Have you ever wondered how businesses follow you around with their ads after you visit a website? Yesterday, you were shopping for a new fishing rod, pair of shoes or a hydrofoil surfboard and from then on, the item keeps popping up everywhere online as a reminder that you deserve the reward.
It’s called Google retargeting or remarketing. If you have a website, you definitely should be utilising Google ads retargeting to help share your magic with the world!
If you want to know what we get up to here at Five By Five then read on as we reveal a range of actionable tips and tricks that we have personally been using for our Google ads. Read the full article or simply skip to the section that tickles your fancy.
To warm you up for what’s ahead, check out this quick vid that explains (also entertains) how Google retargeting works.
What Is Google Retargeting?
As explained through our great acting skills in the video above, Google retargeting or remarketing allows you to show targeted ads to users who have already visited your website.
This type of digital advertising is hands down one of the most cost effective ways of staying front of mind. For a dollar or two a day you can attract thousands of eyeballs to your brand. Sound too good to be true? Let’s take a closer look…
How Google Retargeting Works
The graphic above shows how retargeting works along the customer journey. A visitor lands on your website off the back of a Google search or an ad or by entering your website URL directly into the address bar or from a social post… the list goes on.
However they found you, you now have someone who is interested in what you have to offer and you don’t want to lose them! And by losing them, we mean losing their attention to other online distractions.
For example, your visitor happens to have Facebook open in another tab and before you know it, they have fallen down the cat video rabbit hole, and they’ve completely forgotten about you, your business and the original search they came online for.
The Unique Identifier Tag
Once a visitor has left your website, how can you win back their attention hours, days and even months later?
It all begins by placing a unique identifier onto the visitor’s system and then using this to ‘follow’ them online. Yep, the rumours are true. Good digital marketers do stalk you around the internet!
Using the remarketing tag, you can show targeted Google ads to your previous site visitors while they browse the huge number of Google partner sites in the Google Display Network.
The Google Display Network is a collection of over 2 million websites, videos, and apps where your Google Ads can appear.
This retargeting process is a very cost effective way of re-engaging with potential customers who visit your website!
Why Bother Retargeting or Remarketing?
There are many reasons to implement retargeting strategies, but ultimately the number one reason is:
Keeping your brand top of mind!
Consider it like a billboard on the side of the road! While driving down the highway at 100 kilometres an hour, you are taking in a lot of your surroundings. Obviously, your mind is constantly filtering what it is seeing including those billboard messages into your subconscious.
Google Display Ads are no different to that. As you well know, people can get totally side tracked while searching the net. Your ads are a gentle reminder to finish what they started when they originally visited your website.
This is a really powerful tool from a brand building perspective.
Do Google Retargeting Ads Annoy People?
Generally, research shows a positive reaction to Google Display advertising if the ads are focused and act as a gentle reminder to the visitor to finish what they started. As the advertiser, it is important that you consider the design, content and call to action of your ads to ensure it is relevant and entices the viewer to return. You can also control the frequency or number of times an ad shows so that it’s not annoying (or too stalkerish).
Turning A Warm Lead To A Closed Deal
Google retargeting simply entices visitors to come back for more.
After all, you have already done the hard work by getting them to your website. You’ve paid for the click, you’ve sent the email campaign, you have created the hype through social or traditional media.
You have taken the first step, so don’t give up now! Through Google remarketing you have another chance to attract the visitor back to your website and convert.
In addition to increasing your conversion rates, you can also start to build a profile of your audience using data in Google Analytics. This means you can be hyper-focused with your ads based on specific products and services.
Here at Five By Five, we build and develop high performing websites, provide our clients with search engine optimisation and hosting solutions, amongst a range of other services to help share your magic with the world!
If someone looks at a particular service page on our website, we then serve up Google Display Ads to that visitor that are very specific to the service they are interested in.
So you won’t display your ads once, it will be many times, and that’s ultimately how sales works! It often takes a potential customer 12 touch points from your brand before they convert to sale. Especially with big ticket purchases! Google remarketing allows you to easily and effectively make several of these touch points and increase your rate of conversion.
This style of digital advertising is also super cost effective which is a huge bonus (no pun intended!).
Google Ads Performance - www.fivebyfive.com.au
Google Remarketing Display Ads are Ridiculously Cheap...
Compared to Google Search Ads, Google Remarketing Display Ads are super cost effective. As you can see in the Google Analytics graph above, our website fivebyfive.com.au was shown 12,000 times in the Google Display Network over a 7 day period leading to 25 clicks at a cost of $1.42 per click which is mega bargain in the scheme of things!
The cost for that week for over 12,000 eyes on the Five By Five brand was only $35 which is pretty awesome.
If we compare this type of ad to a general Google Search Ad, you can be paying $10, $20, $30 or even more per click. While Google Search Ads are a different type of targeting all together, you can still have a presence and exposure online at a relatively low cost using Google Remarketing Display Ads.
Check out the performance of Google Remarketing Display Ads across other industries!
Google Retargeting Ads Performance from Our Clients
Google Display Ads Retargeting Is Perfect Your Industry
The left graph shows the Google Analytics results for Google Display Ads Retargeting for a childcare centre in Melbourne.
This is actually from the start of the year and over the Christmas / New Year period, a quieter time for this industry but still over a 3 week period, they still generated almost 1000 impressions, and two clicks with an average cost per click of 34 cents!
In contrast, the right graph shows the Google Analytics results for Google Ads Remarketing for a mechanic based in Sydney.
You can see he was obviously enjoying his Christmas holidays until the end of the first week in January. His Google Display Ads campaign was a flat line as he had it turned off. When he returned to work, he switched the campaign back on and this is when the rubber hit the road!
From then through to the 20th of January he had almost 60,000 impressions, resulting in almost 300 clicks through to his website with an average cost per click of 21 cents.
So for $61, he is achieving a pretty amazing result for his small investment in terms of the volume of branding and subliminal messaging. Those who have visited his website are hearing the voices in their head saying, “it’s a new year, I really should get my car serviced”, or “Oh, I still haven’t booked in for the car service, the engine warning lights on…”.
This subliminal messaging is keeping this mechanic front of mind to achieve the outcome the mechanic wants of booking in a service.
You can do the same by adopting this form of remarketing for your business, no matter the industry!
What are Google Tags?
Once Google Analytics is connected to your Google Ads, you are able to build an ‘audience’. Think of this audience as similar to an email list, a very targeted list of individuals who have visited your website. In Google Analytics you can track visits to a specific page, gender of visitors, non-converters, their geography and more. Basically, anything Google Analytics can track can be used to build a custom audience.
Attached to each member of this audience is their unique identifier tag which (without being too creepy!) we can use to follow them online and retarget them through Google Display Ads.
While having thousands of eyeballs on your brand is great you also want to ensure you capitalise on the branding opportunities by showing ads that appeal and convert.
The best way to do that is by partnering with a web design agency (like us) who can set up the technical and design elements to create ads that attract and convert.
Google Display Ads allows up to 10 different shaped banners like the examples in the gallery below. The banners should be designed to appeal to your target audience.
Our examples show a sample of banner sizes to suit the vast array of platforms in the Google Display Network.
- Google Display Ad Banner_120 x 600-skyscraper
- Google Display Ad Banner_160 x 600- wide skyscraper
- Google Display Ad Banner_200 x 200 – small square
- Google Display Ad Banner_250 x 250 – square
- Google Display Ad Banner_300 x 250 – inline rectangle
- Google Display Ad Banner_300 x 600 – half page ad
- Google Display Ad Banner_336 x 280 – large rectangle
- Google Display Ad Banner_468 x 60 – banner
- Google Display Ad Banner_728 x 90- Leaderboard
- Google Display Ad Banner_970 x 90- large Leaderboard
Google Display Ads Sample Gallery
Designing Google Display Ads That Convert
Building a display campaign through the Google Ads ecosystem allows brands to upload 10 differently shaped and sized banners (examples above). There are all shapes and sizes to suit different platforms like long form horizontal ones, skinny horizontal ones, skyscrapers and square ones, just to name a few!
Not only do you need to consider the right size for the platforms but also your branding needs to be consistent throughout. Plus, you want these ads to convert!
All ads should have a clear call to action for the viewer to re-engage and provide an incentive for them to return to your website, perhaps with a coupon or a discount offer. Then you decide which page on your website to drive the visitor back to based on the audience created.
Thousands of Eyeballs On Your Brand for $1 a Day
The final part of the puzzle is to set a budget. For as little as $1 a day, you can attract thousands of eyeballs to your brand.
Google retargeting or remarketing keeps your brand top of mind, entices visitors to return, turns a warm lead into a conversion and at a rather low cost.
While it is pretty straight forward, there are a lot of moving parts from a technical and creative perspective. If Google retargeting sounds like a good investment to you but you don’t know how to start, contact us as we can get it all set up and implemented for you so that you can start attracting thousands of eyeballs to your brand for as little as $1 a day.
Essentially, we connect Google Analytics to Google Ads for you and design and upload the 10x banner ad formats for you to ensure you put your best foot forward!
View our Lunch & Learn Replay
To be guided through the process, you are welcome to also view the recording of the Five By Five Lunch and Learn Webinar based on this topic. Feel free to click on the link below.
Lunch & Learn
If you want more, more, more great content like this, register your interest in receiving an invitation to our Lunch and Learn masterclass series. Monthly, our team of online masterminds will walk you through the latest digital marketing tips and tricks. Unmissable strategies. All for free.
