Retargeting For Tech Companies: Tips To Improve Conversions

August 25, 2016 - 6 minutes read - Retargeting, Tech Marketing

For marketers, retargeting campaigns are right up there with SEO audits and producing long-form content. A recent Search Engine Journal survey of the most well-informed digital marketing experts found that a whopping 91% used retargeting, felt it was an effective strategy, and were willing to spend thousands of dollars on remarketing campaigns.

According to VWO:

• Clickthrough rates are 10x greater for retargeted ads than regular ads.
• Retargeted ads make users 70% more likely to convert.
• 26% more visitors return to a site and complete the checkout process after viewing retargeted ads.
• Retargeting can lead to a 147% higher conversion rate when combined with prospecting.

The tech industry, in particular, relies on a fair amount of retargeting. ChiefMarTec found that tech customers have 1,876 vendors and 43 categories to choose from. The idea is that an effective remarketing campaign that follows prospects around the web for days, dropping subtle “pick me, pick me!” reminders, will help tech brands remain at the forefront of this dense pack of competitors and capitalize off previous interest.

Not only that, but the tech industry has much more complex products and a slower sales process. Good retargeting helps you stand out, yes, but also serves to inform your prospects, promoting your content and guiding individuals to a better overall experience with your brand.

There are many ways to formulate a retargeting campaign. We recommend retargeting based on: key landing page visits, the number of pages visited, website behavior showing progression down the sales funnel, downloaded resources or trial signups, and/or blog visits. Here are a few other tips to ensure you get great results from your campaigns…

Retargeting Tips For Tech Companies

1.  Make your retargeting more specific.

As tech marketing consultants, the most common problem we see with new clients is that their retargeting campaigns direct everyone to the same hard sell landing page. You can count on better results when you create segments based on behavior, directed to different pages that will take individuals further along “the buyer’s journey.”

Some people may need more information before signing up for a trial or making an investment. Others may have already downloaded the trial, but aren’t quite sure how to use it or haven’t made the time to investigate. (In fact, one study found 70% of people who downloaded a free SaaS trial didn’t use it!)

So, it makes sense to deliver new visitors to the most informative internal web pages, send your middle-funnel prospects to educational eBooks, and send your mid-to-late-funnel prospects to testimonials, product pages, case studies, or promotional offers to clinch the sale.

2. Don’t overdo it.

The dominant fear with using remarketing is that you’ll drive prospects crazy with a constant, annoying bombardment of ads. After all, isn’t it a little creepy to find that a brand is lurking… following… tracking? You can overcome this worry and turn-off by capping the frequency of your ads.

So what is this magic number? It all depends on what objectives you’re trying to achieve and the stage of the visitor’s buying cycle, of course, but Retargeter recommends 17 to 20 ad exposures per month as a good general guideline. Another approach would be to test frequency for conversion efficiency, as Marin Software explains here. 

3. Use burn pixels to keep buyers happy.

What if you made a purchase at a store and the salespeople pounced on you as you were leaving, asking if you needed help or trying to show you additional products? Annoying, right? A burn pixel is a piece of code that ensures you don’t keep pushing the same ads on people who have already purchased.

Instead, buyers can be enrolled in new retargeting campaigns, such as discounts on future orders, ads for complementary products/services, or information campaigns to help them get the most from their recent purchases.

You can find information on how to set a burn pixel with Google Adwords through custom lists here.

4. Test content for performance with A/B testing.

How effective is your ad at inspiring clicks? Does your landing page copy spur prospects to click on multiple pages once they reach your site? Are your calls-to-action compelling enough to convert? Try a couple different versions and see what performs well and what should be discarded. You can use a tool like OptiMonk to run your retargeting split tests.

A Retargeter study, click-through rates decreased by almost 50% after five months of running the same ad copy. Rotate your ads every few months to keep them fresh and avoid the dreaded ad blindness.

Need more help with tech retargeting?

Mod Girl Marketing consultants are here for you. We have in-depth experience working with fledgling and established tech firms optimize performance and gain greater traction. Contact us now to learn more!

Tags: remarketing, retargeting campaign, tech marketing