But, like it is with any other marketing strategy, re-targeting is often executed in the wrong manner, which, of course, leads to poor results. Well, as they say, awareness is half the problem solved and by knowing what not to do, you can make sure your re-targeting efforts are perfect.

So, here are some of the most common re-targeting errors to avoid.

Going After Converted Users

Re-targeting is a very productive endeavor and that means it can be used to hide wasteful efforts. A very common wasteful effort that marketers engage in is the re-targeting of people who are already customers.

This usually happens when the provider of a service forgets to remove or exclude certain users who may already be subscribed to the service. As a result, these individuals end up receiving the same ads over and over again.

For the customer, this is just annoying. For the business, it’s a complete waste of time and effort.
This issues also occurs when the provider makes use of a manually drafted list. Manually drafted lists are rarely updated, which results in the same individuals being targeted again.

Not Segmenting

In any marketing effort, segmentation is absolutely necessary. Whether it’s allocating expenditures or developing creative collateral, segmenting is a basic function and must be done. It’s the same with re-targeting, but that’s exactly what some marketers forget to do.

Now, though the error might not necessarily lead to loss, it definitely won’t boost your RIO and that’s the bad part.

Marketers must learn to segment for their re-targeting campaigns. There are several categories under which they can do this. For instance, they can start with behavior. Prospects can be segmented on the basis of the pages they visit and the subsequent actions they indulge in.

Apart from that, segmentation can further be done on the basis of recent visits, CLV or Customer Lifetime Value, geographic location, and even their position in the sales funnel.

Failing to Rotate Ads

The last thing marketers should be doing is showing the same ad over and over again. This repetitive action only leads to the message becoming meaningless and prospects becoming annoyed or irritated. Marketers make this mistake thinking that it can improve recall.

Well, this isn’t completely wrong. The more people see the same ad, the more likely they are to remember the brand. However, they won’t necessarily remember it in the most pleasant way. The best way to improve recall without being annoying is to show multiple ads.

This way, you share fresh messages while maintaining your signature brand image.

This is simply known as ad rotation and studies have shown that consumers take an interest in a product or service when they’ve been exposed to more than just one type of advertisement about it. Plus, the more variety there is, the likelier it is that you will better response.

It’s simple logic really. If your advertisement doesn’t get the desired response, there is no point showing it repeatedly. You need to try something else.

So, start by creating a series of ads. Ideally, about 3-5 should be good. Now, in terms of changing these ads, you do not have to rely on drastic measures. Simply altering elements such as design, text, and images should do the trick. Make sure the overall theme is in line with your brand so that it’s recognizable. There has to be consistency, which means key elements such as logos or brand colors need to be retained.

The next step is to simply rotate the ads. Run ad number 1 for a while before you switch to the rest. For example, if you’re running a month-long campaign, you can rotate the ads every 6 days or so. This way, you’ll prevent what is called ad fatigue and also draw in a new bunch of customers with each attempt.

Failure to Advertise with Relevance

Relevance is a very important aspect of marketing. It isn’t enough to advertise to the right person at the right time. Your actual advertisement needs to be convincing too. For example, if marketers start re-targeting customers with ads for products/services that the customer has not bothered to take a look, it’s bound to end in failure.

The whole point of marketing, even during the re-targeting phase, is to showcase products/services that customers have shown an interest in.

In order to avoid making this mistake, marketers have to use a certain logic and look to boost the concerned ad’s relevancy. For example, marketers should try and identify interests by looking at a user’s behavior.

Failure to Get the Frequency Right

As we discussed earlier, showing the same ad over and over again is a surefire way to annoy the customer and destroy their interest. But, that’s not the only issue. There is also the issue of frequency.

Frequency here refers to how often you run your ads. You see, even if you were to rotate your ads, you need to make sure they aren’t shown too often. Make sure you establish a limit on the frequency of the ads you run.

Customers don’t want to be reminded of the same thing time and again.

Ignoring Promotions

Now, it’s obviously not a nice idea to deliver offers and discounts every now and then. But, that doesn’t mean you don’t deliver them at all as part of your re-targeting efforts.

Offers and discounts are a good thing. It’s just that you have to know when to implement them and how often to implement them. They are particularly helpful in re-targeting campaigns. So, take the time to think things through and use such promotions when you think they would be helpful.

For example, let’s say one customer has abandoned his/her cart with high-value products. You can take this opportunity to motivate the purchase with a discount that brings down the price sufficiently.

So, that’s about it. Hopefully, these tips will help you out. But, if you still need some help with re-targeting, please get in touch with Crafted.

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