Retargeting vs Marketing Automation

There is a common problem among all marketers: low website conversion rate. It’s said that only 2,4% of new visitors convert into leads. Do you know what it means? There is always room to improve and get higher performance. To do this, it’s vital to work on the traffic you acquire on your website. 

Today, we’ll find out how to increase conversion rate on a website and explore what’s better — retargeting or marketing automation. Also, we’ll tell you when to use both of them.

What is retargeting

When a user has visited your website but didn’t convert into a buyer or at least into a lead, there is still a chance to get them back using retargeting solutions. This is the way you can remind users about yourself – for example, show the item a user has added to a cart. Here is how Nike works with abandoned carts using Google Ads for retargeting:

Nike uses retargeting to remind about the sneakers a user viewed on a website

You can also launch an advertising campaign on Facebook or Instagram and make your website visitors remember you:

How Jewrl reminds users who visited their website on Instagram

Actually, 3 out of 4 users notice retargeting ads; the click-through rate of retargeting is 0,7% (compared to CTR of Ads which equals 0,07%). Retargeting is a good solution to return users when they are already gone, so that you won’t spoil your budget and get back at least some of them.

Help me to return website visitors 

What is a marketing automation

Another solution for the website conversion rate increase is marketing automation. This is the technology that helps marketers catch website visitors’ attention based on some triggers. Also, marketers can target a particular audience and automatically send personalized messages to this group of people. Several tools are used for marketing automation. For example, pop-ups, product recommendations, text messages, segmentation, and so on. 

Summary: marketing automation solutions can help you with lead generation, lead scoring, lead nurturing, and, finally, converting leads to buyers. 

For example, this web push notification can automatically send promo codes and stimulate sales:

Black Friday web push with promo codes

This pop-up may be used to automatically collect emails. Also, you can send pop-ups like this only to people whose emails you don’t know:

Pop-up for automated email collection

Help me convert more visitors into leads

Retargeting vs Marketing Automation, which one is more effective?

In an ideal world, to increase a website conversion rate, you need to use marketing automation and retargeting solutions. However, they are still used for different needs.

Marketing automation can help you increase the conversion rate of new visitors, while retargeting to get back at least part of users you’ve already acquired but didn’t convert into leads.

Both of them may be used to optimize traffic investments. When you’re already invested in traffic acquisition, it’s vital to work on it to pay off your efforts. However, let’s consider particular use cases when you can use both of these solutions.

Retargeting use case

Imagine you acquired 10 000 users to your website using paid Ads. Their behavior differs: some just visit and then bounce; some of them scroll till the end of the page and explore your landing page; some of them leave email, and the smallest part of these website visitors actually buy from you on the first visit. 

What shall you do? Launch retargeting.

Still, it’s important to analyze what users you need to target. The best strategy, in this case, is to create a segment of users who show interest in your content (have been visiting your website for more than 10 sec – but this number depends on your landing page and industry), but still didn’t leave any contact.

Try to show them the same product you showed at the first time; give some discount or special offer; demonstrate your advantages, etc.

Also, note that a website visitor ought to see your ad for a time to pay attention to it. Some experts recommend showing your ad to a particular person 17-20 times. 

Marketing automation use case

Well, you restored a big part of visitors who didn’t share their contact at the first time. What should you do in this case to make the most of your traffic?

Convert them into prospects.

Note that you should convince them that after leaving their email they will get some value from you – so try to offer a promo code, lead magnet, demo, or anything else (what exactly – depends on your business). What marketing automation solutions can help you with this?

• A/B testing and Heat Maps for landing pages;
• Special offers and personalized brand advertising;
• Sign-up points to newsletter, wishlists, and daily deals.

Next – make them buy from you. The time you will have to spend on lead nurturing is also depending on your industry, but there is still a list of things you need to do to convince them to buy right now:

• Social Proof (reviews, other people’s opinions);
• Create scarcity: limited offers, time-constrained promotions;
• Personalization: product recommendations that are tied to each user profile;
• Email remarketing do get them back on your website;
• Retargeting on Google Adwords and Facebook;
• Shopping sessions analytics;
• Behavioral widgets with special offers, vouchers, and promotions.

Still, there is another problem that appears: abandoned carts, which can reach up to 70%. Here are marketing automation solutions you may use to avoid this:

• Actionable cart and checkout analytics;
• Cart recovery emails;
• Triggered incentives with calls to action;
• Shoppers polls, feedback, and reward programs.

Last but not least: turning customers into loyal customers. Otherwise, they can buy from you for just one time and then leave. Show them your care; that their opinion matters to you:

• Customer follow-ups and ask-for-reviews;
• Personalized newsletters;
• Exclusive offers and recommendations.

Help me to improve my website conversion rate

When to use marketing automation and retargeting

Let’s make a summary.

Retargeting or marketing automation: which one is better and in which case? 

You should pay attention to marketing automation when:

1. you want to boost sales on your website or make customers loyal;
2. better understand your customers and provide a personalized experience;
3. collect more leads and pay off your traffic investments.

You need to launch retargeting campaigns when:

1. you want to get back traffic you acquired to your website but couldn’t catch their contacts.

Now, you can use retargeting and marketing automation wisely. Wish you a higher conversion rate and more sales 😉