Closing the loop: Four reasons retargeting needs to be part of your marketing strategy

News Source:  The Global Marketing Alliance

The path to purchase is key to brand marketing, as it provides a means for brands to follow shoppers and engage with them at each stage of the sales funnel. However, the historical marketing emphasis has been much more focused on brand awareness as this has either been much easier or harder to measure.

When a shopper shows any kind of intent to purchase one of your products, they are demonstrating a level of affection that you will have worked hard to achieve. From a business perspective, breaking off or ignoring this relationship is a clear waste of your marketing resources.

With advances in technology, brands are now able to not only track a shopper at each stage of their potential customer journey, but this also gives them the ability to retarget each individual depending on where in the journey they have got to. This means a brand cannot only retarget shoppers who purchase their products, but also those who showed some interest in purchasing, but didn’t end up buying the product.

Mobile devices are making retargeting simpler than ever before, as brands can engage with shoppers at each key moment in the path to purchase. Those who have viewed your product (awareness), clicked on your product (consideration), interacted with your product and purchased your product, can all be targeted in different ways and at different times.

Retargeting needs to be a key part of everyone’s marketing strategy. Here are the top four benefits:

1. Retargeting existing shoppers is cheaper and easier than acquiring new shoppers
   Even with the best predictive marketing tools, customer acquisition takes time and can be costly, as you may target customers who simply aren’t interested in purchasing your product. It’s widely recognised that just one loyal customer is as valuable to your business as 12 uncommitted customers, so ensure you look after your best customers first.
2. Retargeting creates loyalty
   The more you engage with someone, the more you learn about them. This applies just as much to shopper marketing. The more a customer engages with your brand, the better equipped you are to target them with relevant offers or tailored communication. This provides the opportunity to turn one purchase into two, two into three and so on, forever moving them up the loyalty ladder.
3. Greater awareness over time will drive sales
   Interacting with shoppers and growing the relationship will ensure you stay at the front of their minds when they are shopping. Regular, positive engagement with your customers will endear them to your brand, help turn them more into brand advocates, and ultimately increase your sales.
4. Constant engagement creates a cyclical path to purchase
   Regular retargeting allows brands to obtain data about their customers wherever they are in the sales funnel. Our customers know that being able to track shoppers at each stage of the path to purchase gives them a competitive advantage and offers protection over rivals for their shoppers.