Late last year, Advertise.com and the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO) shared some interesting findings from a survey on ad technology, and found that remarketing (sometimes called retargeting) was considered the most under-utilized online marketing technology by nearly half or respondents. 

Since then, Google has launched remarketing capabilities for AdWords, and I’m guessing the technology has been taken advantage of by more advertisers since. Daniel Yomtobian, CEO of Advertise.com, which offers its own remarketing services, tells us, "As many as 96 percent of the people who visit a website leave without completing the actions marketers would like them to take, like making a purchase. Remarketing targets previous site visitors and brings them back with highly customized ads that maximize conversions and return on advertisers’ interactive spend. Remarketing has been shown to improve ad response up to 400 percent compared to traditional display marketing."

Remarketing, simply put, targets customers who have been to the advertiser’s site before, but didn’t convert, and tries go gain their interest again, maybe with a different offer or a different spin on the ad. 

"These visitors are tagged when they leave the site then later are shown ads with specific discounts and specials on items previously browsed as they surf elsewhere on the web," explains Yomtobian. 

"First, the advertiser is given a line of code from the Remarketing network to include into their website," he continues. "Once implemented, upon visiting the site, users are tagged anonymously and later recognized by banner ads spaces on other websites within the Remarketing network. Advertisers later follow-up with these users as they surf other websites with an advertising message." 

"It is important for both consumers and advertisers to understand that remarketing does not pull any other information from the visitor other than that he or she has viewed that particular site," he notes. "The visitor is ‘tagged’ anonymously and this allows advertisers to serve a relevant ad later in the visitor’s Internet surfing.

Increasing Traffic and Conversions

"Remarketing provides marketers with a vehicle to bring lost visitors back to convert, a solution that did not previously exist," says Yomtobian. "Remarketing reminds those consumers who didn’t convert the first time about the original offers as well as new opportunities, and seeks to bring them back for conversion."

"Most remarketing models are based on identifying consumers who expressed initial interest in a product or service on a web site or landing page or website but didn’t convert," he adds. "With Remarketing, advertisers can reach out to these past visitors with an ad relevant to their interests before they left the website.  Matching these banners to users who are most likely to respond to them increases brand awareness, site visitations and conversions."

Remarketing might be particularly effective around the holidays. Customers that showed some interest in products might need a little extra encouragement to go through with a gift purchase. For that matter, products browsed around the holidays may be retargeted later as potential birthday gifts.