Retargeting is a powerful marketing strategy that helps you stay top-of-mind with potential customers who have previously interacted with your brand.
By serving targeted ads to these warm leads across the web, you can gently nudge them back to your site and increase the chances of conversion. But with so many retargeting platforms out there, how do you choose the right one for your business?
In this post, we’ll walk you through the key factors to consider when evaluating ad retargeting software, so you can make an informed decision and maximize your return on investment.
What Is Ad Retargeting?
Let’s start with a quick primer on ad retargeting (also known as remarketing). It works like this: when someone visits your website, a cookie is placed in their browser. This allows you to track their online activity and serve them targeted ads on other websites and platforms they visit. These ads act as friendly reminders, enticing prospects to return to your site and complete a desired action, such as making a purchase or signing up for a service.
For example, let’s say a user browses products on your e-commerce site but doesn’t make a purchase. With retargeting, you can display ads featuring those specific products as they continue to surf the web, acting as a gentle nudge to come back and complete the sale. The key benefit is staying top-of-mind with qualified prospects who have already expressed interest in your offerings.
Key Factors to Consider When Choosing Retargeting Software
Pricing and Billing Model
Cost is always a crucial consideration, especially for small businesses and startups operating on tight budgets. Retargeting platforms typically charge based on a few different pricing models:
- Cost per thousand impressions (CPM): You pay a fixed rate for every 1,000 ad impressions served.
- Cost per click (CPC): You only pay when someone clicks on your retargeted ad.
- Flat monthly fee: Some platforms offer a single monthly subscription fee.
Carefully evaluate your budget and projected return to determine which pricing structure makes the most sense. Be wary of hidden fees or long-term contracts as well. Many vendors offer free trials, so be sure to take advantage and test-drive a few options before committing.
Targeting Capabilities
The whole point of retargeting is to serve hyper-relevant ads to qualified prospects. So it’s crucial that your chosen platform offers robust targeting options to ensure your ads are reaching the right eyeballs. Key targeting features to look for include:
- Website visitor targeting (e.g. target users who visited specific pages or product categories)
- Customer list targeting (upload your own email lists or CRM data)
- Demographic targeting (age, location, interests, household income, etc.)
- Device targeting (mobile, desktop, tablet, etc.)
- Behavioral targeting (based on online browsing activity)
The more granular the targeting, the better you can laser-focus your campaigns for maximum efficiency and return on ad spend.
Ad Formats and Inventory
Where will your retargeted ads actually appear? The top platforms should offer a wide range of ad formats (display, video, native, etc.) and extensive ad inventory across the web’s premium publishers, ad exchanges, and networks.
Don’t underestimate the importance of ad quality and placement. You’ll want eye-catching creatives displayed on reputable sites for maximum brand safety, viewability, and performance.
Platforms with direct publisher relationships can often offer higher-quality inventory than those relying solely on ad networks.
Integration and Tracking
Any retargeting platform worth its salt should integrate seamlessly with your existing marketing technology stack. Look for platforms that connect with your CRM, email marketing tools, analytics software, and more. This will unlock more powerful audience segmentation, better attribution modeling, and streamlined campaign management across channels.
The ability to track performance through detailed reporting and conversion metrics is critical as well. You’ll want to easily monitor key metrics like impressions, clicks, costs, conversion rates, and revenue generated. Ideally, you can view cross-channel attribution data to understand the full customer journey.
Automated optimization features driven by machine learning algorithms can also be a major asset. This allows you to automatically optimize budgets, bids, ad creative, and more for maximum performance.
Top Retargeting Software Platforms to Consider
Now that you know what to look for, here are some of the leading ad retargeting platforms to consider:
- AdRoll
As one of the pioneering players in the retargeting space, AdRoll offers powerful audience segmentation, cross-device tracking, and optimization algorithms to maximize performance. They tout extensive ad inventory across the web’s top sites and networks. AdRoll integrates with top marketing and e-commerce platforms. - Perfect Audience
This platform emphasizes ease of use with intuitive campaign builders and pre-built audience segments based on key traits like engagement and purchase behavior. Perfect Audience integrates with all the top marketing tools and e-commerce platforms like Shopify and Magento. - ReTargeter
ReTargeter boasts advanced site visitor targeting and full-funnel retargeting capabilities. Their platform supports a wide range of ad formats and dynamic ad creative tailored to the customer journey stage. You can easily create audience segments based on specific pages visited or products viewed. - Criteo
With a massive global reach and presence on over 2 million websites, apps, and publishers, Criteo is a retargeting heavyweight. Their dynamic ad technology and predictive bidding algorithms aim to drive higher ROI. Criteo offers robust analytics and attribution modeling across web and app environments.
Key Takeaways
Retargeting is a must-have tactic for capturing demand and boosting conversions in today’s digital landscape. But not all retargeting solutions are created equal. As you evaluate platforms, pay close attention to pricing, targeting capabilities, ad formats/inventory, integration options, and performance tracking.
Don’t simply go with the biggest name brand or cheapest option. Take a strategic, metrics-driven approach to find the retargeting software best aligned with your business goals, audience, and marketing needs. With the right platform and campaigns in place, you’ll be able to stay top-of-mind and turn more window shoppers into paying customers.
FAQs
What pricing models do retargeting platforms use?
Common pricing models include cost per thousand impressions (CPM), cost per click (CPC), and flat monthly fees.
What targeting options should I look for in retargeting software?
Seek platforms with robust targeting capabilities like website visitor targeting, customer list uploads, demographic targeting, and device targeting.
What ad formats and inventory are important for retargeting?
Top retargeting platforms offer a wide range of ad formats (display, video, native, etc.) and extensive ad inventory across premium publishers and ad exchanges.
How should retargeting software integrate with my marketing tools?
Look for platforms that seamlessly integrate with your CRM, email marketing, analytics, and other martech solutions for streamlined management.
What reporting and tracking capabilities are essential?
You’ll want detailed reporting on impressions, clicks, costs, conversions, and revenue to optimize performance.
What are some leading ad retargeting platforms?
Popular options include AdRoll, Perfect Audience, ReTargeter, and Criteo.
How do I choose the best retargeting software for my business?
Evaluate pricing, targeting capabilities, ad formats/inventory, integration options, and performance tracking to find the best fit for your marketing goals and budget.
Should I use multiple retargeting platforms?
It can be beneficial to test and utilize multiple platforms to expand your reach and compare performance.