A local homeowner calls your business, asks about your remodeling services, and hangs up without requesting a quote. You know there’s a potential sale just waiting to happen, and there’s every chance that your prospect is going to schedule a consultation sooner than later. So, what do you do?
You follow them around the web, showing them personalized ads to keep your business top of mind. It’s called retargeting. If you’re new to the PPC game, retargeting is going to be your holy grail. It’s the tool you need to capture value from every single lead. Then, when they’re ready to bring their home renovation dreams to life, you’ll be the first one they think of.
Whether you’re trying to sell home additions or kitchen renovations, retargeting has major advantages. It works on social media, general web browsing, and even across devices. So, what are you waiting for? Here’s how to smash your ROI targets with a killer retargeting campaign.
Today, marketers have countless tools available to get their message out. Sure, billboards and TV commercials can get your message in front of more people, but to succeed in today’s competitive digital marketing landscape, you need to get your message in front of the right people at the right time.
But just getting in front of local homeowners when they’re searching for home remodelers isn’t enough. After all, only two percent of customers convert on their first visit to your website. How can you connect with the other 98 percent so you can close the sale? One word: retargeting.
Fun fact: Retargeting dates back to 1998. After investing in “cookies” to track shopping carts, DoubleClick started using the same technology to retarget customers who already visited a website. Once a visitor makes it to a company’s website, the company can retarget the visitor with personalized ads to incentivize the sale. Sounds simple enough, right?
Retargeting is one of the most powerful marketing tools—and it’s easy to see why. It reaches out to homeowners already interested in your remodeling services so you can make the most of your hard-earned advertising dollars.
If a visitor made it to your website but didn’t request a quote, sharing an ad with a promo will have a much higher click-through rate (CTR) than showing that same promo to someone without any interest in your company. When you use data from previous website visits, you can easily segment your audiences and take action.
Retargeting might sound overwhelming, but it’s a pretty straightforward process. It works by placing cookies on visitors’ devices when they meet specific criteria. For example, you might want to retarget website visitors who visited your home office renovation landing page and left without calling your business.
When a website visitor meets your criteria, their cookie ID is added to your retargeting list, so you can serve ads to them as they browse the web. The best part? If you’re already using Google Ads, you just need to add a piece of retargeting code to your website. It’s that easy.
Now that you know what retargeting is and how it works, why should you dedicate time and effort to build a retargeting campaign?
Let’s take a step back from digital marketing and think about the home improvement industry. In 2020, 76 percent of homeowners in the United States invested in home renovations. Now, with more remodeling companies entering the marketing space, you need to run toward the fire with a killer ad strategy to dominate the competition.
Whether you’re selling retrofits or bathroom renovations, you need to draw in serious buyers who can make purchases in the near future—and that’s exactly what retargeting does.
When you remind homeowners that your business exists, you break through the digital noise and stay top of mind. As they browse other websites, they’ll see your ads—and you’ll remind them to come back to your website to close the sale. When done right, retargeting can ignite your brand awareness, conversions, and revenue.
Retargeting can amplify your home remodeling ad strategy, but how can you optimize your next campaign? Truth is, crafting a powerful remarketing strategy is surprisingly easy—even if you’re not a seasoned marketer.
As long as you understand the basics of advertising, there are some winning retargeting strategies that can help you maximize sales. Here’s how to get started.
It’s not enough to just create a retargeting campaign, reuse your original advertising message, and hope that it’ll drive better results this time around. If you want effective retargeting, you’ll need to stop thinking of retargeting as a rehash of your original message.
Obviously, your original message didn’t work. And if you repeat the same message over and over again, you probably won’t get a different response from your prospects. Instead of drawing customers back to your website, you’re only going to annoy them with repetitive ads. So, what do you do?
You need a smart retargeting strategy that meets your leads where they already are. By tapping into customer data, you can pinpoint exactly where your customers are in their buyer’s journey. Then, you can create personalized ads that help them take the next step toward conversion.
For example, if you’re running PPC ads for kitchen remodeling, your goal might be to get homeowners to request a quote for their renovation project. If you’re bidding on keywords like kitchen remodeling, you’ll probably send leads to your kitchen remodeling landing page.
Not everyone who clicks on your ad will request a quote, so it might be tempting to retarget lost leads with more information on your kitchen remodeling services. The problem? You already made that pitch, and it didn’t work. Now, it’s time to try something different.
If you’ve already done your marketing homework, you can probably paint a pretty good picture of the buyer journey. You know what each stage of the journey looks like, and you know what your customers need to move to the next stage. Now, it’s time to create powerful retargeting ads to move customers to the next stage.
Let’s go back to our previous example. You know that most people who are interested in your kitchen remodeling services (but don’t convert) are also checking out the competition. They’re trying to choose the best home improvement company for their renovation project.
The next step in the buyer journey isn’t converting—it’s comparing. If you’re trying to convert customers during the research stage, you’re just going to frustrate them with overly sales-y ads. They don’t want to hear about your deals yet. They want to learn about your value proposition, past projects, client testimonials…basically, anything that sets you apart from the competition.
Your retargeting ads need to provide value to your audience. So, if they’re comparing your services with the competition, you might send customers to a landing page comparing different types of kitchen renovations. Now, instead of forcing customers into a sale, you’re participating in the decision-making process.
When you create value, you’re building trust with potential customers—all while showing them why you’re the best choice for the job. Sounds like a win-win, right?
Sometimes, qualified leads won’t convert because they don’t feel 100 percent comfortable with your company or services. After all, choosing a contractor is a major investment. Homeowners want to find a reliable local home improvement company that can get the job done right, using quality materials, within their budget and timeframe.
Maybe they’re feeling iffy about the quality of your materials, or your “request a quote” form asks for sensitive information. Sometimes, homeowners might click away simply because they can’t find information about your licensing or credentials on your website.
If you know that a segment of your audience isn’t converting due to a specific concern, you can use retargeting to address those concerns. (Pro tip: Heat mapping can help you see where users click, how far they scroll, and how they interact with your website so you can identify areas of improvement.)
For example, if you know that visitors have concerns about your workmanship, you can add customer testimonials and video walkthroughs to your portfolio. Or, if they have questions about licensing, you can add a video to your Home page to highlight your credentials. You want leads to feel comfortable and confident in their decision to hire you—and that means addressing any concerns they might have along the way.
It takes some practice to craft winning retargeting campaigns, but with a little time and effort, you can hit your ROI goals. And remember: The buying cycle doesn’t end with conversions or sales. Retargeting can be an amazing tool to capture every ounce of value out of every sale, whether you’re upselling services or retargeting past customers. Have any questions about retargeting? Trying to find the best strategy for your home remodeling business? Reach out to our team to start brainstorming digital marketing solutions.
