How to Use Retargeting to Increase Loyalty During the Holidays Webinar Recap

For most brands, the holidays are the happiest time of the year, opening up opportunities to boost sales and turn new customers into lifelong loyal shoppers. But 64% of retailers say the customers they acquire over the Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM) weekend have a lower lifetime value (LTV) than those acquired at any other time. And since acquiring a new customer costs up to 5x more than retaining one, turning those one-time bargain hunters into repeat purchasers can open the door to a higher ROI and ROAS (return on ad spend) over a longer period of time.  

In our latest webinar, “How to Turn BFCM Shoppers Into Loyal Customers With Retargeting,”our partner, WooCommerce, joined us to discuss how brands can stand out and keep shoppers coming back beyond the holidays. 

Can’t spare the time for the full webinar? You've come to the right place. In this webinar recap blog, we’ll cover the basics of retargeting along with the tips, strategies, and resources you’ll need to nurture one-time BFCM shoppers into loyal brand advocates.

Understanding BFCM and Customer Retention

To understand what attracts BFCM shoppers and turns them into loyal customers, you need to know why they usually don’t return. Some of the main reasons these buyers either make fewer repeat purchases or never buy from you again have to do with bargain hunters, one-time gifters, and poor customer experiences (often outside of your control) like shipping delays or a damaged product. Luckily, retargeting can help combat this. 

Retargeting: What Is It? 

Before we jump into how retargeting can help you retain more shoppers, let’s review the basics. We know 97% of shoppers will leave your site without ever making a purchase; that’s 97% of your opportunities to make a sale. Retargeting re-engages these visitors by reminding them of your brand even after they've left your store. By placing a small amount of code on your website, you can track those who have shown interest in your product(s) and use retargeting to bring them back for a purchase. Essentially, retargeting transforms browsers into buyers, and as an ecommerce brand, you can use several marketing channels to convert those shoppers.

The Most Effective Channels for Retargeting 

Ads

AdRoll offers a robust range of ways to reach your intended audiences through retargeting that can be run across millions of websites and mobile apps. You can use retargeting ads to run display, native, and video ads — but retargeting isn’t only for the web. It’s also an effective strategy within social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest.

Email

Email retargeting is another powerful remarketing tool. It’s cost-effective and allows you to engage and nurture prospects and existing customers. Like ad retargeting, email retargeting is triggered by visitor behavior on your site. While it may have a smaller reach, it gives marketers a keen ability to create a highly personalized experience. Combining both retargeting ads and emails can lead to double the conversions in half the time (when compared to ads alone). The more ads, the better the chance to get those one-time customers back to your store to make another purchase.

SMS

SMS retargeting is also an essential tool to have in your retargeting toolbox. Its reliance on first-party data makes it comparable to email marketing; however, SMS are opened on average within 90 seconds versus 90 minutes for emails. 

Retargeting Campaigns to Re-engage Existing Customers

Retarget Site Visitors & Cart Abandoners 

For multiple reasons, cart abandonment happens (a lot). When 97% of first-time visitors don’t purchase and 88% of shoppers abandon their carts, combining retargeting ads with email and SMS can be an effective way to convert those browsing into actual buyers. 

Promote Complementary Products 

While you may not be able to sell the same product twice, there’s still an opportunity to bring those who’ve recently made a purchase back to your store to make another sale. Promoting complementary products is an effective strategy to improve your order repeat rate and keep shoppers coming back to your store over time. 

Reward High-Value Customers with Special Offers 

Leverage your loyalty integrations to serve ads to your best customers. You can offer exclusive promotions and rewards, such as a 15% discount or free shipping, to reassure loyal buyers of their value.

Segment Your Customers to Highlight Relevant Products 

Segmenting your customers and highlighting relevant products is critical to any marketing strategy. Utilize customer data from quizzes to complement your email and SMS campaigns, showcasing products that fit their needs. Expand your reach with ads for those who opt in for back-in-stock and wishlist notifications. Understanding who, when, and why someone buys from you is essential for retargeting success.

Retargeting Best Practices

When setting up a retargeting campaign, it's important not to start too narrowly. Begin with a broad audience, such as shoppers who have visited more than three pages of your website.

Another tip is to keep it simple. While there are numerous marketing solutions available, managing your ads across multiple applications is a recipe for complexity. AdRoll offers web, social, and email ads all in one place for a streamlined management experience. 

Lastly, remember not to set and forget. AdRoll provides insights into campaign and channel performance, allowing you to adjust your budget to prioritize what yields results and adjust what does not. 

AdRoll + WooCommerce Integration

A great way to simplify the setup process and optimize your retargeting campaigns is to use the AdRoll and WooCommerce integration. With the integration, you can: 

• Automatically place the AdRoll pixel on your website to gather shopper data from your WooCommerce store

• Create custom segments (audiences) like browse or cart abandoners

• Import your WooCommerce product feed to create personalized  ads and emails

• Run multi-channel campaigns  across display and social ads (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest), and email.

• Access revenue data in order to track key metrics like ROAS 

To set it up, download the integration and follow the step-by-step instructions to immediately launch your first retargeting campaign. 

Keep Buyers Repurchasing Time and Time Again 

BFCM is an ideal opportunity to bring in new shoppers, but the hard work actually comes after the holidays end. Utilizing retargeting strategies and best practices can ensure those who buy from your business will want to keep coming back time and time again. 

Last updated on October 9th, 2023.