What is Remarketing and How Does it Make Sales?

Conventional wisdom tells us that people hate pop up ads, but a recent survey by Hubspot proves that people just hate ads that aren’t relevant to them. They also found that 77% of people prefer to use an ad filter, rather than an ad blocker. Remarketing helps businesses find their target customers and get them to convert to a sale.

Have you ever visited a website and then started seeing ads for that website on Facebook, Twitter, and every other site you visit? That’s what remarketing is. The cookies from the site you visited tell the marketers you were there, what you looked at, and for how long. More specifically, remarketing is when advertisers track your internet usage anonymously so they can send you ads based on your activity.

The information the cookies provide make it possible to send different ads to customers based on their activity on the site. For example, if a customer puts laundry detergent in their online shopping cart, you could send an ad that offers 15% off that detergent. Another example is if a customer browses and hits a few different pages, you could send an ad for an upcoming sale. The ads incentivize both customers to come back to the site and make a purchase.

Using remarketing strategies can also lower the cost of advertising. When your ads are only sent to the people that want your goods or service, they’re more likely to click on it and buy something. Very few people buy something on their first visit to a site, but if they’re shown a few ads with some amazing offers on them, the chance that they’ll come back and buy goes up considerably.

If all of this seems like the internet is stalking you, that’s because it kind of is, but in a good way. Advertisers use remarketing so they don’t waste time bombarding you with ads for things you have zero interest in and will never buy.