What is Behavioral Retargeting?

Behavioral retargeting is a powerful digital marketing strategy that tracks users’ online behavior, particularly their previous interaction with a brand’s post, website, or viewed product, then employs re-engagement. With this data, brands can display personalized ads to potential customers who have shown interest in their products but haven’t made a purchase yet. 

Yes, this is the reason why after interacting with a certain brand, they started appearing everywhere on the screen, even when using other platforms.

But how exactly does it work? Through tracking technology, specifically pixels and cookies stored in a user’s device, advertisers can monitor their online behavior and send retargeted ads to them. 

From Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash. 

How Effective is Behavioral Retargeting?

• Potential leads convert on their next visit. A recent study shows that nine out of ten first-time website visitors rarely make a purchase. They do it for researching product or service descriptions and price comparison. Retargeting brings them back to decide.

• It enhances brand recall. With how bombarded customers are with content daily, they’ll likely forget about you. Retargeting reminds them of their interest with your brand.

• It pushes highly personalized and relevant ads. Retargeting ads can be customized based on user preferences, and since it focuses on warm leads, they’re more likely to engage.

• Cost-effective strategy that boosts conversion rates. It brings back distracted or hesitant visitors and turns them into a customer. 

• No products will be left on their cart. Because they are unready to buy anything, 69.82% of shoppers abandon their online cart halfway through the checkout process. Retargeting recovers lost sales by offering special discounts to users until they convert.

Photo by Getty Images on Unsplash.

Most Effective Behavioral Retargeting Approach

There are different kinds of behavioral retargeting. Like any tactic, it should be strategically used to reach the right people at the right time.

1. Social Media Retargeting - Naturally, social media platforms help you retarget people who visited your profile, interacted with your post, or clicked on an ad but didn’t convert.

2. Search Retargeting - It targets users’ search behavior. If someone searches “authentic Japanese restaurants near me” but haven’t visited your website, you can serve them ads to introduce your brand.

3. Website Retargeting - When a user visits your website and leaves without an action, you can serve them tailored ads based on what they browsed. It could be a product, blog post, or an abandoned checkout page.

4. Video Retargeting - When a person partially watches your YouTube ad but didn’t click, you can push for another ad later on. Since it engages users visually and emotionally, it helps boost the possibility of conversion.

5. Email Retargeting - This is when after abandoning a cart, an email reminding you about it will be sent to your inbox. Email retargeting works for any business type. It could also be used for a person who downloaded a free resource but didn’t book a call or make a purchase after days. 

Best Practices for Behavioral Retargeting

Make sure your campaigns actually convert by:

• Segment Your Audience - Not all website visitors are the same. Group your audience based on behavior (e.g. page views,  time spent,  actions taken) then display ads that match their level of interest.

• Set Frequency Caps - Don't retarget ads aggressively. If a person visits your site once and receives non-stop ads afterwards, there’s a high chance that they will block you. Limit how often your ad can be seen.

• Don't Use Generic CTAs - Personalize your messaging based on their level of interest. If they search for a specific product, highlight its benefits on the ad.

• Test Your Ads and Adapt - Run your ads through A/B testing and analyze the performance of its click-through rate (CTR), conversion rate, and cost per acquisition (CPA). Adjust your strategy based on the data.

Conclusion

In behavioral retargeting, the goal is to remind potential customers of their interest in your brand until they convert. The displayed ads should be relevant and timely based on their behavior that pushes them to take action. Doing this strategy right will pay off with better engagement, more conversions, and a stronger brand presence.

---

Sevensharp Creatives elevates businesses from different industries to a whole new level! Our team offers 360 digital marketing solutions that includes the current online vital social media platforms, website design and development, software development, search engine marketing, search engine optimization, email and SMS marketing, photo and video shoot and more for small, medium, corporate businesses, and public entities. Get your free consultation with us to jumpstart your digital marketing journey! Contact us at +63 917 146 2603 (Viber, Whatsapp) or email us at hello@sevensharpcreatives.com.