Published on Oct 2, 2011
If you conduct a Google search for the term “marketing funnel,” countless iterations of the same tried and true concept populate your computer screen. Indeed, the funnel’s tapered shape has made it an easy metaphor for marketers who compare the funnel’s wide base and narrow spout to both the purchase behavior of different strata of consumers, each of who possess a different level of interest in a particular company, and, conversely, the levels of engagement companies should initiate to entice these consumers to purchase a product or service. As you can see from your Google search, marketing funnels have evolved as businesses and consumers have embraced technology.
For example, older illustrations of marketing funnels lack terms such as “social media integration” and “multi-channel online shopping platform” that often populate the space adjacent to the funnel-shaped silhouettes of today’s more complex marketing diagrams.
While digital platforms have added complexity to marketing funnels, there is no doubt that they have also made both targeting and advertising to specific audiences more efficient. In this way, digitalization has increased the radii of both the top and bottom of the marketing funnel - the top of the funnel corresponding to the size of companies’ potential customer bases, and the bottom corresponding to the number of consumers who purchase a product.
Since companies now advertise to potentially huge audiences online, it is easier than ever to burn through a marketing budget by spending advertising dollars on ads that appeal to those who want to browse, not buy.
Fortunately, popular online advertising platforms have recognized this, and, in response, have built precision tools that allow advertisers to economically reach audiences with a demonstrated interest in buying. One such tool is Google AdWords’ remarketing tool.
The tool allows advertisers to show their ads to consumers who have previously visited a specific website. In practice, remarketing gives companies a second shot at selling their products to consumers who have demonstrated in their online search behavior an interest in that company.
Remarketing’s value is best demonstrated through an example. Suppose your company sells custom bicycles. Currently, your website receives a lot of traffic, but only .03% of visitors actually purchase bicycles online. You assume this low conversion rate is at least partially explained by your customers’ purchase behavior.
You’ve noticed that when your customers shop for bicycles, they visit the websites of tens of different bicycle builders to learn about the models each company sells, the bicycles’ prices and the bicycles’ quality. Further, you’ve noticed that many of your customers place bicycles in their online shopping carts but abandon your site before they complete their purchase. You recognize that these customers are probably further along in the buying process than those who visit your site without adding a bicycle to their shopping cart, and you wonder how you can deliver ads uniquely customized to both groups simultaneously. This is where remarketing comes in.
Using Google’s AdWords program, you create two remarketing campaigns. One that targets consumers who have visited your website and another for users who have placed a bicycle in their online shopping cart but did not compete the transaction.
Using it’s remarketing tool, Google recognizes consumers who have visited your website and serves them ads for your bicycle company across its content network. So, after visiting your website, a consumer could see a customized display ad for your company on the New York Time’s website, for example. Potential customers will continue to see the ads for a period of time you deem reasonable, let’s say 30 days.
Further, using Google’s remarketing, you can offer purchase incentives to consumers who are especially close to buying a bicycle. You accomplish this by tailoring the copy of your display advertisements to audiences who have placed a bicycle in their online shopping without buying. Then, you link those ads to a landing page with a redeemable coupon offering 5% off the purchase of a new bicycle. You’re now delivering customized ads to highly relevant consumers across Google’s online network, and delivering discounts to what is perhaps, your most valuable audience – consumers who want to buy, not browse.
Returning to the funnel analogy, remarketing allows businesses to reach potential customers who have opted out of the funnel before reaching its spout and purchasing an item. Remarketing cost-effectively reintegrates these customers into the funnel and can promote engagement even weeks after a potential client visited your company’s website.
