A good digital advertising campaign uses every possible avenue to try and reach customers. In addition to working on your local SEO, social media campaigns, and pay-per-click advertising, it’s important to test new methods of reaching your targets. One of the newer digital advertising options worth trying is known as retargeting. These ads target people who have already visited your site or looked at a specific ticket. The aim of these ads is to convince these people to return to your site and make a purchase or contact you to find out more about your tickets. Studies show that only a very small percentage of the first-time visitors to your site make a purchase. The remaining visitors may need some extra convincing that they really want the tickets; retargeting is one effective way to do this.
Here is a look at what kind of advertising this is, how it works and whether it may be a good fit for you.
What is Retargeting?
Retargeting is a way of marketing to users already aware of your business and may be interested in purchasing tickets. Through this type of advertising, your business ads can follow people who have visited your site as they browse other sites on the internet. This reminds them of who you are and what you offer. You may be able to naturally entice some of these people back to your site through a well-designed and effectively-worded advertisement. There are many reasons that a customer may make a purchase when they return to your site, including:
• They may have more disposable income at this time than they did the first time they visited your site
• They may need the tickets more urgently now than before
• They may have overcome any mental objection to the price of the tickets
• They may have conducted independent research about the performer and learned favorable things
• They may have simply forgotten about the show, and the retargeting ad reminds them of it
Even if only a small percentage of the users that you show an ad to end up converting, these are typically less expensive than other forms of advertising, so you still end up making a sizable profit on these tickets.
How Does Retargeting Work?
These ads are considered a component of pay-per-click advertising and is typically controlled through your Google AdWords account or through another provider who specializes in this kind of advertising. First, you design and set up an ad to re-target users who have visited your site. When people visit your website, a tracking cookie is placed in their browser. Later, the cookie triggers the placement of your ad as the user goes out and visits other sites. This may be done through Google’s Display Network or a third party provider like Adroll. The ads then appear to follow the user around the internet, appearing on unrelated sites for a preset period that you determine.
These ads may appear on a variety of sites including blogs, news sites and unrelated retail sites.
Why is Retargeting So Effective?
Reminders can be an extremely effective way to reach people who are on the fence about your tickets and push them in the right direction. Many of the users who do not purchase from your site still want the tickets, and a reminder will help them decide to purchase. Any good salesperson will tell you that it is much easier to sell tickets to someone who is already aware of the item than to a totally new person.
Retargeting to the leads that have already visited your site costs less than taking a new customer, making them aware of the show, explaining why they should buy your tickets and convincing them to buy.
This kind of advertising taps into the regret part of consumer psychology and exploits it. After passing up on a purchase, some people will feel a type of satisfaction because they have saved money. Others will be filled with regret because they truly wanted to go to this particular event. This type of marketing puts that regret right in front of them, front and center, and makes it hard to say no. With one simple click, the user can get the tickets he or she wanted, no searching necessary. As the date of the event approaches, you may see an uptick in how many of your reminder ads convert, because people will be reluctant to miss out. Wording your ad so it emphasizes the unique nature of the event, or how few tickets are left for the event, may lead to more conversions.
These types of ads can be more effective in some industries than others, and the best way to find out if it will work for you is to try it and see what results you get.
AttendStar has built-in integration with both Google AdWords and AdRoll.