From the SMX East Conference in New York City, September 27-29, 2016. SESSION: Your Retargeting Sucks (But It Doesn't Have To!). PRESENTATION: Your Retargeting Sucks (But It Doesn't Have To!) - Given by Elizabeth Marsten, @ebkendo - CommerceHub, Director of Paid Search. #SMX #31B2

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Make your remarketing more than an echo
YOUR RETARGETING SUCKS
(BUT IT DOESN’T HAVE TO!)
Image: iStock

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§ 10 years in the search industry
§ PPC, Social, SEO, Analytics, Content
§ Speaker: SMX Adv/East/West,
Mozcon, Searchfest, State of Search
§ Author: Lynda.com, All in One Web
Marketing for Dummies, ClickZ
§ And…
Elizabeth Marsten,
CommerceHub Director of Paid Search

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§ Still counts if it’s under a year
§ The unicorn onesie is in the wash.
Newish mommy

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NORTH AMERICA’S LARGEST RETAILERS,
MARKETPLACES AND SEARCH ENGINES
DEMAND GENERATION
ASSORTMENT EXPANSION
WAREHOUSES, STORES, DROP-SHIPPERS,
BRAND MANUFACTURERS
DELIVERY
NATIONAL CARRIERS, REGIONAL
CARRIERS, LOCAL CARRIERS

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Supply Solutions
Increase product offering and grow
revenue through “virtual inventory”
Integrate with any trading partner or
order fulfillment source
Maintain branding and complete
control over fulfillment process
Demand Solutions
Profitably acquire new customers
through search, social and
marketplace channels
Push product catalog to channels
where consumers seek new products
Manage and optimize digital
advertising spend across channels
Delivery Solutions
Optimize consumer shipping through
real-time decisions on cost-effective
delivery methods that meet the
consumer’s delivery date
Extend the reach of rapid delivery
programs by geographically distributing
inventory to partner 3PLs

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Why Remarketing is Essential to Paid Search
Image: Pixabay

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Thomas Smith: Successful Advertising
Source: Wikipedia
The first time people look at any given ad, they don't even see it.
The second time, they don't notice it.
The third time, they are aware that it is there.
The fourth time, they have a fleeting sense that they've seen it somewhere before.
The fifth time, they actually read the ad.
The sixth time they thumb their nose at it.
The seventh time, they start to get a little irritated with it.
The eighth time, they start to think, "Here's that confounded ad again."
The ninth time, they start to wonder if they're missing out on something.
The tenth time, they ask their friends and neighbors if they've tried it.
The eleventh time, they wonder how the company is paying for all these ads.
The twelfth time, they start to think that it must be a good product.
The thirteenth time, they start to feel the product has value.
The fourteenth time, they start to remember wanting a product exactly like this for a long time.
The fifteenth time, they start to yearn for it because they can't afford to buy it.
The sixteenth time, they accept the fact that they will buy it sometime in the future.
The seventeenth time, they make a note to buy the product.
The eighteenth time, they curse their poverty for not allowing them to buy this terrific product.
The nineteenth time, they count their money very carefully.
The twentieth time prospects see the ad, they buy what is offering.

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§ 1930s Movie Industry
– Created to determine number of times for
message to “stick”
§ Advancements in Ad Types
– Radio advertising
– Print (magazines: Fortune, Advertising Age)
§ Additional Placements
– Sports
– Politics
The Rule of 7
Source: AdAge / Adcetera
Image: Wikipedia

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“History:1930s”, Advertising Age, Sept. 15, 2003
The Frequency and the Force

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Remarketing in Digital = More Efficient
§ Average CPC/CPA
– Lower than the first interaction typically, regardless of vertical
§ Segmentation
– Ability to segment and target site behavior, demographics & lookalikes
§ Removal and Suppression
– Ability to remove or bid down past converters or other low value
behaviors
…and being “forceful” without being creepy or crazy

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Why Didn’t They Buy in the First Place?
Source: eMarketer

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Why Didn’t They Buy in the First Place?
In the US, based on May 2015 research from HookLogic, shopping cart
abandonment is most frequent among shoppers for:
Source: eMarketer
§ Home Goods – 29%
§ Health & beauty – 24.9%
§ Electronics – 22.9%

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Second Place Isn’t So Bad
Source: eMarketer

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§ Buy
§ Buy again
§ Continue a Conversation
(awareness)
§ Store Visit
§ Engage (social share)
What Do You Want Them to Do Next?
Image: Pixabay

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Choose the Remarketing Type
What you choose depends entirely on what you want the user to
experience and how you want them to act.
§ Standard
– You set the message text and images, deciding which creative goes with which
behaviors
§ Dynamic
– Messages and images populate based on user’s past behaviors

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Types of Remarketing by Channel
Image: iStock

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Google AdWords
Yes, there’s code that has to be implemented first, before you can really
start to do much of anything.
§ GDN Standard
§ Dynamic on GDN
§ RLSA (remarketing lists for search ads)
§ Mobile Apps
§ Video
Dynamic remarketing requires a feed and Merchant Center, if you are
retail and doing product listing ads (PLAs).

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AdWords – Dynamic Product Ads
Images: Google AdWords

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AdWords – Dynamic Quick Start
Images: Google AdWords

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AdWords – Retail DPA
Images: Google AdWords

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AdWords – Non-Retail Business Data Feed
Images: Google AdWords

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AdWords – Non-Retail Business Data Feed
Images: Google AdWords

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Overall Best Practices
§ Don’t be afraid to use custom audiences of Smart Lists
– Major retailers, RLSA Smart List is out-performing cart abandoners
§ Use frequency capping
– Google is a lot better than it used to be
§ Separate campaigns for text and image ads
§ Test multiple ad layouts
§ Watch out for defaults: US & Canada, Enhanced CPC, Optimized for
Conversions (you want this default)

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Don’t forget to check the box either
Images: Google AdWords

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Start Strong
§ Ready to Go Lists – start here
– Cart abandoners
– Product viewers
– Converters (past buyers)
– Site visitors
§ Use Managed Placements for extra control
§ Target & Bid vs. Bid Only – read this
§ Use Optimize for Conversions

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Segmentation Ideas
§ Segment audiences by abandoned cart amount, utilize ideal price points
§ Set target CPAs for each audience, at the very least a different CPA for
remarketing overall
§ Layer on demographic and interests to narrow automatic placements with
larger lists like “all site visitors”

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Convincing Everyone You Need This
§ Tag Manager/development resources needed
§ Potential image/brand issues
– Add a background to templates to customize a more “on brand” feel
§ Dynamic Remarketing case studies from Google (ModCloth & Sierra)
§ Increase conversions from a cart abandoners post
§ PPC Chat conversation

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How many days should you wait before remarketing?
§ For cart abandoners
– 24hours tends to have the highest rate of return
§ Everything else tapers off at various intervals after that
– Apparel, home goods, pet supplies, party supplies, beauty, electronics
Source: CommerceHub data
Image: iStock

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Continue the Conversation with RLSA
§ Bid on more generic/head term keywords
– But only to folks that have engaged with your site in some way already
– Show up on similar situations or bid on competitor names
§ Exclude or bid down converted users
§ Shepherd behaviors to different landing pages
– Upsell, cross sell or renewals come to mind
§ Highly recommended read: RLSA for Competitive Markets
SERP remarketing (not on the GDN) with keyword and PLA options and
with integration in Google Analytics.

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RLSA & Dynamic Together
Image: PIxabay

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Facebook Dynamic Product Ads
Image: PIxabay

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But…at a lower volume of
conversions.
CommerceHub Average:
• 1200-1400% ROAS
• 350-15,000 products
Facebook DPA ROAS > Google DPA
Image: Facebok

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Facebook Audiences
Very similar to Google in types of audiences but choice of placement matters!
§ Abandoned cart
§ Viewed product page
§ Past purchases
Where
§ Right rail
§ Newsfeed
§ Mobile (and Mobile Audience Network)
§ Structure campaign so that you can bid by placement, product category and
user behavior

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Unless you are also running Facebook Ads for awareness…
§ Still needs a first time engagement channel (SEO, PPC, Social, Direct)
§ Cannibalizes other channels with last click attribution
– Seen it vary from 12-20% of Google PLA traffic
§ Use your revenue numbers, not just Facebook’s
– FB counts any click in the path that includes Facebook as a conversion

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How many days should you wait before remarketing?
§ What we’re seeing at CommerceHub:
– 2 days generates the most revenue
– 7 days is the second most
– 28 days is third
– 14 days generates the least
*Using 1 day click attribution for apparel and home goods

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Tips & Tricks for FB DPA
§ Each placement (newsfeed/right rail) needs its own ad set
– Structure campaigns so that you can bid by placement, product category and user
behavior
– Type of ad varies by placement (size of image, amount of text; can be truncated on
mobile for longer headlines)
§ Start bigger, narrow from there
– Seen it vary from 12-20% of Google PLA traffic
§ Watch size of account/campaigns
– Too granular is just more work to manage for a marginal improvement in return
§ Power Editor is your friend
– Bulk actions
– Revenue is in the Ad Manager UI

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When Retargeting Is Going to Suck
Image: PIxabay

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If you’re tailoring your audience and excluding placement categories
that could conflict, you should be good to go.
§ Unable to add tags/code to website
§ Fast/short sales cycle
§ Really long sales cycle without proper full funnel tracking
§ Privacy or sensitive verticals like mental health, 12 step programs, dating
§ Conflicting page content (like on GFN) for what you’re advertising
– Like a sale on vacation packages next to a news article about a plane crash
Until you’re not.

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Retargeting Resources that Don’t Suck
Image: PI

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Some of my favorites
§ Wordstream Remarketing Best Practices Guide
§ AdWords Dynamic Remarketing Set Up Guide
§ Wordstream Everything You Need to Know About RLSA
§ Social Media Examiner Facebook Dynamic Product Ads Set Up Guide
§ SEL – 10 Common Mistakes Setting Audiences in AdWords

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LEARN MORE: UPCOMING @SMX EVENTS
THANK YOU!
SEE YOU AT THE NEXT #SMX