The email retargeting is a technology allowing use various media channels, including social networks to display ads specifically to people who opened your newsletter whose email addresses you know.
For example, an online clothing store sends an offer to its customers. A new collection is coming within a week, and if you buy something now, you get a 15% discount for any one item from the new collection. Users read the letter, but most of them do not complete the target action (go to the store page using the link or the CTA button). So, you get no sales.
Newsletter: it didn’t work out 🙁
Email retargeting: hold my beer
And then, all of a sudden, through miracles (lol, there are no miracles) clients see your ads with that same offer everywhere (even Gmail ads). So you’re sending them the ultimate marketing message: it’s either buy or die, mate (hello Duolingo)
Outline
How it works (yeah, it works)
The core of the technology behind is not that important.
What is important, that having a list of emails one can show targeted advertising via different format and platforms. For specific campaigns, a single platform like Facebook is enough (CRM retargeting works like a charm), and for the rest, there are single entry point platforms like AdRoll, which cover up to 98% of advertising resources.
And now let’s take a look at a few cases of how email retargeting works in real life.
1. Online store
The fashion and shoe store LuckyBrand used this technique.
- Step One. LuckyBrand invites the subscriber to clarify one thing: shirts or footwear? What do you need/like more?
- Step Two. Boots or sneakers? Customers choose and moved to an appropriate retargeting base. The store does not sell directly through the newsletter, but finds out the needs and then targets these needs.
Marketers learn the interests of the consumer with a step-by-step choice of two options. Understanding interests allow you to make the most relevant offer (selling proposition).
2. Email retargeting ads in the Facebook feed
A user opens an email, follows a link, but does not perform a target action. That’s where you get a chance to track and target a user via Facebook Pixel installed on your website rather than tracking pixel in the email. That is a kind of symbiosis of classic and email retargeting.
- A user visits a website with FB pixel;
- Facebook pixel leaves a cookie on the users’ computer;
- Facebook identifies that user;
- When the user goes on Facebook, your ads are already waiting 🙂
That can be achieved by directly uploading emails right to Facebook (here is a post about it), but Facebook pixel gives more options for granular segmentation like actions performed, pages visited, etc.
3. Reducing the cart abandonment rate
Every online store manager is familiar with the situation with abandoned carts. In some cases, they add up to 75% 🙁
Triggered emails allow you to return up to 30% of forgetful customers and lost profits. The classic scheme is as follows:
- The first letter leaves within 24 hours. Some marketers advise going hot on the heels — half an hour after a customer closes the page.
- Content: a reminder of the benefits of the product, reviews, guarantees, answers to frequently asked questions. The goal is to remove possible objections.
- The second letter departs in 2-3 days and offers a 10% discount or free shipping.
- And the third letter departs after 5-7 days offering the maximum possible discount.
I am against given discounts to customers. At least in the form of direct price reduction. There so many more rewarding ways to do it. But that’s an industry standard practice, and it works on scale.
4. CRM targeting for reactivating old customers
Idle subscribers, who once bought something from you, but haven’t ordered anything in a long time. How to put them back on your profit track? In many cases they ignore newsletters.
The thing is that you use email addresses of idle subscribers from the CRM system and redirect them to the retargeting database to display ads, video formats, and social networks. Thus, it is possible to influence any segment of the client base. All this data is in CRM — from usual customers to executives.
Toyota uses this method to retarget customers who have a car lease contract expiring. Check out this CRM retargeting – immense opportunity & alternative strategy for execution.
* Alternative approach *
As I said in the beginning, the foundation of email retargeting is, well, email. So if you can execute a prospects list building, you are all set.
That does not quite work for b2c but works like a charm in b2b sales where one needs to communicate with certain people. Retargeting ads is one of the cornerstone steps in a sequence of touch points for b2b sales.
GRIN launcher does listing building at scale.
To sum it up on email retargeting
Analyze the interests of customers, combine different ways of work with a customer base, provide customers with valuable information at the right time in the right place and get more money for your business.
Or get in touch, and we will do it together.