It takes a significant marketing investment – both in time and money - to get potential customers to visit your Web site for the first time. But what happens when that customer visits, then leaves without completing the desired action (a purchase or a registration, for example)? How do you make sure they come back?  

Retargeting allow your business to reintroduce itself to leads – think of it as an automated follow-up note from your company. Generally, retargeting consists of showing banner ads to only those people who have visited your site recently, with the goal of driving them back to your site to complete their action or purchase. And since the visitor has already expressed interest in your site once, there is a much greater chance that they will click to visit again.  


How Does Retargeting Work?  

The process is simple. The advertiser signs up with a retargeting network, and adds a line of code generated by that network to their Web site. This code allows the network to anonymously “tag” the potential customer, so that when that same customer visits another site within the network, the ad can be placed specifically for the customer. Once a potential customer is "tagged", they become part of the advertiser’s “population”. The growth of this population (and therefore the number of retargeting ads shown) is directly affected by how many customers visit the advertiser’s site.  


Action Steps  

- Look for extensive network reach.

Since the goal is to give your banner ads the highest chance to be seen by the tagged customer, you should select a retargeting network that has enormous reach across the Web to locate your site’s visitors.   I recommend: LeadBack.com works on the Advertising.com third-party advertising network, the largest in the United States. With a reach of 90% of Internet users (greater than even Google or Yahoo), there is a very good chance that your tagged visitors will later visit other sites where Advertising.com serves banner ads. 

- Find a network that only charges you for clicks or conversions 

I recommend: Any network that offers a CPC (cost per click) model versus a CPM (cost per thousand impressions). Why pay a network to show ads that are not being clicked? A CPC model encourages a company to show your ads on high-quality sites where they can actually drive clicks.  Buying CPM gives the company no incentive to target your ads where they will convert, since the company will be paid whether people click or not.

- Make your banner ads as effective as possible  

I recommend: Making sure the look and feel of your ad is consistent with that of your webpage, so the viewer will make an instant connection. Also, short and concise messages capture the eye quicker than a long block of text. A direct call to action, such as “click now” or “visit today”, is another very simple way to direct your viewer. Finally, clean design without clutter is always the best way to go in terms of quick, effective web advertising. 

- The more tags, the better.  

I recommend: Place a retargeting tag on every page! Retargeting is useful for more than just visitors who abandon your home page. If you find that people are getting to your checkout but not completing the transaction, you can set up a separate campaign with its own unique code and banner ads to target that specific population.                                                     


A retargeting campaign can be a low-cost, high impact way to build your brand and drive people familiar with your product back to your site. Choosing a company with a large network and CPC pricing can make your marketing dollars stretch further. Effective banner ads, and multiple tags placed throughout your site will help you build a large population of potential customers who already know your company and brand – and will encourage them to return.