How Come Banner Ads Follow Me!?

Whats up guys, its Matt the Intern. Today I learned about retargeting, and why it feels like I’m being stalked or followed by certain ads.

What is retargeting?

Retargeting, also called remarketing, is a technique that companies use to draw their customers back to a website.
An example would be to get retargeted by a clothing website. Let’s say that you need a new pair of flip flops. You visit Pacsun to see what they have to offer. You have a few that you like, but you don’t buy anything. Later that day, you check the weather, and to your surprise you see an ad for pacsun. It may just seem like a crazy coincidence, but what you didn’t know is that you were being retargeted.
 

The Goal

The reason why companies like to retarget is because it they already know that you are interested in their products or services, and it may remind you to go back and buy whatever you were looking at.

General and Specific

If you only visited Pacsun’s website without checking out any flipflops, the retargeting ad may just be for Pacsun’s website. If you visited Pacsun’s flip flop page, then the ad may be specified to Pacsun’s flip flops. If there was a pair of flip flops that you checked out on the website, then you could even be retargeted to that specific pair.

The Results

Retargeting is one of the most profitable types of digital marketing for most of our clients. If they have a Cost Per Sale of $10 in their Google Pay Per Click, the retargeting Cost Per Sale might come in at only $2 or $3.