Online Shopping and Remarketing
As anyone with a pulse and a wifi connection knows, the thrill of online shopping knows no boundaries. Seriously no boundaries. Take me to Macy’s, now! My shopping cart and credit card awaits.
An evening spent browsing and adding items to your cart. Oh, the sweet joy of an ASOS sale or finding that coveted item at half price! It’s like eyes locking across the room. That LBD is calling your name and wants to go home with you. Let’s not forget the anticipation of receiving said goods in the post. Add office delivery to that and you have your very own catwalk. Well, that’s what happens at NOUS.
But what if you momentarily grow a conscience or check your PayPal account and there’s insufficient funds. What if you don’t make it over the line and process cart. Sometimes it’s the thrill of the chase rather than the buzz of winning. All in the name of legitimate research of course. What if you’re just not quite ready to commit? After all, we’ve only just met! Maybe just a little more time to consider if you’ll really fit my lifestyle and I’ll make up my mind.
Whenever I’m struggling with a purchase decision I recall my parents advice to sleep on it. “If you’re still thinking about it tomorrow, then you must really like it”, they’d say. “Whichever you wake up thinking about, that’s the one”. “Go with your gut!” (Just between you and me, my gut’s saying buy the chocolate).
Before the Internet
Now, that’s all well and good if we’re living in a pre-internet, pre-online shopping, pre-social media world where you could talk to the man in the electrical store, give him a fake smile and a fake number, take the brochure to the nearest bin and move on. Nuh-uh! Not now my friend. Your days of blissful anonymity have long gone, like cassette tapes and your youth! Think of it like this. That electrical salesman put on his dark glasses and trench coat and followed you out of the store, watched where you went, where you went next, what you looked at, for how long, what you liked, and he’s taking notes. Lots of notes.
After the Internet
So at lunchtime today, I’m having a little virtual mooch around David Jones designer department (I have a wedding coming up), checking my Facebook feed, and there it is. That little black dress I was talking about is right there. Like a new infatuation just happens to appear in your local coffee shop. There it is in a seductive ‘click me now’ link. Stalking me. Reminding me of love that once was. Don’t let me get away. I’m slipping away. Just a click away and I could be yours. You loved me yesterday. Take me home today. Free delivery. Next day delivery. 2 hour delivery. So accessible. So targeted. So personal. So easy.
But how do they know I was even looking at that dress? I look over my shoulder. Is that guy in the trench coat following me?
Welcome to the world of remarketing. Remarketing lets you advertise to people who have visited your website previously but may not have made a purchase. They’ll see your ads when they’re browsing other sites on the display network or when they search for terms related to your products. Clever.
It works like this below. If you’d like more information, take a look here.
Dynamic remarketing takes it a little further. Through the use of more detailed tags on your web pages, you can create very specific marketing lists and retarget those consumers, tailoring your ads to products you know they were looking at, or may be interested in based on what they actually viewed on your site.
An ad might include an image of the item they looked at, along with a benefit, or maybe a discount or delivery offer. Your customer may even have added an item to their shopping cart but not completed the transaction. Why not show them that item again, along with a timely discount to get them over the line. You can get that specific.
That’s why I saw the dress and not just an ad for David Jones. Then, say I bought the dress. The seller could use dynamic remarketing to show me the perfect shoes or accessories to make my outfit. All through the use of tags. It’s all in the detail. Even more clever.
Future Developments
If that doesn’t blow your mind, new developments in Google technology are taking it one step further. As we know, every online search we make is recorded and constantly building a profile of us. A portrait of our life. A very detailed report of our interests, what we like, where we go, where we want to go! Really personal stuff. Stuff we may not have told anyone else. Well, now, through the use of our location services on our mobile, either through our service provider or another network, Google can determine where we are and when at any given time of day based on our habits. Where we spend most of our day, probably at work, where we live, and where we stop in-between.
What does this mean for remarketing? A massive opportunity for acutely targeted and now timely connections with your customers. Think about that. It’s 6pm. Going home time. You’re on the bus, check your Facebook feed, and oh how convenient an ad for your favourite flavour pizza right by your bus-stop! (or maybe Coles Express) Dinner sorted. Or, this week, you’ve been doing a little online research thinking about upgrading your car. Maybe a Golf. Not sure. You stop by the Audi dealership on the weekend for a little spin in the latest A3. Go home, go online, a little ad from VW. Just a reminder we were your first choice. Brilliant!
Nurturing Sales
Remarketing is the perfect tool if you want to keep your brand top of mind with your market at a time when it is relevant and right when they are making a purchase decision. You can assume since they have already visited your site, they’re interested, and a sales lead worth nurturing.
Remarketing is the gateway to maintaining a dialogue, reinforcing your brand, the product and benefits, and hopefully leading them back to your website to close the sale. Add to that the potential of predicting a need, so specifically targeted and timely.
Awesome!
