people will come back and buy the product they’ve abandoned if they are offered a discount.
Customers have a multitude of options online, and price comparison is easier than ever before. Offering some type of discount encourages shoppers to stop their comparison and move forward with completing their orders. Whether you choose free-shipping, a discount, or a giveaway, research shows high percentage of conversion.
This tactic is not the only way, but its effectiveness proves it is worth adapting to your retargeting campaign.
How to create a Facebook retargeting campaign
To run Facebook dynamic retargeting ads, you must first upload your product catalog. Here’s a quick rundown on how to do that step-by-step:
Step 1: Go to your Facebook Ads account
Step 2: Click on ☰
Step 3: Under ”Assets” find ”Product Catalogue” & click ”Create a Catalog”
Step 4: Once you’ve created your catalog, click ”Ad Products” & download the .CSV template
Step 5: Fill out the template & upload it to Facebook
Step 6: Wait for the template to upload
Step 7: Create your campaigns
Facebook understands marketing and knows the potential earnings they can make, allowing businesses to market on their platform. Hence, the creation of the Facebook Ads account. Campaigns created in this account are straightforward and offer metrics to track performance. As long as your website contains a retargeting pixel, Facebook is able to communicate with your site and campaigns.
Final thoughts
Although simple to set up, it’s not as simple to maintain. The issue facing all marketers is staying fresh and relevant. Ad fatigue is real and happens when marketers embrace a “set it and forget it” mentality. Running the same campaign and ads week after week will lead to ad fatigue and, ultimately, burn out your customers.
Staying on top of your metrics to identify where you need improvement or change is the best course of action for preventing ad fatigue. Facebook will continue to be a platform that all businesses, regardless of size, will be able to elevate their marketing performance.