How to Run Retargeting Campaigns for Your Shopify Store
If your Shopify store isn’t running retargeting ads, then you’re leaving behind potential customers. It’s like your conversion funnel is made of flimsy netting. Instead of nurturing them until they convert, you’ll just be hoping that they convert on the first try. Unfortunately, people rarely purchase from a store they’ve never heard of.
An estimated 2% of site visitors convert on their first visit. 98% won’t.
That’s why retargeting ads are so important. They are the bridge that takes potential customers from step one of discovering your brand to the final step of purchasing from your store.
What is Retargeting?
Anytime you are reaching someone with an ad who has already had contact with your brand in some way, you are retargeting.
That includes:
- Site visitors who browsed a page on your site
- Site visitors who put products in their cart, but didn’t finish the purchase
- Those who followed you on social media
- Past customers who haven’t purchased anything in 30 days, 60 days, 90 days etc.
- Email subscribers who haven’t purchased recently
Each of these types of user are more likely to purchase from you than someone who doesn’t know your brand, so each time you can connect with them increases the likelihood that these people will convert and make a purchase.
Setting up your Facebook Pixel
The first step to retargeting your potential customers is to set up your Facebook Pixel. Use the Ako Retargeting Facebook app or Facebook Marketing app for Shopify to set up and configure your pixel in a flash.
The Facebook Pixel allows you to track certain behaviors on your Facebook and Instagram profiles, as well as on your website. This pixel will help you create the retargeting audiences for your campaigns.
Working with Influencers for Retargeting Ads
For brands looking for great content and increased brand awareness, influencers can help you get the word out through their posts. Partnering with influencers can help you tackle content creation from a full-funnel approach.
Influencer marketing platforms, like Carro, can help you discover influencers, contact them, and create effective collaborations. Carro also makes influencer gifting simple and streamlined so that you aren’t bogged down with organizing and communications.
When an influencer posts about your brand, they’re creating brand awareness with their audience. With repeated posts about your brand, they can help to nurture their audience and encourage them to convert. However, retargeting ads can also help you nurture these leads and convince them to make a purchase.
Influencer marketing is an effective strategy to spread the word about your brand on social media. One of the most popular platforms for influencer marketing today is Instagram. These Instagram influencers are expert content creators, taking photos and videos with a unique aesthetic.
When an influencer creates content for your brand, getting the maximum impact with that content is a must. Running retargeting ads and paying to boost their content can ensure that it reaches more people with your brand’s message.
Using influencer images for your retargeting campaigns can also save your creative team a lot of time and effort because the high quality images already exist for use with your retargeting.
How to run retargeting ads on Facebook and Instagram
Running retargeting ads on Facebook and Instagram is as easy as using your Facebook Pixel and your influencer content to create a series of ads.
There are a few elements that have to work together to create a great retargeting campaign - targeting, creatives, and optimization.
Targeting
When setting up your Facebook campaign, you’ll want to decide who you are targeting. Who will see your ad? What connection do they already have to your brand?
Remember, each step of your conversion funnel requires separate messaging. If you are targeting abandoned carts, then offering a coupon code or discount can help them convert. If you are targeting people who visited your site but didn’t purchase, then you may want to provide more resources and information about the products. Here, an influencer review or unboxing may provide the details that a consumer needs in order to convert
When working with influencers, they can help you discover these new audiences that are likely to succeed. Asking for their demographics can help you see which people are gravitating to your brand’s message.
For each of your targeting groups, align your brand’s message and key points to the step that they are on. Targeting and message should go hand in hand so that you are presenting the consumer with the information they need to get to the next step of the buyer’s journey.
Creatives
The images and videos for these ads can come from influencer content, or from your brand’s creative library. Creatives should help to tell your brand story and create interest around your products.
When using influencer content, you can go a step further and whitelist the influencer. This is when the influencer grants you permission through Facebook to run the ads through their account. This adds a level of authenticity and trust to your ads, because it looks like the influencer’s post still.
You can also do dark posting with influencer content, where you save the image from the influencer and use it in your own ads with brands. Either way, influencer content can make your products seem approachable and genuine, versus more polished brand images. When running your retargeting ads, test different styles of images to see which your customers prefer.
Optimization
Once you have launched a few ads with the right targeting and creatives, then it is time to optimize. The easiest way to do this is to test your creatives and different variables with Facebook’s A/B testing feature. Another way is to just give Facebook ads several options for creatives and targeting, then turn off the lowest performers and see if there are any commonalities among the top performers.
You should continue to hone your ads about once a week to ensure that your ads are performing at top capacity. Once you’ve learned what works best with your audience, you can add in extra ads that check off all these requirements. This will also help to prevent ad fatigue, where consumers tire of seeing the same ad over and over again.
How much should retargeting ads cost?
There are a few different answers about how to structure your marketing ad budget, but the most common answer for the cost of retargeting ads is a ratio, instead of a definite number. Retargeting ads should use about 30% of your ad spend, while 70% of your ad spend should go to prospecting.
70% of your ad budget is used to establish the first contact with an audience, then 30% is used to nurture those who show interest and get them to convert.
If you are just starting out, then setting a target ROI and setting up an initial ad budget, such as $100 for a week, can help you start running the ads, then adjust once you see how they perform. In this case, $70 would be devoted to prospecting audiences (possibly even organic influencer marketing campaigns), and $30 would be spent on site visitors, abandoned carts, and previous customers with a goal of quick conversions.
Retargeting ads on Facebook and Instagram are an important component to your digital marketing strategy. They can help you convert those who need more contact with your brand before making a purchase.
Influencers can help you create the images you need for your retargeting campaigns, as well as providing authentic, genuine information about your products that can help to nurture potential customers and convince them to make a purchase.
If you’re ready to get started, it’s time to install that Facebook Pixel and start collecting influencer content for your retargeting ads!
Author bio: Sarah Donawerth is the content manager for GoVyrl, Inc., the company behind Carro. Whether you’re a new brand or a well-established store on Shopify (Magento Coming Soon!), we can help you find and understand the influencers that already love your brand. Visit GetCarro.com for more information.
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