Tips for ‘Retargeting’ Non-Converting Visitors

Here’s a scenario to consider: a visitor access your e-commerce website, adds a product to his or her shopping cart, but then has a sudden change of heart and leaves without following through with the purchase. Some webmasters may assume this potential sale is gone forever, and the visitor never to be seen or heard from again. In some cases, this is true.

But you can often entice non-converting visitors into making a purchase through the use of retargeting.

What is Retargeting?

Retartgeting is exactly what it sounds like: targeting a user who had previously visited your website without making a purchase or taking the desired action. Because the user had already visited your website, it’s usually easier to convert them into paying a customer. If you plan of using this strategy, however, you need to have a sound plan in place to market your site’s non-converting visitors.

Collect Users’ Email Addresses

Arguably, the easiest way to retarget non-converting visitors is to collect their email addresses and send follow-up promotional messages. Once you’ve collected visitors’ email addresses, you can send them special promo codes and coupons in an attempt to convert them into paying customers. Most of the leading online retailers already utilize this strategy, attesting to its effectiveness in boosting conversions and sales.

Rather than collecting and harvesting a single list of visitors’ email addresses, however, it’s recommended that you create multiple lists based on visitors’ behavior. If a visitor added a product to his or her shopping cart but left your site without making a purchase, you can place their email in a separate list.

Why is this important?

Well, you can then follow up with customized messages asking the visitor to reconsider his or her purchase, including a special promotional discount as an incentive. If all of this sounds too difficult or time-consuming, consider using a customer relationship management (CRM) solution like Infusionsoft. It takes the burden by managing email lists, and sending promotional messages, off your shoulder.

Paid Search Retargeting

Of course, you can also retarget visitors using paid search platforms like Google Adwords. This feature allows Adwords advertisers to create ads that trigger only for users who have previously visited their website. You’ve probably visited a website in the past in which a Google ad was displayed featuring another site that you had previously visited. Remarketing such as this is highly effective at converting non-paying visitors, so consider using it in your advertising strategy.

You can learn more about the remarketing feature in Google Adwords by clicking here. Keep in mind that there’s a 100 cookie ID minimum required for Google’s remarketing to work. In other words, 100 visitors must access your website before you can remarket to them via Google Adwords.

Have any other retargeting tips that you would like to share with our readers? Let us know in the comments section below!