Shopify Retargeting Best Practices For Your Campaigns

Do you want to see a 1046% increase in brand awareness and search? Would a 726% increase in website visits help your ecommerce business thrive? Then it is time to develop a Shopify retargeting campaign for your brand. These stats come from a comScore study that showed how retargeting could substantially increase brand awareness and website traffic after just four weeks of using retargeting ads. Read on to learn more about how Shopify retargeting can change the game for your ecommerce company.

What Is Retargeting?

Retargeting is a marketing strategy you can use to increase your e-commerce sales by re-engaging potential customers. Simply put, your website uses “cookies” to collect information about each visitor, such as their contact information, and track their behavior, such as how long they spend on a specific page. Using this information, you can then show relevant, personalized ads to users once they leave your site. Doing so increases brand awareness and engagement and can lead to increased sales. 

Why Is Shopify Retargeting Important?

There are a few key benefits of setting up retargeting campaigns, especially for ecommerce stores. For example, one study found that nearly 60% of online shoppers between the ages of 16 and 36 head straight to Amazon before visiting any other ecommerce store. While this can be discouraging for Shopify stores, it can also be a motivating factor to invest in a valuable retargeting campaign, and here’s why:

Shopify retargeting keeps your brand front and center.

Retargeting ads pop up on other sites while your potential customers are surfing the web. For example, when customers see a photo of the shoes they put in their cart but didn’t purchase and remember how cute they are, they will be more likely to click the ad to return to your site and complete their purchase. 

Shopify retargeting drives website traffic. 

When you retarget your potential customers with relevant campaigns, it will increase the likelihood that said customers would return to your website to continue shopping. This increases your website traffic. 

Shopify retargeting increases the chances of a consumer completing a sale.

In general, a consumer will visit your store close to 10x before making a purchase. Because Shopify retargeting increases website traffic, it can also increase sales. 

While it is true that Amazon and other big online retailers make it harder for small ecommerce stores to compete online, it’s not impossible. In fact, in 2020, there was a massive shift to shopping small, and the trend isn’t going anywhere. One survey found that, in 2020, 70% of consumers were actively supporting small businesses and avoiding the urge to go straight to Amazon when shopping online. You can capitalize on this trend by giving your target customers even more reasons to shop small. And you can do this with a solid retargeting campaign that highlights your products. 

Shopify Retargeting Best Practices  

If you are ready to start retargeting your customers with valuable and relevant content, start with these 10 Shopify retargeting best practices.

1. Use retargeting display ads

Retarget your consumers using digital display ads across a variety of platforms and networks. This way, even after they leave your site and visit another one, your products are still shown in the form of an advertisement. These ads can be both visual or text ads. However, for the best results, use a combination that both shows and tells about the product.

2. Use retargeting emails

It is also a good idea to retarget consumers via email. This works exceptionally well if you have “cookies” on your website that capture a visitor’s email address while they are browsing your content. This way, if they leave without making a purchase, you can send a retargeting email that makes it easy for them to click back to your website and continue browsing. 

3. Use retargeting ads and emails together

Using either ads and emails for Shopify retargeting is effective, but you can genuinely make a difference when using both strategies together. This way, regardless of where a potential customer is spending their time online, there you are, showing up with all of their favorite products. 

4. Be patient yet persistent

There is such a thing as too much and too soon when it comes to retargeting. It is essential to plan your campaigns carefully, especially if you are using multiple avenues like email and display ads, so you don’t overwhelm your potential customers. When it starts to feel like spam rather than thoughtful, personalized content, it stops increasing traffic and sales.

Your retargeting frequency will depend on your audience and business goals. You can set up multiple Shopify retargeting campaigns and test them against one another to see how your audience responds to them and at what point they stop responding. 

5. Retarget shopping cart abandoners 

One of the best ways to use retargeting campaigns is to retarget shopping cart abandoners. Be sure to check out this article for everything you need to know about setting up an effective shopping cart abandonment retargeting campaign. 

6. Retarget big spenders

Use retargeting to your advantage and cross-sell and upsell through your retargeting ads. When you place new products in front of your loyal audience that you know they’ll love (based on their past purchases), you can increase your sales quickly.

7. Retarget first-time visitors

If a first-time visitor makes a purchase, some might call it a miracle because most first-time visitors simply browse a new site, often without an intent to buy anything. But that doesn’t mean they didn’t see something they like. And you can capitalize on their interest in your brand by retargeting them with the content they spent the most time viewing. For an email retargeting campaign, consider sending a new potential customer a discount or incentive, such as free shipping, for when they make their first purchase. 

8. Segment your Shopify retargeting efforts 

Segmenting your audience into specific groups ensures the right people get the right retargeting message. For example, you can segment by demographics (i.e., age), geographics (i.e., their state), and even shopping habits (i.e., time spent shopping on your website or viewing a specific product page). The more segmented your Shopify retargeting campaigns are, the more you can personalize them, which leads to the next best practice.

9. Personalize your Shopify retargeting campaigns

Personalization is essential for your retargeting campaign. Here’s why:

• Over 70% of consumers are frustrated with their shopping experience when it is not personalized. 

• Nearly 45% of customers are likely to become repeat customers if their shopping experience is personalized. 

• Almost 50% of consumers will purchase a product they didn’t intend to buy if a brand personally recommended it. 

• And 40% of consumers will buy something more expensive than initially planned for the same reason: personalization. 

These stats speak to how important it is to personalize all aspects of your Shopify marketing strategy, including your retargeting campaigns. Ensure the products you show potential and returning customers, and the messaging that goes along with them, are truly relevant and personalized. 

10. Use retargeting applications and marketing platforms for the best results

Your brand needs a superhero retargeting campaign, and there are a variety of applications and platforms available to help you be successful in your efforts. One of those platforms is AdRoll. From tracking your website visitors’ every move to retargeting them with relevant ads and emails to fine-tuning your retargeting campaign results with easy-to-understand analytics, you can do it all with the help of AdRoll. 

Learn more about how to launch your Shopify retargeting campaign with AdRoll today.

Last updated on February 10th, 2022.